The Family Business

Growing up on a dairy farm, or any farm for that matter, is in my opinion the best way to grow up.

 Although, I don't know what it would be like otherwise. I can tell you that my brothers and I had an awesome childhood. Farming was and is our life. It's everything. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Farming isn't our job, it's literally our life. And I say that in the best way possible. Were there times that I wished farming wasn't there to be in the way of making summer plans, weekend getaways and pretty much any kind fun/travel? Yes! We couldn't just pack up and take a vacation or go visit out of state family or spend the weekend on the water. We couldn't just leave the farm. The cows need to be fed and milked twice a day. We didn't have a team of employee's that we could leave to work. We were the team.  Doesn't leave much room to do much of anything. 

 It takes schedules and planning ahead of time to make it all work. 

We did find a campground  close enough to home that we would spend a week at in between crops. The boys would take turns traveling back and forth for afternoon and morning milking. Dad and Tyler would leave after lunch and travel home to milk the afternoon milking, stay the night at home and milk the 2 AM milking then travel back to camp. Ryan and Kyle would take the next turn.

We made this an annual thing, usually the first week of August until the boys were all married and we found it harder to all do it together.

I cherished the time when we were able to step away from home and take a break from it all. Tensions were always a little high at the end of those weeks, but we always enjoyed our time together.

Finding time to get away, no- MAKING time to get away is always a challenge. When they can, Mom and Dad make the trip to Pennsylvania for a long weekend to visit my oldest brother Ryan and his wife Chelsea.

6 years ago, Ryan and Chelsea moved to Pennsylvania to attend Bible College.

Yup. Big brother was moving off the farm to an entirely different state! That was not an easy pill to swallow. When they told us they made the decision to leave the farm, we were devastated. Heartbroken but at the same time happy for them and excited for the opportunity they were about to have, but sad, to see them leave. They broke the news right before our busy season was ramping up. Ryan told us that he wouldn't leave until the end of the year. He would stay through summer and fall crops - he didn't want to leave us high and dry. Very McKeen of him. 

 Growing up, it was always the plan that Ryan would become partner with Dad and someday takeover with the other two boys. Now, that plan was quickly derailing. OUR plan anyway- God's plan was panning out perfectly. 

There was definitely hurt feelings for a longtime. Probably until the night they left honestly. 

It certainly wasn't all warm and fuzzy leading up to them leaving. Especially for the boys. Who could blame them? For their whole lives they could see the three of them working side by side and now that dream was being ripped apart. At least that's what it felt like at that moment.

That night was the most emotional I've ever seen my entire family. It was SO hard. We never had to deal with something like this before. 

It was different for the first few weeks with them not being here. Daily phone calls, texts and family group Snapchat were helping us all get through it. They were only a 7 hour drive away. For us farm kids, that's a long ways! Mom and Dad and myself have

made many trips down to visit. We even got Kyle to go with his wife and two kids (at the time)! If you know Kyle at all, that's a really big deal!. 

For the first few years, they would try to travel home any time they had a chance. Holidays, long weekends, etc. Now that they are busier with school and working on campus, they have a harder time coming up for quick visits. With so many family and friends to see in a short amount of time, it's a very stressful time.

We do cherish any time they do come. If it's for a longer visit, Ryan will usually on the farm while he is home. You can't take the farm out of the boy!

Without Ryan in the farm picture anymore, Kyle and Tyler have stepped up and taken the role as partners with Dad. They are preparing themselves to take over once Dad is too old, or crippled to continue running the place. You may laugh, but it's a serious thing. Dad will not stop working on this farm until he physically can't. Which, in the eyes of his grandkids, will be never! Papa is the strongest man EVER in their eyes. Let's be honest, he's the strongest  man in all of our eyes.

Don't tell him,but he isn't as young as he used to be. But you can't keep a farmer down. Even the heifer that ran over him and put him there. A story for another day.

It's crazy to think back when we were younger when we would talk about all the "someday" 's and realize that those "someday" 's are now! 

The someday's we dream about now are for the next generation. Kyle's 3 and Tyler's 2 kids. The 5 of them are farm kids through and through. I have no doubt that most of them will carry on the farm when we are all old and gray. They have the passion and that's all it takes. 

Passion, Hard Work, Determination, Patience and Faith. 

That's the Family Business.

