Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Well, it's official.... HAYING SEASON has begun. Son was cutting the 10+ acre field of wheat that we will make hay. It was a cover crop over the winter. Then I am not sure if this is going back into orchard grass this year, or another year of sorghum/sudan grass. He was going to cut some more, get down whatever he thinks we can get done and up by Thursday.... it doesn't look like we are going to get any "weather" tonight. The fields dried off a bit from last nights pouring down rain and wind...... we had 1.3 inches in the gauge before it got tipped partly sideways..... there were trees down all up and down the road here. Lots of them were cut and pushed aside and so VDOT will be cleaning that up this coming week.

So I will be on the rake, and maybe the tedder ahead of it if needed to get the hay dry, starting Monday by the looks of it. I do not have any farms scheduled until Thursday afternoon so that is perfect. Told my son not to put the rake on the Farmall H as I am not sure how easily I can push in that clutch and I have to climb up on it. The 4600 ford sits closer to the ground and will be easier for me to use.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sorry to hear about the "helping hand"....but, certainly glad ya was there to assist him..... .....I have found that it is very difficult to "care" for another....when, they...themselves....could "care less".........good to hear ya was able to get started with the cutting and hope the "window" is long enough to get it up and stored without difficulties.....

 

[farmerjan]

Well, there is about 40 acres on the ground, the wheat cover crop and then some orchard grass, and s small piece of just mixed grass that is right next to the orchard grass at one place. Son left about a 1/2 acre as he saw a hen turkey with a whole bunch of itty bitty baby turkeys, maybe a couple of days old. Said they needed the hay to hide in and get bugs. It will get cut in the 2nd cutting, be a spot of over mature hay in that batch.... no big deal.
Working on the rake and all to get it ready for tomorrow....

Beautiful out, no humidity, sunny and real nice.

Got some more cows with calves moved out to summer pasture, and I am headed up to see if I can get the rest of the calves in at the nurse cow field; we got 11 tagged and worked on Friday aft but there were a few that didn't come in. The cows will get pregnancy checked soon too and probably will wean these calves off and give these young cows a break before they calve again. A couple probably won't be bred.... the one charolais x was letting 3 calves nurse her the other day and she is thin.... silly cow. But it is nice that so many of our cows will "co-mother" the calves.

Lost 2 old cows at a different pasture, they were going to be "one and dones"... bought cows that we were only going to raise that calf on and then cull; during last winter and never did have the calves tagged so am not sure who belonged to whom. But you can't tell because they obviously were nursing off the other cows in that group. Not all the cows will allow it, but there seems to be enough in every bunch, that we often don't have to worry about a calf if it does get orphaned.

Had a twin last year that I was bottle feeding as the cow wouldn't take both. Brought him to the "nurse cow pasture". I was turning him out with the other calves to socialize and he started sucking off at least 2 different cows so I no linger had a bottle calf. And they weren't any of the nurse cows milking, as they are all dry, he was going on a couple other beef cows. Works for me.
Got one of my hol/jer cross cows getting pretty big..... need to find a couple more calves to graft on her when she calves. She will come in for grain so shouldn't be too big a deal. She was bull bred so don't have a "due date".... just have to watch her close. She's turned into a real nice cow.

 

[drstratton]

Thanks for the support @Baymule .....

Actually, I would want to have any/every one that wanted to come when the bathroom was working..... a bit more comfortable for all....

Talked to my credit union today and was not very impressed with the woman. I explained the whole deal, and that the house needed some stuff done, bathroom and the upstairs ceilings, and that I planned to do the bathroom before moving in so that I could use it in a normal way.... that I had had a contractor friend look at it and that he said that the breaker/panel box was a good one and all that would pass as he does this for a living.....
So she said that they naturally would have to get an appraiser to come out and if they mentioned in the appraisal that the bathroom needed remodeling to be used, and about the ceilings, that they would require that the work be done before they would approve it. Either by the owners, or by me. I said ( AGAIN ) that I was buying it as is, that the owners were not going to put any money into it and that I sure wasn't going to do the work until it was MINE.....
Then I said that I wanted to put down 20% of the purchase price, and then she said that it would be helpful as with 20% down, I wouldn't need PMI..... (private mortgage insurance). But that before they would even consider looking that I had to have a signed contract from them, stating that they agree to sell it for X dollars, that they were the seller, that I was the buyer and any other contingencies.... like subject to a home inspection..... ...... Oh but my 29 YEAR history of being with the same company was good .... EXCEPT why was I only part-time now????? I said, I AM SEMI-RETIRED......

I was pretty P.O.ed at this point.

Got a call in to the other bank that was suggested to me. Come to find out, she is the wife of friends of my son's..... that could be good or bad ...LOL..... and she gave me her cell # in a return call while I was in PT..... so after trying again this aft and she was on the phone..... I will call her this weekend when I am out with good service and just see what she has to say.

I am also considering talking to the owners..... see if they would hold the mortgage for a year, with the 20% downpayment made to them.....so it would be mine, so that I can get the work done then go and get a conventional mtg..... with the house being in better shape (ready to move in condition so to speak), ( and if they hold the mortgage I might qualify for "re-financing" so a better rate maybe) , but if the work is done, it ought to appraise for more so shouldn't have any trouble getting a mortgage........the couple that came and looked at it for me is doing that very thing with a guy on a place they have now.....
Not going to do anything til I at least talk to the other bank, and going to talk to our farm credit where my son has all the farm loans.....Their interest rates are higher, but they pay back like 20% of the interest paid..... he got back quite a bit from the loans he paid on last year.... he says he has figured it and it works out to be much the same rate when all is figured in. Can't hurt to go talk to them too. So I will just let the owners know I have talked to a couple of people and will let them know if/when I hear anything. That I am going to need some sort of a signed proof of intent to sell / "purchase" this particular place from them. Like a real estate agent has a contract that both sign with any stipulations .... like most have something about it being contingent on the buyers selling the their own property and such.... but I don't have that to worry about. But a signed contract because a "verbal agreement" is not enough it seems.

