The Minto Dairy club has learned that 20 calves can be fed in a short period of time.
All it takes is an electronic device called the automatic feeding system.
Minto dairy calf club had its second meeting May 7 at the VandenBraak farms outside of Palmerston. Before learning about the automatic feeders, guest speaker Chris Perry from CanWest DHI (Dairy herd Improvement), gave a talk on Dairy Comp. He started the meeting by asking the club, why they should keep records on their herds. Some answers that were discussed are; to keep a record of their history, record produce over time, herd management and tracking their Somatic cell count regularly.
With the electronic records comes the hand held connection. Farmers can easily access their information and edit new data with the hand held connection.
Some farms today have ear tags that have a radio frequency numbers that are more efficient. When Herd Health does the monthly check-ups it has a wand that scans the numbers and tells the farmer what needs to be done with the cow. For example, if Cow 245 was scanned, it could read that she needs a pregnancy check or a fresh check. He showed the club on his laptop how the program works and answered any questions the member may have had.
Jackie and Dave VandenBraak gave a brief demonstration of how the automatic feeding system worka and how simple the system is. The minutes from secretary Jodi VandenBraak, were then read from the first meeting and moved and seconded by two other members. The meeting was closed with the 4-H pledge and the club was treated with homemade cookies and juice.
For anyone that would like to join the Minto 4-H Dairy Club, the next meeting is set for June 11 and is to be held at Canhope Farms, the farm of Ron and Shelly Canning and members will be judging two groups of cattle.
For more information, call Brittany at 519-343-2150.