                                       

Home of SMJ Jerseys

Here at Silver Maple Farms, we raise Jersey cows. The Jersey breed is the second largest (in number) breed of dairy cattle in the world. Jersey's are on the smaller side of the dairy cattle breeds and are famous for high milk production and high butter fat in their milk. 

The love of Jerseys started before Dad's family moved to Albion. The farm came with Holsteins when they bought it so the herd became a mix. 

For a while when we were younger, our herd was half and half Holsteins and Jerseys. Jerseys were keeping the butter fat high and the Holsteins were keeping the milk tank full. 

As the boys got older, the more interested they became in breeding and growing the herd. 

We breed our cows by AI (artificial insemination)....look it up ;). 

For a long time, Dad was the only one who could do the breeding until Ryan took the breeding class when he was a teenager. Later on, Tyler took the breeding class as well.  

There is a lot that goes into breeding! You have to spend time researching bulls,studying traits and genetics to make sure you choose the right bulls for your herd. 

Over the years Dad and The Boys have built a strong dairy herd. The Jerseys have slowly taken over since then. We are now about 95% Jerseys. We register them all into the American Jersey Cattle Association. That's where our prefix comes from.  SMJ - Silver Maple Jerseys.

We aren't breeding our Holsteins with Holstein semen anymore, we are only breeding them with dairy beef bulls. 

We built the Jersey herd up with good breeding that raised their milk production so instead of just pulling their weight in high butter fat, they were now excelling in quantity. 

 Because of this good and successful breeding, Dad received the Master Breeder award from the New England Jersey Breeders. Quite a big deal in the Dairy/breeding industry.

I won't sit here and tell you that Jerseys are an easy animal to raise. They are very fragile at a young age. Just one gust of a cold wind can knock everything out of a Jersey calf. Their immune systems are weak, so its very important that they get good colostrum and the antibodies they need to have a good start. You also have a very small window to get those antibodies into that calf. If not in the right amount of time, it can be too late. The unfortunate part of farming is that not every calf makes it. Some get a bad start and are behind the mark before life even starts for them. Some have a terrific start, but 10 days later they die. Sometimes you can go months without loosing a calf. Sometimes you go through months that more calves have died than have lived. It's the chance you take. Farming is a risk all around. Thankfully, we have a great Vet team that is always on their A game helping us problem solve during those not so good times. 

It takes a patient person to raise Jersey calves. That's Mom. She has solely fed our calves for at least 6 years. Before that, she and my grandmother shared the duties of feeding twice a day. 

When a calf is born, we almost immediately take the calf into the barn to a warm pen with hay and sawdust and a heat lamp to keep it dry and warm. Why do we separate mom and baby? No, we aren't being cruel. We are actually keeping the calf safe. We don't want the calf to suck off her mother because there could be bacteria on the mothers udder that will infect the calf before she gets her immune boosting antibodies. Another reason is that when our cows give birth, they are in a group of other mother cows (unless separated due to birthing troubles) who are curious of the new baby and can end up trampling the calf to death. Contrary to popular belief, we are not being cruel by separating mom and baby. 

The new calf is given a series of shots that are vitamins to help give her a jump start before she has her first gallon of colostrum. She then gets 2 more quarts within twelve hours of the first gallon. 

She'll get bottle fed twice a day for at least 2 days before she would be put onto a pail. 

We currently have automatic feeders instead of our previous pail system.

Our calves are given RFID tags in their ear when they are born to read in the feeder. Once the calf is programmed in, her number reads in the computer and it will mix up the amount of milk that specific calf needs. When first put onto the machine, the calf gets 15 feedings a day (equals to about 2 gallons of milk) that they can eat whenever they would like. As they get bigger, the feedings increase to 20 feedings a day ( equals to 2 1/2 gallons of milk) until they are old enough to wean at about 8 weeks old. At that point they are moved from the group feeding pen to a separate pen where they continue to be fed grain and water. Once they are adjusted to that feeding plan, we gradually move them from pen to pen according to age until they are old enough to breed. 

What about the Momma cows? What happens to them? 

After they give birth, we move them to the milk barn. Their milk is separated from the milk tank for the first couple of milkings because of the dry treatment they got when they were dried off to calve. 

Her first milking is saved for her calf. If her colostrum tests high enough in nutrients, we will feed it to her calf or freeze it for later. 

