Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

They did pretty good with the cows yesterday I guess. Looks like my cow doesn't have twins, but there are 2 calves sucking her some. One of the other cows looks like she doesn't have much milk, he said. So if she is feeding 2 that is fine. It will be good for her udder since she is a hol/guernsey cross. And the calf will grow okay and not be stunted. As long as mine grows okay I don't mind. I won't get too worried about whether she breeds back either, but at least the pasture that she is moved to with the other cows that have calves, is getting silage, so she shouldn't lose too much condition.

I haven't gotten the clipboard yet to see what is what. But maybe tomorrow. Working on the stuff in the house. Got some more stuff moved around. Have a bunch of papers that I was going to keep for the garden, but I think I am just going to take them to the recycling center so they are cleaned up. I can just get more hay if I do manage to have a garden. Don't know how fast the recovery is going to go.

Got to see if I can get the smaller heifers caught in the pen, up there at "snyders" where I have the nurse cows, and the first calf heifers. Get them out of there in the next day or 2 so that we can put the bull in there to breed the rest. There will be a bunch of dairy cows, and dairy crosses that will be getting bred and they will calve in the fall. I will need to get calves grafted on them before I think about doing anything with the knee. Then hopefully after they calve this coming fall, and I get them situated with calves, I can get a few of them bred back to what I want and not just bred to an angus like is going to happen this year; then get the knee replaced in the winter. Never did catch that one cow in heat for breeding to that Wagyu, and the other one was actually pregnant, the vet missed it because she wasn't very far along, so couldn't breed her anyway. Not going to worry about it now, just get them pregnant to calve in the fall and go from there.

 

[Bruce]

They are now saying more than 50,000 are expected.

Any reason they can't make their point while leaving their guns at home?

 

[farmerjan]

Friday, it was a chilly 27 this morning but mostly sunny and then high clouds this afternoon. Got up to 52 in the sun but didn't feel that warm.

My son tried texting me and then a phone call but I had no service since yesterday. Probably due to the wind as any bad weather seems to affect the service. Maybe we will get the tower in this year????? It ought to help some. I had to go up the road, on top of the hill to try to get service and took me over a half hour for it to work correctly. I had a message on the phone saying "no service", so that is what prompted me to try to check for messages in the first place.

We were talking about going to the Va Farm Show, but I decided that I wouldn't be able to do the walking and really just wasn't in the mood to hurt today. The farm testing on Wed aft really was rough on me on yesterday. So we decided that if I could get the heifers in that we would move them and get the bull in up there once they were out. Some are too young to breed, and a couple are coming in heat. Plus there are 3 or 4 that I really want to sell whenever we ship heifers. Getting them in wasn't a big deal except one, and I tricked her, to get her to go in the barn cuz she didn't think I was paying attention and there were a few in the barn that I didn't need, but she just saw some in there so went in. Then I sorted them out and let the ones I didn't need, go out loose. She is very skittish and high strung (nut case in the barn) and is one on the sell list.
So I had him look them over and we decided that there were 3 that could stay and get bred along with the 8 I had already turned out. I will have alot of cattle of mine calving next fall. But I have also sold 4 cows in the last couple of months for not breeding back, 2 were real old and were not even given a chance to rebreed due to their age and condition. Got a couple more that aren't raising a very good calf, so might be selling a few more in the spring, when the calves get pulled and sold. There are 2 cows at the barn, both my son's , that are really flighty and they will both go on the same load when we ship their calves as there is no way in the world we will be rebreeding them. It's a chance you take when you buy and sell some like we do.

So, moved 7 of my heifers to dougs farm, and a steer that I had kept back that has some dairy in him. He will go whenever we have a load going. He won't made a graded pen since he shows the dairy, but he ought to do fair. It's still money in the bank. I don't need the beef since I have a jersey steer coming along too, that is about the same size, that will be my next beef, but I kept him at the farm. Thought after I had turned him out that maybe I should have put him up there on silage, but sometimes the jerseys actually go backwards when they get crowded with the beef feeders, so he can just stay there for the winter. He will go out on pasture in the spring somewhere. Then we sorted off 3 bred heifers to take back up to snyders pasture, they will calve in the spring but this way they won't be competing with cows in the back fields. And can be watched closer when it gets to calving time. Sorted off 3 other heifers that were a bit bigger in the barn at doug's farm, to put in with my 7 as they matched sizes pretty good, and they will be fed separately so the smaller ones can get more to eat at the bunk in the barn. The corn silage we put up is real nice and smells good and if we are going to sell these steers sooner rather than later, we will have a bunch more silage left than we had planned. So we are going to feed some to a couple of other fields that have cows and calves as an extra feed for them. We are having a terrible time with raccoons and possums tearing the silage bag. Have caught 7 already and got 1 coon and 1 possum last night. When they tear the plastic, it allows air into the silage and it will spoil, not to mention that the rain and weather can get in the holes. So instead of thinking that we were going to try to use what we need then "reseal" the end; which it does keep decently but not as good as a bag that hasn't been opened at all...... we are going to feed it all out this year and so feeding some to the cow/calf pairs and all. He is even talking about taking a feed bunk cart to snyders and the other winter pasture field with the cow/calf pairs near snyders. We have several "feed carts" that are 12 to 30 ft long.... they have dividers that the cows put their heads into which keeps them separate to eat and prevents them from trying to push others around, or fling the stuff out, or even from trying to climb up into them as the dummies sometimes do on a more open cart.

