[dominiquer60]

Do you plan on taking the plastic off for winters or leaving it on? There are many options depending on what your goals are.
Here is a place to start, be sure to scroll down there is a lot of info here http://attra.ncat.org/newsletter/attranews_0509.html#story2.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

Thanks for the link Wolfgang,
It seems simple enough to make. Tim are there any guidelines to adhere to when making one of these eveners? It does look like it could soften the start some.
Too bad the boys are not older, if they were I could get some real work done this spring before Dick is sold. Maybe someday I will have two teams again, it would be really nice to use 4 plowing, I have a lead on a nice 2 way Syracuse. Until then I am thankful to have this opportunity to tinker with driving 4 up.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Tim the wheelers are using a yoke borrowed from a neighbor, I didn’t want to get it soaked from the very wet snow, so it has a nice wool horse blanket draped over it, it worked fairly well.

“Will is willing, and although Abe is not as willing he is certainly able”
The same applies here too, Abe is my red calf, his alter ego is “Diablo.”
I don’t mind when he is Diablo to his brother in the paddock, but he gets a stern correction when Diablo thinks that he can mess with me:)

Do you have any photos of the vertical evener, it would be neat to see? I knew that they exist, but for the sake of time and lack of need, I just used another short chain today.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Yes Rod they have grown, the dairy tape says that they are ~440ish, not accurate but at least it is something. My digital does do short videos, but I am not sure about driving 4 and being my own video crew, maybe next time it will be nicer and some one can come outside and shoot us:)

[dominiquer60]

Charly,
I agree with you, there are a lot of animals in many industries that get pushed hard young, not really my cup of tea. But I sure like to have them trained young, makes it a lot easier on everyone when the time comes to do some real work.

I wasn’t really trying to compare my heifer to those in the video, just saying that the thought is interesting enough to entertain a little at home, but I have no serious interest in training bovines to ride like that.

Certainly a 10 gallon a day cow is not meant for the woods, or to last long as a dairy cow either. A neighbor down the road here used to milk cows, he said that they didn’t really hit their prime milking until 9-10 years old. He never pushed, never asked for 10 gallons a day, he said that type of cow doesn’t last long. With many enterprises slow and steady can get the job done, time and time again and with any luck, for many years.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Charly,
The American Quarter Horse Association is full of horse trainers that ride long yearlings and two year old on a regular basis. There are even huge futurity classes with big prize money for 2 year olds. I am not saying that it is right, but there are parts of an “industry” built around it. Also look at the race horse industry, both flat and harness horses have 2 year old races.

I suppose even though bovine do no appear as fluid or athletic as horses they could be conditioned over time to canter and have it not be too detrimental to their bodies. Heck I am not very athletic, but I know over time I can condition myself to do a 5k run.

My 2 year old heifer accepts me on her back in the barn, I look forward to being lazy now and then and hitching a ride in from the pasture on her or perhaps to check a fence line now and then. I will however, leave all the bells and whistles to those that have the time and desire.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

They sure are gems.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I am just torn on how do we define too big, I don’t like big and irresponsible anything. But what about all the farms that are on the edge of all these definitions and classifications. It seems it should be easy to define big and small, but I really don’t think that it is. Can a 4 acre vegetable farm near an urban center that grosses a million every year be defined as small in the business sense, compared to a 300 acre diverse operation that earns just enough to keep going?

Is a farm that is the biggest in the neighborhood worse than the, small one that may be next door. It all depends, maybe the “bigger” farm is a clean grass based organic dairy, and the small farm is a pig farm that feeds antibiotics and lets manure wash down to the stream. There can be bad little farms and good largish farms. There is a point where farms are too large, but defining where large and small start is the problem for me.

The debates against raw milk often start with, “a negative raw milk story will make the entire industry look bad,” I often come back with,”the water quality pollution problems makes the entire industry look bad too, but you don’t seem nearly as interested in putting a stop that,”

I am on the dying edge of big dairy country now and I lived in the heart of it a few years ago. I am lucky that in both places there was nothing but forest upstream from us. When I first moved to the heart of Eastern NY dairy country I was a cattle breeder, I saw all sorts of operations from big and dirty to small and dirty with a lot of the nicer farms being in the 100 cow range. One small farm was a total hole, cows in the stream, gutter running into the stream, the type of place that would still use milk cans in the spring room if they could, nice guys, clean stalls but filthy water shed use. The cleanest farm that I have ever seen was a Mennonite farm that we bought a tractor from this past fall, eat off the floor clean, streams fenced, nice manure storage and a ton of land to spread it on, they had about 92 cows, a lot bigger than the 18 cow hole that I used to breed in.

