THE DAIRY LADY

Meet the highlight of my day! A Holstein and Gir cross…I...

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:34:25 -0400

Meet the highlight of my day! A Holstein and Gir cross…I wanted to bring her home! Toured the EMBRAPA Dairy Research Farm today! A BLAST!!!!!!

Headed to Brazil for two weeks with the U.S. Grains Council and...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:12:32 -0400

Headed to Brazil for two weeks with the U.S. Grains Council and National FFA Organization for the I-CAL Program! I can’t wait to learn about their agriculture industry and culture!! I will try to keep updates here but most of the news about my journey there will be posted upon my return! See you in two weeks USA!

Buddy at first site haha! Yay! I will call her Bananas....

Thu, 09 May 2013 19:51:40 -0400

Buddy at first site haha! Yay! I will call her Bananas. #andshewillbemybanana

Armed and ready for vaccinations and tagging of calves this...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:11:54 -0400

Armed and ready for vaccinations and tagging of calves this morning! Each calf has earrings haha that way we know exactly who she is! #dairy

Last month I attended the first ever Agriculture Future of...

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:01:36 -0400

Last month I attended the first ever Agriculture Future of America (AFA) Animal Institute along with 62 students, who are strongly committed to the future of animal health. I had a blast coming together with students and professionals from across the United States, with similar interests to mine! Not only did this event allow me to explore potential career or internship opportunities; it also gave me a unique perspective of the animal health industry within the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor.

During the day and a half event I was put into a tour group with about nine other students and an AFA staff member. My group toured U.S. Premium Beef, Dairy Farmers of America, Ceva Biomune, and Fleishman-Hillard International Communications. Each tour was fantastic; having a chance to sit down with professionals from each company was a treat! Asking questions about their days’ schedule, and how they got where they are in their career was especially interesting, and inspiring! Together with all the students, I was also blessed to listen to speakers with strong interests in animal agriculture. A couple of my favorites were Kevin Murphy of Food Chain Communications and the CEO of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Forrest Roberts. For me, attending AFA events stirs up my passion for agriculture and always challenges me to set new goals for myself within the agriculture industry. It also encourages me to advocate for the God-given industry that I love.

I am writing of this fantastic experience because it is just one of the many highlights AFA has added to my life in agriculture. My first introduction to AFA happened my freshmen year when one of my close friends was chosen as an AFA Community Scholarship Recipient. As a recipient, she received both financial support for her education, and attendance to AFA’s largest event, the AFA Leaders Conference (AFALC), held the first weekend of every November. I have to admit that I was a bit jealous when I learned about her opportunity to attend, and all that she would experience because I had never heard of AFA before. Since it was too late for me to apply for sponsorship for that year’s conference. I applied the following year and thankfully received sponsorship from the Midwest Dairy Association! The AFALC is an event that can change students lives through bridging their academic, leadership and work experiences by further developing and teaching them about the tools they need for success, personally and professionally. Literally, it’s as if AFA sets these lessons, tools, and skills on the table so students can decide to embrace them and come away ready for whatever their life in the agriculture and food industry brings! OK, so that may be a bit a of a dramatized picture, so let me explain.

At the AFA Leaders Conference students are placed into one of four tracks, with each track being specifically designed for that student’s level of development. Generally, starting out as a freshmen in college, one would attend Track 1, and follow through with Track 2 as a sophomore, 3 as a junior and now 4 as a senior. Each track is specifically designed to shape students in a way that prepares them for an exciting career in agriculture, no matter which specific place they may belong. Track 1 focuses on assessing and developing fundamental skills needed for success in college and a career. Track 2 pinpoints communication skills and preparation for employment. Track 3 prepares students for living and working in a global market. Finally Track 4 serves as a capstone for students who have attended the other tracks, and builds on the skills that each track developed. I attended my first conference as a sophomore and started in Track 2 because that lined up with my experiences until that point in my life. Then, I went on as a junior to attend Track 3, and as a senior I helped to plan, prepare and staff this amazing conference as a member of the Student Advisory Team. I was also blessed to attend the AFA Policy Institute in conjunction with National Ag Day in Washington D.C. in March 2012.