This feeding silage to the cow/calf pairs will also cut down on the hay we are feeding and that will keep better than the silage spoiling. It is already on the downhill side of January, so it won't hurt to get on with feeding the silage. Michael can run the skid loader now, and is able to get out and open gates using one crutch. Dr said 50 % weight and he can use just one crutch for balance and as a little weight control so that he can strengthen the muscles in the leg. He is walking on it in the house without the crutches. Says it gets real tired and achey but it is coming along. Another week and then he can switch to the cane for balance.

Got the 2 bulls in we needed. Took one to snyders with the first calf heifers that calved this fall, and the virgin heifers that I left there, and my nurse cows. He is an easy calver, calves are on the smaller size that he sires, so not a problem for a smaller heifer to have. Took the other bull up on the hill with the cow/calf pairs that he and Caleb worked and put up there along with the other ones we had worked a couple weeks ago. We are a month late getting the bulls in with the cows, like to have them in before the first of Dec but it is what it is. There is a bull in with the one group that has been in there for over a month already, so that is good. Maybe the bulls we just put in will get the cows bred back quickly so they won't be too far behind.

Next project is getting the cows with the steer calves to the barn.... get ours out of the neighbors and get his bull calves out and back to his. This looks to be a good week to do it if possible. After the snow/sleet/rain we are supposed to get tomorrow, there are 5 clear sunny days in the forecast. Nights in the teens and 20's, days in the upper 30's and 40's. So good weather to get in the fields to get stuff out. Also have to get the last 10 cow/calf pairs out of the other pasture. Those are all heifer calves. Heifers will go in with the heifers on feed and the cows will get preg checked and put with the dry cows due in the spring. I think they already set up the panels at that place as they shouldn't be a big deal to get in to get moved. I think that he is planning to get them all done this week if he can get a little help.
I am going to have to test cows at several farms so will be limited in my helping time. Have a 200 cow afternoon herd Tuesday, 200 cow herd in the morning on wed that doesn't start til 7 so won't get home til after 1 p.m., then an early morning 250+ cow herd on Thursday and it tires my joints out alot. Takes a long time since they have a smaller parlor. NOT wanting to do all these big herds together, but I have to get them done before I go in to have the surgery..... and they will all be skipping Feb when I am totally unable to do them. March will be another story as I see what I am able to do or not do. Most go 6 weeks anyway so won't be a big deal to miss Feb. Therefore, I will be little help but I do think that he and Caleb talked it over to see what his work schedule is so they can do some of it.

 

[Baymule]

You are getting everything done and ready for you being off after your surgery. You are going to go nuts. I had to practically beat my husband to make him stay down and mend. therapy helps a lot, are you scheduled for therapy after the rehab?

 

[Mike CHS]

You are getting everything done and ready for you being off after your surgery. You are going to go nuts. I had to practically beat my husband to make him stay down and mend. therapy helps a lot, are you scheduled for therapy after the rehab?

I was thinking the same thing. You are going to have a hard time accepting down time.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

We will keep you entertained farmer Jan...

 

[Bruce]

You are going to go nuts. I had to practically beat my husband to make him stay down and mend.

Maybe you could go spend a few weeks with Jan since you are already a professional!

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks, but hopefully I will stay busy and not get too stir crazy with some projects I have planned here. Have several boxes of papers that need to be sorted out, filing at the desk of stuff I just keep stuffing on the shelves, and books to read, and a ton of dvd tapes I have never been able to sit and watch. I am packing up a bunch of stuff that will be easier to move, in the future, but there is a bunch that I am just boxing & piling so that it can be worked through after I get back and have to be somewhat stationary in between the necessary therapy and required exercises so that I keep moving and don't get anything like blood clots or anything. I think that I will not be in such a bad deal.... but we will see. Plus, I will be able to get around on either crutches or the scooter or the knee crutch. I just managed to find one, on ebay, just listed for 1/2 of what they cost new. I then made an offer, of 1/3 the new full price, they accepted and it just came; going to get it put together and see if I can manage to get around on it while I am still "all in one piece". Then I will have an idea if I can manage it once I absolutely cannot use the ankle.


