Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

We saw one farmer on TV that lost over 700 hogs in the flood waters. He had 14 live hogs left. Only 14. There were dead hogs laying in the mud. His farm and barns had 7 feet of water over them.

Feed will go up. Too bad we can't stockpile the pellets we give the horses and sheep.

 

[rachels.haven]

@farmerjan , thanks for the attention on this issue in your journal. I spent my high school years in Red Oak, IA. I just checked their newspaper. It is not looking good right now. It is dreadful. There is a massive grain storage area beside a grocery store along their main street along side the rail road track. It is by the East Nishnabotana river. The grain bins are bigger than a walmart super center including the parking lot and massively tall (you could hide houses in there). They also store grain there massive piles (more parking lot scale stuff) on tarps, covered in tarps, weighed by tires. I don't even want to imagine right now. I hope the older folks homes and hospitals are doing okay. Looks like there are a lot of water boil orders out. I also hope the grains been mostly shipped by now, although it probably hasn't and probably won't be now. Dang. I had no idea.

 

[farmerjan]

For everyone on here, it means you have internet access.... please do a google and look at some of the devastation in the midwest from the flooding. Read some of what they are going through and understand that although this is not in your backyard, these are people, farmers, animal LOVERS who may raise animals for slaughter and human consumption, may use conventional farming practices and use some chemicals and such.... BUT THEY STILL ARE FARMERS and love what they do for a living. They may produce conventional grains, but there are organic farmers out there too. Think what the contamination will do to farms that are certified organic. This will destroy their certification. Thus losing another source of organic grains for those that depend on them. Look at the pictures of the flooding of the towns. Nearly 3 quarters of the counties in both Iowa and Nebraska have been declared disasters, with more in Kansas and other surrounding states. Look at the hog farmer that @Baymule mentioned. How do you look at yourself knowing that the animals that you have been entrusted to "do right by" are drowning and you CANNOT HELP THEM.....

I have done my share of moaning about the constant rain we have had. The wet muddy conditions making it a miserable time to feed and such. I am not ashamed of it, but I am certainly humbled by what they are going through and it makes my problems very small and unimportant by contrast.

Please say a few prayers for them. Please try to be understanding when the cost of feed and even your food may go up. @rachels.haven mentioned the grain bins and the piles of grain that are stored on the ground on and covered by tarps. Most have not been shipped by all that I have read. They have been flooded, soaked, contaminated by flood waters. Many farmers had stored them hoping for a little better price this spring as there was a huge surplus of grain last fall. Some hoped they would be shipping some overseas and then the trade situation and the tariffs happened. Many farmers do basically agree that we needed more fair trade deals. Like him or not, Trump is a businessman and he knows fair and equitable and our trade deals have been anything but. Most farmers were supportive even knowing it would hurt them in the short run. But no one could have predicted this devastation. There will be some coverage by insurance, but not all and many very little.

So please everyone, have a little more compassion for your fellow "farmer" whether he has 10 acres or 10,000 acres. We don't do it for the money, we do it because we love what we do. And we are normally the most optimistic people in the world.... we are always looking for next year to be better... this may break more people than you realize.

 

[Bruce]

Darn ugly for sure. Going to take a LONG time to recover.

Think what the contamination will do to farms that are certified organic. This will destroy their certification.

I hadn't even thought about that. You are so right, it will take years before they can certify again, if ever depending on what landed on their soil and will soak in.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sadly, it isn't over yet either....most of the water flows south to the Gulf and from earlier rains the Mississippi is pretty swollen....the croplands along the river are saturated already and the spring rains will be on the way thru the mid-south....if it isn't a dry spring, then the crop land will be planted pretty late......something else about it is even if ya live in an area that isn't affected.....the price increases will hit ya from several directions.....it is really sad about the animals too, by losing stock thru the extreme weather, it doesn't make it to market....so, it is a loss to the farmer and everything and body that depends on that market.....many raise their own meat, so that won't affect the price of dinner, but there are other things that depend on that animal to be marketed....leather, pet food, gelatin, etc, etc....and there are some of us that still buy our meat at the store.....having come from a long list of farmers on both sides of my family, my heart goes out for all that are dealing with such devastation.....yes @farmerjan our prayers and thoughts are with all that are affected now....and those that could be affected later......

