Happy Earth Day--What we do to help everyday

Happy Earth Day, Canada!

I sometimes don't like the designation of Earth Day, because in my mind, Earth Day should be everyday.  We should always be conscious about our impact on the environment.  Here at the farm, not only are we conscious about our impact, but the environment is how we make our living.  If we mistreat the environment, it is not going to be around for generations.  As 5th generation farmers, we would like the legacy continue.

I thought I'd share with my readers how we strive to be environmentally friendly at the farm.  In the house, we recycle all plastics, paper, cardboard, glass, metal, and beverage containers.  All non-meat scraps are either fed to the chickens or composted.  Our farm has an Environmental Farm Plan.  Outside on the farmyard, all of the oil and filters from the tractors and vehicles are collected and recycled.  Fuel is stored in double-walled fuel tanks.  The net wrap, twine and bale wrapping from the hay and haylage is recycled.  Cattle needles are disposed of as "sharps".  Cattle manure is spread on crop land, and less synthetic fertilizer is needed.  The sloughs on our land provide habitat to waterfowl, and the slough where our cattle are wintered on is fenced out to protect the wetland.

On the crop side of things, we recycle all the herbicide containers and the cardboard boxes they come in.  We practice crop rotation to help prevent disease, control weeds, and manage nutrients.  Every year, all our fields are soil tested.  The soil is analyzed for remaining nutrients, and suggested fertilizer rates for the following years' crop is determined.  The fertilizer is banded (or tilled) into the ground to prevent nutrient loss.  We raise Roundup Ready Canola because it yields well, helps control a wide variety of weeds effectively with very little environmental impact, and using it in our crop rotation helps reduce the possibility of herbicide resistant weeds.

The Earth has been here for an extremely long time.  The time that we spend here is very short, in comparison.  Let's all take care of Mother Earth, treat her with respect, and ensure that our future generations will be able to treasure the things that we have.

Calving in Pictures--Days 12-23

Well, to say that I've been busy is an understatement.  From my last calving post until now, we are 1/3 of the way done calving.  Our first group that calves only has 7 left!  It's possible that they will be done before the other group even starts.

I've broken down the stats of the past 11 days (really? it's only been 11 days since I've blog about calving...time flies when you're having fun indeed!).  Here's when the calves showed up and how many on that day:

March: 26th-1, 28th-3, 29th-1, 31st-1

April: 1st-2, 2nd-4, 5th-2, 7th-4, 8th-1, 9th-2, 10th-1, 11th-1, 12th-2

Yes, we've have 25 calves in 11 days.  Thankfully everyone, cows and babies, have all been healthy.

So, now for your dose of cuteness...Calves in photos!

Calf just born

Even calves blink when they get their photo taken!

Techno-Cowgirl: iCalve app review

Hi, my name is Jill, and I'm an app-aholic!  Yes, I have so many apps on my iPhone that I can't do the latest update without temporarily deleting some.  My apps vary from photography (another hobby of mine), to games to keep the kids occupied if needed, to a great calving/herd management app.  This great app that I'm talking about is called iCalve created by an Alberta cattleman for cattlemen.

Main page of app

I began using it before calving season arrived, and instantly fell in love with it.  First off, I always have my phone on me, so being able to store my cattle records there is valuable.  The data entry is easy, as the dates pop up as "today's date" and the animal types are just a simple swipe to change.  The only challenge I found was entering the same animal for different treatment dates under the Doctor Records, but I just added dashes or spaces in the tag number to "trick" the program.

This winter, I was able to keep track of all our doctor records in one easy spot, which is crucial for Verified Beef Producers.

Doctor record for mass treatment of heifers

This winter we also culled (or sold) a cow, because she was old and not bred (pregnant).  In the iCalve app, there is a place to store this information too.

Cull cow entry

There is also a place to record any dead animals that you might have, along with the reason for dying.  I find this very crucial when we were dealing with a small outbreak of pneumonia in our herd, and tracking who had died from pneumonia.

Death loss entry

Now that calving has arrived, it's easy to input all the data into the app after the calves are born.

Individual calf entry

Summary of calving page

There is also a gestation calendar to figure out when your cows are going to calve after they have been turned in with the bull.  As well as a whole page dedicated to herd data to fill out for the year.

I feel that the iCalve app is well worth the $9.99 I paid for it on iTunes.  In addition to never having a wet, muddy, lost calving book and cow records, all of my data is backed up to Dropbox in an easy to read pdf.  Its great for all the Techo-Cowgirls and Cowboys and simple enough for those who don't consider themselves to be one.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, although I had prior approval from the creator of iCalve to write this post.  The views expressed are my own.