Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

Same here.

It sounds like you do a tremendous amount of work especially during hay season. Even if you don't do as much with his cattle, you can still do yours. You enjoy going to the sales and you raise calves with your nurse cows. Maybe semi retire from some of his farm work and do more nurse cow calves and the cattle you like. Maybe start breeding and hatching specialty breeds of poultry if you like that.

It sounds like he is being really careful with her right now with the cancer. With all you do for yourself, he probably doesn't realize that you need his help more now. My boys are that way - so used to mom being able to do everything that unless I specifically ask them, they don't realize that I could use the help.

 

[Baymule]

Nah. A previous governor of ours ran out naked to chase a bear. Later thought maybe it wasn't the best idea but the bear did run.

A previous Texas governor was walking his Labrador puppy, when a coyote came up to grab the puppy. He pulled out his 45 and shot the coyote dead.

 

[Ridgetop]

I read about that in a comparison of what a California governor would do vs what the TX governor did! Preferred the TX governor's prompt efficient action! LOL

 

[farmerjan]

Thursday afternoon..... Got up and went to PT... in the pool. Always "extra" workout because of the lack of gravity in the pool I do get more and better stretch and bending in the pool. They also scheduled me into March for PT....

Got done and then headed back to the barn. DS had gotten there and wanted to go get some cows up at the nurse cow field to round out the numbers because there weren't alot of preg checks from the other field he got in the other day. So we went up there and did manage to get in all the ones that needed preg checking.... It actually went pretty good.
So vet got there, the ones from the nurse cow field were not "as preg" as I thought they would be. One of mine was only 1 month and she should have been 7 months. One of my older dairy cows is only 50 days and we took her calf off over 6 months ago.... She will be sold. She has been difficult to work with the last 2 calves, will not take any extra calves and so she has barely paid for her feed. I am not going to continue to feed her for another 7 months.....she is in pretty good flesh, and is getting some age on her..... so time for her to go. 801, the nurse cow that is so good dispositioned is 5+ months; as is another one that I need to get her calf off..... there was one more that is open, she is one that was not supposed to be bred, bought as a heifer... and had a little tiny calf that has lived.... she doesn't make much milk and it has taken her a long time to finally put on a little weight. She will get sold when the calf gets sold.
In the ones from the other place, there were 3 open. One is my old cow that was not supposed to be put there to get rebred... so it is okay she is not bred. One is a young cow that should have been bred. And one other is a cow that had one other time that she was not bred and got put back... she is probably going to go. Then there is the one that prolapsed. It is a uterine prolapse, not rectal.....and he said that if she was his, she should go. So he gave her an epidural shot so he could work it back in, and put in a couple of stitches.... did not even preg check her... she will go. I think DS is talking about taking them tomorrow. There are 2 others at the barn that he is taking, I think a total of 5? Caleb said cull cows were up near the 70's now.....maybe even a little better than the ones we took 2 weeks ago. And cull bulls are up near 1.00 / lb... so we have one and maybe 2 we are going to ship too; as soon as he can get them in. One is over at a neighbors, next to a pasture... he won't stay put so it is time... and one at the barn that is in with the feeder steers that keeps going through/over fences too. Guess we are going to have to see about replacing a couple bulls....Plus the one that is up at the nurse cow pasture is getting older too.... and maybe that is why the couple of cows up there are not as far along as they could be.... They get so massive and some are just not as active.... We've had several of these bulls now for 6-10 years..... that's a long time to keep and use bulls. Most places use a bull for 2-3 years... the thing of it is, it gets expensive to put out 3-5,000 for every bull and to replace them every 3 years....

So, I am home now. I filled 2 buckets with chicken feed when I came by the feed bin. Brought one out to the chickens and a bucket of water. Got 1 egg. The one white leghorn is starting to drop more body feathers and another one is down to only a couple tail feathers so she will be molting too. What a time of year to do it....

Temp was down to 13 this morning and although the sun was out, it only got up to 37 in the sun today. I did put about 1 1/2 gallons water in the waterer... will probably have to take out hot water tomorrow to melt some ice....trying to not get too far ahead so it doesn't get so frozen that I can't get it to melt some and keep water in front of them.

So, I am going to do a little paperwork and get some lists of who is where. They moved a bunch of stuff around yesterday, so I need to find out who went where....and he and I need to get caught up on some of the stuff that has been sold of mine. Not letting it get so far "back" to where things get forgotten. I want to get things squared up...