I really feel that good farms do not need heavy regulations, but rather irresponsible farms should be the ones hit with regulations. It should be quality not size that determines who gets the anal probe of government, but then you get into the added layer of who should and should not qualify for regulation. Any way you slice it, the bad cause problems for the good folks that just want to put their head down, lean into the yoke and not be told that they can’t whistle while they work.

Erik, you mention that most say that their size farm or larger is a good sized operation, but personally I wish we were smaller, for the exact reason that you stated, spreading the love too thin. Dale’s family kept taking on more land as neighbors stopped using it, it is great to have such a land base to rotate corn, small grains and hay, but I know that we could take better care of a smaller amount. In some cases even with our minimal inputs some of the rented land is better off now than when they started to use it, so at least we have that going for us.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I had a hard time putting a thought into words earlier.

I think that within reason size doesn’t matter, it is how you use it, how much heart, care and common sense you put into it that matters. Of course there are farms that are just too big even if well “managed,” I just hate seeing good folks being squeezed by big government, especially when the guys with enough money seem exempt from such rules, or get away with crap all too easily.

erika

[dominiquer60]

indeed a long one Mitch. Although this is my first full winter in the Northeast since ’04-’05, it seemed to linger in some senses and fly in others. I am certainly tired of balancing on patches of slick ice, but Monday we are starting the greenhouse and I have to seed all of the Alliums next week, way too soon for that. When will it end and where did it go are the conflicting questions that I keep asking myself.

There is still too much snow to get some more good wood for sugaring, and I still don’t know how bad the calf pasture fence is under the bank that the town plow made. Bare driveway is just a couple warm days away and I look forward to having some ice free surfaces to work the boys on. On the other hand a few more stormy days inside would be nice to maybe start the taxes that I have been slowly collecting in one place.

The cattle are shedding and the 10th duct tape repair on my gloves are tired, it must be time for spring, soon maybe:)

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I agree that farming is a choice, and that the choices that we make are important to ourselves and the world around us.

I am thinking that a farm with a 1000 gallon milk tank is going to have a substantial fuel storage there as well.

We are not a small dairy, but we had to think about it for a minute with our 4 fuel tanks, 4 propane tanks, and stored lubes for the shop. We don’t exceed the 1320, but we did have to think about it, and we are by no means big, a little larger than the 2 of us could handle if we suddenly lost the older generation, but not big. If we had 20 good milking cows and a 250 bulk tank, it would be a different story.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Here is a cut and pasted PDF from the EPA, I omitted the second page due to length. I see the good in it, but 1,320 gallons can add up fast even on a small dairy.

Erika

Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Program: Information for Farmers
This fact sheet will assist you, as a farmer, in understanding your obligations under the SPCC Program.
What is SPCC?
The goal of the SPCC program is to prevent oil spills into waters of the United States and adjoining shorelines. Oil spills can cause injuries to people and damage to the environment. A key element of this program calls for farmers and other facilities to have an oil spill prevention plan, called an SPCC Plan. These Plans can help farmers prevent oil spills which can damage water resources needed for farming operations.
What is considered a farm under SPCC?
Under SPCC, a farm is: “a facility on a tract of land devoted to the production of crops or raising of animals, including fish, which produced and sold, or normally would have produced and sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products during a year.”
Is my farm covered by SPCC?
SPCC applies to a farm which:
• • •
Stores, transfers, uses, or consumes oil or oil products, such as diesel fuel, gasoline, lube oil, hydraulic oil, adjuvant oil, crop oil, vegetable oil, or animal fat; and (note that there is an “and” to this)
Stores more than 1,320 US gallons in aboveground containers or more than 42,000 US gallons in completely buried containers; and Could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to waters of the US or adjoining shorelines, such as interstate waters, intrastate lakes, rivers, and streams.
If your farm meets all of these criteria, then your farm is covered by SPCC.
TIPS:
*
Count only containers of oil that have a storage capacity of 55 US gallons and above.
*
Adjacent or non-adjacent parcels, either leased or owned, may be considered separate facilities for SPCC purposes. Containers on separate parcels (that the farmer identifies as separate facilities based on how they are operated) do not need to be added together in determining whether the 1,320-gallon applicability threshold is met.
If my farm is covered by SPCC, what should I do?

