Messy Kennedy

Wordless Wednesday: The Close Up Pen

Today’s Wordless Wednesday is from my farm’s close up pen. In the back, you can see a little brown cow! For those of you who might be regular readers, you may recognize those adorable eyes. Yes, it my Bambi and she’s in the close up pen. She’s winding down her dry period and is getting ready to calve in.

More Than Just a Farm Girl

I was thinking the other day that my readers always just hear about my farming skills. When really, there is a lot more to me than just cows. So, today I intend to prove this. Before we get into my project, I have to tell you that I didn’t do this entire project alone. I had lots of help from my sister Lauren and my Dad. What was this project?

Dairy’s Shrinking Carbon Footprint

I got this video from a friend that lives in California. Although the video is based on California dairy farms, the message is the same. Dairy farmers are working harder to take better care of the environment and their animals. After all, our families breath the same air, drink the same water and live on the same earth!

What Does the Milk Vein Do?

Again, my readers continue to impress me! Cow part #4 is a Milk Vein just like the majority of voters said. The milk vein is one of the main veins that take blood from the udder to the heart. Did you know that a cow has two routes to get blood from the udder to the heart? When she is lying down the milk vein is blocked and there is a large vein that isn’t visible from the exterior of the cow that will take the blood to the heart. Back in the old days, farmers thought the larger the… Read More

Why is that cow chewing “bubble gum”?

Have you ever seen that cow standing around and she looks like she’s chewing bubble gum? Well, she’s not really. When a cow is doing this, we call it “chewing her cud”. The cool thing about cud chewing is that it’s an indicator of a cow’s health. We closely monitor it because it tells us a cow is eating, feels healthy and is eating the diet she is supposed to. If a cow doesn’t feel good or isn’t in the mood for food, she won’t be chewing her cud. It’s the first and most important tool we have to diagnosing… Read More

Size Is Relative (via Common Sense Agriculture’s Blog)

I really liked this blog by a friend, Jeff Fowle (Blog, Twitter). It gives a great perspective on how size is irrelevant to the management and care the farm gives to all of its land, water, air and animals. I encourage you to read through the entire blog and reflect on it. Big is bad, small is good, organic is healthy, conventional kills you, grass-fed is better for you, grain-fed is wasteful, families are good, and corporations are evil….. The pontificating purveyors of perpetual rhetoric have been rather vocal lately. Once again, discussion is swarming around the issue of the size of farms and ranches;… Read More

Dreaming of Summer – Wordless Wednesday

My wordless Wednesday is from last summer. I took it and didn’t think much of it. Now, I think the picture is lovely. The green grass and warm sun is something I’m missing! Hopefully we will be seeing this kind of weather soon. Until then, I will continue to stare at this picture.

Now We’re Gonna “Switch” Gears!

Those of you who picked the switch as part #3 are exactly right! Congratulations, you know one of my favorite parts of a cow. Nothing is better than a clean, fluffy tail. When they happen to be dirty and covered in sand they aren’t so much fun. I suppose that’s an occupational hazard though.