I ate some stroganoff... and ready to get something cold to drink and take a shower and wash my hair. Then maybe go to bed early. Nothing on the calendar for tomorrow unless DS wants me to drive the truck and trailer to haul the cows to town. We are due to get part of that storm tomorrow... starting as rain and changing over to snow... 1-3 inches maybe... We'll see.

 

[rachels.haven]

I read about that in a comparison of what a California governor would do vs what the TX governor did! Preferred the TX governor's prompt efficient action! LOL

But where would the naked governor have kept his bear worthy weapon? He had to work with the most offensive weapon immediately available, lol. Poor bear probably needed therapy, may have wound up vegan after that.

(Please ignore infant assisted typos, not sure how to fix that. There is content up there, I promise)

 

[farmerjan]

Friday afternoon. It started out cloudy, warmer than I expected. 26 to start and got up to 41. We got some wet snow almost watery.... and it wasn't sticking much by noon. Talked to DS and we wound up going together to the stockyards with the cows.
Took 6 and wound up bringing back 1 of mine and he almost brought back 2 others. There is a little too much of the "good ole boys" network stuff going on at the yard now. We have seen alot of it in the last year since the original owners sold and the new one that has taken it over... it is more of a clearing house for several of the buyers to "sell cattle" and get legitimate weigh tickets to send with the cattle that go to the slaughter yards.... We watched cull cows bring from .50/lb to .78/lb.... and the ones that they did not announce the farms where they came from, were bringing the most. There are ins and outs, and we both know that there is some favoritism, but it is getting ridiculous. We had said once before that we weren't really happy with some of the things we could see going on, but then we sold some steers and things did okay... and this sale is closer and more convenient... but it is not the place we used to like going to to sell. We pretty much decided today that we will probably not take any more cull cows here. If we lose $50 a cow here, and it costs an extra $50 to go to the sale an hour away... the profit from 1 cow will pay for the trip. DS spent some time talking to a couple of other guys there, and it seems there is alot of "quiet grumbling" going on under the surface.
One thing we have noticed is they don't do the numbers at this sale like they used to. Granted this time of year it is a crap shoot with the weather and all... but even in the fall, there were not the numbers of cattle or the numbers of local sellers that used to be there. It is a sad thing that it has changed so much.
I found out that the guy he sold the heifers direct to, who used to buy there all the time, had a falling out with them also, and he no longer goes there to buy. His dad was buying there when I first moved to Va and started going to the sale... he used to buy 10 to 100 heifers every week..... in the 350-550 lb range. That's not peanuts..... and he no longer will go there. Things like that cause there to be less competition, so the calves will be sold at lower prices when there is no one to bid against. I have seen and heard about several buyers who no longer go there because they are not happy. I realize that they all cooperate to a point... but some of these buyers are also sellers... it is good practice to also sell where you buy...... if you are a cattle dealer/buyer..... and yes, there is some of the scratch my back, I'll scratch yours... part of doing business... help me I will help you.....but it is not going on with the new owners.... they just keep making sure their little clique gets what they want, and "oh well" for those that bring animals in there.... It is not a good thing.

So, that was our day. It was snowing a bit more when we came home. Sticking here more at the barn. The little bit of warmup has softened the snow still on the ground. I went out to the chickens and it was now "crunchy" but soft enough that it squished under my feet. I got 2 eggs and made sure they were okay for the night. The water was not at all frozen so they are in good shape.

It is down to 32 and the snow is coming down pretty soft, but steady. The latest forecast is now saying 1-5... and we are looking more for the 3-5 now. DS was going home to lay down for a few hours. He said he couldn't go home and go to sleep at noon when he got off because he had gotten a good night's sleep last night. That's why we went to town together. He will be tired in the morning but he said that it wouldn't do him any good to try to go to sleep at 1 or 2... he said he will lay down and see if he can get some decent "resting" and then go back in at 8....

So my cow is back at the barn.... she can stay there and eat some silage for a week or 2 or whatever until we make a trip to the other sale barn. We have cattle at 3 more places that have to be checked so not like we won't have a couple more cows that will need to be sold. It would be a small miracle if they all came up pregnant !!!!!

So, I am going to think about doing some baking or something. It's dark out and I am not going anywhere. I am scheduled to test tomorrow afternoon.... no set up.... and will see how the snow turns out and the road conditions. It is an "easy herd" so if I can get there, I will go.

 

[farmerjan]

Saturday early afternoon. COLD out there and quite breezy. Got down to 15 and is 25 now. Sunny, but deceiving as it is NOT warm. The recording thermometer sensor hit 34 in the sun earlier when it was directly on it, but as soon as the sun moved a bit, it dropped right back to 22.... Probably won't hit freezing.

