Make the Market Connection Farmers' Markets Contribute to Communities & Connect You to Your FoodPosted by DrewFarmers' markets are the backbone of our farm.There is nothing quite like the instantaneous sense of community that seemingly springs up out of nowhere on a farmers' market day. Watching as an empty, faceless parking lot or closed off street magically transforms in a matter of moments is wondrous.

During pre-dawn hours, farmers unload their freshest seasonal produce, local artisans carefully display their crafts and food booths ready their mobile kitchens - woodsmoke and a hint of coffee hang in the early morning air. As the sun rises, what was once a lifeless space quickly unfolds before our waking eyes into a true neighborhood commons, bustling with activity.This is the place for weekly rituals: the morning walk to market, a chat with neighbors along the way. As children and adults alike taste each of the sweet berries offered, excitedly choose from the freshest greens, listen and dance to the live music, touch the fine wood carvings and marvel at the handcrafted jewelry, their market baskets will soon be overflowing. The simple opportunity to interact with the different folks from all walks of life who grow, make, or prepare all this goodness and provide it to the neighborhood is priceless. A healthy marketplace is a sign of a strong community, created by vendors and customers together.For us, waking up long before dawn and journeying the distance to bring you the freshest of the season is something that we look forward to and thoroughly enjoy. We like being part of the local communities in many different places. While our business depends upon market sales, growing great tasting organic produce makes us truly happy.

Happy Boy has been growing organic produce for over a decade. Located primarily in the central coastal valleys, we deliver to local groceries and restaurants and sell at several farmers' markets throughout the South Bay, Penninsula and Greater Bay Area. Coast guard festival 2020 fireworks.

And we honestly hope bringing it directly from the farm to your neighborhood, where you can choose produce picked so fresh you can taste the difference, makes YOU happy.Farmers' markets are an essential element in creating sustainable, healthy, and thriving communities. The notion of an open-air market where farmers and artisans sell their goods is a surprisingly simple, tried-and-true model. This is a space where neighbors can mingle, make healthy choices, and create personal connections with those who work hard to bring them the food and nutrition that sustains them. The notion that these experiences occur and are brought to life for a few hours on a weekly basis makes them seem even more special, vital, and almost radical. By the time you’re home, basket carefully emptied and hanging from its hook, the farmers' market too is transitioning - much like a circus pulling up tent stakes and moving on - and soon will be gone. And the parking lot looks well, really empty again. Until the next week, when the story begins anew.Happy Boy Farms has been participating at farmers' markets in the greater Bay Area for over a decade.

We take great pride in working hard to grow seasonal crops, and hold ourselves to a high standard of taste and absolute freshness. Certified organic from our beginnings, we set up our tents year round, rain or shine - and we’ll see you next week!

Nico Vreeburg, a veterinarian at Vetvice in Holland, has worked with management support for farmers using the Herd Navigator for two and a half years. He explains to the farmers how the system works and helps them make the right decisions based on the data the system provides.He currently works with ten Dutch farms using the Herd Navigator, and he is very positive about the system.“Getting the data out of a management system is one thing, but to implement the results with the farm goals you have in mind is quite another,” he says. Reproduction under control and ketosis problem surfacesAll heats are detected by the system, and the focus is then on the time of insemination. The standard frame after a detected heat is to inseminate 24 to 36 hours after the alarm. At some farms they switch to a later SOP (Standard of Procedure) of 30 to 42 hours after heat is detected.In two to three months time the reproduction program is handled entirely by the system, and that is when the producers start noticing that they have a lot more cows with ketosis than they believed. Treatment of a ketosis at an early stage is very simple, as a cow with a beginning energy problem is quite easy to get on the right track again, without losing milk or body weight, and the farmers realize that there is a lot to be gained here.“After a year, the first two farmers I worked with both said that they had earned a lot of money from the early treatment of ketosis cow,” says Nico.These ketosis alarms have also been useful in pointing out to the farmers and their feed advisors that there is a need to put more focus on rations and transition management.

Management support tool to improve controlAccording to Nico this system is a tool for good managers who want to have even more control over their results. If they use it correctly as a management support tool, by taking the data, interpreting it, implementing the necessary changes, judging the results and setting new goals, they will have more control over their reproduction results. He says he finds the farmers who uses and trusts the Herd Navigator for heat detection much more relaxed.“This is a precise way of managing individual cows and a good tool for precision management of the whole farm,” Nico says. Healthier cowsThe cows will be healthier since they have less secondary problems, such as BCS loss, milk loss, infetions, all caused by lack of energy.

There will also be less need for hormone treatments, since the individual reproductive status can be followed day by day. Space empires v technology tree. The mastitis treatment is also better, with early, shorter and more efficient treatments with antibiotics.“If the girls are treated and changes in rations and management are made to prevent new cases, then all cows on the farm will be happy.” Future developmentNico is hoping that the development continues and that Herd Navigator and other automation systems will gather even more data which can be used on the farm to make life easier and more enjoyable. This will also mean that the lives of our high producing cows would get better. He also hopes that systems can be integrated and that things like milking robots, separation gates and concentrate feeders can be controlled by the results of Herd Navigator.“The use of Herd Navigator makes it possible to take a huge step forward in the control of the farm’s results.

It is fun to work with and it helps the cows to have a better life. Happy cows, happy farmers. That is the Vetvice slogan.”.Wadsworth, Monica. Keywords.