Canesisters 2024 journal

[Mini Horses]

Agree with Jan. Plus they want $1800 for that "pet". Buy a calf, less than half that, feed out and sell.

BORROW a calf from your hay guy! Get Ava preggers....she'll be ok. Even AI her. Heck, I understand your attachment & I'd keep her, too. But pass on the spotted guy.

 

[SageHill]

OK -- coffee kicked in, everything @farmerjan and @Mini Horses said.
The hay costs are what I'd cringe at. Heck - I'm feeding this fall's lambs and already looking forward to taking them to auction and stocking the freezer. And..... my hay stall is down to 3 bales - yeah been looking around for a bit already to find something they will eat w/o much waste. At the moment I'm looking at 8-10% waste in what I've found.

 

[canesisters]

I really appreciate the honesty that I can always find here. Thanks. Seriously.

When she first contacted me, I did message her asking for more info.
He is in electric fencing & is used to being around (bigger than Eva) angus cows. I was concerned she might squish him when she was in heat.
I don't have anywhere near her asking price, but told her that I'd check back after the new year to see if he was still available.

Nothing on my place serves a real purpose anymore ; other than letting me feel needed & giving me something to care for.
Sometimes I look around & think about that old saying 'Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.' and I think that maybe I should just give up, let it all grow over & just keep my little yard with a little chicken coop. That maybe I should've just sold it all when Bob died & moved into a townhouse or something before getting into all of this 'farm-y' stuff.
But then I start to wonder who I'd be if all I had was work & this quiet empty bit of land.


I hadn't considered borrowing calves. I wonder how that might work..... What incentive would it offer my hay guy that would make it a worthwhile deal on his end?

 

[farmerjan]

Ask him if he has a calf that has had pinkeye and bad spots in it's eyes would preclude getting a decent price... or one that has a permanent limp or something that would "kill" the price at the sale barn so he is going to keep it to feed out.. something that you can feed out for him... give her company for a year or so... in exchange for some beef???? You will be paying him for the hay anyway....
We have a steer that DS bought... sorted out of a group... thinking it got stepped on and bruised.. Nope.... some sort of permanent damage... he will stay here and be a beef down the road...permanent limp and slow to get around... eats and all just fine...

I still think that getting her bred and making yourself raise her calf KNOWING it is going in your freezer, would make back your hay money....
I would suggest an old cow he is retiring, but then you are no further ahead. They are worth over 1.00 lb for cull cows... most of ours are bringing 1,000-1500 for cows that are going to slaughter.
I don't know about the "borrow" thing... but ask him... and honestly I think that he will somehow say nicely that she is a "money pit" and should at least produce a calf to beef for yourself... pet or not... unless you won the lottery... keeping one is Okay... people have boats or 2nd homes or go on vacations and all that.. so there are all sorts of ways to "spend your money".... but she is able to at least mostly pay you back... can you not run her over with his to get her bred back.... or since you have a stall... find someone to come and AI her when she comes in heat again... that will cure the "wandering itch" for 9 months...

If you like the farming end of it, don't give it up... but are you where maybe you would prefer to do something different???? Sometimes priorities change....
And honestly, the time to make changes is when it is a positive financial return... do it when they are bringing good money... not when you have to sell because there is no choice and you have to take what the market is dictating..
One reason I am thinking we ought to sell more heifers... the prices are right...

 

[Mini Horses]

Get her bred. PLAN to sell calf you get, sooner than last one or raise to butcher....even sell half I raise goats for meat, understand cute & friendly. BUT most get sold. It's definitely harder to stay detached when they're in your backyard, cute, friendly and a daily touchy/feely type yep.

Gotta say, there are days I am inclined to sell a large number of mine -- especially buy hay days! -- but I'm not ready to stop raising all together. Yeah, keep a few! It gives you purpose.

 

[canesisters]

All good, sound advice.
3 nights off coming up - much to do & to think about.

I'm heading in for #3 of a 3-night shift & haven't been able to get more than 3hrs sleep a day since Fri morning.
So, since I'm wide awake again, I gave myself a pedicure (work boots do a number on my toes ) and then had a photo shoot with Chaos.

 

[Baymule]

I agree with what everyone said. I’ll add to it, if you are going to spend money, put it towards wire and T-posts for a permanent fence.
Just to give you an idea on cost.

How many acres are under fence now? One acre is 204’ X 204’.
What is the longest stretch of hot wire fence that you have? What if you only put up a fence on one side, used hot wire for the rest?

I’m trying to break it down into small increments. Buy one roll of wire. Couple months later, buy a few T-posts. Instead of looking at the staggering cost of fencing the whole place, look at buying one piece at a time. If it takes you 2 years to fence one acre, so what. If it takes you 2 years to fence one side, so what.

You are looking at the whole picture and it is overwhelming. Look at it in small sections.

Your farm makes you happy. It is not a mistake. Take a step back and take a new look at things.

 

[fuzzi]

All good, sound advice.
3 nights off coming up - much to do & to think about.

I'm heading in for #3 of a 3-night shift & haven't been able to get more than 3hrs sleep a day since Fri morning.
So, since I'm wide awake again, I gave myself a pedicure (work boots do a number on my toes ) and then had a photo shoot with Chaos.
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Love the name!

 

[canesisters]

Fence update - working between rain showers & with a pounding headache. <pout>
I've learned something odd about my charger. A good connection makes a different 'click' at the box. When I take the good lead-out wire off to try different options for using on the pasture fence, it gets much louder the instant the bad ones are connected.

It seems that the whole problem has been the buried romex lead-out wire between the charger box & the fence. It's obviously been compromised. I attached a 12" long piece of regular fence wire to the box. Then stretched an outdoor style extension cord between the box & the fence (roughly 50'). I wedged the ground prong of the plug into a twist of fence & then stuck the end of the little piece of fence into ground hole at the other end = fence checker read 7000 both at the temp cord connection & at the far end of the fence line.
I don't want to bury another line. I believe that I can run a new lead-out almost completely inside the barn by snaking it along the feed room wall, over the barn door & to the other corner of the barn - probably 50'+/-. The fence is literally just on the other side of that wall.
Now I need to decide what to use as a permanent replacement. Per the internet: romex isn't reccomended because of the higher voltage - & my personal experience agrees that it will fail eventually. Garden hoses also not recommended for the same reason (& because no one ever likes to reccomend using something for a completely 'wrong' use). Every source says to get typical 'under gate' wire, but I have a new piece of that & when I put that on the charger it instantly drops the output to 2000v. I'm guessing some sort of a break inside.
When I Google high voltage insulated wire I get lots of variations of under gate wire.
So what would yall recommend?
I'm highly tempted to go with plain old fence wire inside a garden hose (& listening to the charger's click along with regularly testing the fence) simply because it would be the fastest & cheapest to replace with materials I have on hand..... and it might last a good long while being inside (?)

 

[SageHill]

I know nothing of electric fencing or wiring. ("I know nothing" as Sargent Schultz on Hogan's Heroes would say). But thinking if you've got the wire and the garden hose why not try that as it won't cost anything. Of course it may fail at any time so there's that.