Eastern Iowa Farmer Spring 2021

mother nature
called and explained his ration, and we
were able to get our nutritionist to make a
blend that would slowly transition the cows
over,” she said.
Another hurdle Blue Hyll had to overcome
was testing the lactating cows to
make sure they did not have mastitis.
Mastitis is an infection in the cow’s udder
that, if left untreated, can render the milk
undrinkable. To test for this, Burken took
milk samples from each cow and mixed
them with a regent, a developer that creates
a chemical reaction.
“A couple of the cows did have mastitis,”
she said. “And they had to spend time in
the hospital pen to get treated before they
could go back into the general population.”
After a few weeks, all the issues were
resolved, and the cows adjusted to their
new surroundings.
As of the end of January, Blue Hyll was
still fostering Franck’s cows. His other 200
animals were spread out among different
dairy farms in the area, Burken said.
The plan was for all 250 of Franck’s
cows to be moved to a newly built barn
outside of Ames. Construction is underway,
and Burken expects Blue Hyll will host the
visiting cows until the spring.
In the meantime, Franck’s cows “have
acclimated pretty well with our herd”
Burken said, adding that the cows are
mixed together now.
She said over the years she has connected
with other people in the dairy industry
through conferences and other events, and
the ties run deep. She recalled attending
a dairy conference in Colorado when she
was a freshman in high school. One of the
speakers noted that while dairy farmers are
in competition with each other, they also
are on the same team.
That point struck her enough that she
talked about it as a member of a later panel
discussion. She shared those thoughts with
the audience.
“I talked about how we are a family,
and we do hold each other up. We are all
together as one dairy farm,” she said.
That’s been proven true during the last
six months as many farmers assisted other
farmers post-derecho.
“We are always here to help one another,”
she said. “It’s amazing.” n
Matt
McGuire
Amy and Matt McGuire were
weeks away from completing
a new machine shed on their
farm north of DeWitt when
the derecho destroyed it.
The McGuires planned to
start rebuilding this spring.
Eastern Iowa Farmer photo
/ Trevis Mayfield
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76 Eastern Iowa Farmer | Spring 2021 eifarmer.com