What a great video. Brad is a model of what a dairy farmer should be. Very self reliant and intelligent solving his problems as they occur. Thanks for the video and thanks Brad for spending the time.
I enjoy the tractor videos but as a dairy farmer myself I love the videos with the current or former dairy farmers talking about there start ups and path ways to get where they are at currently! Thanks again!
None of these videos are really “tractor” videos. They are all too long to be about one tractor. I really enjoy the videos because Ryan interviews real people about the lives they live.
Talking about the peace and the feeling of being grounded while doing chores really brought back memories. Listening to the pulsators and watching the DV300 do its job. Its the best life I have ever known.
Glad to see he & his wife found a farm, he has earned his way, and I congratulate him. Call me crazy but, animal agriculture, and soil health are linked. There’s too much continuous corn out there guys, December corn is trading less than 4 bucks, and our soils are going downhill. Food for thought.
Great story, and beautiful cows and barn. That guy is 100 percent correct on getting started. But now days it's gotten very difficult to find a barn with land and a milk market
Another great video. It takes an outstanding dairyman to operate on this scale these days. I think it would be great if you could arrange an interview with George from Gierok Farms Channel. I work on a 400 cow dairy part time. It keeps me connected to dairying but by the time I'm done with a milking shift I'm tired. I had worked on a dairy with a really nice group of cows after high-school. They were all registered and making 85 to 90 lbs on dry square bales, silage and a ration we fed in the barn with the primary ingredient of ear corn. I always tried to be quiet with my handling of the cows but I really learned how to teach cattle to do what I needed after I started working with horses. It's amazing how much easier they are for me now. The modern big dairies aren't operated with the same mentality when it comes to the cows. The owners on a lot of these farms don't even own a pair of rubber boots. They depend on employees who may or maybe not give two craps about any of the cows. There are a hell of a lot of import employees too who in some of my observations are bullies with the cows. My approach is try not to upset her. I'm glad i was able to milk cows in old bank barns in both stanchions and tiestalls for cowmen. They never wanted trouble with their cows. They didn't get into a mental or physical contest with their cows. And they knew whether or not their cows were ok and what to do about it if they weren't. I'd say cow were way better off when the owners did the milking.
Ryan so glad you showed everyone that the American dream is still possible if you want to work for it. Everyone needs to ask the value of beening self stating, the American Dairy Farmer most definitely is
Great video. I always tell people I could have been a dairy farmer. I run my ranch with the same determination as you guys. All day. Everyday. No exceptions. I don’t know if it is good work ethic or just that I am not interested in doing anything else. Keep’em coming.
Thank you for a great video..like the bit about closed herd and bringing in problems..I am in Australia and run a closed herd beef operation these days and your man is right about bringing in problems..thank you again..
Really enjoy watching your videosthat guy has something very nice to be proud of I can relate the camaraderie between neighbors and other dairy men are few and far between in our area as well.
Absolutely loved the small dairy success story starting from nothing . Kept hoping to put eyes on a little bit more of that 4320 , looked like it was pretty clean and dueled up .
Really enjoyed this video. In 1981 when in 4-H in Indiana we traveled to Holcombe, WI and spent a week with a host family on a dairy farm. Tie stall barn. I didn’t miss a milking while I was there. Great family and memories. Thank you for sharing this video.
So much to unpack here, same thing here in west central Ohio, idiot land prices, farm broken up to sell "mini farms" and bare acres. I'm 65 and my son is taking over and i have seen everything you two discussed. Closed herd, quit vacc except for calf pneumonia. Select Sires, my dad was on the board years ago. Did you ever hear or use a bull by the name of Pete. Dad was a part owner of him. Gad the memories. The only thing that we had that he didn't bring up was stray current, damn near broke us but we finally fixed it in spite of the electric coop.Thanks for the video
Excellent interview with an excellent farmer. I am impressed with what he has done. And impressed with the discussion towards the end. I am impressed with the barn an cows and would have liked a few more minutes devoted ro that. Thanks!!!😊
Man, what a great video. I enjoyed every second of this. My dream is to have a place just like this nice and clean easy to take care of something to be proud. Congratulations.