Once her milk is clear of the dry treatment, her milk will then go into the tank. Once she comes back into heat ( just like a human cycle) she'll get bred again and if she settles, she will eventually be dried off to have another calf. 

Dairy Farming isn't just feeding and milking cows! There is SO MUCH that goes into making it full circle. It takes a team and we are so grateful and blessed to have such an amazing team of family and farm hands that all work together for the same goal. 

What Happens While You Wait?

Planting is done. What happens while you wait?

 Once planting is done, the first crop of grass is usually ready to be cut. One 'season' ends and another one rolls right in. There's a reason we call it Busy Season.

 It begins with mowing the grass. Just like you would mow your lawn, but bigger. Kyle would head out early in the morning to begin the days cutting. He'll mow for a few hours to get two, three, sometimes four fields knocked down depending on the thickness and how fast it will dry. Tyler would then go behind him and merge the many thin rows of grass into fewer, thicker ones. Usually two or three rows into one.

Once he has moved onto the next field, Ryan would come in with the tractor with a chopper hooked to it and a large dump wagon pulling behind that. The rig looked like a toy I had as a kid - you know, the Mother Duck and her ducklings all tied together?

 The chopper pulls in the rows and chops them up really fine and blows it into the big dump wagon. Once the wagon was full Kyle would come up beside the wagon with the dump truck and Ryan would dump the grass into the truck. Kyle would then drive the load to the farm and dump it onto the silo pad where Dad would be waiting with the bucket tractor to begin making a pile, packing it down by driving back and forth.

 On and on, back and forth until all the grass was picked up. At the end of the day, Kyle would get back in the tractor with the mower attached and mow for a couple more hours to get a jump start on the next day.

Today, we have since upgraded the three piece tractor, chopper, wagon rig with a big self propelled chopper that blows directly into the truck. Way more efficient.

What about the cows? If everyone was out in the field all day, who would tend the cows?

After morning milking, the cows get fed and the barns get cleaned out before anyone heads to the field.

 Mom and Grammie milked the afternoon shift when I was too young to work. We also had a few hired hands over the years that did the job as well. When I was old enough, I took the task over. Not my favorite job. I wanted to be in a tractor somewhere. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.  I worked where I was needed and that was the milking parlor.

Mom also worked where she was needed. Still running from field to field bringing tools, chains, water, lunch. If we weren't eating picnic style in the field , it was grab and go. Eat where you can, when you can.

If Mom wasn't running errands for everyone else, she was usually in a tractor on the feed pile next to Dad helping him pack the grass down which is one of, if not, the most important jobs on the farm. If the grass doesn't get packed in tight enough, it will spoil and will be no good to our cows.

This process would go on for 2 sometimes 3 weeks. Like everything else, it would depend on the weather and how many breakdowns we would end up having,

Breakdowns like:

The chopper chain breaking.

The chopper spout getting plugged.

The worn out tie rods on the dump wagon snapping on a tight turn.

The tire on the dump wagon falling off and rolling into the pond.

The truck overheating.

The chopper getting stuck because the operator went through a wet hole when he was too full...again.

The truck getting stuck because the load that was just dumped was too heavy.

I could keep going but, you get the point.

When the process was complete, we would cover the grass pile with a thick plastic and weigh it down with tires. A job that no one enjoys. It's a dirty job and its usually pretty warm when we do it.

We would usually do it at the end of the day after the work was done, or if it was really hot out, Dad would let us wait until morning when it was cooler. Unless it was going to rain. Then we would HAVE to cover it that night. Once the pile is covered, it 'cooks' until 2nd crop. At that point, it gets uncovered and the next layer gets put on over it. Sometimes we would make a separate pile depending on the size of the existing pile and how much grass we thought would be coming in for 2nd crop. The time span between 1st and 2nd crop is usually about a month. During the time in between, the fields get fertilized with manure to give them a boost for the next cutting. This time is also used to get projects done, because there is ALWAYS a project to get done and doing maintenance work on the equipment.  

When we were kids, Mom and Dad would sometimes set a day aside to take us on a day trip.

A number of Maine beaches, Fort Kent, and York's Wild Kingdom are a few of the places that I remember well. One of our favorite activity's we got to do as a family was go to Gifford's Ice Cream and go mini golfing . Dad and the boys would use the batting cages too.

Yes, farm kids get to have fun off the farm too!

That's what happens while we wait!