The Moos Room™

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Emily Krekelberg: Welcome everybody to The Moos Room. It's here folks. Episode 100. Woohoo.
Bradley Heins: Yay. Yay.
Emily: Congratulations. Yes, wow. Episode 100 you guys. Just give me a couple words on your thoughts, Bradley.
Bradley: It's crazy. I can't believe that we've been at it this long and people are still interested in hearing what we have to say.
Emily: People are still putting up with us.
Bradley: Exactly. Thank you for that.
Emily: Absolutely. Joe, what about you?
Joe Armstrong: I don't have a whole lot to add to that. It's amazing that people are still willing to listen after this long, and that we keep coming up with stuff to talk about. Brad has plenty of opinions that we still have to get to. There's plenty more content that we can get to.
Emily: I, of course, have a lot more to say.
Bradley: The three of us we still like each other most days. We're doing well.
Joe: That is another key piece of this. That we have somehow gotten along through 100 episodes. Mostly.
Emily: Mostly. In the spirit of celebrating, I decided that I was going to throw Brad and Joe just a little bit of a curve ball on this episode. OG3, celebrating 100th episode. We don't have a guest, but we do have a super-secret question. I did give Brad and Joe a heads-up that there was going to be a super-secret question. They have no idea what it is.
Bradley: I'm just scared.
Emily: [laughs] Good, you should be Bradley. I will answer the question as well as is only fair. Bradley and Joe, this is your warning now. Breeds of cattle will not be acceptable answers. I want an earnest answer.
Joe: Fine.
Emily: Super-secret question. What has been your favorite episode that we have done so far?
Joe: That is a really tough question.
Emily: If you guys need some time to think, I will give my answer first.
Joe: Go for it because I'm going to need a second.
Emily: Okay. Obviously, I've been thinking about this question all day, so I've had plenty of time to pick mine. My favorite episode was the one with my dad, of course. Him and I are extremely close and it just really meant a lot to me to have him on the show, and I love being able to bring him in to see my work and be a part of my work. It was really, really special and just a really powerful episode.
I got so many messages from you guys-- thank you all so very much-- about how powerful that episode was for you, and just how much it meant to you, and made you maybe think of your own parents. That was just so great to hear. That was definitely a favorite episode, hands down for me.
Joe: That was a great episode. When I was editing that episode, I texted Emily and I was again, tearing up in the editing portion of that. It was an excellent episode. I was so happy that he was willing to come on and share. I guess I'm partial to the episodes with Pam Ruegg where we did two episodes on Mastitis. She is such a knowledgeable guest and we broke it into two episodes. I loved those episodes. We got into the weeds a little bit, but not too far. We also got to spend some time with one of my good friends, Erin Royster on those episodes. Being able to work with her and then have Pam on is such a good guest. That would probably be my favorite episode so far.
Emily: Those were good episodes. Absolutely. All right, Bradley.
Bradley: You know what, a lot of the episodes have been great, but I tend to go back with my grad student episodes that we did a year and a half ago. It's interesting to me because people know I like to travel, go to other places. Ones with learning about dairying in the Azores with Glenda, my former grad student who's now at Maine. You know what, like learning about dairy production in other parts of the world and see how people do it because we all don't do it the same and that's a good thing. Just learning about dairy from other parts of the world is still an interest of mines. I think those are always fun.
Joe: That was awesome.
Emily: Absolutely. I loved hearing about that. I always loved Glenda's stories about the Azores and what it's like and when she shares pictures it's fascinating.
Joe: Just the whole different production system, and with milking in the pasture with those traveling parlors, that was really fascinating to hear. That was a good episode. Man, that was a long time ago too.
Bradley: Exactly.
Emily: Those were early episodes.
Bradley: Yes. One of the first ones.
Emily: I would just like to point out that for all of us, our favorite episodes were ones with guests, so I don't know if we really like each other as much as we said before.
Joe: Good point. Good point.
Emily: [laughs] No, but seriously, and all the OG3 episodes are great too. We have just had such wonderful guests on the show that all of our episodes with them stand out. I also do have to give a shout-out to our guests for our May Mental Health Awareness Month special group of episodes. Those were so much fun, and yes, we had such great guests. Kevin, Jason, Meg, and Megan. Standout episodes.
