Haley Farms

Welcome To Our Farm!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Pam Haley

We are preparing for the 2012 Ohio Beef Expo and we are excited to offer e

mbryos in the Simmental sale this year out of our donor Scarlet. These embryos are sired by STF Dominance the 2010 Grand Champion Bull in Denver. The best part about these eggs are that we have proof on the ground out of this mating and they are good.

Haleys Scarlet Y140 - OJSA National Donation Heifer

In fact the Junior’s donation heifer comes from our farm out of this mating, see we donated a pregnancy to the juniors to raffle and Roger Scheiderer of Plain City, OH won the pregnancy but she had already calved and Roger so generously donated the heifer calf back to the OJSA to sell the heifer in the Expo sale. So if you are needing proof that this mating works look up the OJSA donation heifer Haleys Scarlet Y140 at the expo and see for yourself.

THANK YOU to our buyers at the 2011 New Directions Sale back in October. We are extremely excited for Cheznee Bundy ofUtah who bought our open heifer in the sale, Good Luck at all the shows and we look forward to seeing you in Ohio this summer. Buying our bred heifers and cow were: Sloup Simmentals, NE; Jay Anderson, NE; Snider Simmentals, NE; and Kasl Simmentals, NE. The Embryo lots sold to: Locust Lane Farms, OH; Gonsior Simmentals, NE; Rick Harlow, IN; and Welsh Simmentals, KY.

Well it is right in the heart of winter here at Haley Farms but you wouldn’t know it because it is warm and muddy just like spring. We are right in the middle of calving with only less than half the cows calved out and things are going well and the little ones are so fun to watch. It is also the continuing time of breeding said cows back for next years calves and starting the planning process. It never stops around here but we love what we do and we sure have fun doing it.

HALEY FARMS is now on Facebook.

SEMEN PACKAGES AVAILABLE ON THE 2010 NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW POWER BULL. Click on the Sires tab for more info!

NEWS FLASH!!!!!!! Embryos available on all the donors and we will be flushing again this spring so get your orders in soon. OMF Cherry Bomb, MMP Kiss This, SVF NJC Jewels Dream, SS Mercedes and J & C Scarlet…. Check our Donor Females. Pictures up now – .

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged @FarmerHaley, cattle, Christmas, Facebook, farm, Farmer Haley, Haley Farms, Ohio Beef Expo, Simmental | View Comments

On top of a grain bin – Wordless Wednesday

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Mike Haley

On top of a grain bin, all covered with snow, I sighted Pam's Moo cows, enjoying some hay.

Posted in Cattle, Farm, farm photos, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged cows, grain bin, grain silo, Wordless Wednesday | View Comments

How many cows do I have?

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Mike Haley

How many cows do I have? This is a question that I face quite often. The simple answer, of course, is that I have no cows. While my grandfather often talked about a few shorthorn cows he and his grandfather raised on our farm there were no cows on our farm while I was growing up. I spent most of my youth helping my father care for his pigs as well as helping my grandfather raise and feed his steers (for those who may be thinking that a steer is a cow, there is a difference). I also had a few animals of myself, mainly pigs and lambs that I raised as 4-H projects and one year I had 50 chickens…now THAT was an experience!

Now, back to my cows. Up until the day I got married I do not remember any cows on our farm, then six bred purebred Simmental bred cows showed up the day Pam and I got married. While I didn’t admit it at the time to my new wife, I had very little knowledge about how to care for cows…how hard could it be anyways, ya just throw them out in a green pasture and let them eat grass …right?

Cows grazing last week on corn stalks

Well, I found out its not exactly that simple, perhaps a few of my experiences learning how to care for my wife’s cows will be a good blog post in the future. Anyways, as most newlyweds do, Pam and I talked a lot about our dreams and aspirations, she wanted 30 cows and of course I thought we only had enough grass and space for about 20. As most of you can guess after a very short amount of debate on this subject we decided 30 cows would fit real nice here on our families farm.

That was six, errrr…seven years ago and those six cows had calves, some of which we kept for replacements to add to the herd along with picking up a few cows from other breeders along the way.

Cows grazing last summer

Last summer I noticed that the herd must be getting close to about 30 cows, to my surprise when I asked Pam how many cows were around she replied with a big smile “45″. Immediately I went into panic mode as it is my responsibility to make sure there is enough feed around throughout the year, and there was no way we had enough hay to feed 45 cows all winter and with the rough summer weather I knew it would be hard to find extra hay to buy from others in the neighborhood. So we began to discuss our original thoughts from seven years ago and decided to work our way back down to 30 cows by the time winter hit.

So back to the original question, how many cows do I have? None. Pam, however, has 38 cow’s all of which have either already calved or will calve this year, 14 replacement heifers, one mature bull, three replacement bulls and three steers. As you can tell, we didn’t quite make it down to 30 this winter, but I was able to find enough hay to keep them more than satisfied!

Pam with one of her cows - Jewel

Posted in #AgChat, Agvocate, Cattle, family, Farm, farm photos | Tagged Farm Size, how many cows, Pam Haley | View Comments

Winter Grazing – Wordless Wednesday

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Mike Haley

Posted in Cattle, farm photos, livestock care, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged pictures, Simmental, winter | View Comments

Visitors On The Farm, Oh My!

