Sunday, March 1, 2009
Hi all!
We are doing well! We have been very busy this past week. We had 600 pregnant heifers arrive at the farm from Canada this week. We were very busy getting the last barn ready before they arrived. Some of the trucks hauling the cows got lost and we spent all night waiting for them. So, we are tired to say the least!
We are now milking 1030 cows. Our employees are getting more efficient as the days pass and we are all still learning a lot. We have attached a video of the cows being milked. Here is a brief description of what they video shows: Each cow enters the moving rotary. Her udder is dipped with iodine to sanitize. She is then dried off. Then a third person attaches the milking unit. The cow continues to move around the rotary while she is milked and the milking unit detaches automatically when she is finished. She will continue her ride for a total of ten minutes and then she will exit and walk back to her barn where there is feed and a place for her to lay down. Very simple! This occurs three times per day. We are able to milk 360 cows per hour. The other video is from inside the rotary where the cows are looking down at us! You can see where the cows are entering the rotary and then on the left you can see where they exit after going for their ten minute ride. (If you look closely you can see a spray of water that we installed to make the cow reverse and get off the rotary. Some of them like to ride twice if you let them!) If you think it looks strange, imagine what they cow must think!
We are flying back to the U.S. on March 10 for a quick trip to renew our visas.
Hope to see all of you when we are out and about!
We are doing well! We have been very busy this past week. We had 600 pregnant heifers arrive at the farm from Canada this week. We were very busy getting the last barn ready before they arrived. Some of the trucks hauling the cows got lost and we spent all night waiting for them. So, we are tired to say the least!
We are now milking 1030 cows. Our employees are getting more efficient as the days pass and we are all still learning a lot. We have attached a video of the cows being milked. Here is a brief description of what they video shows: Each cow enters the moving rotary. Her udder is dipped with iodine to sanitize. She is then dried off. Then a third person attaches the milking unit. The cow continues to move around the rotary while she is milked and the milking unit detaches automatically when she is finished. She will continue her ride for a total of ten minutes and then she will exit and walk back to her barn where there is feed and a place for her to lay down. Very simple! This occurs three times per day. We are able to milk 360 cows per hour. The other video is from inside the rotary where the cows are looking down at us! You can see where the cows are entering the rotary and then on the left you can see where they exit after going for their ten minute ride. (If you look closely you can see a spray of water that we installed to make the cow reverse and get off the rotary. Some of them like to ride twice if you let them!) If you think it looks strange, imagine what they cow must think!
We are flying back to the U.S. on March 10 for a quick trip to renew our visas.
Hope to see all of you when we are out and about!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Our new year in Russia
Hi all!
We are finally getting caught up enough to send out an update on our progress!
Things here are going very well for us. We have made it through the lengthy Russian holidays and now everyone is back to work! We had very cold weather here (-11F), but now it is near freezing during the day. This is allowing us to get caught up on problems that occur on any dairy farm in extreme cold. We had frozen alley scrapers, frozen manure pumps, frozen water, no water and even power outages! These problems can be solved, but when two or more occur at the same time it is a challenge to say the least!
Our days are very long and sometimes the days and nights run together! We start our day at 7:30 am for the first milking, lunch is at the farm. We do run home for dinner and return at 8pm for the second milking. We try to be home by 9pm, but sometimes it is midnight. We have a very good staff and everyone is learning day by day. (ourselves included!) Don’t think for a minute that we are complaining! We are having an absolute blast!
We are currently milking 900 cows. We have about 700 more to have calves and join the milking string and another 800 will arrive on the ship in late February. The last barn is nearly completed and this will make room for the new shipment. We are milking two times per day now, but we have made the decision to milk 3 times per day starting next week. It will be interesting to see how everyone handles this next step!
The days are moving quickly for us and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring! We will be flying to the USA on March 10 for a quick trip to take care of some things at home.
We are finally getting caught up enough to send out an update on our progress!
Things here are going very well for us. We have made it through the lengthy Russian holidays and now everyone is back to work! We had very cold weather here (-11F), but now it is near freezing during the day. This is allowing us to get caught up on problems that occur on any dairy farm in extreme cold. We had frozen alley scrapers, frozen manure pumps, frozen water, no water and even power outages! These problems can be solved, but when two or more occur at the same time it is a challenge to say the least!
Our days are very long and sometimes the days and nights run together! We start our day at 7:30 am for the first milking, lunch is at the farm. We do run home for dinner and return at 8pm for the second milking. We try to be home by 9pm, but sometimes it is midnight. We have a very good staff and everyone is learning day by day. (ourselves included!) Don’t think for a minute that we are complaining! We are having an absolute blast!
We are currently milking 900 cows. We have about 700 more to have calves and join the milking string and another 800 will arrive on the ship in late February. The last barn is nearly completed and this will make room for the new shipment. We are milking two times per day now, but we have made the decision to milk 3 times per day starting next week. It will be interesting to see how everyone handles this next step!
The days are moving quickly for us and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring! We will be flying to the USA on March 10 for a quick trip to take care of some things at home.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Christmas season in Moscow
Hi Everyone!
We are spending a few days in Moscow seeing the sights and visiting friends before returning to the farm.
Here are some photos we took in Red Square today.
In the background you can see the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's tomb, and the gloomy sky!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
On the road again...
Hello everyone!
We are heading back to Russia today! It may be a few weeks until we get settled before we are able to post another blog entry. Have a great Christmas!
Kevin & Jennifer
We are heading back to Russia today! It may be a few weeks until we get settled before we are able to post another blog entry. Have a great Christmas!
Kevin & Jennifer
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
While here in the US, we got a chance to visit Jennifer's brother Kent and sister-in-law Beccy at their home in North Port, Florida. The weather was beautiful the entire week we were there. We had such a great time so we decided to plan another visit! We are returning to Florida on Saturday, Oct. 25th for another week! We will be staying in a beach condo on Siesta Key. Jennifer's mom and Kevin's sister Julie and brother-in-law Jeff will be joining us on this trip. We are looking forward to a great time!Our return to Russia has been delayed for a couple more weeks. We are waiting on paperwork to arrive from Russia so we can obtain our official "work visas" before returning. As far as we can tell at this point, we will be in the US until mid-November. We are looking forward to returning to Russia, but in the meantime, we are enjoying our time in the US!
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