Ok, I made one. I think I still prefer my kahlua over ice cream! Haha! But I’ll drink this and sleep like a rock. Watching New Year’s Nashville Big Bash on TV. Lots of good country music playing.
HAPPY NEW YEARS DAY to all... Let us say a prayer that it will be a better year than the last 2 have been overall...
Got up and went to test the herd this morning. We started getting some light rain last eve and had some overnight... more after we started milking. Got a good rain for about an hour or so and we are still getting a little. Another wave is supposed to come through later into tomorrow. Will take every drop we can. The temps are warmer than normal still.... 50's overnight and will hold pretty steady through tomorrow night then dropping 20-30 degrees with highs only in the 30's and low 40's instead of the upper 50's and low 60's. SO thankful for the moisture and hope we get more.
I am tired as I did not get very much sleep the last 2 nights. Aggravating. I just turned the heat up in the BR and bath and am going in to take a shower and wash my hair and not smell like a dairy cow barn for a couple days. Might even take a nap for a little bit..... All the cow manure/iodine smelling clothes are going in the basket to get washed and I will put on plain clean fresh smelling clothes. Some days I just hate the smell.... beef cows smell so different as does their manure and everything. It's the differences in the feeds.....
I made bacon and eggs this morning after I got home. Let the chickens out into the greenhouse shelter but did not open the door to outside. They can stay in there for the day. No eggs this morning.....slackers...... I don't see any signs of anyone eating them, I think it is just the shorter days and such. Plus it has been cloudy and dreary out.
Spider plants were left out on the deck so are getting a good "rain" watering. I will bring them in Sunday eve before the weather turns colder.
Once I get my hair washed I need to go in and wash dishes and get things in there a little organized. Took 2 roasting chickens out of the freezer so I can make stuffing and then cook both and a BIG pot of mashed potatoes and send one to DS and GF..... I told him I would. Maybe tomorrow? I like having the chicken breast meat to slice for sandwiches....
When the rain lets up a little..... the radar shows us getting a break mid afternoon for a few hours..... I will bring the samples in and get them packed. Have to go down and get the meters from the other farm and leave him the jump drive to put info back into his computer. Would be good to get them and leave them in the back of the truck to get washed off with the next round of rain showers. Then I can put them away in the storage bin thing in the carport.
Got a couple of those darned "flour/pantry moths" in the new trap I put out. I went to pour a bowl of raisin bran the other day and out comes a couple of the moths....UGH..... There wasn't more than a bowl or 2 left in it... but still.
Saturday night. It feels like Sunday for some reason.....
We had some good rain; nearly an inch. The spring at the nurse cow pasture is very very low, so this ought to help since it is dependent on ground water....
Plus I went up there and got cattle in. Took 10 out of there this afternoon.... 7 big calves and 3 cows. There is one more calf DS said I should have left in the barn to be moved, and his momma needs to be pregnancy checked... and 1 big heifer I could not get in. With this many fewer there, I hope that I will be able to get the heifer in. The heifer is not cooperative about going in like the rest; very standoffish and not one I want to keep either.... Her momma is one of the 3 cows that got taken out. Cow is in heat and she raises a mediocre calf.... she should have been very pregnant or had one of the new calves.... but we found one dead a week ago, so it may have been hers. If she is open, and I get the other calves all matched up....which means hers either died or she didn't get pregnant..., then she will go. If for some reason tomorrow I cannot match up a calf, or if her udder looks filled and a calf at the pasture is hollering, then she will go back there. The big heifer should have been taken off her before now, but it didn't get done before the surgery. And the cow does not look like anything is nursing her right now.... So, I will go up tomorrow and see if I can get the 5 new calves matched with their momma's..... I know 3 of them but not the other 2. I will have to sit around and watch and see who nurses who.... with the bigger calves out of there, hopefully I can get them matched. Then one day I will have to get tags in their ears and the bull calves banded.
The other 2 cows will get pregnancy checked. One had next to no milk and the calf is not great. She was a bought heifer. If she is well along pregnant, she will probably get a 2nd chance... and we will wean her steer calf off now. The other one was a bought heifer that wound up pregnant... had a tiny 25 lb calf, and it got scours and died while we were in NH for my father's service. GF did try giving it stuff, and took it to the barn and bottle fed it electrolytes and all, but it died. The little heifer was bred too young, and she has done some growing but she is still small. Still, if she is bred back, she will get a 2nd chance. If she is very short bred or open, she will be a beef. She is never going to be very big, but it wasn't her fault she lost the calf and it was probably better for her. There is one other that was bought at the same time, that had a tiny calf along with her, but she has managed to raise it. She is a little thing, and the calf has been slow growing but now is starting to look halfway decent.
Took "Roscoe" off my nurse cow so she also can get a break. He is getting pretty big and was doing all he could to breed the cow that was in heat.....DS can run him with the steers for now.
