High Grove Farm Journal – March 2024
Apr 15, 2024 (Westby, WI)
It has been a joy filled month for our family with the addition of our daughter Tulsie Rae Rogers, born on her due date, March 15! My husband Drew and our older children Carter, Caleb and Laney have been working hard on the farm and helping extra in the house while I am busy getting in as many newborn baby snuggles as I can get. They’re little for such a short time!
We enjoyed Easter with a newborn, our family and beautiful weather this month, and we’ve been especially blessed with many meals and gifts from family and close friends to celebrate her birth! To our delight the kids fight over holding their new sister and it’s been such a special time for our family.
Some heifers out in the morning sunshine after one of the March snow storms we’ve had. All of this snow was melted by the next morning!
Early warm spring weather has given a head start for dairy farmers in our area, who always have an extra large to-do list after a winter! Being able to start farm cleanup early, before field work becomes a priority, is huge!
While Laney and I have been staying pretty much in the house and greenhouse with baby, working on planting seeds for the gardens and doing housework, the boys have been busy on the farm side of things.
Drew has had a lot on his mind with the added work of lining up several projects we are doing this year to improve our grazing on the farm. Fencing, cow lanes and waterlines – along with soil amendments, spring planting and planning out all the feed we need to grow and harvest for our cows for a year – are a few of the things he’s been focusing on lately.
Compared to last March, which was a soggy, cold and very muddy, the cows have been able to be out on a sacrifice pasture, stretching their legs and soaking up the sun! Even with several snow storms mixed in with the unusually warm days, they have really been enjoying their early pasture time, and we are so grateful for the good weather we’ve had!
Carter forgot to plug in the fencer! This is the milking herd stealing a few nibbles of winter rye before we chased them back into the “sacrifice pasture,” a pasture we’re replanting this spring and don’t mind if they over-use some right now before the grazing pastures are ready for them!
Soon it will be time for all the spring things like harvesting rhubarb from the garden, going to the Amish greenhouses for flowers and for Drew to start planting in the fields! If this warm weather keeps up we will be grazing before we know it too! We are looking forward to the summer and are excited to see the fruits of our labors through the improvements we’re working on this year on our farm.
Happy Spring from our family to yours! Thanks for visiting the farm.
– Jessica Rogers is a Westby Creamery farmer-owner who is sharing glimpses of farm life with us.
