Come to the New York State Fair!

Don't forget! Mark and I will be at the New York State Fair tomorrow! You can find us at the Dairy Cow Birthing Center. We hope to see you there! 

https://www.facebook.com/NYAnimalAg/posts/429422750509692:0

Monday Funday!

Monday's are one of the busiest days of the week, but very important days. It's vet check day! Every Monday we have at least one veterinarian visit the farm. They pregnancy check any cows that were bred around 39 days ago. Also, cows that have already been confirmed pregnant are rechecked at 100 and 210 days pregnant. Our vets use an ultrasound to get a good look at the growing calves. Pregnancies are a very important part of running our dairy. We can't make milk if our cows don't have babies! 

New York State Fair Dairy Cow Birthing Center

Interested in watching the birth of a calf? Do you have questions about farming? Then you should check out the dairy cow birthing center at the State Fair! You can welcome a calf into the world and talk with farmers, veterinarians and others involved in the ag industry. If you would like to talk with Mark Murray and me (Sara) we will be there next Thursday afternoon, 29th, answering questions. We hope to see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/NYAnimalAg/posts/426780454107255:0

Where does the milk go? Part 1

Lets start at the beginning......

I think most of us know that milk comes from cows. But where does it go after the cow is milked? The milk travels through a pipeline to the milk house. 

It is then run through a cooling plate. When the cooled milk enters the bulk tank it is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The bulk tank then cools the milk to 39-40 degrees.  

The milk is stored in the tanks until the milk truck stops to pick it up. After each tank is filled we use a Charm test to check the milk. This test checks for any traces of antibiotics. Any cow we treat with antibiotics is clearly marked with a red ankle braclet and she IS NOT milked into the main pipeline. These treated cows are milked separately and the milk is dumped down the drain. That being said, we still double check the milk in the bulk tanks to be sure there are no antibiotics in the milk going on the truck. The milk truck stops at our farm everyday at 3:00am. Both of our bulk tanks are picked up every morning. Right now we average 85 pounds of milk per cow, that's 10-11 gallons per cow! 

Curious where are milk goes after it is pumped on the truck? Keep checking in, Part 2 will be up soon! 

Welcome to the Farm!

I would like to introduce myself, my name is Sara Murray. Although I did not grow up on a farm, my interest in cows began in high school. I was lucky enough to find work on a friend's family farm. In college, I majored in everything, but finally ended up at Cornell University where I decided on Animal Science. This is where is met my lovely husband, Mark. After graduating in 2006, Mark and his family hired me as a "swing shift" milker. (I still think this was some sort of test, but they swear it was the only available position on the farm). By December of 2006, I was hired by Genex as a breeder. This is where I gained most of my experience in the dairy industry. After working with Genex for 3 years I realized sales was not the job for me. Luckily, Murcrest was looking for a calf manager. I knew nothing about raising calves, but I thought, why not?  And i couldn't be happier with my decision. Currently, I am one of the managing partners on the dairy. One of the benefits of a large dairy is that each person can specialize in an area. I manage the calf program, the breeding program and was elected to be the public relations person. So, let me introduce you to the rest of the Murcrest Team! Lynn, my father in law, is the General Manager and runs the crop side of things. He is also a Cornell alum and has been on the farm since 1978. (Lynn's father, Doug, had moved his family dairy down from Herman, NY to Jefferson County after he graduated Cornell.) Peggy, Lynn's wife, is the office manager. Not only does she run all the books and payroll for the farm, she also works for Cornell Cooperative Extension in the Lewis County. Mark, Lynn and Peggy's son, returned to the farm in 2006 and is our Herd Manager. As I said, we attended Cornell together, he concentrated on Dairy Science. Mark is in charge of all things cow related; including the cows and the people that work with the cows.

The goal of this blog is to share with you the adventures of running a modern 850 cow dairy in Upstate New York. Before I can do that, I need your help. In order to keep things interesting, I need to know what you want to read about. Please share your thoughts either here or on our Facebook page!
                                                     ~Sara