Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Clouds with a little sun but looking to get cloudier. Chilly, mid 40's. Supposed to get showers and looks to be here by 11 according to radar.

Got to work up the last box of strawberries, DS didn't pick them up and they will go bad, if left. Won't take much to cut and freeze. Only about 4-5 lbs in that box. I put 11 pt. bags in the freezer already.

Have PT at 10:30 and then home to haul a load of cattle to town. He worked a bunch yesterday with a guy who used to help out alot, and moved a group of heifers to a pasture where the bull will be going in to breed them. I guess they preg checked another group of cows and he pulled about 8-10 calves born last fall, to sell. I wasn't asked to help (didn't know they were definitely going to do it) so didn't. I will stay at the sale for the calves.....there goes my day.

Have had to change my schedule so many times I need to look at my calendar. Think I am testing Sat aft and Monday aft....and maybe Wed aft????? and I cannot remember the rest. GRRRR.

 

[Baymule]

I keep appointments on my phone. It has an app named notes and I sure use it!

 

[farmerjan]

Since I hate phones in general, and electronics in general too.... and since I am changing things so often, I much prefer to have it on paper in hand.... erasers work real good, and I keep a list of the farms that need to test that month, next to the calendar, and can erase them off the list as they get scheduled. I am just a paper list person. I do not have the patience to sit and punch stuff in on the phone. And being a smaller flip phone, it is a bigger pain to do.... I also have to look back on the month before for some of when I tested so I know what order to do future tests....
I know there are lots of the younger - read that..... more progressive and modern.....- testers that use their phones. Just not my thing.
And I like to see it actually crossed off when I get something done.....

It was a long day and I just got in a little bit ago. Sitting on the bed on the laptop, with the ankle up at least leveled out rather than down.... both knees are very sore and achey. Did alot of stretching in the pool today, and I can tell.....Plus I never remembered to take anything today so none of the taking the edge off.... my fault.

DS met me at the barn, helped load the calves. I left for town and unloaded and then ate a country ham sandwich, wasn't in the mood for a pork chop dinner and just wasn't in the mood for a complete dinner.... but now I am hungry so wish I had. Anyway, they started the sale about a half hour or so,late, which is typical, and things are down. Prices off about 10-30 cents from 2 weeks ago.... about 25 from when we sold. Wound up bidding back one steer that only got to 1.19 and the rest brought 1.55...... he is a little tall but I think will round out and he is a nice looking steer.... there were a few other ones that I thought were steals.... and bought back the 2 heifers that also got bid back at 1.19..... we wanted 1.25 and since I was already bringing home the steer, just brought 3 home. They will go out on grass for the summer. Got a few other calves that they can go with.

Talk is $8.00 bushel corn, ( it has been in the 3.75 to 4.25 range for the better part of a year or more) and as corn goes up feeder prices come down because they have to figure what it will cost them to get the animals to slaughter size.... if they can only get say 1.20 for a slaughter size animal, then if it costs that much more in feed costs, they have to pay less for the animal in order to come out.
Some of this will be determined by the actual corn acres planted.... there is way too much speculation in the livestock markets anymore.... But for the immediate future, the futures markets on feeders is down and will stay there or get lower until they see how much corn and soybean acres there are actually planted. Then there will be a lull until harvest.... as to see how much drought and how the yields are looking. It has gotten way too complicated for me.....

So very glad we sold the majority of the animals back in March......DS actually listened to me and a few others when we all said to sell everything we had to sell and not sit on the stuff. He hems and haws so much it drives me nuts. Make a decision and do it... when prices are high, take it and get it gone... sure it might go higher the following week, but the bottom could drop out of it too..... get it gone while it looks good and be thankful. You might not hit the top of the market, but you still get a decent price and that is better than chasing after it as it falls.