If my farm is covered by SPCC, what should I do?
The SPCC program requires you to prepare and implement an SPCC Plan. If you already have a Plan, maintain
it. If you do not have a Plan, you should prepare and implement one. Many farmers will need to have their Plan
certified by a Professional Engineer (“PE”). However, you may be eligible to self-certify your amended Plan if:
•
Your farm has a total oil storage capacity between 1,320 and 10,000 gallons in aboveground containers, and the farm has a good spill history (as described in the SPCC rule), you may prepare and self-certify your own Plan. (However, if you decide to use certain alternate measures allowed by the federal SPCC Rule, you will need a PE.)
•
Your farm has storage capacity of more than 10,000 gallons, or has had an oil spill you may need to prepare an SPCC Plan certified by a PE.
TIP: If you are eligible to self certify your Plan, and no aboveground container at your farm is greater than 5,000 gallons in capacity, then you may use the Plan template that is available to download from EPA’s Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/spcc/tier1temp.htm

When should I prepare and implement a Plan?
Farms in operation on or before August 16, 2002, must maintain or amend their existing Plan by November 10, 2010. Any farm that started operation after August 16, 2002, but before November 10, 2010, must prepare and use a Plan on or before November 10, 2010.
Note: If your farm was in operation before August 16, 2002, and you do not already have a Plan, you must prepare a Plan now. Do not wait until November 10, 2010.

If the amount of oil spilled to water is more that 42 gallons on two different occasions within a 12-month period or more than 1,000 gallons to water in a single spill event, then notify your EPA Regional office in writing.
For More Information
Read the SPCC rule and additional resources:
http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/spcc
Call or send an e-mail to the EPA Ag Compliance Assistance Center: 1-888-663-2155 http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/agctr.html
Call the Superfund, TRI, EPCRA, RMP, and Oil Information Center:
(800) 424-9346 or (703) 412-9810 TDD (800) 553-7672 or (703) 412-3323 http://www.epa.gov/superfund/resources/infocenter

[dominiquer60]

NY Farm Bureau has been opposing this for some time now. I believe that it started as requiring farmers, that have storage for X number of gallons of oil, including fuel, lubes, etc., to have certain safety features on their farms so that the can handle a spill as safe as possible.

We know that local authorities and rescue workers have to treat a milk tanker spill like a HAZMAT spill. I can see where it is a concern, but not as much as other substances. I think at this point there is a threshold number and if you have combined oil types that total under that number you do not need to have a plan and facilities upgrade.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

It is totally possible to eyeball where the next row is going to be, I’ve done it and always will. However, it maybe a lot easier for you and/or horse to go off of pre marked row path. Eyeballing to the side, like driving by the neighbors farm and rubber necking to see the new piece of equipment, can cause you to stray from the path that you want. I find it easier to do a straight job with a row marker using tractors and I know a horse can follow a mark too, it can take a lot of the guess work out. Also, I am a stickler for as straight and uniform of a row as possible, these kinds of rows are so much easier and more efficient to cultivate versus wobbly, too wide, too narrow variations that can easily happen when eyeballing a row. I am not saying these imperfections won’t happen if you use a row markers, but that you can set yourself up for straighter rows if you do use one. As always best of luck.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Rural Vermont is the fiscal sponsor for our Draft Animal Power Network non profit organization.

They fought to be able to sell raw milk using a tiered system in VT, they promote the use of raw milk and through many different farms offer classes on how to utilize this wonderful farm product. Apparently the way the law reads, raw milk is only for consumption as milk and advocating using it to make cheese, yogurt and butter would therefore be against the law. From what I have read in the emails, it just looks like some anti raw milk lawyer suddenly realized that he/she could cause an upset and try to make raw milk look bad yet again.

Here is some more reading from the horses mouth, http://www.ruralvermont.org/

Erika

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