When I first sat down to write my annual year-end post, I thought I would end up just rearranging the words from last year. Much of what we do on the farm is the same day after day. This last year was not significantly different than the year before but as I reflected a little more I realized there were some notable projects and outcomes over the last 365 days.
In 2023 we had an incredible harvest. Everything came together perfectly for great yields and good cow feed. Shortly after we wrapped up harvest, just at the end of the year our cows suddenly hit a wall and milk production plummeted. I shared that story in THIS post. It was an incredibly difficult time here on the farm. But now that it is fully in the rearview, I can see that coming back from what could have been devastating was an incredible achievement for our farm. I am proud of not only the people who work here on the farm, but of our dairy community for coming together and working to figure out the issue and get it solved.
This year’s harvest was solidly in the good category. It’s hard to compare this year to last year because last year was exceptional. The weather challenged us. Some fields were drowned out after planting, and we had to go back and replant once the conditions improved. Once fall rolled around we did end up a little short on corn silage and bought some acres from neighbors. Despite that, our overall harvest wasn’t too bad.
This year we also took on a few new projects. If you have driven past the farm you may have noticed some construction happening. This year we added an addition to our farm shop, so now we have more space for projects and repairs. We also added an 80’x120’ shed to the farm. We are using this building for storage. Both projects have helped us to be more efficient and better organized.
The other project we took on has been a year long project. In October of last year we purchased an old school house that had been turned into apartments. We wanted to offer apartments for our employees so this was good solution. The building needed a lot of TLC and over the last year we have been slowly renovating each apartment. We have been working on it one apartment at a time and the last one will be ready for move in early this next year. Our employees are really enjoying having a nicer place to call home.
Overall 2024 has been a year where we once again did our best to manage our farm in a way that was good for our cows, our land, our people, and our business. As we look forward to the uncertainty of the future, our plan is to continue to do the same.