Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Once they get some size, the turkeys are not a worry with any hawks... once I get the perimeter fence.....done....
DS has a friend helping him some... the guy is good at things but goes off on "benders".... drugs maybe??? just does not apply himself and cannot be found for weeks on end... then works like a s.o.b and is REAL good and fast at carpentry and such... so he is taking advantage of his help some, while he is around again.... I am going to tell him that I will help pay for some of his time if DS wants, so that some of my stuff can get done too. With the reduced income now that DS is getting, I know he is watching his money... Plus the rental house is empty, they finally moved everything out... and he has to find someone new... but is being careful because he has had some real A**holes before he got the last ones... and they were super... Don't blame them, for moving to the house the father in law had them fix up and then gave them (?)... but DS lost a real good renter... so he has that mortgage to deal with until he gets a renter in the house...
Always something...
Gotten quite windy out there... no burning again today.... going to go up to the pasture and check the heifers and calves, feed some in the trough as DS probably is not going to want to move any today....unless he lets me know differently here soon.... and then go get another 5 gal bucket of chicken feed from the bin... come home and mix it with the fresher 22 % bought feed. Fill the feeders.
Went out to the buff leghorns and took them water... the hens are totally NUTS..... GRRRRI do not have hours to spend with them... and if they keep this up, might get some chicks and then sell the adults and see if the chicks will grow up quieter with the NH chicks and such like that... the langshans do not take off for the far corner of the pen and the NH are quite easy going and not overly excited at my moving around out there... Leghorns are by nature more flighty... but REALLY ????? These are by far the worst I have ever worked around... and I had SC light brown leghorns for years. Most get used to you and are not "lap pets" but quiet enough to work around... these are just NOT.

Haven't heard back from DS on getting or not getting the heifers and calves in, so going to go get the chicken feed at the feed bin down the road and come back and fill the feeders etc... then I will go up to the pasture and just feed if he hasn't gotten back to me yet.

Oh, he just texted, it is too wet... which I thought maybe. So I will go feed them and then go get the feed for the chickens/turkeys.

 

[drstratton]

Once they get some size, the turkeys are not a worry with any hawks... once I get the perimeter fence.....done....
DS has a friend helping him some... the guy is good at things but goes off on "benders".... drugs maybe??? just does not apply himself and cannot be found for weeks on end... then works like a s.o.b and is REAL good and fast at carpentry and such... so he is taking advantage of his help some, while he is around again.... I am going to tell him that I will help pay for some of his time if DS wants, so that some of my stuff can get done too. With the reduced income now that DS is getting, I know he is watching his money... Plus the rental house is empty, they finally moved everything out... and he has to find someone new... but is being careful because he has had some real A**holes before he got the last ones... and they were super... Don't blame them, for moving to the house the father in law had them fix up and then gave them (?)... but DS lost a real good renter... so he has that mortgage to deal with until he gets a renter in the house...
Always something...
Gotten quite windy out there... no burning again today.... going to go up to the pasture and check the heifers and calves, feed some in the trough as DS probably is not going to want to move any today....unless he lets me know differently here soon.... and then go get another 5 gal bucket of chicken feed from the bin... come home and mix it with the fresher 22 % bought feed. Fill the feeders.
Went out to the buff leghorns and took them water... the hens are totally NUTS..... GRRRRI do not have hours to spend with them... and if they keep this up, might get some chicks and then sell the adults and see if the chicks will grow up quieter with the NH chicks and such like that... the langshans do not take off for the far corner of the pen and the NH are quite easy going and not overly excited at my moving around out there... Leghorns are by nature more flighty... but REALLY ????? These are by far the worst I have ever worked around... and I had SC light brown leghorns for years. Most get used to you and are not "lap pets" but quiet enough to work around... these are just NOT.

Haven't heard back from DS on getting or not getting the heifers and calves in, so going to go get the chicken feed at the feed bin down the road and come back and fill the feeders etc... then I will go up to the pasture and just feed if he hasn't gotten back to me yet.

Oh, he just texted, it is too wet... which I thought maybe. So I will go feed them and then go get the feed for the chickens/turkeys.

