Woke up to some loud thunder and lightning flashes at about 4:30 - 5:00 a.m. More rain/showers. Last night we had a downpour that sounded like hail on the roof the drops were so big and hit so hard. Had another downpour this morning about 7-8 a.m. It is cloudy now and more showers expected off and on all day. The temps are supposed to drop off to the 30's tomorrow night.... sure hope we don't get any frost or freezing. One reason not to get too ahead of the normal planting time.
I have heard that eggs in the stores have gone way up. Luckily my hens are laying and my sons are laying like crazy. He has quite a few more hens than I have. Since I lost a couple of my purebreds last fall, I am going to have trouble because I had planned to buy a new male for my Langshans and some females for my New Hamps..... I am going to order eggs from a guy who has New Hamps and have to raise up some females...and have a few extras for backup breeders so I am not so low on numbers. Our normal big poultry swap/sale is held twice a year, in early May and again in September. With the state being closed down until June 10th at this time, the spring sale/swap is not going to happen. Hopefully we will have the one in Sept, and I will be able to pick up some new/outside bloodlines and the birds will be either safely housed on my son's property up where I raised the meat birds, or on a place that I am moved to.
Yes. I plan to take the flowers I've planted here, with me.
@Mini Horses ; I take a sample of milk from every cow that goes through the milking parlor. It is about a 2 oz bottle with the cow number on the bottle so the results of that particular cow is tested and recorded for the farmer to know what her status is. I record the amount of milk she makes (done as a weight rather than as a gallon), and each sample is tested for butterfat, protein, and somatic cell count (scc) which is indicative of the "cleanliness" of the milk. In other words, the higher the scc, the more likely the cow has an "infection" that will cause mastitis. The lower scc, the longer the milk also "keeps"....meaning longer shelf life. Since there is always some scc in any milk, just like we all have some base of bacteria in our systems, lower scc means the cow has smaller amounts of any type of infectious properties.... like staph or strep. Those two cause the greatest numbers of mastitis flareups. Anytime you see mastitis in any lactating animal, she has a high cell count (scc) and if tested for what type is causing it, them an antibiotic can be targeted specifically for that organism.
There are cows that often have chronic staph or strep mastitis, and they need to be culled, because even with treatment, they will not get over it. Most will see a drop in scc, only for it to reoccur and these chronic problem cows just will not "get over it". A flareup of one can often be treated, but if a cow continues to have a high cell count, then the farmer has to decide what he can do with that cow. The milk companies that pick up the milk, have certain standards that they pay for the milk. Cell counts under 125,000 is paid a premium, 125-250.000 will get standard pay, 250-400,00 will get a lower price for their milk. Over 400,000, they will get a warning and if it happens twice in a month, their milk will be dumped and they will get "shut off" until they get it under control. That requires taking any high cell count or suspect cow out of the tank, milked into a bucket, and that milk discarded.
People that milk their animals at home, and don't test, really never know what the cell counts are. I also don't test my own cows regularly. If you see some flakes of mastitis, then you are probably dealing with a high staph count. The animal will look normal, maybe have a slight flareup once a month or so. These kinds of animals are chronic, and they will always have higher than normal counts. This milk will more likely go bad (sour) quicker in the fridge if kept for any length of time.
Any animal that has a high cell count will be okay for processing.... in other words... heat will kill the bacteria. But it is naturally better for there to not be a high cell count to deal with at all. Still, it will cause some off flavor milk sometimes, too.
We have to have some amounts of bacteria in our systems, that keeps our immune system functioning. We all have good and bad bacteria in our systems. It is the balance of the good outweighing the bad that keeps us healthy, and allows our systems to mount a "defense" if we get exposed to a "bad" one. But if there is a chronic infection, then the mammary system stays "infected", and it will never get over it. It becomes the "normal" for that system, but it has it's negative effects in milk that isn't as healthy or won't keep as well.
Don't know how well that explains it. But that is the reason I have to be in the milking parlor for the whole milking.... because I am taking a sample from every cow that goes through the barn during milking.
Heck, I only ask 2.50 per & theirs were 3.75. No milk in the customer coolers. Plenty in backroom coolers and works were too lazy to bring it out!!! Which reminds me, I need to use the 6 gal in my frig
Some of my goats think they are little cows! Really, 2 gal per day each.....I can see why some families go with the smaller breeds.
