Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[RollingAcres]

Got the bread pudding in the oven earlier and it is cooling now.

How was your bread pudding? I was going to make bread pudding the other day then DH said he doesn't like bread pudding, so I made something else.

 

[farmerjan]

How was your bread pudding? I was going to make bread pudding the other day then DH said he doesn't like bread pudding, so I made something else.

Bread pudding turned out good. Except I didn't put the raisins in it and I prefer it with them, but didn't have any handy.

It was cloudy early, then partly to mostly sun for most of the day. Had 1 inch of rain in the gauge. That's 2 inches in the past week... sure wish it would hold off until July and then give us a good all day/night soaking like this one was. Temps never got over 45 and with the wind it was alot colder feeling. Gonna get colder tonight and for the next couple of nights. Already down to 27....

 

[farmerjan]

Just a fairly short update. It was 23 this morning, the fields looked like skating rinks from all the standing water turning into ice. Cannot believe how much we have had. By my calculations, we have had over twice the "NORMAL" year to date... at over 7 inches so far this year and we usually have about 2.5 to 3.... It got up to 45 today but very "breezy" so quite chilly. Temps are supposed to get down to the teens, with the wind picking up more and possible wind chills to 0* or below ???? Holy cow. The temp swings are what is so hard to deal with.

Tested cows this afternoon, got to go get some cornish x chickens tomorrow morning. I get the "culls" left behind at one of the farms, fairly regularly. Technically, they are supposed to kill them. Many farmers do, and take just the breast meat for themselves. There are anywhere from 3 or 4 to over 50 a couple months ago (that I did not get, because the field man from the company was there and made them kill them that night.) WASTEFUL.... The guy said there are about 20-25 this time. I realize that they are not "organic" or anything, but they are already at the 2-3 lb. or more size, the hard part is done, no heat etc., and so from here they will eat and gain some weight until I am ready to kill them. Usually I will keep them for about 1-2 months; depending on the guy who does them. They will eat like you would not believe, but I don't lose very many and they get up to "kill weight" quickly. They will get feed and extra scratch mix with corn and wheat to help on costs. Many could probably go to kill within 2 weeks, but if I keep them about a month, I figure they are healthier, and they have gotten more fresh air and all, so taste "better" than the ones that never see the outside. Hate that they are coming, in all the cold, but there are enough to help keep warm, they are fully feathered and all.
Then have to go test another farm in the afternoon. I will be okay time wise, if I get up and get going in the morning and get there between 8-9 a.m.. Then will spend about an hour catching probably... I don't move so fast with this ankle.

Here's hoping the wind doesn't blow us away tonight,
it is really starting to gust.

An added note; Sympathies to any members in the Alabama, Georgia, or Florida areas that were hit by the horrible tornados. I have seen a few pictures and it is so sad. I hope no one here suffered devastating losses of family or livestock, or property.

 

[farmerjan]

Wednesday.... it was down to 19 here this morning, and 15 up at my son's. The fields still look like frozen ponds where the water is still laying...
Went and got the cornish x birds this morning. I forgot to count but it was around 22 or 23 I think. There is one little runt, and they are all smaller than the last group I got so will need a little feeding. I am concerned a bit about them tonight with the cold, but hopefully they will be able to deal with it. They were out in the run in the sun about an hour after I unloaded them into the pen. Guess they found the feed and water, as I had to leave to go to work.
Tomorrow will go with my son to the appt with the craniologist that has been trying to help "move " the plates of his skull to better align them from the accident nearly 2 years ago. He has been having more headaches again and says driving is hard some days. So I will go, and drive, and then when we get back, will do what chores I have to, and then go to work in the afternoon .
Off on Friday because......drum roll..... we are supposed to get some SNOW..... one station says "wintry mix"... that seems to be their favorite term this year. Changing over to rain... cloudy with showers on Sat and RAIN again on Sunday.

We have had approx 8.4 inches of rain since Jan 1st... plus a total of about 12-13 inches of snow. Our normal for the year to date is about 3 inches of rain....
This is not a good scenario....
Have one dairy that said they are going to make a decision on what to do by the first of May. Their fields are all bottomland and are practically floating they are so wet. If they can't plant crops due to the extreme wetness, they are going to sell the dairy cows. They said that if they can't grow and make the feed, there is no way they can afford to buy it, so there is no point in having the cows.
He//, many of our fields ARE NOT bottomland, and we can't get on them. Don't know how this is going to work for things like the sorghum/sudan and the grain sorghum. Have one guy who wants to plant corn and split the harvest of silage... we want to renovate this field as the johnson grass is bad and we need more orchard grass fields. This would be a quicker way to renovate the field, even though he will be using some chemicals.... it may be the faster and cheaper way to do it. It is rented land, and we cannot afford to put a huge amount of money into it. Plus with all the calls for hay, it would get this field into orchard grass faster than with the 3 year way we do it. Will be talking to him to see what he is offering in more detail.

 

[Baymule]

That is a good deal on the Cornish x half grown chickens. Why do the farmers have to kill the culls? That is wasteful, glad that you can take them home.

 

[greybeard]

"quality control"........

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, @greybeard is right. Basically, when they come and get the birds, they are about 40 days old. Anything that doesn't make the "cut" as far as the "catchers" that are catching and loading, are culls. Mostly it is too small, and sometimes small and crippled... The house needs to be readied for the next flock coming in. These culls can't go with the new baby chicks, they can transmit disease to the newly hatched chicks... so they have to be "disposed of". Most companies don't care if the farmer "harvests them for their own use". Technically I am not supposed to get them, but as long as I get them within 24 hours, before the field man comes by to check the houses, and they decide if they get a complete cleanout, or just some cleaning down partway and rebedded, plus any thing else they need to address, and they are gone before the field man comes by, it's not a big deal. Saves the farmer from having to dispose of them themselves.
When they catch and send the "house" to the processing plant, they want these birds to be as uniform as possible. Plus the farmer is paid according to weight gain/feed efficiency, number of birds that survive, all that sort of stuff. These culls have eaten feed, so actually hurt the feed efficiency because they don't meet the size/weight requirements when they are shipped. Farmers do a walk through every day. The sickly, weak, crippled, dead chicks/birds are removed. They figure a percentage that is considered normal for loss.... Let's face it, getting 4-10,000 chicks per house, you are gonna lose some.
So if they don't cull daily, the ones that are not gaining will hurt the averages and are eating feed that will hurt the feed conversion ratio. They want them to all look the same, gain the same, weigh the same. Cookie cutter birds.

 

[Baymule]

Last spring was the first time I raised Cornish X. I let them get big. Butchered the roosters first, then the hens and smaller chickens. We butchered from 6 to 8 weeks old. Average carcass weight was 5 1/2 pounds. I didn't have to clean out the coop all at once.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, we are back to the "WET WINTER WEATHER" crap. Had rain, freezing rain, and snow. School was 2 hr delay, then it started to really snow for a bit and they cancelled it. Now have a winter weather advisory.... It snowed for a bit, hard, fast fine stuff. Now has stopped but radar shows more coming in then maybe changing to rain by late afternoon.
The ground was nearly white, but there is some rain now. It is a "balmy" 35 so really crummy. I did put the rain gauge out again since it is supposed to stay around freezing or warmer.

We had 2 nights that went back down to the teens, 16 and 19. Sun the last few days but windy so very chilly/cold.

Get this though.... we are supposed to get some rain later, and some showers tomorrow, Sat., with temps in the 40's and maybe 50. Then some showers again Sat night, with rain ending Sunday morning and the sun coming out... with temps up in the upper 60's to low 70's......Totally crazy. Then about 3-4 days of sun and temps in the 50's at least; then rain again coming in Thursday or Friday..... EVERY WEEKEND we get wet.

 

[greybeard]

Pretty good weather here today, low 80s, partly cloudy and south windy.
I washed my truck for the first time since before the flood. Would have done the inside but got interrupted to go pull a horse out of a bog near a neighbor's pond for the 2nd time in 8 days and this time she didn't survive the ordeal so i ended having to dig the hole to bury her. I just hope she don't float up..