I don't like flighty birds either, or any spooky animals in general. Bunch of Ninny's!

 

[fuzzi]

Sorry you lost that pullet.

 

[farmerjan]

Sorry you lost that pullet.

YEAH, me too... walked all through the taller grass and around and NOTHING....
Heard an owl this evening, but this was in the broad daylight so really don't think it was an owl.

Went to the dumpster and tossed several bags of trash. Went to the pasture and fed the group of mostly all the her x heifers away from the barn on the other side of the pasture where they were "grazing"... then went and fed in the 2 feed troughs right near the barn/catch pen... fed feed inside the barn for the calves... several were in... I told DS they needed hay, so he was going to take it in there this evening... by tomorrow afternoon, they ought to be filled up enough that they will come back to the barn for more grain... if he fed in the morning, they might not want to come for the grain in the afternoon.

Went down and got 2.....5 gal buckets of chicken feed.... mixed one and filled the turkey's feeder... the others had some feed so will get then situated tomorrow afternoon sometime. It is supposed to rain/showers on Tues into Wed so want to not have to do feeders then.

The wind had laid down so I finally went out and got the papers/junk cardboard pieces and all that burned. I will go back out in a little bit and recheck... having the barrel is nice so I don't have to sit there after it gets burned way down.... it is contained so UNLIKELY to spread like with an open pile..... The ground is still damp too... One more thing done for now... At least now I will burn papers more frequently that I have the barrel to do so.

I sat and did some paperwork for the dairy from last week... there is a problem with some numbers assigned to the calves, and trying to get this straightened up for this farmer... his milker that does all this, unfortunately is getting things wrong sometimes... I think she is getting forgetful and messing up... but this has to get straightened out or he may as well throw all his records in the garbage.... because he is going to sell out in a few years... and the way things are now... there are heifers that have a sire and dam listed that are not their sire and dam... someone got the wrong ID number assigned to the wrong calf... and it got out of hand... Looks like it happened the last fill in tester they had...couple years ago, before I went back in there... skipped calving dates... all sorts of stuff... and then she transposes numbers sometimes, so I have to ask about some of it... and then when they tag the calves, sometimes they use the wrong button on a calf and it has been assigned to a different calf... I told the owner that these calves need to be tagged as soon as they are put in the calf barn... not go do them once a week... doesn't matter if they are put in hutches according to calving dates.. they should be tagged AS SOON AS they come to the barn....
GRRRRR. One reason I am doing all this... is because when I need a calf or something, I will have a "favor owed to me"... and will nudge him a little if I need to... I don't expect something for nothing... but I fixed your records, you help me out with a calf reasonably priced in exchange.....

So, I am in and going to put away the dishes I did earlier and do the gallon glass jars that are waiting to get done... couple other dishes and will be caught up with them...

DS called and said he fed the hay and that it would be good if I can get some of the heifers and their calves in tomorrow... they have to go to the barn to get banded and shots and then he will bring them back to the pasture that is "behind my house" ; across the dirt road there... with the bull. He has to go get that bull from another pasture... he has been out there on vacation since there was grass there... after all the cows "presumably" got bred... they will get checked soon... but leaving them there as long as there is grass... they are fat as hogs and their calves look good. The calves will get weaned when they are brought out of the pasture, cows preg checked and calves kept at barn so they can get on silage and then as soon as he gets all the other ones back here, he will have another group to sell in Feb...

A different guy is coming to look at the 22+/- steers in the barn tomorrow. The first guy that said he wanted them, offered a real low ball price... this other guy we saw at the stockyard Friday; he has bought our calves in the past also... and said he would pay what he was paying for some on Friday... which is more than the other guy... at .10 / lb...difference, that is another $50 per 500 lb calf... it was less than what DS had been thinking, but prices have dropped the past 2 weeks again... so if the guy tomorrow likes them... he can have them.... $50 per calf adds up... 20 calves that is another $1000..... will see how tomorrow goes...

