Farming update, milk testing

I haven't talked about the farm much, except for how the quarantine has changed things and about the Belarus tractor they are rebuilding. Good news, on Saturday evening Garry said it was back together, except for putting the cab back on.

The winter wheat is looking good, Garry is hoping the irrigation water is turned on this week, they need water to spray the weed killer on it soon. The rain is greatly reduced in this week's latest forecast, unfortunately.

There's a lot of winter canola planted along the highway, and it's really growing, some of it is even starting to flower.

Last week we had a number of fresh cows and heifers and there were five heifer (female) calves born over two days. Nothing makes a dairy farmer happier than tiny future milk cows! 

Thursday afternoon Garry was finally able to do his milk test to see how much milk the cows give individually. They also took samples of each cows milk. Victor took the samples in to the lab in Dnepro (Canadian-Ukrainian Dairy Commission) where they were analysed for fat content and somatic cell counts (it shows whether the cow is fighting disease). There were eight cows giving more than 30 liters a day, out of the 75 they were milking that day. Most of the rest were over 20 liters. Victor took some photos he sent me.

It's good to see Garry putting some old skills to use. Back in Ontario about 30 years ago, he was a professional milk tester going to farms, while I stayed home and milked our own cows. He has an advantage, he's tall so it's easier to pull the samples down. If the boys are milk testing when we are home in Manitoba, they get him to come out to the back to help.

Victor sent this photo of Garry breeding a cow in our barn. Garry is still breeding cows for people in villages around us during the quarantine. On Thursday a man came to the door while we were on our group missionary zoom call, Garry told him he'd come breed his cow (in our village) in about half and hour when we were finished.

When he got home he told me he had a scare, most people in the village have a large dog on a chain in their driveway. The lady of the house was barely holding onto that dog as he was leaving when he saw the pony size dog in a fenced enclosure climb the six foot fence and get his head and shoulders over it. Garry apparently ran back to the car without being eaten, but he was relieved to get home in one piece.

The next night he went out to a different village to breed a lady's cow. She had phoned and he had his usual conversation in Russian Da ya inseminate corova (yes I breed cow) Kakaya ceilo? (What village) Followed by directions to your house, at which point she mentioned she was the fish lady, and Garry said he knew where to go. When he got home he had a bonus gift of three dried whole fish. Hoping to find a lucky student to give them to.