Farming

when doing it all becomes too much – Farm and Dairy

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10 cows to no cows: when doing it all becomes too much – Farm and Dairy

The Oravetses started by incorporating some of the Sampsons milk in with theirs during the summer.

The Sampsons were open to doing extra testing on their herd and breeding for different milk components in their herd. That sort of cooperation and willingness to work with each other sold Rebecca on the deal.

The Oravetses sold their cows in July and jumped on board fully with the Sampsons.

It’s helped the Sampsons to have a second market for their milk. They also sell to Minerva airy, where the milk price follows the federal milk marketing order.

“It adds stability to our whole scenario,ȁ Adriann said. “With JP and Rebecca, we agreed on a set price, and that’s what it is.ȁ

or the Oravetses, things haven’t slowed down any, but they feel like they’re getting their feet back under them. They still have horses and are raising more pigs than before. They’re catching up on sleep, just a little bit, and on projects that got put off.

They still have to drive half an hour to the Sampsons to fill up milk cans every day. But it’s still less time than it would be spent milking, cleaning equipment, managing manure and doing the other care dairy cows require

Dear farm kids . . .

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Dear farm kids . . .

I grew up on a first-generation dairy farm, and some days, I hated it. I hated that sometimes the cows got out, and I was late to school because we had to put them away. I hated the jokes that kids made about me smelling like manure or wearing boots that actually had mud on them. I didn’t always want to spend my evenings in the barn, feeding calves or helping milk.

My parents were often too busy to go to all of my games and events. We rarely went on vacation. I didn’t understand why people would tell me that growing up on a farm was a blessing. I hated waiting for chores to be done before opening presents at Christmas time and that we had to leave family events early to do chores. I didn’t understand why my friends always wanted to see the cows when they came over instead of hanging out in the house. Overall, I wasn’t always proud to be a farm kid.

Looking back, getting to grow up as a farm kid was one of the best things that my parents did for me. I loved being able to have animals like horses, donkeys, sheep, alpacas, and goats along with our cows, and I loved naming the baby calves and watching them grow up. I just didn’t understand that even all the things that I didn’t like about growing up on a farm at the time would both help me later in life, and those would be the things that I miss the most when I’m away.