Joe: Great. Really a special shout-out to Kevin down in Iowa. He's been listening for a long time and he emails us and-
Emily: Very early on.
Joe: -gives us suggestions for episodes and what he wants to hear. Now that's super helpful and we love hearing from people. Big shout out to Kevin.
Bradley: One of my favorite things about the episode is learning about our guests and their favorite breeds. Yes, we joke that there's two correct answers, but it's always learning about-- it's like, "Oh, I never thought about that." Or if somebody brings up a breed that we haven't really heard of in a long time, so it's always fun.
Joe: It brings in some other stories. You would never guess that Eric Mousel's favorite dairy breed is a Guernsey because he milked Guernsey when he was a kid.
Emily: Named Taffy.
Joe: Named Taffy. Very important. That's really fun to hear. Those kind of things are excellent.
Emily: Oh my gosh, enough of being all nostalgic and stuff. We were just so excited for episode 100, so we're just really trying to cram as much stuff as we can into this episode. It's a real potpourri, you might say.
Bradley: Potpourri. Potpourri. [laughter]
Emily: Yes. Good job, Bradley.
Joe: Yes. Return of the Potpourri episode.
Emily: Return of the Potpourri. Now we're going to get into a potpourri all of its own, and that is Winter Potpourri. All three of us each chose two to three main things in winter that we think farmers should be mindful of, and so we're just going to pop around and share our different things that we came up with. I am going to start with putting Bradley in the hot seat on the Winter Potpourri. Bradley, I know one thing that you mentioned and that we all thought of we were like, "Yes, that is water." What do you think farmers should be aware of concerning water in the winter?
Bradley: I think you have to have adequate water. Up here in Minnesota water freezes a lot, so you have to make sure that there's adequate water for all of the animals and that they're able to get it. Because when it gets 30 below at night, you want to make sure they still have water. Nobody likes to go outside and unfreeze water tanks or water pipes to get animals water. I think be mindful and make sure things are working as well. Especially if you have heated waters, you probably want to look at those once in a while.
I do think back a few times here at our research center where we've almost burnt the barns down because wiring went haywire in the heated water. You want to do some management on those heated waters and not just assume that they're going to work. Supplying water, it doesn't matter if it's cold. Cows, heifers, everything needs a lot of water even during the wintertime. It's essential.
Joe: We can't emphasize that enough. Sometimes there's some technology and maybe some sensors that can help that. I know that there's a lot of companies trying to develop basically water flow meters that can tell you when the flow stops. That could help you be more efficient with your labor if you can get into some of those things. You still got to go check and every once in a while getting out there and manually looking and making sure it's not froze up.
The other thing I see a lot of times in winter is that the space is decreased. The amount of space and access gets decreased because we either allow half of it to freeze, or we shut down half of each waterer for whatever reason just to make it easier. That can be a real detriment to production when we don't have as much space at that waterer, so keep that in mind as well.
Bradley: Joe, if we think about it from a beef cattle standpoint, what are some winter tips that you might have from a beef standpoint? We talk a lot about dairy because-- I do a lot in dairy, but what are some winter tips that we have for our beef producers?
Joe: The big thing that I think about in the winter is that we're looking at bunk space being at a premium. Just like with your herd in the dairy side, these cows a lot of times come into a dry lot in the winter or they're on cropland. Bunk space becomes a big issue, and potentially separating ages as well. Sometimes just because of space, everybody gets thrown together. You've got your heifers, your second calf heifers, and your mature cows all together, which can be an issue for competition. What happens is that mature cows, they're in charge and everybody else gets pushed off of feed if there's not adequate space.
If you're going to mix age groups, bunk space becomes even more important. If you're mixing age groups, I would want to see at least two feet per head of linear bunk space, maybe even pushing that up to what we see on the fresh cow side with the dairy at 30 inches. If you're not going to mix age groups, I still think you need two feet of bunk space per head so everyone can eat at the same time. Make sure that you're getting a uniform group when it comes to body condition. That makes your nutrition decisions targeted and applied to the whole group.
You avoid having fat cows get fatter, skinny cows that stay skinny. That really trickles down to all these other things in your management. I think that bunk space and that one change and making sure you have enough over the winter. However you get that done, it can trickle down even to your calving success and your next year's reproduction. Big change one thing I think about in the winter all the time. All right, Em, we got to talk about safety. What goes on in the winter that comes to mind right away for you?