I worked at the Utah state university dairy for about six years. They also had a tie stall barn but milked in a parlor. So twice a day we would unchain the cows, milk them , then chain them back up. It was a pain
You are talking about the Soundguard cab. They were a great cab if you were of average height and didn’t wear size 12 or 13 boots. We loved those tractors when we had them but we could see that big people didn’t love them as much as us.
It was amazing how far the crap operators could go with generational wealth to fund things, all are about gone in my area these days, but it sure would make you scratch your head as to how they lasted as long as they did. They didn't milk cows well, and they didn't crop farm any better, but it was fun to watch. I wish more people had the outlook of this dairyman in the interveiw, there would be a lot less big operators, alot of the issue I think was everyone had to keep up with the jones's when it came to size, and it ended up sinking most of them.
In river falls defense it was a teaching atmosphere. Being cowside in a tiestall was better for class room instruction. Wasnt perfect by any means , id imagine trying to change things in that uw setting took a decade or 2!
What a great video. Brad is a model of what a dairy farmer should be. Very self reliant and intelligent solving his problems as they occur. Thanks for the video and thanks Brad for spending the time.
I enjoy the tractor videos but as a dairy farmer myself I love the videos with the current or former dairy farmers talking about there start ups and path ways to get where they are at currently! Thanks again!
None of these videos are really “tractor” videos. They are all too long to be about one tractor. I really enjoy the videos because Ryan interviews real people about the lives they live.
I agree!
67 year old retired dairy farmer here. Enjoyed your conversation
Talking about the peace and the feeling of being grounded while doing chores really brought back memories. Listening to the pulsators and watching the DV300 do its job. Its the best life I have ever known.
Glad to see he & his wife found a farm, he has earned his way, and I congratulate him. Call me crazy but, animal agriculture, and soil health are linked. There’s too much continuous corn out there guys, December corn is trading less than 4 bucks, and our soils are going downhill. Food for thought.
Great story, and beautiful cows and barn. That guy is 100 percent correct on getting started. But now days it's gotten very difficult to find a barn with land and a milk market
Fascinating conversation. Keep up the good work. Love your channel.
Another great video. It takes an outstanding dairyman to operate on this scale these days. I think it would be great if you could arrange an interview with George from Gierok Farms Channel. I work on a 400 cow dairy part time. It keeps me connected to dairying but by the time I'm done with a milking shift I'm tired. I had worked on a dairy with a really nice group of cows after high-school. They were all registered and making 85 to 90 lbs on dry square bales, silage and a ration we fed in the barn with the primary ingredient of ear corn. I always tried to be quiet with my handling of the cows but I really learned how to teach cattle to do what I needed after I started working with horses. It's amazing how much easier they are for me now. The modern big dairies aren't operated with the same mentality when it comes to the cows. The owners on a lot of these farms don't even own a pair of rubber boots. They depend on employees who may or maybe not give two craps about any of the cows. There are a hell of a lot of import employees too who in some of my observations are bullies with the cows. My approach is try not to upset her. I'm glad i was able to milk cows in old bank barns in both stanchions and tiestalls for cowmen. They never wanted trouble with their cows. They didn't get into a mental or physical contest with their cows. And they knew whether or not their cows were ok and what to do about it if they weren't. I'd say cow were way better off when the owners did the milking.
Ryan so glad you showed everyone that the American dream is still possible if you want to work for it.
Everyone needs to ask the value of beening self stating, the American Dairy Farmer most definitely is
Congratulations Bo and Ian. . . May God Bless your life long journey
Great video. I always tell people I could have been a dairy farmer. I run my ranch with the same determination as you guys. All day. Everyday. No exceptions. I don’t know if it is good work ethic or just that I am not interested in doing anything else. Keep’em coming.
brad and his family should be very proud of what they have achieved (including the award in 2023). thanks for sharing.