Saw where there was a mouse on the counter... so set the trap... cats do NOT get up on the counters... caught it, so I reset it in case there are more... do NOT have the problem I had in the past before I got the cats and they started coming in the house at least part of the time... Thank you Silkie and Socks. Great deterrents and mouse catchers...

 

[farmerjan]

Up early, back ache... laid back down for a bit again. Got up and the sun was out and looking to be nice. Supposed to cloud up later this afternoon and then some into rain for the morning...
Went down to the farm and got grain/pellets for the cows... DS was down in the field and he was working on putting up some fence there in the one barn lot. He had panels there and had to "steal the panels" to take to set up catch pens, so said it was PAST TIME to get this stretch of fence up. Helped him and her for a little bit, putting in brace posts and then left to go to the co-op to get more blackleg vaccine since we are about out at the barn. then came back by here, ate a sandwich and going up to see if I can get the heifers and some calves in so they can go to the barn to get shots and moved across the road.
So headed up there in a couple minutes.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday evening. Turned out to be a nice day... Sun all day. It was comfortably warm with just a long sleeved shirt.
I went to Snyder's... nurse cow pasture... to see about getting the heifers in with their calves. Did not expect to get them all, was hoping for half...
Started out not so great... got a bunch of calves in, some cows went in.... but not many... had a few come back out and I did not want to upset anyone... and was trying to see what calves were in and what cows I needed...
I only had 4 matched pairs in at first... a couple of extra calves and 2 cows that the calves were not in... they were all standing around outside like they were in vacation mode... But if you try to push the issue, then you have animals getting upset and won't come near there for days...
Then I managed to walk in a cow and a calf... to match others in the pen... so now 6 pairs... Then I moved them over into the side where I milk ... and opened the gate and the door into the barn; blocked off the outside part where there were 3 more mismatched... 1 cow and 2 other calves... got another cow to go in barn, got her with her calf... finally after just thinking that would be it... got another cow to go in and a calf followed... and they both had their "other half" in there .... so I finally wound up with 9 matches and 10 calves... my orphan was in with the cow I originally grafted her on... plus she is stealing off others... I only had 1 calf that I did not get the momma as she was down over the hill eating hay... I texted DS and said I had 8 or 9 pairs so come on to get them...
We sorted off the one calf, she was by the gate so worked good.... then got all them in the barn, and sorted the cows back out and kept the calves and 2 cows that would fit in the trailer... We had borrowed a neighbors trailer since ours is having some aluminum welded and fixed.... to go to the bull sale in case we bought something... so used it today too before taking it back...

Brought all the 10 calves to the barn and the 2 cows... one needed a 2nd eartag... and it helps to have a "nanny cow" or 2 with the calves... Ran the calves up the chute...heifers got blackleg shot and the bull calves got banded and tetanus and blackleg... 2 bull calves and my orphan also needed eartags... then he took them to the pasture across the road , behind my house so to speak.. and to turn them out and I went up to get the rest in the barn from the little lot... and make sure we had the right ones/numbers, and no one had gotten out or gone over the fence or something stupid while we were at the barn working the calves... got 5 of the 7 on the trailer and one stupid one went over the dividing gate inside... so he left her and another instead of opening the trailer again... took them across the road... then came back for the other 2.... acting stupid... the B#@&% that went over the gate... and managed to mash it a bunch... is one of mine... and she has been high headed.... I had forgotten she was mine til I looked at the paper after all were done... DS had said if she wants to have this attitude, she can raise this calf and get sold as a bred cow next time around... and I said yeah, we don't need idiots... and she is a bit high headed. Turns out she is my heifer, and out of a 1/2 hol, 1/2 angus... so she is 1/4 angus... and the cow was a PITA fence jumper as a heifer too... We'll see... if she settles down some more or not. I am not in love with her, and she can get sold if she is going to continue to be stupid...
3 of the 5 left to move are mine... 1 with the older calf that she was eating hay, one with the newest calf that she was so late to calve.... and didn't try to get her in so the calf didn't get trampled... it's about 10 days old I guess... and one that came in and then went back out but I didn't try to keep her in because I didn't see her calf in there... and 2 of DS's.... One of his is also a real skittish one... I told him I will work with getting them in for grain for a few days.... so that it will be easier to do it the next time... The good thing is, there are 9 less big cows to deal with... and only 5 more needing to catch up... hopefully the calves will go in the pen tomorrow for grain... and if I have to, I can shut the gate across the creep gate they go in, and then when the cows want their calves bad enough, they ought to go in the pen...
But I will work with them a few times... won't be moving them until we get our trailer back... the door on the borrowed trailer is bent a little and DS said the heifers being stupid actually bent it a little more... so he is going to bend it back a bit, take the little bit of a bow out of it... and take it back. Our trailer ought to be back in a few days... hopefully... then I can get the other 5 and calves out... we can then get the cows in at the farm, work the next bunch of calves... and move the ones there to get bred and move the few that are not getting bred back... prolapses and old cows with calves, to the nurse cow pasture... and the couple of heifers that are too young to breed too... then everything will be out of the barn and we can start to bring home the ones from pastures... preg checks and weaning calves and all that...
The cycle continues.