So, he was supposed to come to town after he took the 8 calves to the one guy that we rent from and he runs 8 feeders through the summer on the other piece of ground he has. Well, he finally texted me at about 6 and said that he wasn't coming. I picked up the check, and I had to load the 3 no sales and came home and put them in the lot at the barn. Then I left the info on the calves and the check on the seat of the truck for him and went and fed the horse and came home. Going to get a hot shower and find something to eat and go to bed.

My farmer called and we re-re-rescheduled the herd that is 125 miles away, as it works better for his daughter to be there on Tuesday afternoon, than tomorrow.... Saturday. He apologized and I get it, and since it is not his fault due to the broken ankle, I can't get upset. I was originally going to try to do him Tuesday anyway.... It will make me test 3 afternoons in a row.... Mon-Tues-Wed.... so not going to be fun.... but at this point ...... whatever. I will pay for it I am sure. But it is what it is, neither he asked for the broken ankle or the problems getting help to milk, nor did the other farmer ask for the hired milker 's wife to have her surgery changed so the hired milker had to change his days off twice. Both of these farmers are not chronically difficult so I can't get upset....but it will be a tough week.

Have to go down to the other house tomorrow regardless of how much I hurt. Got to get that porch stuff sorted and moved and the freezers emptied.
Supposed to be low 40's tonight... but I think they are missing it since it is already down to 42 and it is still early in the evening.... I am thinking 30's..... glad that I don't have a garden out yet. Hope it doesn't hurt the peonies that are budded up.... the one yellow one I bought is almost ready to open... can't wait....
The 1 peach tree that had leaves from the beginning is looking good, and the other 2 are getting more leaves coming out so I am hoping they are getting settled. The rose is not looking too great.... hoping it will root enough to get some new leaves, the ones it had have pretty much dried up, but the stems are pretty "soft" and flexible... not brittle.... This rain really helped the other day with the peach trees. They will get a good pruning this fall, but I didn't want to take away any of the branches so the leaves could feed the root system this year. I did prune off some of the broken stuff....
Haven't had the time or the energy to put the cart together. That has got to take 2nd place to the stuff at the other house.

I need to go find something to eat and get a shower and collapse, for the night.

 

[farmerjan]

I also got the other strawberries sliced up and into the vacuum bags and into the freezer before I went to PT this morning....only had to throw out 2 berries that were too mushy. Luckily it had been very cool the last 2 nights so they kept out on the porch....another 5 pints....When the strawberries get ripe here in a couple of weeks, I will try to get more so that I can make jam this winter when it is cold out.

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday. It is early afternoon and I just got the clothes off the line before they blew away. I used some "normal clothes line" for the first set and then got a little heavier line that is polyrope or something. The normal clothesline has broken twice and the other is doing fine. So, if I can only remember where I got the other poly stuff, I will go buy another pkg.
I had done the clothes yesterday and hung them. Then went to the other house and sorted and loaded the car and came back. Went and did the horse, then went to the grocery store and got a few things that I was needing... and some extras.... Trying to get stocked up with soups and some other stuff... some things that would be good for barter down the road because I am afraid we will be coming to that. All stuff I can use myself, but extras that I don't need. Shampoo, soap, paper goods, little stuff that will keep. I have been talking to and listening to many people around here lately and the general concensus is we are going to be in for some very tough times.
Just saying that the present gov't got some brains and the continual spending of money we don't have stopped, and people got back to work and things settled down some.... there is the unrest in the world that is getting worse from the last few months of stupid moves on this country's part..... there is the increase in prices that won't go away or even go down very soon.... there is the drought in certain parts of this country that are getting worrisome.... read what @Ridgetop said that her friends in Utah said about their water situation....that will reflect on crops, and cattle and sheep..... FOOD SUPPLIES ...... you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that this is all going to start creeping up on people when it might be too late. And if there is not the food, and the jobs that have been eliminated and destroyed by things like the pipeline shut down, and wanting to stop natural gas which just is one of the cleanest energies in the world.... and wanting to go all solar and stuff which we don';t have the infrastructure to begin to support and won't for years to come.... we are going to be looking at some difficult times.
So, I have been quietly adding to my "supplies" and hoping against hope that I will just have a whole bunch of surplus to last me for the next hundred years and everything will be good to go.....but if not, then I hope to be in a position to be able to have some of the necessities that will be worth something for trade/barter in the future.

