Last month, we welcomed some very special guests to our farm, including Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. Ree was joined by her fellow food bloggers – Maria, Sommer, Brenda, Julie, Bridget, Jessica, Joanne, and Jenny. The purpose of their visit, which was organized by Land O’Lakes, was to learn more about dairy farming. I shared…
When something good happens once, it might be just a fluke. When it happens a second time, it might just be for real. We earned our second milk quality award last Friday, for the milk we sold in 2012. We’re super proud that we’ve been able to maintain award-winning milk quality for two years now.
On January 30, Daphne and I traveled to St. Paul for Dairy Day at the Capitol. This Minnesota Milk Producers Association event brought dairy farmers together with legislators to address issues affecting the dairy industry. A recap of the event was published in the Dairy Star. Another story and video can be…
Last Tuesday, November 27, our farm was named Minnesota’s 2012 Producer of the Year by the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. Our story was also featured in several publications: • The Dairy Star • The Country Today • Agri-News We feel truly honored by this award. There are so many deserving dairy farms in…
Both of our farm’s entries in the 2012 Stearns County Fair Open Dairy Show took first place in their classes and our Jersey heifer was named Reserve Junior Champion of the breed and Top Bred & Owned of the breed. Even more importantly, Dan and Monika had a ton of fun and learned some very…
One of the things we enjoy most about farming is the opportunity to share our farm with others. Last weekend, we welcomed a troop of Girl Scouts from St. Paul to our farm. The girls and their families camped overnight in our yard, toured our farm and had a great time learning about dairy farming.…
The Minnesota Project featured our farm in one of its case studies on energy efficient farms. Take a look at their Farm Energy Efficiency page or click on the graphic below to read the case study.
We finally earned our first milk quality award from our cooperative. Our milk quality has been good for several years, but we always fell a little short of earning a milk quality award. In 2011, our milk quality was finally consistent enough to earn an award. For us, a milk quality award is the…
Our dairy farm requires a lot of energy, mostly in the forms of electricity and fuel, to operate, so energy efficiency is important to us. We’ve taken several steps to reduce our energy consumption, including installing energy efficient lighting, a plate cooler, and a heat reclaimer. Farm Energy Auditors help farms of all types find…
Our term on the NMPF’s Young Cooperators Advisory Council came to an end last week at the NMPF Annual Meeting in Reno, NV. Our time on the council was great. We had so much fun getting to know other young dairy farmers from around the country while at the same time learning more…
Our Dairy FARM (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) evaluation was conducted today. The evaluator looked at everything from newborn calf care to animal nutrition and housing to environment and facilities. The evaluation was very thorough. We know we give all of our animals the very best care we can, but it’s nice to have…
Last week, I had an awesome opportunity to help with an agricultural education event put together by my friend Jacqui. The event, called Destination Dairy, was an interactive experience designed to help elementary students learn more about healthy habits, agriculture and the dairy industry. The older students visited Jacqui’s family’s farm, while the younger students…
Here it is! Our story in Land O’Lakes’ growingtogether magazine is finally out. Click on the graphic and then scroll to page 8 to read the story.
Our family and farm will be featured in the fall issue of Land O’ Lakes’ growingtogether magazine. The story focuses on how young dairy farmers get started in the business. We’ll post a link to the online version as soon as the issue is published.
We recently received a Good Farm Neighbor Award from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Wow! What an honor. You can read more about the award on the Department of Agriculture’s web site. This is a great opportunity to thank all of our neighbors for making our community a great place to farm.
Blue Diamond Dairy 