Emily: First of all, yes, of course, we have to talk about safety. We weren't getting through this episode without it. For me in winter, the first thing that comes to mind is falling. We have all been there where we slipped on the ice and been all bruised up and maybe ripped our pants. Just those really bad falls that are seared into your memory. With that, I really think about slips, trips, and falls on the farm. This is something that applies both to the humans on the farm, as well as the animals. There's nothing worse than a cow doing the splits. I feel like it's even worse in the winter when it's on ice and harder to help work with them and help them.
That is a really big one for me. The big one is just that it's cold and it might get a little warm during the day, and if we have snow it'll melt and freeze over. Just being really mindful of that-- even in your parlor in different places, is the floor really wet all the time? That is also a risk for slips and trips. Just thinking about that and thinking about your management of ice and of water and just areas that get really wet or that flood on your farm. Be mindful of that. Make sure other people know where those spots are, get salt down, put gravel down, which I really like because when salt is on ice, you can't always see it because they're both white.
When there's gravel on there, you also get that visual reminder that, "Oh, hey, there's gravel here." That means there's ice under here. I have to have some caution as I'm walking through this part. Oh, and one other thing that I do want to mention on that, if you're working outside for an extended period of time, also be mindful of frostbite risk. We know when temperatures are low, and then also when we have lots of wind, it can be really cold and frostbite can happen in 5 to 10 minutes. If you are working outside for longer than five minutes, make sure your face is covered, get your nose covered, make sure you're wearing gloves, you're wearing layers, all of that.
Joe: The big thing that I used to see in practice is that I would not wear gloves a lot of times because I had to be working with a cow or inside a cow. My hands would get so cold. I think the biggest thing that you need to remember is that you shouldn't reheat those frostbitten body parts with direct heat. Don't put them over direct heat because you can't feel enough to know that you're actually causing burns to your skin.
Water is a great way because you can make sure the temperature of the water with a thermometer is the correct temp to reheat your hands and make sure that you're doing that safely. Be really careful when you do have potential frostbite how you reheat those body parts because you can cause more damage by reheating the wrong way.
Emily: Absolutely. That just reminds me too, Brad talked about waterers. Be mindful that if your cattle are getting wet ears, or if you have calves or heifers that are sucking on each other's ears, cattle can lose those to frostbite. Being mindful of that and also that there's a frostbite risk on cows as well on their teats. Bradley, I know that you've obviously had to deal with this without wintering your herd and the way that you're set up there in Morris. Why don't you tell us a little bit more about that?
Bradley: Frostbite is always a concern for us when our animals are raised outdoors. Like you said Emily, with the calves, you got to make sure that their ears are dry. Dry bedding certainly helps with all of that. I usually think about it from the cow end a lot and frost-bitten teat ends are probably the big issue that we deal with. Making sure that the cows are dry going out of the parlor. For us when we at winter, we have to make sure there's a lot of dry bedding.
If it snows one day we might have to bed the next day so we use a lot more bedding just to keep things dry. Then we don't have any problems. We use a winter powder dip when it gets really cold out to keep the teat ends dry. Dry is the best thing in the wintertime. You have to think about it from the other end too. You might get some chap teats or things like that. Frostbite in cows and heifers can do lots of damage. You can lose quarters, you could lose an udder.
You name it, it could happen if you have a major frostbite issue. You just need to be mindful of it. Dry bedding is going to help a lot in preventing frostbite in cows, especially. Whether you're outdoors or whether you're in a freestyle barn, dry bedding is a key. Cows can still get frost-bitten teats when you're in a freestyle barn in the middle of the winter. Make sure that the bedding is dry. Whatever you use in a freestyle barn too.
Joe: Brad, when do you start setting up your bedded pack? When does the base go down and when do you start getting that going?
Bradley: Like most farms, we wait till the last minute. [laughs] It's like, "Oh, I guess it snowed three feet today. We probably should start that pack." We try to start it early, it doesn't always happen. Early December is probably the key when we like to first get that good base down and start with our cows before it has any chance of snowing or anything. That's ideal. Doesn't happen every year, but that's when we try.