So tomorrow DS said "they" are going to move the one group from "greg's" place.... and the group of calves he put back out on pasture 2 months ago. I said what time did he need me and he looked at GF and said well, we can probably get them..... I was not asked or included..... .
There are some heifers in the group he put back out, that will get sold along with some other stuff he wants to get moved out of the barn. A couple are mine and one is real nice but a high strung nut case, so she will be sold. Not keeping idiots.
All the calves he moved this afternoon are mine except for 2. And the one still there is mine also, and the one that he said I should wean is mine. We like to calve out the heifers at the nurse cow pasture, but I kinda like having my stuff mostly all there.....Mine started out as heifers to calve but they have been kept there for 2 calvings now. Guess they need to go out to pastures with big cows since they are on their 2nd calves. Then the bred heifers can go there to calve this coming spring.
There are 2 heifers I got back from the dairy last year that I am going to sell.... they are nothing special being 1/2 dairy and 1/2 beef. I have others much nicer to pick from.
He wants to ship a load this Saturday and it will be mostly heifers and whatever cull cows we have to go. Don't know if he is going to try to get the one big bull in. He will not stay in the pasture and keeps tearing up fences. Right now he is in with the steers, eating their grain, and is so fat he waddles..... He is one of the oldest bulls and when they get to where they don't respect fences, it is time for them to go.
DS just texted and said they are going to the local little restaurant for supper in a little bit, if I wanted to go. I said okay. So, I better get my shoes on and brush my hair. Not changing clothes or anything...
Sunday. Ate some "brunch"... leftover's from last eve. Went to the little local italian rest... kinda a "local watering hole" and they do alot of pizza but also pasta and other sandwiches... Anyway. it was good and came home and I went to bed pretty early.
Going up now to make sure the calves are matched at the pasture. But no one was hollering or looking lost and GF said she thought the one they got tagged when I was in for surgery was on Lily, (cow name) so that leaves one and I am pretty sure who it was on but not positive. So headed up there now.
DS said he had to go in to get the spreaders on the VDOT trucks because now this weather is looking to maybe come in and be more "winterlike" than was originally forecast.
We had over 2 inches of rain total the last 2 days. I measured what was in a bucket as I didn't get the rain gauge back out. Now they are saying we are going to get one more wave of rain... with the cold front behind it, and that although the ground is warm, it may come down fast enough and thick enough now that it will wind up accumulating. The latest forecast is for a dusting to more likely 2-10 INCHES.... WHAT ????
So, I am not going to try to get those couple back in at the pasture as he was going to get the cows moved from the other 2 places and since I have not gotten a call or a text, they obviously didn't think they needed me to help. And he could just swing up and get them if I got them in, but they are supposed to meet someone around 3 p.m. so he has got to be done and I am not going to call him at 2:30 and say I got them in. I will just leave things alone and just go make sure the calves are matched to the cows. Then if possible late in the week, I will see if I can get the stupid heifer in, so that she can get sold with the ones he wants to take on Saturday... and if I get the other 2 cows in and the one bigger steer calf, they can get moved to the barn and put in with the next group to be pregnancy checked and the steer weaned.
It has been in the 50's all day. Rather comfortable with no wind but there is no sun either. Clouds should be starting to move in again now from the west.
DS is going to take off the whole day Tuesday, and go with me to do the 500+ cow herd tuesday morning. Then he will go to the barn and get cattle moved around and all for the vet that afternoon. Do any feeding he has to do. I have PT at noon, then will go to the barn too. It is going to be a long day for my knees..... oh well. I do not have anything scheduled for Wed and will try to recover!!!! Then yearly eye dr appt on Thursday.
If the weather does get iffy, he might be going in tonight at midnight, so will be off Monday during the day. It might be a problem for him if he has to go back in on Monday night.... because then he will not be able to help me Tuesday morning.... ooohhhh.... just realized that..... well, I will have to just play it by ear. I don't think I am up for that herd by myself..... that double 12 and in the barn for 4 hours last thurs/fri about did my knees in.
Well, heading just across the road to the nurse cow pasture to check on them.... I am going to go to the farm and get my meters and all too... want to have them on the truck to get rain water rinsed off and the snow won't hurt either. Then I can just put them away when they are dried off.
Dang!! Gotta watch weather now......I know earlier reports of that huge cold front coming SE but, didn't look to be that bad our way, you either! Glad you got that rain!! Close to 2" here after 2 days but, 61 out there right now. At least wind stopped today, no sun, dreary. We may be getting slower move in as tonight was to get cold. Now looks cold coming in less intensely, with snow staying north of me. . Seems a couple inches into Richmond and on over to eastern shore. Possible flurries into Williamsburg. Ok it's winter but don't have to like it!
So wet couldn't do much except hang out, do feed chores. Was an 8 egg day! . Averaging 6 a day...need to do something with them. . Gifts to?? Prices up at groc and expect 20% more on most groc items, per Kraft/Heinz. Like we haven't noticed already. Glad I'm stocked and in lifestyle I am.