I went and got a bucket of milk from my farmer friend, and he said that the show and sale that they were consigning some cows to are not going to have the sale.... he also has not heard back from another guy that was very interested in 2 of his registered holsteins that just calved.... milk prices are scheduled to drop again, and the whole thing with the gov't and the farming/anti-meat/ etc and so forth, has got people starting to get worried. He said he may wind up with keeping the 4 he has milking..... and he had calves on 3 more out in the field..... It is looking more troubling than it was.

The prices I saw on Friday are also not encouraging. We can eat some of these animals.... but we raise feeders to sell in the 4-5 wt range.... we cannot keep and feed or eat 100+ head a year.... and we cannot pay the bills if we cannot sell them. It is unsettling.... the only good thing is getting things refinanced at lower interest rates on the farm, and the big farm purchase rate is locked in....if the widow will just get her end of it all done...... but it is worrisome.

Got the car unloaded yesterday, and was going to go down again, this afternoon, but GF sister is having a meal for Mother's day and I was included/asked... so I am going to go. I might go down later if I don't stay late.... we'll see. Won't take much to load some more stuff that is ready to be brought up. Have 5 boxes of pints of applesauce from several years ago that needs to be brought up, as well as some other stuff boxed. Still more to go through. I need to take the truck down and make a trip to the dumpsters, but the forecast is for showers and rain, so will put that off. I can do some tomorrow morning, will be gone all day on Tuesday with PT in the morning and have to leave by 10 for the farm 125 + miles north. I will get the bottles in the trays this evening for Monday's farm and Tuesday's farm so one less thing to do. Then later on Wed aft.... got to call the one owner sampler farm to see if he can do it and I can drop the meters and all on Tuesday on my way north and then get it on Wed while I am near them again and save an extra trip.

Going to run and fill up the car with gas when I leave to go, as the prices have been creeping up again. Mostly in the 2.65-2.79 range now. That is 1.00 a gal more than it was 6 months ago. I will use 2 tanks in the next couple days... SOOOO glad I filled the fuel oil tank here....

The wind has been pretty brisk, and the sun has disappeared behind the clouds. Radar says some showers or rain by 5-6 p.m.. It was comfortable out there earlier but is chilly now.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all

 

[Baymule]

There is a deep sense of foreboding hanging over us like a chem trail cloud. So many people are trying to raise their own meat and vegetables. Those who normally wouldn’t give things a second thought are stocking up hand over fist. Newscasters cheerfully tout the next shortage like it’s nothing to worry about because we can all dig a little deeper to pay for it with our inflationary dollars of dwindling value. Last week’s announcement was that there would be a shortage of corn, but in the not to worry tone, only things like cornmeal would be going up. I guess they are too stupid to realize that animal feeds are corn based? I have always stocked up, but I have doubled and tripled up on items.

Jan, have a good time at the GF sister’s. The GF likes you more than you think she does.

 

[farmerjan]

Hey, got back for the evening, after going and feeding the horse on the way home. It was later than I thought when I left, so did not do anything but go the GF sisters house.