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Mike Haley

Recently a good friend I met online, Ryan Goodman, asked an interesting question on his popular blog Agriculture Proud:

“How would you farm differently if a total stranger (non-farmer/rancher) followed you around all day?”

I found this an interesting question. My first response was that I would do nothing different but after thinking about how I responded to finding out about visitors stopping over in the past, I began to ponder whether this was entirely accurate. No different than most individuals expecting house guests over when guests are expected on the farm I normally tidy things up a bit to make sure they are presentable. It’s also common for me to think about what places and tasks I definitely want visitors to see and of course…. what places and tasks are best left until after visitors leave. Most importantly I think about the worst, this is a working farm and what if something happens as a cow could slip and break its leg, go down, or who know what else!

Thomas Song and Pam Haley

That is what normally happens, but while driving home from a Thanksgiving feast at the in-laws on Thursday Pam suddenly remembered that a college photography student from Kent State University had scheduled a visit on our farm in the morning for a project in one of his classes. Immediately I started to think about everything that had to be done before Thomas Song arrived in the morning as the steers needed to be bedded, the cement feeding pad was due to have the manure scraped, the dogs latest hunting prize needed buried and of course there was bale twine and feed bags needing picked up and taken to the trash. Of course it was Thanksgiving and there was little time for all of this and after thinking it through (as in Pam informing me) I realized that Thomas was visiting our farm to see and document these very activities, therefore I could relax and wait till he arrived to get to business!

Thomas arrived as planned in the morning, on the list of things to do for the morning were

Tagging in a new heifer calf. Photo courtesy of Thomas Song

to feed, add straw bedding for the steers, scrape the pad, tag in and give vitamins to a newborn heifer calf, load our bull, Laredo, into the trailer and move him to a new group of cows and deliver Dharma (a bred heifer) to a neighbor who recently purchased her. We quickly got started on our day and explained what we were doing along the way only pausing briefly a few times to explain a little more of why we were doing a few things. Things moved along great, and all that was left was to unload Laredo from the trailer and load Dharma into the trailer.

So we separated Dharma into a holding pen as we unloaded Laredo off the trailer. This is when one of my fears happened, a what if, what else, an OH NO! Dharma decided she wanted to be with Laredo and all the other cows and somehow she squeezed her head between a wooden gate and a post turning the space into a giant Chinese puzzle and making it nearly impossible to get her head free. Pam and I immediately ran over

Pam trying to free Dharma from the gate. Photo courtesy of Thomas Song

and tried to assist Dharma in getting her head loose, but it was too tight and I could not unhook the chain from the post. Logically next thought was to lower Dharma’s head to relieve some of the tension on the chain, knowing all my actions were being photographed I hesitantly began to push down, trying to force her to lower her head but it was useless as she was much stronger than me. I then remembered I had some tools around the corner, and I could perhaps use them to break the chain that was immobilizing Dharma, and after a little work I was able to split the chain and Dharma was free and other than a little mental grief she was unharmed.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson, no matter how much you plan and prepare things can and will go wrong. At the end of the day we have to be willing to except this, invite others onto our farms to share farm life experiences. We have to be able to read our guests motives and do things to insure they understand why we do certain things and what motivates our actions. In this case, I feel like Thomas could see that Pam and I were very concerned about what was happening and that we were trying to help Dharma as quickly as possible.

I am sure next time I learn of a farm visitor I will think of everything that needs to be done before they show up, and despite past lessons learned, I will do what needs to be done and welcome my guests when they arrive!

At the end of the day I am thankful that Thomas took the time to seek out a farmer to learn more about beef production, and I am thankful that we were able to take the time to show him around.

Posted in #AgChat, Agvocate, Cattle, Farm, farm photos, livestock care | Tagged agvocate, animal care, cows, farm life, farm photo's, farm photography, farm visit, Farm Visitor | View Comments

Sparboe Farms Open Letter

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Mike Haley

Thanks to Zachary Bray for sharing his thoughts on the recent undercover video linking McDonalds to animal cruelty and how it effects his families poultry farm. Zachary can be found on his newly formed blog, From Cubicle To Corral

To whom it may concern:

My name is Zachary Bray. I’m a young, beginning farmer. On Friday, November 18th, a video surfaced depicting what I would consider abusive actions against birds in the care of Sparboe Farms. I state this as someone who has seen poultry from a first hand point of a view while my parents have 3 breeder houses for a competitor.

I have different emotions going through me as I see this video at different times. Upon the first time I watched the video, I watched to verify that what I saw was abusive. Upon the second time, I was angered. The third time I watched this video I was ashamed. I urge you to take a look at social media sometime in the near future.

The problem I find with this video is that now, not only are the actions of the individuals in this video reflections of those individuals, but will now be said to be reflections of “the industry.” This a false, at best logical leap of faith, that is being made. The statement that this is just business as usual isn’t just false, but disinformation in its finest moment.