Like you, I'm finding I can survive without working.....
ETA....weather just reported more scenarios...2-4" of wet, heavier winds. Rain overnight and morning...flurries to an inch of slush. Means...who knows! Wait and see
Back in for the night. I went across to the nurse cow pasture and all 5 calves are matched so the cow that was in heat that he moved to the barn did not have one of the babies. Good. Will have to get the babies in and get them tagged but at least I know the cows they are on. When I drove in there they all headed to the barn... figured they were going to get grain again I guess. The spooky heifer was right with the group. So maybe she won't be a problem to get in the next time I try. I did not try to get any in and it turns out to be a good thing. DS had to go into to work to get the spreaders on the VDOT trucks... but then they had to get all the private contractors to come in also since the forecast had changed to 2-10 inches, and it looks like they will be needing the plows as well as the sanding/chemical stuff.
Talked to him about 2:30 and he said he was just leaving work... he went in at 9 a.m. and was there 5+ hours instead of the 1-2 he planned on. He was leaving to go get the truck and trailer and head to get the one group of cow/calf pairs. Said it would take 2 trips because of the calves weighing over 400 lbs... and that he was not going to go get the young stock at the other place because there just wasn't time. I said I didn't get the ones in at snyder's because I figured he would be too tight on time and it turns out he was way behind due to work stuff. He said he needed to get the cow/calf pairs out of the one place as it is alot farther to go feed. He can take hay down to the place where the young ones are as it is much closer to here.
So things never get done like he/we plan. So, it is good that I didn't even try to get them in so that they will be more likely to just come in the next time. They are almost out of hay, but I told him that they could just clean it up and he could take hay in there tomorrow. There is some picking and they need to clean it up and not waste so much... and it is still 50 out so warm enough for them to be nosing through it. They are all in very good condition, so not going to hurt them to wait for morning. Ground is real wet too. I did check and the trough from the spring was 3/4 full, so that was real good. Luckily I could see the water in the big round tank shimmering, so I did not have to try to walk down the hill. I was not about to try to take the truck down near it and get stuck on soft wet ground.
He texted me around 4 and was headed back to get the 2nd trailer load of cattle. It gets dark early so hope that all went okay. He did say he had to go in at Midnight tonight for sure. He said he had a little feeding to do then hopefully he will go home and get some sleep before going in at midnight. Unless it starts to get nasty before then, his boss might call him in sooner. He definitely will be off all day Monday now... I told him he could feed at snyder's when he gets off in the morning. They will be looking for hay and it will be good that they had to clean up some and not waste as much. A couple of calves had gone into the pen through the creep gate, so the medium sized ones (200 +/- lbs) have figured it out. The little ones will learn to follow them in. That works good.
And he said he heard that the weather is looking to be in the single digits for the weekend so it might not be a good time to ship cattle. I just wish he would quit wanting to sell this time of year... wait for late Feb and then take them when buyers are looking for feeders to go out on grass for the spring....
It is not doing anything out there now. Looking like it will get here after 9-10 p.m. and will start as some rain, then the temps to fall fast. Totally crazy.....
I got the chickens locked and and they all went into the crate without me having to do more than just herd the last 2 in that direction. Haven't gotten any eggs in the last 2 days though. Oh well. maybe tomorrow.
I am going to pack yesterday's milk samples and then they will go out tomorrow with the ones from Friday... the UPS guy ran early on Friday and I did not get done in time.
I went down to that farm and got all the meters on the truck and the hoses so they can get wet and then I can clean off some of the splatters on them... then put them in the storage bin. I also filled up the truck with gas on the way home while it was warmer and more comfortable to be pumping gas.
Didn't get the car down to the shop but it can go tomorrow or Tuesday. They have a flatbed car carrier, "tow truck" and if the weather is crappy, there is always dozens of extra calls for breakdowns and accidents so I am not having a fit over it not being there. They will get to it when I get it there; maybe be glad it is not there in the way tomorrow.
So, I am pretty much done for the night. Going to look at the weather again, and then go in and get a good hot shower.... at least if it gets crappy and we do lose power or something, then I don't have to deal with going to bed cold or dirty.
Gee @Baymule , your temps sure dropped there in a hurry... guess we are a day behind you.... but ours will stay colder longer normally. And we should get some snow and I know you sure don't want a repeat of last year..... there is a saving grace that you don't have as many animals as you had if you do have to haul much water.... @Mini Horses ..... I will send the weather your way once we have had enough..... . It does look like it is going to have more impact than they originally figured....here and your way.
Sister-in-law lives in Alexandria. She was going go down today but we had snow. Now supposed to get snow down there tomorrow! Don't know if she's driving tomorrow or waiting until Tuesday.
@Bruce ....Tell SIL to wait til Tuesday to be on the safe side. Radar shows weather through mid morning here and we are in the far western area compared to her place in Alexandria..... If it passes through there during the day, they will be out on the roads everywhere with either salt/sand or with the plows then salt/sand.