Giving Thanks and Feeling Hopeful

Happy New Year! Like many, we are looking forward to brighter days ahead, but we are very thankful as we look back on the many blessings that 2020 brought us!

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We are thankful, above all else, for the health of our family and employees. We are thankful for the ability to keep farming, amid a global pandemic. Continuing to care for our land and animals has been therapy for all of us and kept us grounded. We are thankful to be here, in Vermont, with a supportive community and resilient service providers.

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We are thankful for the opportunities 2020 has given us, like opening our Market to fill a need for local meats.

From left to right: Elizabeth, Melissa, Bonnie and Clara in front of the Market, located at 141 Lyle Haven Road, East Montpelier, VT

Lastly, we are thankful for science and smart minds that give us promise for 2021. We hope you and your family are doing well, and 2021 brings you much joy and happiness!

ALL Dairy is Essential

 

In response to the opinion piece “Ellis: Big dairy is not essential” published in the June 4 issue of the Times Argus…thank you.  I thank the author because  he made some good points: dairy farming is different than it used to be, it is being challenged to improve environmentally, in respect to animal welfare, and in respect to profitability, it does have a broken system for milk pricing, quite frankly…the dairy industry is struggling right now.

Yet, the argument Ellis makes that large farms are unessential is simply not true…especially in this time of crisis when more people than ever are food insecure. Ellis is ignoring that dairy farmers of all sizes have stepped up to the challenges they are facing.

The proposal Ellis referenced to send $50 million to Vermont dairy farmers and processors, is money specifically reserved for losses incurred due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Dairy farmers had a difficult last few years, but 2020 projections were strong.  Any industry that immediately lost 15% of its market due to a halt on exports while simultaneously losing 100% of the domestic food service market would struggle.  That is not something anyone could predict.  These funds are supporting farmers with COVID-19 losses specifically, not subsidizing a dying industry.

In Vermont all dairy farmers, large and small, are permitted by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and follow strict Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs).  In this years Clean Water Initiative annual report, it was concluded that agriculture is doing the work. Agriculture was asked to be approximately 60% of the solution to reducing phosphorus in Lake Champlain, and the report found agriculture came through as more than 90% of the solution.  Farmers take their stewardship seriously, the manure and fertilizers applied to our fields are applied to help our crops grow.  Manure is liquid gold; we want to protect the nutrients that we put on the field to make sure they are being used by our crops.  Anything that is not being utilized by our crops is wasted money, you can be sure farmers are doing everything they can to make sure that liquid gold is not wasted.  Farmers in good times and bad, are making significant investments to further improve their environmental impact and water quality.  Our dairy farm, Fairmont Farm, has heavily invested in technology and practices that are good for water quality, soil health and mitigate the effects of climate change. Investments include, our no-till planting system, our manure management system to reduce soil compaction, manure injection technology, manure storage ensuring spreading only at ideal times, and high and low flow systems to manage stormwater.  We have planted vegetative buffers along waterways, and we have worked with the Vermont Land Trust on multiple projects to ensure a future for productive land to stay in agriculture.  We crop over 3,600 acres of land in Vermont and own more than 1,600 acres of conserved land.  The fact is, there is a need for ALL agriculture.  This is too much land to protect from development if relying on small diversified farms alone.  The Vermont we love, the Vermont that has a thriving tourist industry, has beautifully maintained open landscapes.  This is thanks to Vermont farmers of all shapes and sizes.  Currently, Vermont homes are being purchased from people out of state sight unseen, development of farmland is something we should all be worried about. The large versus small farm fight is not worth having.  All dairy farmers have more in common than they have differences.

Dairy farmers across the U.S. follow rules under the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) program.  This program specifically outlines protocols put together by a panel of professionals, including vets, in relation to animal welfare on the farm.  Our “confinement systems” as mentioned by Ellis, include temperature control, fans, sprinklers, cool and clean sand beds, plentiful water, and food just a short walk away, fly control, scratching posts.  These cows are worked with, at least three times a day, to make sure they are happy and healthy.