The guy came and looked at the steers, started hemming and hawing about price... after we watched what he paid on Friday.... BUT.... the prices dropped again today... down the allowable limit... the guy told DS that he could think about it... he didn't have to have them and if it worked out, great, if not then maybe the next batch...
DS told he decided to just go with the other/first guy after all... a little less, but he will take all that are in the barn, including the one that has little scurs/horns.... same size horns from 6 months ago, not growing, but some of them are funny about taking them... DS texted him... he said he would be here tomorrow at 11:30 to get them.... WOW..... so even though the price is $.10 less than what the other guy said... after his back and forth today, and wanting to slide the price on bigger ones etc and so on... we won't lose that much per calf and they will be out of the barn tomorrow... Sometimes it is better to lose a little than to miss out by holding out... and they ALL go.... I think the drop today in the feeder futures has got DS a little worried too...
The stockyards here do not have sales this week.... for the holiday weekend they are all closed... and in 2 weeks the prices could fall off more... Announcement that they have dropped or reduced the tariffs on Brazilian beef.... that is going to be good for the consumer IF it trickles down to them... but it is going to drop our prices a bit more...

I think we have seen the top of the market.... it might pick up some in the spring when green grass gets people wanting stuff to graze... but I think we are seeing a slide down a bit from the historic highs...
It was nice while it lasted...

So it is not quite as cold, but feeling more "damp"... showers/rain by around noon tomorrow.... I need to take the meters to the farm in the morning for them to set up.... have to be there by 3 to test... I will go up and feed at the pasture so the cows don't feel any "difference" ... then maybe fill the chicken feeders. Might try to unroll the vinyl and see about getting one of the pieces up on the top of the run, for the turkeys....they are mushy/muddy from the last little bit of rain...
The NH 's are definitely spooked because they stay in the corner where there is some "protection", they can "hide out".... and not be out in the open part of the pen... even though nothing will come through it for them now.... It will take them awhile to get over whatever got the one pullet........ got to get the leghorn' s feeder filled too.

So plenty to do tomorrow... and then test.... then test again Wed morning... and done for a couple of days...
Just in time for 20 degree night time temps....

Going to wash dishes... had some spiral pasta noodles for supper with sauce... need to wash up dishes in sink... get a shower and go to bed...
Start all over again tomorrow...

 

[farmerjan]

One thing most might not have heard... Tyson is closing their slaughter plant in Lexington Neb.... kill about 5,000 a day... over 10,000 employees...
You know what this is going to do to this small town????

Funny that this is right after Trump wanted the DOJ to look into the "collusion" of the 4 big meat packers... AND Tyson got hit with BIG fines and such within the last couple months... for violations of some of these practices...

 

[fuzzi]

One thing most might not have heard... Tyson is closing their slaughter plant in Lexington Neb.... kill about 5,000 a day... over 10,000 employees...
You know what this is going to do to this small town????

Funny that this is right after Trump wanted the DOJ to look into the "collusion" of the 4 big meat packers... AND Tyson got hit with BIG fines and such within the last couple months... for violations of some of these practices...

I did see that Tyson was closing one plant, but didn't know the rest.