We think this Canadian student’s passion for farming and his willingness to talk openly to others is an inspiration. In the last few months, he has spoken to hundreds of students at a Woodstock-area high school about food and farming. Keep reading to hear Rudi’s story.
by Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate.
When Rudi Spruit attended a recent conference of the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario and saw a presentation about the misinformation consumers have about agriculture and food, he knew he wanted to do something to help spread the right information. “There are lots of misconceptions. Even teachers have some. I try to encourage others to learn,” says Spruit, a young farmer from Ontario.
What has evolved from an idea formed in March has turned into a 50 minute presentation made to various classes at Spruit’s school. So far, Spruit estimates he has presented to 300 students from his 850 student school. Spruit says there are a total of between 20 and 25 farmers attending the school.
Rudi and his classmate Drew give a presentation on farming to a class at their high school.
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Posted by FFC on June 6th, 2011 :: Filed under
Canada,
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness,
Misconceptions,
Pigs,
Speaking out,
Urban MythsTags ::
Canada,
Consumers,
education,
Farmers,
misconceptions
by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
There is a lot of studying which goes into farming.
Many farmers today have a college diploma or university degree. Some even have graduate degrees. Even after school, though, farmers have to constantly update their knowledge to stay on top of the latest research findings and newest technology.
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Posted by FFC on April 12th, 2011 :: Filed under
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness,
Environmental Farm Plan,
Farm life,
Innovation and technologyTags ::
animal care,
environment,
farm tours,
Farmers,
technology
by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong dairy farmer and agricultural advocate
I always found, growing up, one of the hardest questions to answer was “what’s your favourite season?” I loved them all! As each change in the seasons came, I would look forward to the change with anticipation.
Scenes like this may still be a few weeks away but we're already looking forward to them!
Spring, to me, meant a time for new life. Not only in the barn, either. Dairy cows have calves year round, which is why we have a steady supply of milk in the grocery stores. Other animals, like beef cows, sheep and meat goats, have most of their young during the late winter and spring months. I have always loved driving down the road in the spring, and seeing the young animals out on pasture. It is a sight that will make me smile every time, no matter how often I see it.
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Posted by FFC on March 25th, 2011 :: Filed under
Crops,
Dairy cattle,
Farm life,
Other livestock,
spring,
WeatherTags ::
dairy cattle,
farm,
Farmers
by Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
In an earlier post, I highlighted what a day in the life of a tie stall dairy farmer looks like. Today, I thought I’d cover the other type of dairy farming – a free stall farm.
Here's a milking parlour awaiting cows for one of two daily milkings on one Canadian dairy farm
On any dairy farm, days are laid out based on the milking schedule. Cows cannot miss a milking, so someone always has to be present. Dairy farmers milk their cows two or three times per day. The farmer makes the decision about how often the cows are milked, and a big factor to consider is how many employees work at the farm. For farms that milk three times each day, extra workers are required.
At my parent’s farm, cows are milked twice per day. George and Agnes wake up at 5 a.m. to go to the barn and begin milking by 5:30. They have a free-stall barn, which means the cattle live in a large open space between milkings, and at milking time walk to a central milking parlour to be milked. An example of both a free-stall and a tie-stall dairy operation can be found on the Virtual Farm Tours website at www.virtualfarmtours.ca
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Posted by FFC on February 16th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Dairy cattle,
Family vs factory farming,
Farm life,
Sustainability of the family farmTags ::
agriculture,
animal care,
dairy cattle,
farm,
Farmers
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
People forget that farming is a dangerous profession. I recently read about a symposium in Ireland on the danger of farm animals, in this case bulls. And a study into the situation found that, unlike dogs, no breed of cattle was “safer” than another. Authors of the study reported that when investigating fatal accidents, inspectors often hear that a bull could be considered ‘quiet’ for years and suddenly become ‘angry’ and attack.
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Posted by FFC on February 10th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
animal handling,
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Dairy cattle,
Farm lifeTags ::
agriculture,
animal welfare,
animals,
Canada,
cattle,
dairy cattle,
Farmers,
livestock
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Winters are hard, no matter what your job is. Growing up on a farm, winter meant being outside even on the nastiest of days. We always knew there would be extra chores in the barn that could include such “glamorous” tasks as thawing out water lines, chipping ice off of the free stall floors so cows didn’t slip and putting extra straw down for the animals who were outside. Sometimes it was lunch time before we even got in for breakfast, or we would have to go in when there were still a few jobs to do to thaw out and find warmer or drier clothes, then leave the comfort of the house to brave the elements again.
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Posted by FFC on February 8th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Dairy cattle,
Farm life,
Weather
by Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
In Canada, there are two main types of dairy farms – called tie stall or free stall farms. In a tie-stall barn, the cows live in stalls next to each other where they have constant access to water and are fed in a manger in front of them. They are also milked in their stalls. In a free-stall barn, cows are housed in large group pens or individual stalls. They get milked by walking to a milking parlour or sometimes a milking robot. You can actually tour both types of farms on the virtual farm tour website at www.virtualfarmtours.ca Click on the “Dairy Cow Farm” button when you get there.
Our third generation family farm is a small, family-run tie-stall dairy operation. As with any dairy farm, all plans are made around the two milking times.
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Posted by FFC on January 19th, 2011 :: Filed under
Dairy cattle,
Farm life,
Sustainability of the family farm
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Udders on bulls?
Barnyard is a cute movie, but one key part of the movie leaves me shaking my head. Not all cattle have udders. With small children at home, we seem to have a lot of farm-themed children’s books and movies, and my husband and I are surprised at how often the bulls or calves have udders in the pictures.
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Posted by FFC on January 14th, 2011 :: Filed under
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness
by Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
The death of Ottawa-area dairy farmer Arie van Lindenberg in 2009 touched many members of the farming community. He was by all reports (I didn’t know him personally) a cheerful, driven and friendly man whose positive spirit rubbed off on others. His death, to prostate cancer, left a big hole in the family who are carrying on without him. Soon after his death, Arie’s widow, Marja, received a call from the Ontario Farm Animal Council to appear in its 2011 calendar. She said she’d be pleased to participate, but only if her sons Matthijs and Barend were included. All three family members appear together in the calendar that pays tribute to the farming community.
The van Lindenberg family appear in the month of June.
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Posted by FFC on January 12th, 2011 :: Filed under
Dairy cattle,
Faces of Farming,
Family vs factory farming,
Uncategorized
by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural enthusiast
January 7, 2011 – Growing up on a farm, I was one of the only farm kids in my class at school. For years I heard from people asking me about cow tipping and claiming to have gone cow tipping.
As hard as I tried, I know some of them didn’t believe me when I said it simply was not possible. Everyone seemed to know someone who knew someone who claimed to have done it.
The theory is that cattle sleep standing up, so when they are sleeping they are unsteady. All it takes is someone walking up and pushing on them to tip them over!
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Posted by FFC on January 7th, 2011 :: Filed under
animal handling,
Beef cattle,
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness
