Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

Just caught up on Farmerjan's Journal! For some reason if I do not respond every single day to stuff these different journals disappear and I can't find them. I figured out to try putting those into "my favorites". Worked! Now I can just put everyone I like to keep up with into "my favorites" and then I can find those journals! Should have thought of trying that before! Hopefully I will be able to find everyone from now on.

Just read about your mom's passing and your troubles with your dad's issues. I am so sorry about your mom. Expected or not, death is so final that it catches us by surprise. The stress you have been under really does have a physical effect on your body. Stress and depression can cause body pain along with mental pain. Getting out of the old house finally will take some of this pressure off you.

On the other hand you are into haying season, which in itself is stressful, particularly considering the rain you keep having. Rain is good for growing but not when you are mowing and baling. With some older dairymen considering closing up, maybe you can at least semi retire - only doing half as many herds as usual. When you get your knees done this fall, you will have to take off time anyway. Are you considering retiring then? With all you do with the cattle and hay business you and DS run, and the chickens, gardening, etc., it seems like you have a full time jpb woth all that!!!

Hope you feel better soon with your knees. Hope things work out with your dad. Maybe it would be worth considering a residential care home for him where he could be watched 24/7. Next to POA brother? POA brother really needs to have meeting with you and other siblings to determine dad's care needs and put all of you in the picture about his problems.

 

[farmerjan]

Father refuses to go in a residential home.... period.... that is for the POA brother to deal with... tried to get them to go into one several years ago when mom started getting worse, where they could be together and she could have more care.... he refused then. Then his stroke, then her getting so bad....
Heard today that he will be coming home next Monday... they seem to have him stabilized, he is eating, his meds seem to be working and he is more rational... maybe they lowered or took him off some stuff.... POA brother still wants to be totally in control...
He will have 24 hr help for 2 weeks and see how that goes, and if he stays on an even keel, will go back to 12 hour day help like with mom.... and now that she is gone, the aides can take him out in the vehicle, go places, do things since they do not have to be closeby for her... maybe that will help.... he can go with the couple of neighbors now... just to run errands or go meet the guys for "coffee" like they used to....
Here's to hoping it gets better....

Yeah, I have "semi-retired" now... with 15 herds "on the books" but only maybe 10 testing in any one month.... just seems they all want the same week or the same day......

Long day again, but got things accomplished. Did everything for the owner sampler herd, got to the other herd and set up and tested... 200 going through the barn.... didn't get out of there as soon as I planned.... had to do the horse on the way home so did not get down to house.... Tomorrow morning early I guess, before I have to be at PT at 10:30. Then DS called to see if I could rake hay tomorrow because he mowed the last place of ours and half the place we do custom. So I will be raking hay tomorrow after PT. He says it is pretty dry and wants to maybe bale it later in the aft if it will be dry enough.
I forgot to turn off the water when I left to go test..... so 2 of the 3 trees got about 8 hours of trickle watering....I luckily had it turned way down so that it could run for several hours without causing a problem ....thank goodness.... will put it on the other tree in the morning before I go to PT and hopefully get it a good soaking too.
Did get the clothes hung out....
Did get by walmart and found an inexpensive waterer thing that goes back and forth so will work for the mulch potato patch.... and found some small waterers that are for using on individual places.... they were only a couple dollars, only had 4 so I got them.... will see if they work.
Still have to pack the samples from the 2 herds to go out tomorrow....

I ache and haven't been able to "relax" so that I can sleep.....Time to see if I can now....

 

[farmerjan]

Came in for a few minutes. Been an interesting day. Packed samples and got to PT. Getting in the pool really felt good and knees don't ache near as much. Came back and got little cooler to carry on tractor with couple bottles of half ice, half water and went to tractor. Got the one field raked and went to the "custom" place. Started raking and it kept getting darker. DS texted from work and they were getting sprinkles and then a 5 minute downpour... this is 5 miles south of the hay fields. He got off work, (6a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with the heat); came and got the tractor and the smaller baler, and went to the field I had finished raking. It was dry enough to bale. The custom place there was alot of green turning up so it wasn't ready anyway. Then, we got a few sprinkles and I stopped and the owner came up and we talked for a few minutes, condolences on my mom and the difficulties with my dad and he said that it is hard to be with someone that long, even when they are non-communicative, because they are still there.... and then they are gone. He said it is sad but somewhat understandable....talked about the cattle and the pinkeye problems and that cows still hadn't all calved yet... like our one group.... then he went back to the house and I decided to rake another row then it started to sprinkle again. You could see most of it headed to the east going up along the Blue Ridge mtns and the Blue Ridge Parkway.... another line of dark out to the north and west. So we got about a .0001 of rain... barely got it wet on top, but enough that I quit. DS and I texted a couple times and he asked my opinion and I said that I expected that it would quit; so he brought the tractor and baler there, borrowed the p.u. and took me back to my car; left the rake there for tomorrow....By the time we got to the car, it was passing by and the sun was trying to come out. DS was going to mow the rest of the custom place..... I will go rake tomorrow the stuff that was already mowed, and see what the newly mowed stuff looks like and it will get raked late day... He ought to get all the hay baled by Friday afternoon... if it doesn't go tomorrow.....

Came back here to house, and will go down the hill in a few minutes. Finish up everything except the cattle panel and the stuff in the building where the bees are.
Have had the water on the other tree all day, so it is time to go turn it off.
Clothes on the line got damp; but I also have just done a 2nd load to hang out, so they will all get brought in tomorrow.
Samples got dropped off after PT so that is done. No one else scheduled for the next few days.

Calling for a 50-60% chance of rain/thunderstorms and possible heavy downpours this weekend. That would sure work good. We could use a good soaking as long as it doesn't have wind or anything too damaging.

Going to get the potatoes finished in the mulch hay so if it does rain they will get an even better soaking.

 

[farmerjan]

Had a tire going flat on the truck... barely got it back here as it was getting softer..... took the car and went and fed the horse then it was getting too late to go down the hill. I guess I will set the alarm and get up early to get the meters out of the car from yesterday; then go down the hill, and then come back and see about the tire... get the air tank and see if I can get it to the co-op so they can pull it and find and patch the leak? I can take the car up to the hayfield, to rake, so might do that then worry about the tire. I will not be able to get the garbage cans in the car but will move them over near the building... get a few other odds and ends and whatever is in the freezer will probably go in the dumpster... there wasn't alot because it kept frosting up so much.
Wanted to get the oil changed in the car too....it is overdue and I have put a bunch of miles on it the past 2 weeks with the testing.... Truck just got done and I have not been driving it as much....
Probably something in the tire..... they are pretty new....

Lawn mowing and weedeating on the TO DO LIST too.....

 

[farmerjan]

Got the hay raked; all except the last piece he mowed yesterday evening. I raked one row and it is too green.
Rain just south of here, DS said it was raining hard, but nothing here. Hopefully he will get it baled and the little bit left will dry enough for me to rake in the morning and he will get it baled in the afternoon, then it can rain all weekend. Now to go deal with the tire and decide what is next on the list.

 

[Bruce]

Neighbor is raking another section today. He'll have to get it baled and into the barn today as well, it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow. Not MUCH rain but rain nonetheless. Plus you never know when "a little" turns into quite a bit.

And of course it is a LOVELY day to rake and bale - 86°F and humid

 

[farmerjan]

It's 89 here, humidity like 68% I think they said. Actually a decent day to be on the tractor... no cab, no ac.... just plain open station ford 4600 with the big wheel rake behind it. It was hot in the sun, had my cap on and the headphones overtop... just moving back and forth in the field. Light breeze, this dries the hay out pretty good.
It's the 90+ days with real high humidity that get to be too much ....and it depends on how much time you have to be out there. Today was only about 2 hrs+ a little bit probably. And done before the hottest part of the afternoon. 1 to 3 is about the hottest time to rake and sometimes that gets to be a bit much....

 

[farmerjan]

Went this morning and raked the little bit left. Took about an hour or a little more. Was done by 11 or so. DS had baled all that I had raked yesterday except the one row that I said was too green that I tried... and the 2 very outside rows. So I raked all the straight inside rows, then went around the outside and flipped the 2 outside rows in using only one side of the wheeel rake. This got it away from the edges of the trees and got the bottom flipped over and on top so any green spots would dry better. By doing that it got it more into the field so more sun too.

So then I went to take the car down to get the oil changed but there was only one guy working today at the co-op station and was closed for lunch. Then DS called, and it was determined that there were some 650-8 wt steers and bulls there at the sale, so I needed to go and see if we could get some for the guy in VT that DS wants to take them to. Plans are to take them and then come back by parents house in NH. They are saying that my father will be able to come home this coming Monday.... and the POA brother will be picking him up and staying til Thursday.... DS is talking about going up Thursday eve...hauling mostly in the dark, cooler temps, and then delivering on Friday and coming back down through NH... staying a couple of nights with my dad.... because they are having trouble covering all the nights.... the day shifts are covered. 24 help there for about 2 weeks to see how he transitions... then back to his normal 12 hr aides/help.
It is a toss up if I am going up with DS this trip..... it might be better if I go up later on....by myself, and stay a few days/nights. Playing it by ear for now.

So, I wound up buying a total of 11 head today of mostly steers; 2 or 3 bulls but the rest steers. DS will go pick them up tomorrow morning. Told him about a few others that I didn't buy, and he said that I probably should have bought a couple of the bigger ones that were steers and not the couple of bulls.... but I was following "instructions" on what sizes/weights.....that he said to get. Then they had about 30-35 cows/calves consigned for a cow sale so I stayed for that. Almost bought 3 cows with calves.... quit at 1375/per pair.... the 3 calves were all steers, and weighed 300 probably... cows were BIG.... 1700 lbs. All broken mouth cows although they were in very good condition.... (meaning few teeth/old).... so they probably would have gotten sold when the calves got sold... but at $.70 lb for cull cows they were worth say 1100 each... and the calves would be worth 6-700 this fall... but there was another guy who bid again, and I figured that that was enough. He may not have quit even if I bid 1400. There was an outside chance that they could have been bred back... but were not preg checked.... Just decided that I would hold off. I would have bought them for ME, and they would have been mine when the calves and cows got sold later on.
About 20 of these cow/calf pairs came from one place where they are having water problems... talked to the guy and he said they had to lower the well pump because he was running out of water for the cows and that his pastures were bone dry....

Another thing that stopped me was that it is very dry... and we are hoping for some good showers/t-storms coming in this weekend....but we are watching the pastures dry up fast with this heat. Yesterday the little digital thermometer that sticks on the window showed it up to like 102... I just checked a few minutes ago and today it said 113.... in the hot sun against the window on the deck. The one on the front porch hit 95 in the shade.... was 77 at the coolest this morning....

So, we'll see. If this keeps up, there will be more cows and such getting sold and might be some better bargains down the road. We don't "need" any cow/calf pairs.... but always watch for some good deals.

Came from the sale back to the barn and DS had gotten the cows/calves in off the hill to treat the pinkeye problems... so I helped with that working the chute, giving shots and fly spraying and filling syringes as he worked on their eyes. got that done and put them back across the driveway.....
Hearing about a fair amount of pinkeye problems this year.... might be a new strain... happens every couple of years. Of course, he is not feeding the mineral that I fed last year... with the DE for fly control and the kelp for extra vit/mineral content which I think helps....
He moved the cow with the holstein calf up to the nurse cow pasture where it is easier to see them/check up on them. There is a bull in there so hopefully he will catch her back on her first heat and she will calve a little earlier next year. But if not, since she technically was in with the group that was getting moved back to fall calving... it is not a big deal... she can get moved out with a bull in late Nov anyway to get bred for a fall calf next year. She gets a little leeway because she took this calf so good.

Going to soak all the plants in the morning because there is no guarantee that we will get the rain or how much. The trees got real good soakings but the other plants have not. I put another load of clothes on the line today too, and it looks like sun through the morning so they ought to be dry and ready to be brought in by noon.

I am having a terrible time trying to find some hanging plant, planters.... got decent cheap ones at the dollar store earlier this year and now wish I had bought a dozen.... will have to go to the nursery and see if they have some... I want to do the other spider plant some time... not a life or death thing, but just figured I would do them when I had a few minutes some evening when it was hot and I wanted to be out under the maple tree in the early evening. Am going to watch for some more hoses on sale too so that I will be able to run some lines for next year for the fruit trees. Be alot easier than dragging the hoses all over.... Want to set up the couple of individual soaker things I got on these trees and see how they do....

Guess that's it for now.... Will let you know how my "cattle buying" measured up to DS's standards... You know that parents never do anything right......I did tell him that if he does not like the couple of bulls, that I will "buy them" and then they will be mine to sell down the road.... Not going to listen to him bellyache if he is not happy with them...

