FFA District Dairy Judging Contest

In September we hosted the 2011 District Dairy Judging Contest, representing 5 area schools: Vale, Ontario, Nyssa, Jordan Valley and Adrian. There were 156 students participating. Our best count was about 195 in total attendance.

Many thanks to local dairy producers, Scotty, Shelly and Bill for bringing us holsteins and guernseys for judging.

After lunch, participants listened to speakers from the Oregon Dairy Products Commission and Farm Service Agency office.

Congratulations to Nyssa FFA for taking home 1st place banners for beginning and advanced teams.



Guests



Participants

Cook Jerry

Guernsey class

Tallying the scores

The Cow Crew

Helpers

District officers presenting awards

Advisors

Got Milk t-shirts to top individuals

Guernsey class

Jersey class

Holstein class

Brown Swiss class

Nose-to-nose

Oscar and David

Finished Barn

The construction is finally finished on the barn. We still have lighting to add and then the COWS! We are looking toward the first of October before we add cows, providing we have lights. The contractors will be back mid-October to start the loafing shed for the dry cows that will set east of the new barn.

Construction update

We are at the end of week 4 of construction. We have gained a  lot of concrete in 4 weeks. The lanes at the ends are left to pour as well as the feed alleys and alley to move the cows to the barn. Work was a little slower this week as the crew was in Hampton installing a hay barn. These pics should give you a good idea of how everything will be connected together.

This doe was getting breakfast the other morning from the bag of corn.

These killdear hatched in the driveway. One of the three is still wet. The fourth egg hatched the following day and we were lucky to get a picture as they took them all away soon after they hatched.

Starting Construction

Construction finally got underway on June 28. The crew seems to be wasting no time after a day and a half the concrete truck was here and things were starting to take shape. They have the 2 outer alleys poured, 2 curbings, 1 manger curb and have moved and piped the water line.

Out with the old, in with the new

Workers arrived around 10:00 to start the tank switch. By 10:30 they were ready to remove the old tank and by 11:00 the new tank was set in place. We took out a 1500 gallon tank and replaced it with a 4000 gallon tank. The height was very close to the same, a little wider and a lot longer. The old tank always looked so BIG and now it looks quite small setting out. Anyway it is available for a very reasonable price if you are looking for some cold storage.

Slow Progress

It seems like we have many half finished projects underway. The new milk tank has been installed. We are still working out a few wrinkles. Here are a few pics of the excavation, prep work and a preview of the new tank. I will post the remaining pics on the next post. The prep work for the new free stall barn has been slow, slow, slow. The contractor has moved in supplies and is supposed to start on Monday, June 27.

The weather has warmed up this week and we certainly were not aclimated to warm weather.

Hope to be back to you sooner next time.