Another lazy, sunny day here on the Knolltop.

Okay, okay, so now I must confess before Joe Schmoe gets the wrong idea that dairy farming is a breeze and then goes out and buys a farm and a bunch of cows, floods the milk market worse that it already is and discovers I mislead him and then takes me to court for giving false testimony on a blog!

For the record we milk our cows twice a day, I’ve never gotten a professional massage, pedicure, manicure or mud pack. My boys were livid when they discovered I wrote about them getting a mud pack and massage and couldn’t believe I would write something like that. (Obviously they never read this blog!)

I don’t have any hired help when the boss goes away, that’s why we had children. (JOKE)

The kids have been getting up early on their days off and this morning they were dragging. I’d have to say that Sarah is the most punctual, she has been out there at 6 am every morning. And I’ll also add that she doesn’t wait to be asked to do something, she sees what needs to be done and just does it. I love that in a kid! Well, the boys are good about that too, but it took them a lot longer to learn it.

Furthermore, after we got all done with chores, which included a fresh cow and a new bull, I came in from the barn and Sarah was making french toast for breakfast! All I can say is Wow!

Dairy prices may be down and things are going to get tougher but when your kids pitch in and take over without complaint to keep the farm running smoothly…..that is worth more than all the money in the world! I’ll go ahead and say it…..I’m blessed!

The sun rose again this morning on the Knolltop, even though the boss is no where to be found. Yep, Bobby’s gone, I practically had to shove him out the door, but he left at 4:30 am yesterday morning and headed to meet his best friend, Bobby Binger, for breakfast. He called mid morning to check on us…he must have been having a good time, otherwise he would’ve called much earlier to make sure we were getting along without him.

After breakfast and visiting some farms near Clyde, Ohio, he went to Brookview to visit with Eric Havens and ended up spending the rest of the day with the Havens family. They had lunch and then just sat around and visited about old times.

This morning the report was that he was headed south to Delbert Yoder’s farm. I know he’ll have a good time rumbling around in Wayne County.

Meanwhile, back at the Knolltop, we’re surviving without him. I’ve got the cows down to milking once a day so we don’t have to do so many chores. It’s a great program, it leaves so much more time for shopping, eating out, playing games and just laying around. I don’t know why more dairy farmers don’t do it this way!

Better go, we’re headed to the spa where we are getting family massages, Sarah and I will get facials, pedicures and manicures while the boys get their hair cut and faces packed in mud. After that we will head for lunch out and then to an MSU men’s basketball game where we get to sit in VIP seating, right behind the bench so I’m available to Tom for coaching tips. This dairy farming is the life!

14 more days until the launch….of Dairy Agenda Today!

It’s a very sunny morning here on the Knolltop! And I”m loving every minute of it.

Do you ever have those days when your phone doesn’t ring once and it’s quiet all day long? And then the other days when you get interrupted all day and you can’t seem to get anything done? That was my day yesterday. Interruption after interruption. Phone calls, field men, Schwanns man, more phone calls, emails asking for press releases, columns to write, email that won’t go through because it thinks your spam….but through it all, I persevered! I got the column written, the press release done and I did all the maid’s work besides! (She’s really getting on my nerves with this not showing up business.)

So, today I will press on with more writing to finish and phone calls to make and a basketball game tonight. And now it’s time to head back out to the barn and do more chores!

17 more days until the big day!

Through the faint showers of light streaming from the yard light I could see hoof prints tracking through the front yard as I made my way across to the barn this windy, cloudy morning on the Knolltop.

Since the tracks were small, I knew it was the heifers that had been partying all night long. And sure enough when I walked into the barn, Bobby met me with a flashlight and said, we’ve got heifers out somewhere. He hopped in the van and I went on foot, looking for the elusive bovines. There at the bottom of Horse Hill was one springing heifer and lucky for me, the gate was open behind her so I just chased her through the gate and closed it behind her.

We had four younger heifers to put back into their pen and with that, we were done chasing. Apparently they had run around all night long and were happy to be back home by the time we got out there to milk. At that point, I was happy we had an aged dog that didn’t hear a thing all night. Otherwise she would’ve woken us up and we would’ve been out chasing cattle by moonlight. Thank God for old dogs!

Good Morning from a rainy but warm knolltop.

The kids had a two hour delay this morning because of fog, so I’m just now getting to the dishes and other routine matters of my wonderfully, exciting day. Which reminds me, it’s way too quiet in here. Yep, the washing machine isn’t going, I forgot to start the laundry.

Last night we traveled to Tekonsha and Luke’s team won , while JW’s team lost. Luke was tackled a couple of times in the process, it was a very rough game. In fact at one point he was slammed against the wall, they actually called a foul that time.

I finally saw my column and how it looks in Holstein International. We received our February issue yesterday. Now I’m formulating what to write about for March and I have an idea, which is strange for me to have an idea ahead of time.

Well, since the kitchen is full of dishes and I have to actually wash them myself because the maid called in sick…I’d better go!

Good Morning Gang!

I’m making this post for the youth that are going to be listening to Amanda Nolz at the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference. Amanda will be teaching the kids how to create a blog this morning and I highly recommend it. The more positive stories we tell about animal agriculture the better and how much more fun would it be to see youth on the farm posting about their lives and what they do!

If you’re a young person reading this….I’ve got three words for you….NEVER GIVE UP!

And one more shout out to Hayleigh Geurink! You’re an awesome board member of the Michigan Junior Holstein Association!

Good Morning from Grand Rapids!

I’m at the Great Lakes REgional Dairy Conference and it’s going well. I’m heading out for breakfast with Matt Mann….he’s in the ambassador contest and no doubt will win because he is the greatest kid….besides my kids…that is~!

Cows are calving at home, but I guess they will be okay…..keep praying for them.

It’s time to go….more later, I hope!

It’s a very cold morning here on the Knolltop.

I’m holding out for the warm weather and yes, rain is predicted! I can’t wait!

JW had to leave early this morning to go on an FFA chapter visit in Springport. As he was backing out of the drive, his truck got stuck in the snow. Luke and I went out and pushed him to freedom and chuckled all the way back to the house. When I walked in I said, “Thank God for family!”

Chores are waiting, it’s cold and the sooner I can get them done, the sooner I can come back in!