 

[Baymule]

I hope you get rain soon. We have had showers, enough to keep the dust down, so lm happy. If you have a stash of hay, if it gets drier, maybe you could buy if prices drop due to sell off. Keep over the winter and sell in the spring? Or maybe pick up some good to decent replacement cows.
Keep up with cutting and baling the hay, prices will have no where to go but up. In 2011-2012 we paid up to $100 per round bale and was lucky to get it at that price. It went as high as over $150.

 

[farmerjan]

Taking a break. It is hot again today, and it looked for awhile that we would get the promised rain and now it seems to be dissipating.... not good. Radar is showing more might be popping up around 5-7 p.m.. I sure HOPE it does. I have watched the clouds get real dark to the east again... and there is quite a breeze... which is nice for the heat but is just drying it out more....

Went down and got all the odd stuff left and the house was empty except for the fridge. Got the brooms, and pitchfork and some stuff outside the storage building under the roof....but the bees were not happy....

Went to the farm bureau and got the bands to use in the "big bander" (the callicrate bander we use on bigger calves).... We try to keep a half dozen on hand but don';t like to get a big bag of them because they are "rubber-silicone" or something and they do degrade overtime.....
Saw DS when I was headed to my house... so went to the barn. He was getting ready to go to town to get the calves so I rode along. I really wanted to see his reaction to the ones I bought. He seems pretty satisfied with them... We worked them through the chute... vaccinated for black leg and used Triangle 10 killed virus vaccine on them all for all the other stuff. Just a precaution... they will be getting hauled 800 miles or so in a week... just a little insurance to boost their immune response. The killed virus won't make them sick or cause a "live response".... and black leg is just smart to do. We banded the 2 that were bulls and he seemed pretty satisfied with them all. The herefords that were in the low 8 wts, he said could use 100 lbs... they are a bit thin... not skinny, but we think maybe they got sold because the farmer/owner may have run out of pasture/hay.... so overall, he seemed to think that I did okay. He really liked 2 of them, one of the steers is really muscled nice.... and said that the black bull that I got for 1.05 / lb. was a real good price... as well as the one hereford steer that I paid only .75/lb for. . So, I actually passed ......

So then he said he would come down and get the fridge.... we had to take the door off the hinges in the house to get it out........ I did not have anything there so will go back down and sweep the floor and clean it up....Not going to get down and scrub by hand; but will sweep and mop that spot.

Got the cattle panel, all the empty garbage cans, and the tires on rims that were there... the landlord made a big deal out of the BIG TRUCK TIRES....to DS on the phone.... and he said he couldn't figure out what he was talking about... then finally said that they went on the pickup and the car.... which they do.....landlord is so ridiculous about some stuff...

The bees came out of the box in the building, with us all milling around... so I told DS to stay away from it and that I will go down this evening and see what I can do... I am thinking to get a bigger box to fit over the top of this one and maybe dragging it outside???? Landlord told DS also not to worry about the stuff right now...

The sorry SOB went and sprayed and killed the rosebush right by the window where I had the bedroom. And the one against the storage building...I am going to take a shovel down and dig up the other 2 in the front... looks like he did spray around the one somewhat, killing a pokeberry bush... the other one it looks like he has not hurt it yet. These roses are OLD.... STUPID to just kill them off.... I will dig those 2 and bring them up and try to save them up here....Also see a few of the daylillies that they had mowed down that have come back so will try to dig them too....

So, I need a broom, and some soap to do a quick mopping, and a shovel and some plastic bags to put the plants in.... and then maybe figure out the size of the box and get a few other things if the bees don't go after me.
Wanted to wait for it to cool off a bit. It was 93 again on the front porch... have not gone out to look at what it got up to on the deck....

He said he had someone coming to look at the house.... whatever.

Got the laundry off the line when it got cloudy here.... Got a gallon out on deck, making sun tea....got a gallon I put in the fridge yesterday.... get tired of straight water... and I don't make it very sweet and it has lemonade in it... Alot cheaper than buying it when I am out... and I will put some in the freezer in reused bottles and freeze half full so I can add more tea and then it won't get all watered down when the tea ice melts in the bottles and stays colder.

So that is my day. It is still 91 on this thermometer...and still mostly sunny out there... darn....

I did carry out a couple gallons of water this morning too for the plants... need to soak the peony containers one more time... the stems/leaves are starting to die back a bit, which they do... but don't want them to dry out. I have the lilac that my friends brought me in a container and keeping it well watered.... soaking it and letting it absorb the water ....

Going to unload the few things off the truck in a bit then take it down the hill....