Joe: That pack, if you can get it started early and it's set up a good base and it's fairly deep, it puts off some heat. That can be really beneficial to your cows. Especially when you combine that with the windbreak and all the other things that we've talked about. That's a great way to go. I know there's lots going on, so don't get me wrong. Getting a good base on that pack is really nice. It's my turn again and we're going to talk about ventilation because ventilation is one of my biggest pet peeves in the winter.
I know that it comes from a good place a lot of the time. People want it to be comfortable for their cows. They want it to be comfortable for the employees inside these buildings where we house cattle. When we shut them down completely, when we close curtains all the way, when we shut all the fans off. That's not helping anybody because we need fresh air coming in for the ventilation system to work. That means a lot of the time that you cannot close that curtain all the way and you never should, in my opinion. You never should close that curtain all the way.
If I had my option, I would make it every curtain so that it couldn't physically close all the way. That's something you talk to your veterinarian about, about how open it really needs to be for each curtain because it's going to depend on the building and all those things. Fans are the same way. If you've got positive pressure tubes coming in or if you've got anything else that brings air into a building, most often in the winter we still want that stuff running.
Because we still need those air exchanges to make things work and keep animals healthy. It's a lot less than in the summer, but it still needs to be happening. We need four to six air exchanges of that building every hour. To do that, fresh air's got to come in somehow and it's got to get out somehow as well. Emily, what else do we got to worry about when it comes to winter? I think we've covered some safety things, but what about the mental health side as well?
Emily: We were talking before this episode about the winter blues and that
something that is very, very real. I think that farmers, especially, since they work outside so much are really susceptible to it. Even Joe and I, just with our cushy extension jobs, some people call it seasonal depression. I prefer seasonal effective disorder. I think that just captures what it is. There's a certain season or a certain time of year that always affects our mental health and affects the way that we feel and that we think.
For most people it is in winter. We know that a big part of that is because there's usually less sun, so we're getting less Vitamin D. What Vitamin D does is it helps with our serotonin uptake in our brains. We know serotonin, that's our feel good hormone, so we may be lacking that. It's very, very possible to feel a little bit down, maybe a little bit off during the winter. I know Joe that you've said you've had farmers mentioned to you that yes, winter is just a little bit harder. I see that as well just in myself and looking on social media and in different farmer groups and that kind of thing.
Joe: What I typically see and what I saw in practice, and it's happening this year too, is once we get past the cattle working season when we're talking preg-checking and doing all these shoot jobs. Those are really good reasons and excuses to get together and have people help neighbors and everyone get together. There's usually family involved as well. Once we get through the holidays that's when I start to hear from farmers quite a bit more. Sometimes at the holidays too, depending on whether or not they can see family and get together with people or not which isn't-- and even more of an issue this year, obviously with the pandemic.
For me, it's one of those things where we talk about when you do have that extra second in it's January, February, it's cold, you're milking and you're bored. Take that time to call somebody, check in on them, figure out what's going on with your neighbor. Kind of like we talked about in episode 97 when we're talking about management decisions that impact mental health. The importance of that social piece is huge. Everyone in Minnesota is going through the same winter for the most part that you are. You got to reach out to the people around you and make sure everybody's doing okay.
Remind them that they're not alone and there is help. I think that's what makes Minnesota great. I know this is a completely kind of a tangent, but everybody goes through winter together. It feels like as soon as that first snowfall hits the ground, everybody is looking out for each other just a little bit more. It doesn't matter if you live in the city or in the country. I think that that's one of the things that probably started our whole Minnesota nice reputation. Keep that up and make sure you're checking on everybody around you.
Emily: Absolutely, Joe. That is such a great point of a really good way to beat the winter blues and feel better is absolutely social connection. We know that farmers are more isolated than the general population already. Then when you add in that, yes, it's winter, so you're not out and about, or checking fields, and running into neighbors or anything. It's really important to keep those connections up. That's a really great point, Joe. Something else that I like to remind people is moving your body. Also, we like to be inside in winter, especially in Minnesota and the upper Midwest, it's cold. Part of seasonal effective disorders we talked about is being out in the sun, getting Vitamin D.