The GF likes me just fine... it is me that just has a hard time with her and all. Plus DS total immersement in her life... Just found out today that last week he and several others tore off and then completely re-roofed her house with shingles... I had heard she was going to be needing a new roof a month ago.... didn't know it was an immediate thing. I don't talk to him sometimes for several days anymore, and then he says well, I had to do such and such, I told you, and I say, no you never told me anything about it and then I get well, I thought I told you.....
The real test is going to be haying.... there are some fields that are topping out already... weather is not good for cutting but we should be getting on it as soon as it is... and the equipment is not all ready... and he is relying on jim, to get things done while he is off to the ball practices and games....
we have cattle that should be getting moved to summer pastures and I asked again today when he wanted to get some in and move them and did he have any idea if we had more bull or heifer calves.... one place will handle 25+ cow/calf pairs so we try to put all one sex there so need to know if there are more bull or heifer calves so can start making some plans. One place we put like 10-12 pairs, one place only 8 or 9 pairs. One place gets about 15-20.... so want to try to match up the numbers with the particular places.... makes it so much easier when it comes time to catch them up if we decide to sell right out of the pasture and not wean in the fall.... although we have been weaning most all of them.... but sometimes we don't... we just catch em up, and load them and ship them, all one sex at the stockyard and then there are enough so that we can make up groups of 5-10 that match and they sell better to buyers in groups like that. One thing though, if we take 50 head total, we get a discount on the commission fees so he is liking that better and I get that... so maybe just bringing them all to the barn and then sort and sell.... or sort and then wean... but it still is easier to go check on certain pastures and do comparisons if all the same sex are there...

We are nearly done calving... only a half dozen more to calve I think.

It is still windy as all get out. Cool, and still calling for some possible rain..... cooler than normal all week which will be good for testing as the cows milk better... and I won't mind being in the parlors if it is not too terribly hot.
Going to get the bottles in the racks now and then work a little bit in the living room. Wore the knee brace supports today and they ache now from the "stiffer" position.... but something I will learn to get used to I am sure, especially if it helps in the barns.
Gas went up today here to 2.78....(was 2.69 & 2.73) will go down to the other "town" where I was going to go this evening, in the morning and fill up. They were 2.65..... Car is half full....but I have probably 400 miles to travel in the next 3 days.... may as well start out full.

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's day.

 

[Baymule]

It’s not GFs fault, it is his. He is a grown man, knows what he needs to do and chooses not to. He’d rather chase after her and what she is doing than take care of business. That has to be so frustrating for you.

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm not fond of my son's GF but, she takes him to her place and then brings him back. Keep him!! It's a very tumultuous relationship. Not my kind.

But you have business issues to consider -- I don't -- and that's a problem. Many things depend on timing for you, not to mention amount of hours to do. It's serious. Worrisome. I sure understand! Keep the faith, things might improve.

 

[Ridgetop]

I am also getting worried about what is happening. There was a debate on TV the other day about why there is so much lawlessness - people just attacking others on the street and the fights breaking out in planes, et. Some people said it was socio-economic. I think that the government - the liberal extremists - are showing the public that they just don't have to behave or obey laws any more! When you have liberal politicians encouraging people to riot, attack other people, etc., and then excusing it because of systemic racism??? What does that even mean?

Have you heard that Gov. Inslee of WA state is requiring "vaccination passports"? I can't wait to sell that property and never have tp go back there again. Yelm is not as bad, but the entire state is going uber liberal by which I mean crazy "woke" liberalism.

Here is the strange thing - I call myself a conservative, but I don't care if you are black, brown, purple, green, or what your sexual proclivities are. We have friends whose daughter is getting married for the second time in a gay relationship. Lovely girl. We have good friends that are gay. Lovely people. That should make me a liberal, right? BUT I have realized that my conservative values are that the government should butt out of everyone's business. That people should work for a living and to get ahead. If someone is disabled and can't work, then collecting aid is fine. But what is happening today with the peculiar ideas of the extreme eft is frightening. You are not allowed to work hard and save up something for yourself and your children. It seems though that the people that are telling us that by working hard and trying to make money and get ahead we are racist and evil are the people in power with money, OR people that don't work, and don't want to.

For 4 years I felt safe in our country - in the past 6 months I have begun feeling very unprotected by our government, both here in our own country and from foreign countries. Let alone the poor police that can't even do their jobs for fear of being sent to prison, or ambushed and killed. Does anyone get the feeling that there is a war on and it is directed against the taxpaying, law abiding, working citizens?

Am I getting paranoid?