By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
This winter we are experiencing unseasonal temperatures and large temperature fluctuations in our area. People often comment on how variable temperatures can affect their health. Did you know the same is true for animals?
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Barn changes over the generations
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Sometimes I sit and think about all of the changes that have happened from the time my great-grandfather bought his farm until now, when my parents run it with the help of my siblings.
Back in 1934, Canada was in the middle of the Great Depression. That seems to be a strange time to buy a farm, but Great Grandpa did it. Some of the original buildings are still on that farm, with new buildings and additions over the past 77 years. These changes, in some ways, show the timeline of how agriculture has been evolving.
Take the original bank barn for example. It is still large and impressive, but there have been noticeable changes made to it. Different areas of the barn reflect different times. There are the old stanchions which used to be used for the cows. They’re rather small, and most have been removed. In one corner, they are still intact, but are rarely used as stanchions anymore. The rest of the barn has tie stalls now, which were used for the cows when I was young, before the milking parlour was put in. Now, the tie stalls are used for calves before they are big enough to be in group pens.
In another corner of the barn, there is a track hanging from the ceiling. At one time, that track was used to remove manure from the barn. Eventually, it was replaced by a more modern gutter cleaner system. The gutter cleaner was recessed into the floor and brought manure to a pump. The pump would send the manure through a pipe into the manure storage pit outside of the barn.
Underneath the barn hill was once the milk house. It was where all of the milk was stored before the milk truck picked it up. This area was added on to, and later became a series of three loose housing pens. When I was young, the pens were used for maternity pens and, in some cases, as sick pens. Those pens changed and became housing for a wide variety of animals over the years. In my lifetime, they have been used for veal calves, horses, sheep and goats. If a pen was empty, it also housed rabbits when we were younger.
The freestall structure which my grandpa added to the barn, has been used for beef cattle, veal, heifers, and is now strictly used for milking cows. Part of it was converted into the milking parlour. During the summer, one end of the freestall is blocked off, and the dry cows (cows that are not being milked because they are close to calving) use it for shelter and for water access. Both the dry cows and milking cows have pasture access from spring to fall.
The mow in the barn has always been partially used for hay and straw storage. One area of it was also used for livestock housing a long time ago. I remember being told there were chickens in one part of the mow when my grandparents were farming and my dad was young. The floor was pulled up from one section of the mow, and used to make a wall so that one half has two storeys, although only half of a floor between them. That section is used for cut straw in the main part of the barn.
The other part of the barn mow is wide open. It was used for bale storage for years. Right now, it is mainly storage of small tools and equipment, as rolling the large round bales into the mow is very hard to do with a limited number of people and we do not have small square bales any more. In the mow, it is obvious that the barn is old. Wooden pegs hold the beams in place, rather than nails. In several places, you can see evidence of how the hay and straw used to be unloaded, although the equipment itself was removed long ago.
That barn has seen changes from no electricity to electricity. It went from being a mixed farm (with several kinds of animals being raised on the property) to being a more specialized dairy farm. The farm has also gone from raising animals mainly to feed the family and some neighbours to producing enough for larger numbers of people
The treasured farm photographs that we have, dating back to the 1940s, tell a story when they are lined up…a story about Canada. They show how farms used to be small, subsistence-style farms supporting low numbers of people. In those days, there was a much larger percentage of the population who farmed, and almost everything eaten was local food.
Now, the farm is modern and is larger. The average Canadian farm produces enough food for 120 people, and only two per cent of Canadians are farmers. Technology is needed to make the farm more efficient, allowing farmers to feed so many people.
The improvements made have led to a more safe food supply for Canada, and have made it possible for so many people to work in other jobs now. I am sure if my great grandpa were here today and could walk around the farm today, and see how it has changed, he would be proud to see what it has become.
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Agricultural advocate and lifelong farmer
Growing up on a farm was the best preparation possible for marrying a farmer. I knew that it meant Christmas celebrations, just like any celebrations, would start after the animals were taken care of.
Now that we are adults and are forming our own traditions, we are doing our best to support local farmers and the local economy while getting ready for Christmas. Our tree comes from a friend’s tree farm, where we can cut our own. Turkey and cheese come from a nearby store which carries local products. Other various items are picked up in a close radius as well.
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By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Christmas morning. The kids wake up early, rush downstairs, see the presents and stockings that appeared through the night and promptly…walk right past, bundle up and head for the barn. Okay, we may have stopped for a quick peek in our stocking and to read Santa’s note, but that was it. To farm kids, waiting to open presents is a way of life.
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Farm kids are just a little different
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Even though a farm kid looks the same as their non-farming classmates and friends, inside is a completely different story.
I have a nephew who lives in town. He’s just a few months older than my son. My nephew does spend a fair amount of time on the farm, but not enough to completely erase the differences. When the boys were younger, my nephew had started talking while my son had just a few words in his vocabulary. If you asked them what a cow said, my nephew would dutifully say “mooo”. My son had his own way of answering that question. He would tip his head back, push his lips out, and make a “mmmmmm” sound. It was very cute to watch him try to mimic the cows.
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by Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
One day, I had someone with no farm background visiting me at the farm. When my husband came home from the dairy barn, I made a comment about how he was going to shower before joining us.
She asked if this was something he did every time he came in from the barn. On our dairy farm, that isn’t always necessary but many farms do require farmers to shower both before entering and before leaving the barn. In these cases, showers are often built right into the barns. This is called biosecurity and farmers use biosecurity measures to protect their animals from outside germs and bacteria in a variety of ways. In many types of barns, a strict biosecurity protocol is required by the industry’s on farm food safety programs and audits are done to ensure that the rules are followed.
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By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Fall is a great time to be on the farm. The smells, the colours and the activity of harvest and preparing the seed bed for the winter make every day different.
After months of work, it is finally time to harvest the crops. The animals born during the winter and spring months are also either ready to be sold, or are strong and hardy for winter. Everyone waits expectantly for that first frost (now past) that signals the end of the growing season and the start of harvest. It also serves as a friendly reminder from Mother Nature to begin readying barns for winter.
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By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
We tend to have a romantic vision of farming and farm animals. As this former city girl points out, that storybook vision isn’t always reality.
PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL
DATE: 2009.03.30
BYLINE: KIMBERLEE FEICK LOWRY
SECTION: Globe Life
Facts & Arguments: THE ESSAY Tales from the dairy barn
I’ve learned one vital truth in progressing from scraper of poop to bona fide milkmaid: Cows are dumb
Although I have fond childhood memories of playing in haylofts and patting calves on farms near my father’s log cabin, getting intimate with a cow’s underside was never high on my priority list. But when you marry a man who grew up on a dairy farm, you learn to appreciate the grimy beauty of the barn pretty quickly.
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by Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Many people wonder why pigs are in individual pens on many farms. There are a variety of reasons.
Pigs are omnivores, and can be quite aggressive, especially at feeding time. While competing for food, pigs have been known to bite each other. Individual pens protect against this by removing competition for food and water.
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by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Hot summer days are part of the routine for all of us. For some, it means a chance to relax by a pool, or to enjoy it from the comfort of air conditioning. Those options do not work for our farm animals, so what do farmers do to help them?
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