So why take the time to write about AFA on my blog, The Dairy Lady? As I stated earlier, it has been instrumental in encouraging me through my college career. AFA’s mission is to create partnerships that identify, encourage and support outstanding college men and women preparing for careers in the agriculture and food industry. Started in 1996 by R. Crosby Kemper with the help of other agri-business leaders, this young organization holds an extremely special and important place in our world and my heart. It is helping meet the needs of agriculture through preparing students with the real skills that they need from the first day on the job to retirement! It is meeting the needs of students who need to be taught and encouraged as they look forward to taking their place in the agriculture and food industry! Even if you have no plans for a career in agriculture, believe me, how this organization impacts the 500 student attendees at the AFA Leaders Conference each year, affects you. These students as I said before have the tools set on the table before them, they can pick them up and embrace them and come away ready for whatever life brings in their agriculture and food industry careers! This training allows them to act as a rising tide, bringing others around them up as they surf through challenges that the future will bring. Whether it is creating the next greatest piece of precision agriculture technology to help feed the world, or learning to connect with food consumers, the experiences that AFA students gain will impact all of us. AFA sets the table with vital experiences, tools and skills for student success so that YOUR dinner table may serve up a juicy steak, a succulent pork chop, a baked potato and broccoli, or a sweet apple with some delicious cheese in the future!

How AFA has impacted me is far greater than what I have expressed in the five paragraphs above, but I hope that this gives you a glimpse into what I know and believe to be, one of the greatest key pieces to success for the future of agriculture in our nation and world.

Updates!

Sun, 05 May 2013 16:33:31 -0400

Hey folks! I have been trying to perfect the links at the top of my blog homepage, such as ‘Walking with Jesus’, ‘Meet the Herd’ and ‘About the Dairy Lady’. I would love for you to check them out! Hope you enjoy! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Administered some some supportive therapy in the vein...

Fri, 03 May 2013 20:03:26 -0400

Administered some some supportive therapy in the vein (intravenous) to one of the first calf heifers who had a bit of a temperature tonight. I want the new momma to feel good. :) #dairylife

Watching her on the camera to see when she is done licking her...

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:51:04 -0400

Watching her on the camera to see when she is done licking her baby off. Then we will feed colostrum, momma’s first #milk after giving birth, and the baby’s first, extremely important, nutritious meal. #dairy (at Watertown Holsteins)

Helped this first-time momma! She had a heifer! #thankful...

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:32:00 -0400

Helped this first-time momma! She had a heifer! #thankful #wannabeavet (at Watertown Holsteins)

Well this was not my first 4-H showing experience, but it is my...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:22:40 -0400

Well this was not my first 4-H showing experience, but it is my first #throwbackthursday #tbt haha not sure which one to hash tag! 🐮❤😊

Why Do We Transfer Embryos?

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:21:00 -0400

Growing up in the dairy industry on my family’s registered (purebred) Holstein farm taught me a lot about what the ideal (true-type as we call it in the dairy world) Holstein looks like. At a young age I started judging and showing dairy cattle so that deepened my understanding of what desirable characteristics both dairy farmers and dairy cattle judges search for. Through a course at South Dakota State University, where I gained my Bachelors in Agriculture Dairy Production, I learned more specifically why each of the characteristics are desired and what their specific purpose is. Each trait or characteristic that a dairy cattle judge views as ideal has a purpose beyond just “looks”. For example, the udder is the most important part of a dairy cow because it is what produces the delicious milk for all of us. So when a judge is looking at an udder, he or she wants that udder to look a certain way, because often times when the udder is phenotypically correct (looks correct) it CAN perform it’s function well, by producing a lot of quality milk! There are many more details to looking at an udder as a judge, but I hope that helps you understand the general idea. Beyond learning about specific characteristics, I personally learned what the ideal Holstein looks like through working with dairy cattle most of my life, and got to see why these traits are necessary and why they help the cow. The topic of this post is about embryo transfer making that a long introduction that doesn’t exactly cover the very scientific, technical procedure of transferring embryos. While there may be some of you interested in the science side of embryo transfer that isn’t why I am writing about it today. I would just like to help folks understand why we do it. Although the science is very interesting so I would encourage you to read this book, found at the Hoard’s Dairyman, http://www.hoards.com/bookstore/EMBR. I share a copy with my brother, and highly recommend it!

First the definition of embryo transfer, according to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Veterinary Medical Board, “Embryo transfer is a procedure whereby an embryo is removed from a donor cow and placed in the uterus of a recipient cow for the duration of gestation (full-term pregnancy). The procedure is commenced by administering hormones to the donor cow to induce “superovulation” (meaning the cow ovulates more than one egg) whereupon the animal is usually artificially bred. Approximately seven to ten days later, the transfer takes place by administering an epidural anesthesia to the donor cow and removing the fertilized ova by a manual procedure of directing a catheter through the cervix into the uterine horn. Several doses of small amounts of nutrient medial are placed into the uterine horn and then pulled out by either suction with a syringe or gravity flow. The media recovered from the uterine horns is searched for ova and those deemed viable are inserted into the recipient cow in a procedure similar to artificial insemination.”

