Lamb Farms

Today was the Oakfield Community cleanup day, and our cows sure appreciated the efforts of these young ladies! When it comes to litter, the biggest threat to our cows are the aluminum cans. If cans are chopped up into the cows' feed and it's eaten, it is often fatal for the animal. With Earth Day coming up, we can all help keep road sides and fields cleaner. It's great for our environment and even for the health of the animals! #EarthDay #communitycleanup #startthemyoung

The start of a new week seems like a great time to kick off a new series of posts! While the weather has been pretty variable recently, the calendar tells us that spring is upon us. With the spring season comes A LOT of work for our field team. We invite you to follow along as we highlight the various tasks that our crew is doing to take care of the land and grow high quality feed for our cows. Step 1 is manure application. It's important to note that spreading manure ...as fertilizer on fields is an important part of our farm's sustainability, as we're recycling nutrients on the farm. It's also highly regulated, as we have a CAFO environmental plan that tells us how much, where and when those nutrients can be applied. Why spring? Well, throughout the winter while the cows continue to produce waste, the field conditions aren't suitable for spreading. We store the manure during those months, and once the fields are ready it's go time! While there are a few different methods that can be used to spread manure, we prefer drag lining (pictured here). We are very conscious of the smell, and do our best to incorporate the manure into the ground quickly to shorten the duration of the odor. While it can be a bit stinky, our cows' manure is a great natural fertilizer for the crops that end up being the feed our girls consume next year. It's a very sustainable cycle, and allows us to reduce purchased synthetic fertilizers. We are so grateful to our community for your patience with us during the more "pungent" days. Keep following along as we continue to highlight #springwork on the farm! #spring #cowchow #manurematters See more

We couldn't let #NationalSiblingDay go by without a shoutout to this farm's awesome siblings! Our family farm is blessed to have siblings from both the Lamb and Veazey families working side by side each day to keep our operation running smoothly. Because our farm is larger, it allows each person to find their passion within the farm operation. For Jonathan and Matthew that is working with the cows, Jennifer and Karen do an awesome job in the farm office, while Janette and Kevin focus on the crops and equipment. Each role is very important and we are so grateful for the opportunity to farm together! #familyfarm #farmlove #siblings

RainStorm heard that it's #tongueoutTuesday! #cutecalf #tot #redHolstein

We're so happy to be back at a show with our favorite girls, showing at the NY Dairy Carousel in Hamburg this week! Today's #throwbackThursday is these cute kids and calves .. because that's always a winning combo. The calves have changed and the kids are bigger now, but Chloe and Claire still love showing! #farmlove #kidsncalves #dairygirls

We want to give a big shoutout during Women's History Month to the awesome women that play a key role in our farm team! These ladies represent a diverse set of skills, interests and backgrounds, and we are fortunate to have each one! #WomeninAg #dairywomen #farmlife #WomensHistoryMonth Fun farm fact: Did you know that more than 1/3 of the nation's farmers are women? That’s almost 1 million women farmers in the States alone and that number continues to climb!

Shorts weather is coming .. time to get in shape! This will make you chuckle. #sillySunday #farmfitness

Did you know that Ag Literacy Week is happening now from March 15 through March 19th? Check out the Genesee County Dairy promotion team reading this year's book, Chuck’s Ice Cream Wish (Tales of the Dairy Godmother) by Viola Butler. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/0e4iZl4z2_w

Rainbow finally had her baby Friday morning after we had a big thunder storm .. thus her name "RainStorm". Welcome to the world, little one!

Today was a big day for us in Oakfield .. the first cows were milked in the new robotic rotary parlor at Farm 2! You can follow along on the Oakfield Corners Dairy page for regular updates on this exciting new chapter. There's quite a bit of excitement (and anxiety) over the start-up of the new milking facility. We ask for your patience as we and the cows learn this new technology, and please bear in mind that we will not accept any tours without a previous appointment over the next several weeks. We will post updates via social media in the interim. Thank you for your understanding.

Rainbow is overdue with her 3rd calf and her belly shows it! Chloe & Claire asked her when baby will make its entry into the world, but Rainbow just winked and posed. Guess we'll just have to keep watching and waiting. #babywatch #bigmomma #overdue #babyonboard

It's National Women's Month! Did you know that roughly 30% of the dairy industry is comprised of women?! Let’s celebrate these amazing ladies during National Women’s Month! You can follow along on the Milk For Health page all month for their Women In Dairy Series! Of course, we have phenomenal women on our farm team who help make everything possible, so we'll highlight a few of our own #dairywomen as well! #NationalWomensMonth #womenindairy