The outdated federal order milk pricing system has been an issue for dairy farmers for decades.  Across the country, cooperatives are working on their own supply management programs to better control supply and demand.  Our own cooperative, Agri-Mark, put a new plan in place January 1^st of this year.  When the pandemic hit, there had not been enough time to see the benefits of a brand-new program that took a year to plan and implement.  It is no small task to create a program that protects all farmers in a co-op while providing fair treatment and equal opportunity for all.

You would like a diversified food system that feeds Vermonters during the pandemic and beyond?  We do too.  In fact, many dairy farmers have stepped up in their communities and offered local beef for sale, many have other livestock species as well, my farm included. Dairy farmers work hard to provide a quality product loaded with nutrients for families in Vermont and beyond.

Milk is the most complete food and provides 9 essential nutrients.  Retail data shows that 94% of Americans have dairy milk in their fridge – hardly a product that is going away.  This pandemic has driven demand for fluid milk and retail sales are record breaking right now.  Unfortunately, it is the lack of food service and the huge hit to our export market that created an oversupply of dairy.  Agri-Mark has about 160 of the 635 Vermont family dairy farms, as an Agri-Mark member, I can assure you our milk goes just a few miles down the road to the Cabot plant to be made into Cabot products.  Vermont dairy farms contribute $2.2 billion to our Vermont economy.  Our farm has 35 full time employees. That is 35 families we are supporting.  We keep much of our business and money local, supporting other nearby businesses.  We have hosted Vermont Breakfast on the Farm, welcoming 1,200 guests to a free breakfast and farm tour, we have participated in the last several Cabot Open Farm Sundays, again providing a fun and free family event, we even host a Life on the Farm Summer camp, along with many school tours. We also have miles upon miles of public trails on our land. This is hardly doing “little to nothing in return for the public,” as Ellis claimed of large Vermont dairy farms.

The current pandemic we are facing is a wake-up call, it has forced everyone to change their mindset as well as the way we go about normal day to day activities including sourcing our food.  Please know that it is because of the farmers that the grocery shelves have remained stocked, we showed up each day to take care of our animals, our land, and produce food for your family.  While I know some things will change because of this pandemic, I know our dairy farmers will not change their mission…to keep working to “build a food system that feeds us all.”

Signed,

Clara Ayer of Fairmont Farm

 

Sending our Thanks this Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving we want to thank you for choosing dairy at your table.  There are so many wonderful ways to incorporate dairy products into your family’s meal!  When you choose dairy, whether it be milk, butter, cheese, cream cheese, sour cream or a vast array of other products, you are helping family farmers like us!

Looking for healthier options this holiday season?  Have you experimented with substituting greek yogurt in your recipes to add protein and replace butter, oil or mayonnaise?  Want to learn more about using greek yogurt in your cooking?  Check out the Cabot website for some more ideas. Curious about other healthy dairy ideas?  Adding whey protein to your baking is another great tool for adding protein to your diet!

We may be a little biased as we are Cabot Farmers, but we really love our products and our cooperative!  There are so many amazing ways to use our products for the holidays, try this Pumpkin Mac and Cheese for a festive spin on a classic recipe or these Cheddar Biscuits for the perfect holiday rolls.  No Thanksgiving is complete without Apple Pie, make sure to use butter in your crust and serve it with Cheddar for a Vermont Classic.  How about leftover ideas, try this Turkey Casserole out!  Have we made you hungry yet?  Browse through a lot of wonderful recipes on the Cabot website.

Thank you again for your support this holiday season, we are very proud to produce the nutritious foods that you enjoy for the Holidays and every day.  We’ll be over here licking our lips, planning our Holiday Menu!

Best, The Fairmont Family

 

Pancakes and Farm Tours!

Have you heard about Breakfast on the Farm?  We are hosting this event this Saturday, June 17th, at our farm on Lyle Young Road in East Montpelier.  At least 1,000 visitors are expected, visitors will come for a FREE pancake breakfast and then go on a self guided tour through our dairy farm.  Thank you to the many generous sponsors that make this event happen and to the 100+ volunteers that will help the event run smoothly for our guests.

Tickets to the event are free but they need to be reserved at http://www.vermontbreakfastonthefarm.com.

Breakfast on the Farm will be at Fairmont Farm, Inc., 95 Lyle Young Road, East Montpelier, VT on June 17, 2017

So what might visitors see on our dairy farm?  Here’s a quick preview of what to expect:

Visitors will learn about our forages!  Did you know that we can produce 60% of our cows diet by putting up high quality haylage and corn silage?

A group of cows get fed in our free stall barn using a mixer wagon.  They are fed TMR (Total Mixed Ration) that is made up of about 60% forages we produce and 40% purchased grains.

Visitors will see our new maternity barn, where they may or may not get to see a new mom and baby.  Averaging about 5 births a day, we will cross our fingers that some lucky visitors may be able to see a new calf coming into the world!

These two mothers help a baby calf stand up just an hour after birth!

Manure!  How can you go to a dairy farm without learning about how awesome our cows are at recycling?  Visitors will see our manure pits and learn about how we use manure as the main ingredient to our nutrient management plan which helps us grow excellent crops that will be harvested for our animals diet.

Our “pit crawler” stirs our manure to incorporate the sand and manure together to be spread back on our fields.

When we talk about our manure and cropping, we cannot help but talk about conservation!  Visitors will see through a demonstration how our no-till crop system works to improve soil health and water quality.  We plant almost 100% no-till and have been using this system since 2008.

Corn is planted directly into this winter rye cover crop without tilling up the land to reduce soil erosion and protect both soil health and water quality.

With manure and conservation practices of course comes equipment, there will be a variety of equipment to check out up close!

This is a sampling of our tractors we use for multiple jobs on our dairy farm, here they are pushing up and packing corn silage!

Cows!  There will be lots of cows for visitors to see, they will learn about what life is like on our farm as a cow and how we work hard to keep them happy, healthy and comfortable.

Cows at the feed bunk enjoying their free choice buffet.  In our free stall barns, cows are free to eat, sleep and drink water whenever they please.  They go to the parlor to be milked three times a day.

Visitors will be able to see our milking parlor where we produce about 120,000 pounds of milk a day, which is roughly 12,000 pounds of cheese!  There will be a mechanical cow to try milking and a milk truck to show how our milk is transported from our farm to the Cabot Creamery in Cabot, Vermont.

Cows are milked in our double 15 parallel  parlor, we can milk 30 cows at a time.  Our parlor runs 21 hours a day, which includes 3 milkings for all the cows.  The three hours of down time are spent cleaning our milking system between each milking.

There will also be a station to learn about our 4-H club and summer camps, we have a lot of fun sharing our passion of caring for our animals with local youth and love to see their hard work pay off when they show their animals in the fall.

Our winter calf won her class at the Big E in 2015, our 4-Hers work hard to qualify to show at this event.  We are proud of the work they put in to show our animals and the high quality animals we have been producing by focusing on genetic improvements in our breeding program.

The highlight of many of our tours is our calf barn and the baby calves, visitors of course can expect to spend time learning about how we raise our calves to be the future of our dairy herd.

Calves drinking milk in the calf barn, they are housed in groups of 8 and have free choice milk, grain and water.  It is quite common to see them playing and snuggling together!

Our family hopes to see you at Breakfast on the Farm this Saturday, June 17th, at our farm on Lyle Young Road in East Montpelier.  The event is free but please remember to reserve your tickets by visiting http://www.vermontbreakfastonthefarm.com.

Our family is looking forward to meeting yours for Breakfast on the Farm at our dairy Farm, Fairmont Farm.  See you Saturday!

 

 

Every Day is Earth Day at Fairmont

More than one billion people will celebrate Earth Day all around the world on April 22. Here in Vermont on our dairy farm we treat every day like Earth Day.

On a dairy farm we do not differentiate between weekdays, weekends, holidays, or even night and day…our farm operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and we always celebrate our land.  We are thankful for the food it brings our cows and we continue to look for ways we can work to improve our natural resources.

Our mission at Fairmont Farm is to be a profitable dairy farm with the utmost consideration for the safety and happiness of our people, the cleanliness of our environment and the health of our animals.

We care about our animals and the environment tremendously, we would not be able to farm without them!  For our farm to be sustainable, and continue to farm into the future, we make being responsible stewards of our land and animals part of our mission.

We are responsible for over 3,600 acres of land which is used to plant and harvest corn and hay to feed our cows. We have worked with the Vermont Land Trust and currently own 1,675 acres of conserved land, however the best way to preserve land is to keep farms in business – our farm fields cover East Montpelier, Plainfield, Marshfield, Barre, Berlin, Calais, Montpelier, Craftsbury, Glover, Greensboro, and South Albany.

 

Our cows feed is about 60% forages that we grow ourselves (a combination of corn and hay)!

Soil health is crucial to the health of our water and food supply. When a farm field is left bare, the topsoil can get blown away by the wind or washed away by the rain. We keep our soils in place by covering our fields with plants all year long. In the spring, we plant our corn. It grows through the summer and is harvested in the fall. Then, in the fall we plant a protective cover crop like the cereal grain winter-rye that grows through the winter.  This keeps the soil in place through the snow melts and spring rains. Each 1% increase in healthy soil organic matter helps the soil hold 25,000 more gallons of water per acre.

Winter rye starting to grow just after the fall corn harvest.

Our corn and cover crops are planted without tilling up the soil, we leave the land in-tact and plant the seeds directly into the ground through any existing vegetation.  When the soil is undisturbed the healthy root systems, the worms and the bugs all help the soil to retain nutrients much better while also doing the tillage work themselves, creating pathways for the water and nutrients to be absorbed.  There are added benefits too –less equipment trips over the field which reduces soil compaction and fuel usage.

Corn is planted directly into the existing winter rye crop without tilling up the soil first.

In 2016 we began piping manure to many of our fields instead of trucking it. Manure is transported to the fields through a pipeline hose that is connected to a tractor in the field and either spread or injected directly into the soil, sometimes up to 12-inches underground, which protects water quality and improves soil health.  This further reduces the equipment trips over the field but also reduces the road traffic again helping with soil compaction and fuel consumption.

Manure is being spread through a pipeline hose.  The pipeline connects directly to our manure pit and pumps manure through the pipeline all the way to the tractor in the field.

To watch a video that shows how cover crops and manure injection work visit:
Protecting the Soil ; Feeding the Soil

One of the most rewarding parts of farming is being out in our fields to harvest our crops and preserve Vermont’s land and natural beauty.

And, when you look out on the beautiful fields and open spaces of Vermont, remember the dairy farmers who are working hard to protect our most important natural resources.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas at Fairmont Farm

Edited from Clement Clarke Moore’s Original

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the barns
It’s business as usual, on a dairy farm;

The stockings were hung by the parlor with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The cows were nestled all snug in their sand beds,

While visions of summer-sun danced in their heads;

The milkers are bundled up for the storm,
They are settling into their shift and will be milking ’til Christmas ‘morn,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
They sprang from the parlor to see what was the matter.
Away to the window they flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to their wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
They knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!

To the top of the field! to the top of the hill!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the barn-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of corn, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, they heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As they drew in their hands, and turned around,
Down the cupola St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of corn he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And they laughed when they saw him, in spite of themselves;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave them to know they had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the cupola he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But they heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

Thankful at Fairmont

Happy Thanksgiving!  Many people take this time of year to talk about what they are thankful for.  Here at Fairmont Farm, we feel fortunate to have so much to be thankful for today and everyday.

We are thankful for…..

Our senior generation that inspired us to get into dairy farming,

and helped us get started in a great partnership!

Our family that is passionate about our farm and loves working together to make Fairmont everything it is today.

Our 4th generation that loves helping out on the farm!

New additions to the family….Carson,

Elizabeth,

and Sophie!

Our employees that take excellent care of our cows,

keep the barns clean,

and milk our cows three times a day around the clock.

Our wonderful neighbors who are interested in our farm and support us farming in our community.

Cabot for buying our milk and making it into the worlds best cheddar!

Manure, to give our crops the nutrients they need to grow…

and new technology that allows us to operate more efficiently.

A great crop of corn to harvest for our cows,

lots of feed in the bunk,

and a surplus of corn silage to harvest allowing us to pick high moisture corn.

Weather that allowed us to get 4 cuttings of haylage, 5 on some fields, and gorgeous fields to farm!

Our feeder that makes sure our cows are fed everyday using the crops that we harvest.

Local teachers and students that come to the farm for field trips.

Camp kids that bring so much energy and a love of animals to the farm.

Our 4-Hers that continue to amaze us with their accomplishments and eagerness to learn.

Our calves that put a smile on our face everyday,

even when they decide to walk on the wild side and mischievously get out!

For our heifers who keep us on our toes in the springtime when they test their boundaries.

For some of our key cow families that have enabled us to make genetic sales, like “Rescue” (pictured above).

and most importantly….our herd of COWS!

Our cows of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors….

that let us be their farmers!

What are you thankful for?

Highlights from the NEK Holstein Show

Northeast Kingdom Holstein Show at Barton Fairgrounds was a whirlwind of a day, we trailered in with our heifers on Saturday morning and left Saturday night with a group of successful heifers and smiling 4-Hers that were sure to sleep well that night!

Udderly Crazy/Fairmont 2016 String NEK Holstein Show

While we were at the fair, we had the pleasant surprise of seeing a pair of steers we sold last year!  They won best pair and best trained in their division, congrats Caleb!!

Caleb with his young pair of oxen “Rock” and “Stone”

Udderly Crazy 4-H had both the Jr. Champion Showman and Senior Champion Showman!

Caroline Kirby with “Abiline” and her big sister, Maggie, after winning Jr. Champion Showman.  Maggie is a past winner of this award as well!

Isabel Hall with “Lust” after winning Sr. Champion Showman.

Other showmanship highlights were Maggie Kirby placing 3rd in her class as well as Christin and Charlie Haynes both placing in the top five of their showmanship classes.

Conformation class highlights:

Spring Calf: Fairmont Solomon Abiline-ET – 1st, Fairmont Doorman Anneli-ET – 2nd, Fairmont Doorman Lilymay-ET – 3rd

Winter Calf: Fairmont Brokaw Addie-ET – 2nd, MS Putnam-Farm Rval Jana-ET – 5th

Fall Calf: Fairmont Sid Lakota-ET – 1st

Summer Yearling: Fairmont O Kaliber Lust-ET – 1st

Spring Yearling: Fairmont Absolute Abbi – 2nd

Line-up for Junior Champion of the Junior Show

Abiline was the Junior Champion of the Junior Show, Anneli was the Reserve Junior Champion and Lakota was Honorable Mention of the Junior Show.

Jr. Champion and Reserve Jr. Champion of the Junior Show!

Abiline was Reserve Junior Champion of the Open show and Anneli Honorable Mention.

Other Class Highlights:

Produce of Dam: Abiline and Anneli out of VT-Pond-View Gold April-ET EX-92- 2nd, Lakota and Lust out of VT-Pond-View Atwood Lady-ET EX-90 – 3rd

Junior Best Three: Abiline, Anelli and Lakota – 1st

Thank you to all of our awesome showman who did a wonderful job getting these heifers ready for this show!

Maggie Kirby

Isabel Hall

Justin Thurber

Caroline Kirby

Charlie Haynes

Christin Haynes

Taggart Schrader

We’re off to Champlain Valley Fair on August 31st for the Vermont Holstein Show which will take place September 4th.  We hope to see you there!

Fair Season is now in Full Swing!

Udderly Crazy 4-H Club (from left to right): Justin Thurber, Isabel Hall, Caroline Kirby, Maggie Kirby, Charlie Haynes

The Udderly Crazy 4-H Club at Fairmont Farm just returned from a great start to their showing season.  August 15th, 2016 was the Vermont State 4-H Show at the Caledonia County Fairgrounds.  We could not be more proud of this amazing group of 4-Hers.

Charlie Haynes placed 3rd in his 11 year old Showmanship class, one of the largest classes of the day!  Caroline Kirby won the 12 year old Showmanship class and then went on to be the Reserve Junior Champion Showman.  Isabel Hall won the 14 year old Showmanship class and Justin Thurber placed 4th in the 14 year old Showmanship class.  Maggie Kirby won her 17 year old Showmanship class.  Isabel Hall was the Senior Champion Showman.

Isabel Hall – Senior Champion Showmanship – Vermont State 4-H Show 2016

The conformation classes were quite successful as well.  Udderly Crazy 4-H had the 2nd and 3rd place calves in the Spring Calf class, 1st place heifer in the Spring Yearling class and 1st place heifer in the Summer Yearling class.  Our Summer Yearling went on to be Junior Champion of the show!

Fairmont O Kaliber Lust-ET – 1st place Summer Yearling and Jr. Champion

Congratulations to all of our hardworking 4-Hers that put a lot of time and effort into training their heifers and preparing them for the show ring!

Caroline prepping “Abiline” for the show ring

Maggie adding some final touches to “Abbi” before winning the Spring Yearling class

The Udderly Crazy 4-H Club will be headed to the Northeast Kingdom Holstein Show this Saturday August 20th at the Barton Fairgrounds, the show starts at 3pm.

Fairmont will then have a string of animals at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds for the Vermont State Holstein Show which will be held September 4th.  The best animals will continue on to the Northeast Fall National Holstein Show held on September 16th at the Big E Fairgrounds.

From Udderly Crazy, Maggie Kirby, Isabel Hall and Caroline Kirby have all qualified to attend the Big E with their heifers and represent Vermont 4-H.  The 4-H show at the Big E is both September 17th and 18th.  Maggie will be representing Vermont on the Judging Team A, Isabel will be representing Vermont on Judging Team B as well as the Quiz Bowl Team.

We hope to see you at some of these upcoming fairs, please visit us in the barn and cheer us on in the stands!

A Day in the Life of a Fairmont Camper

If you’re wondering about our summer camps, here are some snapshots to take you through a day in the life of one of our campers….

Campers start the morning feeding the heifers

….and showing them some love!

Campers brushed their calves

and learned to lead!

They bathed their calves,

and there was plenty of time for bonding 🙂

Each camper got assigned their own calf for the week,

which they formed great relationships with…

smiles all around from the kids and the calves!

Campers and their calves learned to work together,

and trust each other!

Campers also spent time doing daily chores

and keeping the barn tidy….

they also made sure our cows had clean water bowls to come back to!

We made time to play some games to cool off,

and get our energy out!

Campers did some team building exercises,

and helped each other out!

We had fun watching this duck,

and all her ducklings!

Campers fed the baby calves….

played with them,

and snuggled them!

Campers also did a great job cleaning dishes for the next feeding!

We took a trip to visit Cabot, where all of Fairmont’s milk goes!

Campers even learned to milk themselves…

and make butter!

They also enjoyed dairy products!

They had fun posing for their very own…

milk mustache shoot!

We certainly loved all the different mustaches…

so cute!!

Campers made friends,

and experimented with making some human pyramids!

They got a little daring with a large pyramid…

which didn’t last very long!

We had some special guests from the news…

and some more guests that taught us about fire extinguishers!

Learned a little about the history of dairy farming,

and about dairy showing and dairy judging.

Campers also took a field trip to our main farm…

to see many many more calves…

that is always a hit for both the calves and the campers 🙂

The whole week led up to a demonstration to family and friends,

showing everyone what they learned during the week!

Everyone went home with a blue ribbon,

we had two awesome groups of campers this year!

Friends and family even got to meet the special calves that the kids worked with all week!

Our calves certainly miss their camper friends….

they can’t wait until next year!