Last summer, while interning, I had the opportunity to shadow a veterinarian, Dr. Daniela, also known as the embryologist for the Maddox Dairy and RuAnn Dairy, for a couple of days (www.maddoxdairy.com for more information). My other experiences around embryo transfer are on my family’s dairy, Watertown Holsteins, where my younger brother, now certified in embryo transfer, performs the procedure. In the past we have also had another great embryo transfer technician from Simple Dreams Genetics Inc. of Hull, IA. So here’s the point, we along many other dairy farmers and ranchers use embryo transfer to help increase the rate at which our genetics improve. As stated earlier, the traits we want in animals help them to live happier and more productive lives. We choose to flush, (slang for embryo transfer, in reference to flushing the uterine body) cows because they have those desirable traits that make give their bodies longevity, productivity and beauty. Another huge part of the decision to flush a cow is knowing the cow’s pedigree, who her parents and grandparents were. In the dairy world we call her mother, her dam, and her father, her sire. Then granddam for grandma, and grandsire for grandpa. Currently there is a huge boom in genomics in the dairy industry, and that also largely affects which cattle are chosen for the embryo transfer procedure. By increasing the rate at which our genetics progress in our herd, we can increase the number of animals that have the desirable characteristics, and decrease the number that don’t. Basically we would like more beautiful cows, who do a fabulous job producing high quality milk. Instead of waiting for that one beautiful cow (who has the desirable traits, pedigree, and produces lots of milk) to have one baby a year, we can have multiple babies from her! The thing is, she doesn’t have to physically have all of the embryos found thanks to being able to transfer the embryos to recipients for the full pregnancy. As the world population increases to 9 billion people by 2050, farmers and ranchers across the livestock industry will be expected to produce more food. As we look to do this we want and need to have cattle that perform their best, look their best and because they look their best, in turn will feel their best since these traits help that cow live a longer, happier and more productive life. Having my cows feel their best is very important to me, so next time you hear about embryo transfer remember it is not only about having better cows, but cows that feel better and do their job better too!

Be sure to email any questions to me at schweerana@gmail.com. I love telling people about one of my passions, dairy!

In January of this year I was blessed to be featured on the...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:41:40 -0400

In January of this year I was blessed to be featured on the Young Dairyman’s page of the Hoard’s Dairyman (HD) Magazine. It was only possible because of the amazing internship I had at Maddox Dairy, because I met the Managing Editor, Corey Geiger, of Hoard’s Dairyman while attending the National FFA New Century Farmer Conference in Iowa, and lastly because Chelsey Johnson, last years HD Intern was a fellow SDSU Jackrabbit. Thank you all!! I was also recently given a copy of the HD in Japanese, in their April publication my story was featured! Goes to show just how international agriculture truly is. The picture above is only one page of the column in Japanese, the article in English took one page, but in Japanese it took a few!

"Passion is a heartfelt energy that flows through us, not from us. It fills our hearts when we allow..."

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:06:39 -0400

“Passion is a heartfelt energy that flows through us, not from us. It fills our hearts when we allow it to and it inspires others when we share it.”

- Leading With Passion by John J. Murphy

Time to play doc! #anawannabeavet #stethoscope #thermometer...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:04:41 -0400

Time to play doc! #anawannabeavet #stethoscope #thermometer #selfie #bovines

Drying up some cows! Vacas secas! Vacation time ladies!...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:33:00 -0400

Drying up some cows! Vacas secas! Vacation time ladies! #holsteins #dairyfarmer

An average lactation, the time a cow is producing milk in a year’s time is about 305 days. Dairy cows have a “vacation” every year that dairymen refer to as the dry period aka maternity leave. This vacation usually averages about 60-75 days. She is generally seven months pregnant when she is going on her dry period. So this means that her body has slowed in milk production as she progressed in her pregnancy. The last two months up till the cow has her baby is her vacation, and she won’t produce milk again until she has that baby. In the photo above I have tubes stuck in my hat that seal her teats during her vacation, protecting them during the dry period. The teat sealant is only put in to her teat canal, not up in to her udder. Before I seal her teats she is milked and each teat is thoroughly disinfected using an alcohol swab. It is also common for cows to be given a dry cow tube in each quarter of her udder as well. Each cows has four quarters each with one teat, completing her one udder. One dry cow tube is put in each quarter after the teat is cleaned with an alcohol swab. The dry cows tubes are given to ward off or treat any existing infection. Because she doesn’t milk during the dry period, her vacation, it is a great time to help her udder become healthier. The purpose of the dry period and each of the dry cow protocols are done to benefit her udder health, and her health so ultimately she can come back to the milking herd healthy, and ready to produce wholesome, quality, delicious milk for you and me!