{A calf is born, day 5} Thanks for following along as we walk through how we get our babies off to the best start! For a quick recap - so far the calf has been licked off, given an ear tag and a gallon of colostrum. Next, their navel is dipped with iodine as seen in this video. We don't need to cut the calf's umbilical cord like in a human birth, it naturally breaks during calving. However, just like with newborn babies the navel can allow bacteria to enter the body and cause infection if we aren't careful. We dip with iodine shortly after birth to protect the remaining umbilical stump from germs until it dries up and falls off on its own after about a week. It's a simple, yet important step in getting our calves off to a healthy start! #calfcare #farmlove #newbaby #UndeniablyDairy

Our dry cows opted for "outdoor dining" on this beautiful Friday morning! These girls are on their "maternity leave" from the milking herd. A cow's dry period is usually ~60 days of not milking prior to her due date, giving her time to rest and prepare for the birth of her calf. Enjoy the sunshine, ladies! #outdoordining #happycows #expectantmommas #babyonboard #eatingfortwo #sunshine

In honor of National FFA week, we're throwing it back to this article about our own Gordon Lamb and his FFA accomplishments. FFA is an outstanding program that develops leadership skills and instills passion for agriculture in our youth .. and has had an impact on our family farm. We're very happy that the program at Oakfield-Alabama is going strong for the next generation! #throwbackThursday #FFA #FutureFarmers #youngleaders

Happy National Milk Day! Check out this interview with our friend and neighboring farmer, Kelly, from Reyncrest Farm. Cheers to wholesome, affordable, nutritious milk!

{A calf is born, day 4} Liquid gold! That's what we call the colostrum that our calves are fed shortly after birth. Did you know that calves are born with no immunity? It's a race against time and the environment for us to get a gallon of clean colostrum into baby's belly before any bacteria or harmful things are taken in. That colostrum provides all of the immunity that the newborn calf needs, plus lots of good nutrition. It's amazing! We test all of the colostrum to make... sure that it's high quality stuff that will get our calves off to a good start. A refractometer can tell us if the colostrum is good enough for our babies, they get only the best! We're sometimes asked why we don't let baby nurse off of mom. It's all about cleanliness and volume. Studies show a calf needs a gallon of colostrum for good health; and if they nurse we don't know how much or how little they got. Also, as clean as mom may be she does live in a barn. We'll sanitize her teats before milking her for the colostrum to make sure no germs get into that newborn baby's belly. This is a critical step to getting our calves off to a healthy start, but we're not done yet. Thanks for following along! #calfcare #uddermiracle #colostrum #UndeniablyDairy

{A calf is born, day 3} You've probably heard us say that all Holsteins' markings are as unique as a fingerprint, no two are the same right? However, that doesn't mean that they don't sometimes look a whole lot alike .. which is why we need our next step. See the little white circle in this calf's ear? Shortly after birth, each of our babies will receive their own little "button tag". This button has her very own identification number, similar to how we receive a social... security number. While we do assign names to some of our babies, their number is what corresponds with all of their records in our computer system. Every health event, movement, vaccination, etc is there for us to reference, similar to our medical chart. After a few weeks her bigger ear tags will arrive customized just for her with mom, dad and birthdate listed right on the tag. Keep following along, there's more to come! #calfcare #farmlove #cutecalf #UndeniablyDairy #farmfactFriday

A calf is born .. now what? Mom's work isn't done yet. Right after pushing out her calf, the cow stands up and starts licking him/her off. Baby is pretty gooey and slimy, so mom's tongue cleans the calf and dries its hair. A cow's tongue is pretty rough, so it's also stimulating circulation and encouraging the calf to try to stand shortly after birth. If mom isn't interested in giving the tongue bath, and some cows aren't, then we towel the calf off to achieve the same result. That's step 2 in getting baby off to a healthy start. Keep following along to see what comes next! #calfcare #uddermiracle #farmlove #UndeniablyDairy

Such a happy baby! It's an overcast and rainy Monday here in Oakfield, but antics like this bring a smile to brighten up the day.

Happy Thanksgiving! We are so very grateful for the beauty that surrounds us, for the ability to farm with family, grateful to our awesome team and thankful for silver linings during a tough year. Hoping your day is blessed! (And don't forget - dairy makes everything taste better!)

It's Thanksgiving week! This tasty recipe is #dairygood and always a crowd pleaser! Milk, cheese, butter, sour cream .. they make every recipe taste better. What's your family's favorite Thanksgiving dish? #makeitwithmilk #milkisamazing #easyrecipes #thanksgivingrecipes #dairygood https://milkforhealth.org//sweet-potato-casserole-with-mar

#ThrowbackThursday to 8 years ago when our cooperative featured farmers on the milk cartons! One silver lining of the Covid pandemic has been the increase in our society's awareness about who produces our food and how it gets to the store shelves. While things were tough in the beginning, with empty store shelves and confusion about why that happened, we emerged with more support and connection between farmers and consumers. That was the intention behind this campaign by our cooperative 8 years ago as well, to help those who buy our products feel more connected to the farmer behind the food. We hope this will be something that continues long after we've kicked Covid to the curb! Remember, we're always happy to answer your questions and we take pride in nourishing our community! #dairyessential #knowyourfarmer #localfoods