Sparboe farms has put up a website and is putting a lot of money into their public relations to increase transparency. They owe it to the rest of us to clean this mess up. I also would like to see an apology to the industry overall, but most of all, I want to see that the employees depicted are never hired in animal agriculture again. It’s also time to see the US Poultry and Egg Association, along with other organizations within the industry to come to terms with a complete welfare package. It’s time for all of us to stand back and assess our own situations, and our own employees along with ourselves honestly. Healthy livestock are productive livestock. If we cannot honestly state that we are doing everything within our power to ensure, beyond a shadow of a doubt that our animals are as healthy and humanely treated as possible, that we seek out the assistance needed to solve this problem.

Sincerely,
Zachary Bray
Owner/Operator/Farmer
LZ Livestock Company, NC

Posted in #AgChat, Agvocate, livestock care | Tagged 20/20, Animal Abuse, chickens, eggs, McDonalds, McDonalds Cruelty, Mercy For Animals, Sparboe | View Comments

Dirty Boots: Wordless Wednesday

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Mike Haley

As much as I try to keep clean it is an impossible task. Take a look at my pants and boots after I assisted a cow giving birth to a calf that was coming backwards.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged dirty boots, farming, Wordless Wednesday | View Comments

Occupy Combine: The Movement

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Mike Haley

There is a new movement afoot throughout rural America. Every fall, millions of farmers climb In their combine, head to the field and harvest their crops. Over the past couple of years, though, farmers began to add to this annual tradition by embracing a new type of technology: Social Media!

Farmers are outfitting themselves with leather gloves, steel-toed boots and Carhartts and heading to the fields. With them they are taking their Flip cams, smartphones and tablets to share their farm life with the rest of the world, by posting harvest updates throughout the day on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and other forms of social media. These people call themselves “agvocates,” or advocates for agriculture.

: Occupy Combine taking place on our farm

This movement is built on the ideals of ethics, family, hard work and transparency in how food is raised. This is a peaceful movement, there are no demands, only prayers for good weather to help get the crops harvested in a quick and safe manner.

The easiest way to follow along is to pick out a few farmers from the @followfarmer database ( http://bit.ly/FollowFarmer ) and follow them on their blogs, Facebook pages, Google+ profiles, and Twitter accounts. You can also join in the conversation by tagging your tweets with the #occupycombine hashtag!

Other related tags to follow on twitter: #harvest11, #ranclife, #occupyTractor, #occupySaddle, #occupyFarmLane #agproud #foodD and #agchat

Be sure to check out this Occupy Tractor video featuring my Friend Jennifer’s son!

Posted in #AgChat, Agvocate, Farm | Tagged #harvest11, farmlife, Harvest, Just For Fun, occupycombine | View Comments

An open letter to America

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Mike Haley

I’m not sure who may read this and knowing some of you may not know me, I want to start this off by introducing myself. I am a fifth generation grain and beef farmer from Ohio. My daily responsibilities on our family’s farm vary immensely from day to day, but in the end, each day I am striving to ensure that we are treating our land and livestock in a respectable and sustainable manner to ensure future generations will have the chance to continue farming our family’s farm if they choose to.

I have been paying attention to celebrities, special interest groups, and even several media sources talk about how our food is produced in America. I’m sure you have seen some of it too. In most cases I am disappointed at how farms like mine are portrayed. In fact several times I was frustrated or even quite mad at the information that was spewed. My family invests our hearts and souls in our farm and to hear people speak about farms broadly, I have felt personally attacked. That has colored how I’ve viewed questions from regular people like you. Unfortunately, several times I would act inappropriately after hearing misinformation and immediately started throwing stones back at my accusers. I realize now that this was inappropriate and instead of worrying about what the naysayers were saying about farmers like me, I should have made myself available more to listen and answer your questions about my family’s farm.

Honestly, I have several concerns about how some special interest groups are communicating about “the correct way to farm.” Farming is a very diverse career, with varying types of soil and climate across the world every farmer must decide what is best for their family, on their farm, for their customers. Many times if I were to follow the instructions these stone throwers tell me how I should farm, it would mean total devastation to my farm both economically and environmentally.

Please understand that I am three generations removed from you and the rest of America. The things that are everyday experiences for those of you in the city are far from my day-to-day. Those experiences have shaped the opinions we have, the perspective from which we see things and so much more. When I have an question, I turn to the best available science and research to help aid me in my decision on how to move forward. I have now come to realize that you may not be interested in all the research that backs my farming practices. I would like to discuss your concerns more, but please be patient with me as I try to understand them.

I am not alone in my feelings here, I talk to farmers everyday that are curious at how we can better communicate with people outside if agriculture. Personally though, I feel like we are fifty years late to the conversation. I am asking you to forgive our shortcomings in the past and let’s start a new conversation about how we would like to do things in the future, about what really matters to us, about how we’d like our food to be grown. My hopes are that this will be a two-way conversation, and while it will be impossible to please everyone I think it’s possible that we develop a mutual understanding and respect towards each other while we address issues that truly need changing in order to move forward.

Sincerely,
Mike Haley

On Thursday September 22nd I will be attending the food dialogues town hall in Washington D.C. Please feel free to follow along via the live webcast or on twitter by searching for the #FoodD hashtag.