 

[farmerjan]

Thank you to all who read my lengthy posts and my "rants" as it just tears me up to think of the horrible things the farmers are going through. From the horrible flooding in Australia that followed record YEARS of drought, to our flooding after a very wet year in most of the southeast and alot of the east in general, and the reprecussions (sp?) from all that, to this horrible flooding here in the US, it has been very trying for anyone who is in farming.
Most of you know that the dairy industry is hurting and that farms are being lost at an alarming rate. I just got a call from one of my farmers. With some VERY GOOD Genetics, and all registered cows, he has sold out. The registered Holsteins went a couple of weeks ago to a farm in Maryland, and the reg. Brown Swiss left this week for a farm in Pa. It is going to be very sad to not see the cows there and I cannot imagine how he will do as they were his pride and joy. I have another commercial herd wanting to sell out and they want to do it fairly soon and not plant any corn.
Our beef cattle are all commercial. We are feeling some pain due to the lower prices. Sold about 35 heifers in the 500 lb range. Averaged a little better than 1.20 lb. Since we figure it costs about $550 /yr to feed a beef cow, the calves only made about $50 per head . We haven't sold the steers, they will be going in the next 2-4 weeks I think. The prices on steers has come up in the last 2 weeks, but we have put quite a bit of feed in them since they have been weaned in the last month or so. Then when you figure that we will have about 40 less calves this spring than we normally would, due to so many open, it will be tough late next fall and winter when there won't be the numbers to sell.
But we will figure something out as we always do.

The weather has been interesting the past 2 days. We wound up with 1.6 inches of rain. The wind has been blowing like all get out this afternoon. Temps hit the low 50's with alot of clouds and a quick shower again this afternoon. Possible blowing snow flurries tonight until this front moves out. 30's tonight, sun and cool tomorrow, with 20's possible tomorrow night. Then warming some again.

I'll take it as the alternatives are worse.

 

[CntryBoy777]

It truly is sad to see so many that are placed in the situation of having to liquidate....it has been happening for several decades now and it keeps reaching up to grab more and more...used to be a family could make a decent living on a couple hundred acres, but most of the family farms have long since gone by the wayside....when we were back in MS there were plenty family farms being liquidated by auctions...most were less than 1,000 acres, but they couldn't make enough to repair or replace their aging equipment and the children didn't have any interest in pursuing and living the hard life of their parents.....just sad all around.

 

[farmerjan]

It's Sunday evening. Nice day today after a chilly start of 28* !!!! Got up to about 66 and then started clouding up some. Not supposed to get as cold tonight. Rain tomorrow, then clearing off Tuesday and pretty decent all the rest of the week. Hauled 8 buckets of feed up to the "nurse cow barn and put some in the metal garbage can and fed some.
We bought some bred cows about 2 weeks ago, 5 were supposed to be first calf heifers, a single that was nearly 8 months preg., and a group of 7 that were CHEAP and bred 2-3 months. The 7 averaged 510. ea., the others about 650 which is still pretty cheap. A couple of the heifers are decent looking, a little smaller than I would like, maybe 850 lbs, and the 7 will weigh in the 11-1250 range so are good sized. Most of the 7 will only have this calf and maybe one more, they have some age on them but the price makes it doable if they raise a calf. We worked them through the chute and got them moved around last week.
The 5 "first calf heifers" had one cow in there, that was probably 5-6 years old just a smaller cow. The single is a high headed idiot, she is a cow of about 6 yrs old, and it will remain to be seen if she will stay after this calf. Those 6 got moved to the pasture at the nurse cow barn as I am in and out of there alot and that is usually where we calve out first calf heifers. Put "idiot" there hoping she will calm down and get used to being around me. Today they all came for grain and it seems that several of the first calf heifers know what a bucket is for so that is good. Idiot came up with them, but didn't go to the feed trough. Maybe she will "get it" after a few feedings.
Went out to the pasture we are losing April 1st to feed and call all those heifers in for grain. They will get moved next weekend and the weather looks to be pretty decent for it. I will be gone Thurs thru Sat night so my son may be moving them by himself if he does it Sat. They all have to come to the barn to be preg checked, probably early the following week, the bull pulled out, and all pregnant ones will go to the nurse cow pasture to calve in the fall. Hoping that preg check will be better than the last few. I have a couple of heifers that need to be dehorned, and we need to Bangs vaccinate all the heifers we are going to retain. Might get it all done at once, have to see what our schedule is and what the vet's schedule is like.
I will be making a fairly quick trip up to Ct to my sisters, going from there to NH to my parents. My mom has been in and out of the hosp with a touch of pneumonia, an infection I don't think they really pinpointed and high blood pressure with crazy swings. She has dementia/alzheimers and my sister thinks this is the beginning of the end for her cognizant behavior. I think my son will make a trip in a few weeks. I think that I wrote a bit about family dynamics and such. I have not been up for a couple of years. The weather is supposed to be nice, I am flying so as to not waste so much time on the road.

Gotta a couple of farms to test Monday and Tuesday before I go. Leaving Thurs morning @ 5:30 to be at airport by 8 for a 9 a.m. flight. Luckily it is a smaller regional airport but will have morning work traffic to deal with. Coming in late Sat night @ 11:30 so will be a quiet drive home. It's only about 1 1/2 hours away but want to allow myself plenty of time to get there. Plus with this ankle, I walk a little slower, so want to allow for time to walk from the parking to the terminal.

 

[Baymule]

Be safe on your trip. Family dynamics.....I wish the best for your Mother.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Hoping that ya are doing well!!....how was your trip?....are things okay there?.....our prayers are constantly with ya and we know ya are busy this time of year, but a "check in" would do wonders for an array of members here that sure do Miss ya being around.....