Harvest 2020 is in the books and we're feeling very thankful! A shoutout to our amazing team for your hard work, and thank you to our community for your patience with us on the roads. This year we chopped 3400 acres of corn and harvested another 1100 acres for grain. Check out this awesome video that Janette put together with footage from throughout the harvest. It was 10 weeks from the start of chopping until finishing up with the combine. What a great feeling going into Thanksgiving week! #grateful #Harvest20 #teamwork #cowchow

Wow, someone is super excited for #TongueoutTuesday! #cutecalf #redHolstein #farmlove #tot

This pair is finding it hard to get out of bed on this Monday morning. Anyone else? #cuddlebuds #cutecalf #cutekitty #farmlove

#FlashbackFriday to a rather unexpected find in our calf hutch! The calf that was sharing his hutch was not so impressed. Hunting season is upon us again .. you never know what we might find on the farm! #Fridayfunny #buckinhiding #unexpectedvisitor

This sassy cutie is ready for #tongueoutTuesday, rockin' her new ear tags! The white button tag in her ear was put in at birth, so we don't have a case of mistaken identity. After a few weeks her bigger tags arrive. These are really cool because they tell us a whole lot about each animal! While some of our girls are named, everyone has an ID number (the big number on her tag) that corresponds with our computer software. That helps us keep track of all of her records and life events. Her tag also has: Her birth date - Aug 24th Mom's ID - 46957 Dad's name - Kyrie Looks like our sweet girl is off to a great start! #cutecalf #farmfact #UndeniablyDairy

It's #FarmSafetyWeek, and our friends at NEDPA explain here some of the ways that we use personal protective equipment to keep our employees safe and healthy. #farmsafety #dairyneverstops #health #safety

Slow and steady wins the race! Just like we use canning to preserve a harvest from the garden, our feed bunks keep the corn harvest from spoiling. Here we take advantage of fermentation to make the corn silage very digestible and long-lasting. The slow driving that this equipment is doing over the pile of feed is very important! With each truck that brings a load of silage, the pile is pushed up and driven over hundreds of times. The weight of the tractor or roller drives out the oxygen that's between the layers of feed, which would hurt the fermentation process. While we're certainly hustling to get the corn harvested in a timely manner, we keep a pace that the packing tractors can handle to ensure a high quality feed for our girls! #slowandsteady #cowchow #harvest20

Here we go! Corn harvest started yesterday in Oakfield and our crew is working hard to put up some high quality cow chow! This will mean some long days as the team works to cover 4,500 acres and fill bunks at 3 different locations (Farm 1, Farm 2 and the heifer farm). We appreciate your patience with our trucks on the road and also welcome prayers for a safe harvest! #harvest20 #cowchow #cornharvest

On this Labor Day we want to give a shout out to each one of our amazing employees! Especially this year, where our #essentialworkers kept everything running while so much was shut down, we know how fortunate we are! From the longest tenured employee, Steve, who has been with us for 43 years, to the most recent hire ... each one is an important part of what we do. THANK YOU! #LaborDay #dairyessential #workerappreciation

We're showing some of our best girls at the NY Holstein Show today, and it brings to mind a common question we're asked at shows and fairs. "Why do dairy cows look skinny?" We're always happy to explain that our dairy cows are like elite athletes. While they may look skinny, especially when compared to a beef cow, they are in perfect body condition for their species and breed. (We're supposed to be able to see their bones). Like those athletes, we consult with experts in the health and nutrition of the animals to ensure they're in optimal condition. Rest assured that their health is our top priority and we are committed to the best care for our girls. #cowcare #farmfactFriday #askafarmer

Phew, we've had a pretty hot summer! Check out this video where Kendra shares some of the things we do to keep our calves comfortable in the summer heat.

Whoa - how's this for a #trickTuesday?! Tony Hawk takes to the skate ramp with a glass of milk and pulls off a McTwist without spilling a drop. Impressive! #cooltrick #gotmilk

Do you know what this crop is called? Here's a hint .. it's name is shared with a character on "Little Rascals". This is alfalfa , a legume that is commonly grown in the northeast to feed dairy cattle. Alfalfa is a perennial crop, so it grows back year after year. We're currently mowing the 4th cutting of alfalfa for 2020. Alfalfa haylage is a high protein feed, which is a great addition to the diet our girls eat. Growing high quality feed for our cows is very important to the success of our business, and this alfalfa crop is a key piece of that. #farmfactFriday #alfalfa #cowchow

We're really missing the fairs this year, aren't you? American Dairy Association is offering a virtual fair experience with some of the favorites for fair goers. Check out this video where some awesome #dairygirls from 3 New York farms share how they get their calves ready for the fair. You might recognize two Lamb ladies in the video, and you'll see they had a blast sharing how they wash their calf! #virtualfair #fairfun #kidsncalves