When we bought our first house, it was a a true escrow purchase. We paid the owner directly, she got all of the interest. Not everyone can do that and most want the total purchase price! I hope that they are able to work with you!

 

[farmerjan]

Our helper wound up getting released from the hospital later Sat night. Seems his "almost ex" was able to go get him, and I didn't know anything about it until Sunday aft when I texted him to see how things were going. I was a little miffed as I said to him that he should have at least just let us know how things were. She was there at his camper that is parked at our barn as we are letting him stay there as part of his helping.... and he gets some compensation for time too. So he just texted me and said she is going to take him to get the prescriptions they gave him at the hosp., and then to the clinic to see a doc and he really appreciated my offering to take him.
I hope this is enough of a wake up to him to at least try to do things better with his eating and all. We'll see. He is a good mechanic and pretty good overall help so would hate for anything to happen but he is a 55 yr old adult.... Has to be responsible for himself in the end. But we cannot do it for him.

Gotta head to PT

 

[Bruce]

Has to be responsible for himself in the end. But we cannot do it for him.

Yep. And if he doesn't get on it, he will find out just how bad things can get for a diabetic person. Of course by then it is too late.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, it's been a long day. PT was tough.... on the knees. Ankle is coming along but no pain. Trying to "rehab" both legs pretty much in order to strengthen the muscles and tendons. Both guys ( I see one or the other according to their schedules) have said I need a bilateral replacements.... meaning both. And they both think that I should do them both at the same time... one bout with the pain/discomfort and rehab and PT. They also both have said that if I do one, the other is going to hurt that much more in comparison and that I will be wanting to get it done that much sooner... but that I will get more and better use of the actual replacements and the PT if I am doing equal amounts of work with both and they both are working correctly. I don't think that I realized how bad the ankle hurt, until it didn't any more and now the knees are hurting so. Even the one I called my "good knee" , is hurting alot. OH WELL.

Got on the tractor to rake. The hay didn't need tedding out as the lack of humidity and bright sun and light breeze has been drying it out beautifully. I got most of the orchard grass done and a fitting on the hydraulic hose broke and fluid everywhere when I tried to raise the rake. Had to get my son to come, he had to go back and get a different part than what he brought, but got it back together and I was back in business. Lost at least 45 min or an hour. Then I did the wheat cover crop at this same place, and when I went to do the mixed grass piece, picked up a dead "limb" and got it caught in a wheel that goes around and turns the hay in towards the center and bent the wheel and it caused all the hay to ball up. I couldn't see what the problem was at first, so after about 3 different times of the hay getting all in a big clump, finally realized what had happened. Wound up getting the limb/log out and removed about 5 tines that were loose and the wheel is no longer round because it bent the rim. But it worked halfway good enough to finish up the field.
So tomorrow will have to get it fixed or changed out for another one. Have about 10-12 acres left at the other place and it is also wheat cover crop. It will be dry as it sits out in the bright sun too; very little shading and it was cut first. One way or another, it will all be raked tomorrow and I know he will start baling it. This is good as it won't all have to be baled in one day either. Then hopefully he will let me have the truck to move the bales off the field as soon as possible as it is supposed to rain Thursday and Friday, so it will be really good for the grass. A little moisture and he will be planting into the little bit of wheat stubble and get that up and going.

Weather has been picture perfect today. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice again, a little more humidity, then Wed is supposed to be up in the 90's..... today was 75.

Got to go in and take a shower and try to wash any pollen out as my allergies are driving me crazy .... Eyes are itching and all watery and nose running. Got about 3 weeks of it to deal with and then it goes away...

 

[drstratton]

Well, it's been a long day. PT was tough.... on the knees. Ankle is coming along but no pain. Trying to "rehab" both legs pretty much in order to strengthen the muscles and tendons. Both guys ( I see one or the other according to their schedules) have said I need a bilateral replacements.... meaning both. And they both think that I should do them both at the same time... one bout with the pain/discomfort and rehab and PT. They also both have said that if I do one, the other is going to hurt that much more in comparison and that I will be wanting to get it done that much sooner... but that I will get more and better use of the actual replacements and the PT if I am doing equal amounts of work with both and they both are working correctly. I don't think that I realized how bad the ankle hurt, until it didn't any more and now the knees are hurting so. Even the one I called my "good knee" , is hurting alot. OH WELL.

I had a total knee replacement in 2016, it's so nice to have my life back...it was getting to the point that I couldn't walk on it! I've had a couple of friends that did bilateral knee replacements and it went great for them! Hoping it goes as well for you!

 

[farmerjan]

@drstratton Thank you for the encouragement. I had the ankle done first because I was walking on the foot nearly sideways since it hurt to bend it. Now I am in alot of pain from the knees, can barely walk on them.
Plans are to try to get this house I am wanting to buy, do some work that needs doing, get moved in by fall, get the cows all calved out and things made as easy as possible, for my son, and then do the knees and be able to rehab in "my new house"..
But right this minute, getting a shower to try to get rid of some of the effects of this pollen..... and be able to sit with this ankle up so it isn't swelling so much since it was down a good part of the day while I was sitting on the tractor.

 

[Mike CHS]

I don't normally have allergy problems but it seems a fresh cut hay field will bring something out. There is some sort of vegetation that I can literally feel my throat closing.