My PCP was going to talk to the surgery co-ordinator for my surgery dr. She is in full agreement that I should go into a rehab for the first couple of weeks and agrees that I may as well stay there in NC until after my 2 week post-op appt to have the stitches out etc. She said it is up to the surgeon, but that since she is now my PCP, that often they co-ordinate the post op treatment and therapy. Plus she said that it would be unlikely they will want to pay for transport for me to come up here, then to have to go back for the post-op appt. I would have to have a "ambulance" type transport from there to here right after the surgery to a rehab place up here. I am going to just let them work it out. I will keep her up on what they say at the pre-op appt on the 31st. I just have to keep the peace since she is still pushing the bp medicine... it is always way up when I go there. I think it is partly because I just don't like to go to drs..... I am going to be real good for the next few weeks so that it isn't too bad when I go for the pre-op. She did agree that some of it may be the pain as it will stress you and that causes it go to up a bit. And the added weight doesn't help.
One of my farmers is having shoulder surgery the day after mine. She tore some ligaments, tendons and did some other damage.... and has been suffering. She's at least 10 years younger than me and they are saying she will be unable to use that shoulder for several months....

So, we had a real mess this morning. It was sleeting and had ice on the truck and all. My son calls and said that all the heifers, that we had moved yesterday, had gotten out and there were a couple that were all the way down through the hay field and headed way down the wrong direction. Got 8 back in; and it seems that one of them must've gone back sucking on her mother after being weaned and I had never seen her sucking. She decided she was going back to her momma, and went nuts . She did finally go through the hayfields, the woods and the subdivision, and did wind up back at the back side of the pasture where she had come from. This is 5 miles by road, but about 2-3 across the fields and all. By then, my son had called me up to help look for her, and I found her coming up a driveway alongside the field where her mother was. He managed to get a small gate opened into the field, that the owner had put in the new fence he had built a couple of years ago, and she walked the fenceline til he called the cows up near there and she found her way back on her mother. I had never seen her sucking her so had no idea that she had gone back to sucking. And with her there, there were 2 others that went to sucking too....
We have no idea where the other one is but she will turn up in someones field or back in with ours. Will worry about it tomorrow.
The other 8 he got back in, and they are in a smaller field until we get the fence fixed. Feel like this one B...witch was the cause of it all. So, I am going to get the cow in the catch pen at the barn there, lock her in and feed and water her, and leave the heifers outside of it. They will stick around wanting the cow, and in a week we will move the cow elsewhere and the heifers should stay there in a familiar place. Then when he decides to sell heifers, will just have to catch her up and ship her, or if she winds up pregnant, hope that she doesn't have any problems calving. That is why she got moved out with the smaller ones because we thought she was a little small to get bred now. Tough S@#T now. All the rest we took out must've "stayed weaned" as they aren't acting stupid like this heifer. I couldn't believe it when he called. He was pretty p.o. and I don't blame him.
Then we just made it to a Beef quality assurance certification class that we were signed up for. That lasted from 11 to about 3 or so. It had changed to rain and was pretty wet when we came back. I will go looking for the other one tomorrow unless he sees her in with the others.
Normally we never put weaned calves back in the same field with the cows until they have their own calves. But we were pushed for space when these had been weaned and so just moved them back there after about 2 months. The cows were dried up, but I had not bred them back because of timing for the possible ankle surgery this winter, and not wanting to deal with grafting calves on these nurse cows. I guess that she just started sucking on her momma and it brought her back into milk. Cow never looked like she was being sucked but she is 3/4 dairy so had a bit of a bigger udder even when dry. So we will follow our normal policy of NEVER putting weaned calves back with their mothers until they have their own calves. I will have to watch her close, if we wind up keeping her, to make sure she never goes back to sucking her mother. Sometimes they do which is why we always had that policy. Drama we didn't need today..... hope that the other heifer finds her way back to one of the two places. He will call a couple of the guys around with cattle to let them know we are missing her so they can let us know if she turns up in their fields.

Never a dull moment......

Sometimes you wonder if it is worth it.....

 

[thistlebloom]

Great deal on the knee crutch!
Sorry about the headache with escaping heifers though. A 4H kid neighbor of ours was working his steer and it knocked him down and took off. We all rallied around and spread out looking for him. It was pouring rain and we never saw a glimpse of him. It amazed me how he just lit out and within an hour was already spotted miles away. He was finally caught two weeks later, at our next door neighbors fence line, hanging out by their cows.

 

[Baymule]

Cows always seem to have the very talented knack for throwing a monkey wrench into the best laid plans.....

That’s a good deal on the knee crutch, hope it works for you!