Some of you have been asking for an update about the dairy that was severely damaged by Hurricane Idalia in Mayo Florida.
In case you wondering, “what dairy?” Well, one of the sons (Arlie) and his wife (Cathy) moved the dairy from Bradenton to Mayo Florida in 2004. This past September, Hurricane Idalia severely damaged the dairy, destroying multiple buildings and equipment.
The dairy is running but there is still a lot of rebuilding that needs to take place. In the last 30 days, Arlie and Cathy were able to replace some equipment and have found a beautiful trailer to live in at the farm.
Although milk production is still not where it was prior to the Hurricane, Arlie and Cathy are just thankful that all of the cows and calves are healthy and they are able to milk.
The picture below on the left is the new flail harvester that was purchased. When pulled behind the tractor it cuts the grass and shoots it into a trailer. Basically a “souped up mower”. And if look behind the flail harvester you will see that one of the barns is still down. The picture on the bottom right is Arlie working on a silage bagger as the sun sets. This is a machine that pushes cut grass into an air-tight bag where the grass can be preserved through fermentation. Arlie and Cathy will use this fermented grass in the winter months to feed the cows.