We got between 2-3 inches. It didn't last long into the night. Glad we did not get too much. The trucks were up and down the road quite a bit last night. Don't think they actually did as much plowing, as salting and sanding. Road is pretty clear in front of the house and I talked to my farmer and he said they didn't get but an inch or 2... So I am going to go test as scheduled. I will go out and get the truck started a little ahead so it can warm up. Want to stop at the bank and deposit the checks and then if I get going soon enough, go to the used book store for a bit. Or Goodwill up closer to the farm. We'll see how soon I get going here. Have to go out to the chickens yet.
Going to take a carton of eggs for the parents of this farmer's wife... where I got the chickens from. Least I can do as a little thank you. Glad that they are laying some. Might slow down for a day or 2 again, but then they will lay more as the days warm up again.
We are supposed to be in the 40's and maybe 50's by the end of the week.... snow will melt.
Hoping that sorry brown oversized RAT does NOT see his shadow on Wed...... possibility of some rain showers....
We need to get more cows moved and checked and older calves weaned.

Prices on 500 wt steers yesterday were decent 1.50-1.75.... more in the 1.65-1.75 range. Don't know how long DS is going to hold the steers before selling but I am thinking late Feb or early March.... Guess it depends on the silage.... and if he is going to try to feed out both bags there at the barn....

He had NCRS there at the barn looking at some fencing... there is gov't money available for fencing out of the creek and the fences there are not great... they were put in over 20 years ago and they have not lasted good.... there are naturally restrictions, but since this creek area was already fenced out with cross overs where DS has replaced the one pipe.... some of the requirements are already met. They only cover interior fencing... and for cross fencing and rotational grazing and such.... up to 75%.... looking at over 10,000 feet of fencing.... like 50-60,000 dollars..... no perimeter fencing... we would have to foot the bill up front then they will reimburse.... wow .....but could get some waterers put in to make a few of the fields more usable... because a couple do not have waterers in them now so we cannot use them all at the same time, because they have to come to the barn waterer... plus we have to replace the bull lot fencing because they have just walked all over that. Going to use guard rail for that.... but it can get included in the interior fencing proposal and they will pay the amount allowed for woven wire... just have to meet certain requirements like post spacing and such....

So, I am going to get my stuff together, have to put sample bottles in one tray, one is done, and then go start the truck and go out to the chickens. This farm also has heat in the barn so not a bad place to go today!!!!

 

[Ridgetop]

What kind of fencing is eligible for government $$? Where do I go to look it up? Our perimeter game fencing will cost around $75,000 for the entire 45 acres. Then we need additional interior fencing for rotational grazing on the 15 acres. We are considering only putting game fencing around the 15 acres that includes the barn and house and continuing to lease out the 30 acres of pasture to the current tenant. Then doing the interior fencing on the 15 acres for rotational grazing and holding the sheep flock down to numbers compatible with that amount of grass.

 

[farmerjan]

@Ridgetop ; I don't know if it is available everywhere. But it is for fencing out of streams and interior fencing for rotational grazing. It may be something only offered to certain areas/states; we are in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.... You have to talk to the extension guys and the NRCS... I will talk to DS and find out more of exactly who he talked to. I just went and did a search on DuckDuckGo ; Va NRCS fencing and came up with several links... it is available to 21 counties in Va for fencing livestock out of streams and to help with water troughs also.
It does NOT cover any exterior fences... we have several that badly need replacing here but it will not pay for any of that.
Do some research on Texas NRCS and see what you can come up with.

 

[Ridgetop]

I will do that. We can do the exterior fencing ourselves, but having help on the interior fencing for rotational grazing would be helpful. We have 2 ponds, but no running streams which might also keep us out of the running.

Hope you are surviving the snow storms back there. Keep warm and stay inside except for your chicken feeding trips.

If the stockyard is not on the up and up anymore, you should definitely go elsewhere. We had that problem years ago with the small stockyard we used for our goats. We kept getting lousy prices on nice dairy does in milk and later found out that the owners were selling the nicer goats privately to their friends who loaded them up and took them to Mexico and sold them to a dairy! We quit them and went to another sale yard. They eventually went broke since no one would take their animals there anymore. That will happen to your auction yard too.

Definitely go to the other one even if it is a bit further away. You will get better prices and know it is an honest auction. Too bad though that you had the trip there and then had to bring stock home.