The sun does still shine in the winter and so getting outside or just doing something for movement. Movement is really, really good. I know for me, this is the honest truth. On days when I'm feeling a little down in the winter, I just turn on some music and dance in my kitchen for a while, and just moving my body and singing along to a song that I like feels so good and it helps so, so much. On days when it's not too, too cold, I do like to bundle up and get outside. We know how good nature is for our mental health, and being inside so much in the winter takes that away, takes away that part. On days when you can get outside, even if it's just 10 minutes,
Joe: I love the music suggestion and I think that there's a great investment in a good pair of headphones for a farmer. I can change my mood entirely and become motivated if I'm listening to the right music. It really is helpful. I have a pair of wireless headphones that I take them everywhere because if I have the right playlist going, it really puts me in the right mood to work. I'm sure Bradley probably distances music while he feeds calves all the time too, I would guess.
Bradley: Yes, typically AC/DC is probably the best
Joe: There you go. There you go.
Bradley: Not to promote certain bands.
Emily: That's also what he wakes his kids up with.
Bradley: That's correct.
Joe: That's a good way to wake up.
Emily: What about you Joe? What's your go-to music to pump you up?
Joe: Oh, it really depends on what I'm doing. If I'm chilling around the house, it's more of, I guess, jazz-type stuff if I'm just trying to get some work done. Most of the instrumental things where I don't have anything that keeps me in the right mode so I can read and work and multitask. If I'm working out and lifting weights then we get into some heavy metal, and there's some head-banging to get the weights up. That started back in high school and I don't think that will ever change. That's most of it.
Emily: Yes, my pump-up music for anything I am doing is a mix of hip hop and some heavy metal, hard rock type stuff.
Joe: Yes. Especially around the house when I'm cooking and things too I get more into the hip hop, and a lot of Anderson .Paak gets played and those things as well.
Emily: All right, so that was definitely a tangent there, but there is one topic that we haven't covered yet. I didn't warn the guys that I was going to do this, but we are just going to potpourri this topic really quick. We haven't talked about calves yet, so we are just going to jump around and share our one thing that we think you need to be mindful about with calves in the winter. I will go first, making sure they have extra bedding and making sure that bedding is dry so that they stay warm. If you have calf jackets, use them. Bradley, what's your one thing?
Bradley: Make sure you get enough milk into them or grain. Calves need a lot of energy when they're young, so feed them enough and that's more than the two-quart bottles. Get lots of groceries in your calves.
Emily: Awesome. Joe.
Joe: Yes, I'll just tack onto Bradley's. You got to feed them enough and it's got to be the right thing in my opinion. You can't give Iowa with 2020 in the winter in Minnesota, so it's whole milk 26, 20, 24, 20 at a bare minimum. Do everything else that you do should be doing right the rest of the year as well, class stream all those things. Got to feed them enough and it's got to be the right protein content to make it work.
Emily: Well, is that a wrap on episode 100?
Joe: I believe so.
Emily: Wow. That is awesome. Once again, I just have to say a huge, huge thank you to all of you that listen to our show. For all three of us, it just feels like sometimes we're three idiots with microphones, so it really means a lot to us that you think what we're saying is useful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Of course, if you have your own favorite memories or favorite episodes from the show that you want to share, or if you have questions, comments, scathing rebuttals, you can email us at the themoosroom@umn.edu.
Joe: That's T-H-E-M-O-O-S-R-O-O-M@umn.edu.
Emily: You can also tweet them at us @UMNmoosroom and @UMNFarmSafety. If you feel like looking around on Instagram, you can follow Bradley @UMNWCROCDairy.
Bradley: Potpourri.
Emily: Potpourri. That is a wrap on EP100
Joe: 100
Emily: Woo.
Joe: Outtakes.
Emily: Bradley, you were supposed to throw it to Joe.
Bradley: I wasn't sure what we were-
Joe: Yes, I didn't know that we were popcorning. I thought everything was coming back to you, Em. You were leading and pushing us in the right direction.
Emily: Yes. This is how I am leading, I am pushing you to not be so codependent. Bradley, you are going to toss it to Joe. Give him a little opening and he will do his thing. Once Joe has done said thing, he will then toss it back to me by opening up for me and getting me on one of my topics. Then we will repeat that cycle.
Joe: It is episode 100.
Emily: Are you-- Bradley, stop talking.
Bradley: I can do some cheering.
Emily: Oh, let's hear it, Bradley.
Bradley: Woo. Woo. Woo. [cheering].
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