WOW Ryan what a story and that barn! That is something to be proud of.
Holsteins, Harvestores, and SoundGards. What more does a guy need? Great video. I’d love to see this farm in person.
Thank you for a great video..like the bit about closed herd and bringing in problems..I am in Australia and run a closed herd beef operation these days and your man is right about bringing in problems..thank you again..
Really enjoy watching your videosthat guy has something very nice to be proud of I can relate the camaraderie between neighbors and other dairy men are few and far between in our area as well.
Thats an excellent dairyman right there
Very interesting story , I love them all, keep up the great work
Absolutely loved the small dairy success story starting from nothing . Kept hoping to put eyes on a little bit more of that 4320 , looked like it was pretty clean and dueled up .
His kids have a channel where they show it, little farm big camera I think is the name
Really enjoyed this video. In 1981 when in 4-H in Indiana we traveled to Holcombe, WI and spent a week with a host family on a dairy farm. Tie stall barn. I didn’t miss a milking while I was there. Great family and memories.
Thank you for sharing this video.
Really enjoyed your story! Great work, both of you!😊
Nicely done, congratulations to the Afdahl family on their success! Best to all of you from Chuck & Pixie
So much to unpack here, same thing here in west central Ohio, idiot land prices, farm broken up to sell "mini farms" and bare acres. I'm 65 and my son is taking over and i have seen everything you two discussed. Closed herd, quit vacc except for calf pneumonia. Select Sires, my dad was on the board years ago. Did you ever hear or use a bull by the name of Pete. Dad was a part owner of him. Gad the memories. The only thing that we had that he didn't bring up was stray current, damn near broke us but we finally fixed it in spite of the electric coop.Thanks for the video
Excellent interview with an excellent farmer. I am impressed with what he has done. And impressed with the discussion towards the end. I am impressed with the barn an cows and would have liked a few more minutes devoted ro that. Thanks!!!😊
Nice interview good hardworking man with good mind set congrats
Man, what a great video. I enjoyed every second of this. My dream is to have a place just like this nice and clean easy to take care of something to be proud. Congratulations.
Thanks.
Really interesting. Learned a lot.
I worked at the Utah state university dairy for about six years. They also had a tie stall barn but milked in a parlor. So twice a day we would unchain the cows, milk them , then chain them back up. It was a pain
Very interesting
You are talking about the Soundguard cab. They were a great cab if you were of average height and didn’t wear size 12 or 13 boots. We loved those tractors when we had them but we could see that big people didn’t love them as much as us.
I wear size 13s. I love soundgards
So happy for you guys keep up the good work God Bless Massey guy here. But have 4320 too
It was amazing how far the crap operators could go with generational wealth to fund things, all are about gone in my area these days, but it sure would make you scratch your head as to how they lasted as long as they did. They didn't milk cows well, and they didn't crop farm any better, but it was fun to watch.
I wish more people had the outlook of this dairyman in the interveiw, there would be a lot less big operators, alot of the issue I think was everyone had to keep up with the jones's when it came to size, and it ended up sinking most of them.
In the 50's many grade A farms around the twin cities had the two level floor milkhouse for easier filling of the flat top tanks.
Farm master, stainless steel mixer, we had one, used it almost 20 years. The one that reversed was a steiner.
Think I saw an article in Hoard's about when you guys moved into the new farm.
My Parents bought 5 acres from Dave and Donna Ray in the early 90’s. Small world
In river falls defense it was a teaching atmosphere. Being cowside in a tiestall was better for class room instruction. Wasnt perfect by any means , id imagine trying to change things in that uw setting took a decade or 2!
❤👍🇺🇸
Is this home to Little farm big cameras you tube channel? :)
Sure is!
Should of had your dad plug the channel. 😊
Yes
Ryan did you ever think about getting a tripod for your camera
Im 39 and ready to retire