Clean, clean, clean equipment to #milk those #cows so you and I...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 09:42:00 -0400

Clean, clean, clean equipment to #milk those #cows so you and I can enjoy those delicious, quality #dairyproducts! #milk #icecream #cheese #yogurt

Here at Watertown Holsteins we disinfect and clean our milking equipment BEFORE AND AFTER we milk our 90 cows. This is a very common practice among most dairymen and some dairy farms even disinfect each milker in between cows! Hygiene is extremely important to us here on the dairy! We do it because it keeps the cows healthy and it keeps you and me healthy!

My Cow Poetry

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:24:00 -0400

It’s the way she stretches with a good ‘ole scratching

Makes me chuckle maybe with a little cackling

It’s the nuzzle of her nose to the calf that’s just standing

Makes sure to complete the ultimate first bathing

It’s the look in her eyes when feed’s like a prize

Makes it easy for me to hurry up and rise

It’s the milk, rich and tasty, that she’s happy to give

She’s the dairy cow, mother of mankind, so we can live

It’s milking her today, and again then tomorrow

Seeing her mature, yes goose bumps could follow

It’s the sway of her tail to tell us her tale

But my dedication to her, no it will never fail

Author: Ana Schweer

#Cows are my favorite animal. #cownerd

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:43:06 -0400

#Cows are my favorite animal. #cownerd

Soaking in the Knowledge

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:42:00 -0400

I can’t believe it is already March 2013, wow time has flown by! During spring break I had the opportunity to shadow a vet from the Worthington Veterinary Medical Center. With her I visited a few different locations learning more about:
Calf care, performing ketone tests after drawing blood samples from cows, mastitis caused by Prototheca - an algae, different strains of bacteria that cause calf scours and their characteristics, and discussed some trends in the use of antibiotics and of course there was much more. I always enjoy visiting with veterinarians because they are so knowledgable!

This past week I shadowed vets from the Dell Rapids Vet Clinic. During my time there I learned about:
Transition cow management, the 4DX snap test, helped deliver a baby lamb, helped euthanize a dog in pain, examined microscope slides from a dog with a yeast skin infection. I also got to visit with the head vet of the clinic about resumes and what kind of experiences are most valuable and when you should be attaining the needed skills to be a vet. All of the vets and folks at the clinic have so much knowledge! It’s a privilege having the opportunity to shadow some great veterinarians! I always look forward to shadowing!

As far as what I have been up to with the dairy, my family and I stay busy as usual doing the daily chores and various projects. Though I am only home on the weekends I visit with my dad and brother throughout the week about happenings on the dairy. This past week we had a two new heifers born! The mothers are doing well and so are the two new additions to the herd. With the cold weather we have been bedding the cattle more and more and hope that spring is just around the corner! The Holstein cows have been producing 83 pounds of milk a day. When I come home on the weekends some of the things I that do include keeping up to date on the vaccinations of calves, bed cattle, feed cattle, site clean-up, and milk the cows. I also like to put my skills of observation to the test by walking through our different pens trying to pick up any abnormal behaviors that could mean an animals needs treatment. There is a never ending to-do list around the farm, but we chip away at it one day at a time!

Lastly, I am thankful for each day the good Lord grants me. So, I leave you with a quote and a verse, The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice and be glad. Psalm 118:24

Everyday is a good day to be a sponge, as in soak it all in because today is only going to happen once! After all you can never soak up too much knowledge!

Learn more about the 4DX snap test: http://www.idexx.com/view/xhtml/en_us/smallanimal/inhouse/snap/4dx.jsf?SSOTOKEN=0

Learn more about ketosis, why we test for ketones in cows: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/80900.htm

Time to vaccinate calves! Preventative therapy is an important...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:03:19 -0500

Time to vaccinate calves! Preventative therapy is an important part of any healthy herd. #dairy #wannabeavet (at Watertown Holsteins)