Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

That is one smart little calf! She soon will run to you, when you show up with a bottle.

 

[farmerjan]

Cold 34 this morning. Alot of clouds but supposed to be moving off and sun later but only maybe 50... then a real warm up and temps into the 70's and maybe 80 by mid week. Totally crazy weather.

Ate some oatmeal. Farmer called this morning about testing this afternoon... seems the son and his family have all had a flu bug... but getting over it... wanted to give me a choice... since they are on the downhill side... I said I would just come on this afternoon unless the son gets stomach sick today... I am getting over this cold but none of the stomach sick or the diarrhea or anything that he said they had. I figure I ought to be fine. May as well get it done, unless they have active symptoms today...

Going out to let the chickens out in a bit, take them some clean water... the brown hen is laying somewhere and I cannot find the spot. The leghorn still laying in the same place in the carport so at least I am getting her egg daily.

I will go up to the pasture to see about feeding the twin in a bit after it warms up and all. I want to see if I can get that witch cow in the barn with her calf... maybe try this twin on her.?.. but the problem is I will have to get most all the cows into the catch pen then sort out the ones I don't want... because EVERYONE will come to the bucket of feed if I call them.... Need to feed some for the calves coming in through the creep gate too.... and I have got to get the holstein in and get him banded and all so he can get sold....

Hoping it will warm up enough to move these sprouted seed flats out on the deck against the house so they get some good sun...and not get too much wind, for awhile today... the last bunch of really old seeds didn't sprout so I tossed the wet napkin with them. Going to get some green bean seeds and some other stuff to have... I have a bunch here that I will plant first.... need to get the neighbor to come and plow this spot so it can get tilled a few times in the next 6 weeks. Going to pick up some seed potatoes the first of the week too... not going to plant alot but some.... got some on order from Irish Eyes for delivery 1st of May.. some fingerlings and such. The ones I did manage to get in last year in the mulch hay did okay considering how late it was that DS got it here... hope to do a little better this year....

It is chilly out there still.... and cloudy makes it feel colder.... BRRR

 

[Baymule]

For diarrhea and vomiting I mix honey with apple cider vinegar 50/50. I measure about 2 fingers width in a small glass, fill with water and sip on it. In about 30-45 minutes, I’m better. Pass that on to your farmer and take some yourself before and after being around them.

 

[Bruce]

Wow, you are a whole degree warmer than we are this morning Jan. Given the many hundreds of miles distant and totally south, I'm surprised.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, @Bruce our weather has been so far off the charts in a yo-yo....
Yesterday we were getting some snow flurries... and they got about an inch over in WVa from this front that went through...
Sun is pushing to come out now. Might be a halfway decent day.

 

[Baymule]

Snow flurries! Wow!

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday eve.... recording thermometer said it got up to 60... but it was breezy until late this afternoon. We felt it "warm up" in the parlor milking and that was because the wind died down.
I opted NOT to put the little seedlings out today mostly because of the chilly wind... TOMORROW supposed to be alot nicer and warmer and not much wind... they will get a full dose of sun....

Went up to the pasture and got little heifer up and the longhorn seemed to want to mother it until it went to suck her, and then kept pushing her away. Not real mean, just didn't want the calf to nurse. Took me about 5 minutes of walking around the truck and then got ahold of the calf, got the bottle in her mouth and she went right to sucking. Took her a bit but got almost a whole bottle in her. Since I am only feeding once a day, I am hoping she can handle a full bottle and not scour. Looked fine today... will watch her close. She wants to stay with the other calves and cows so that is good...

Got all the calves in the creep gate except one, that need to be worked.... naturally, since I was going to work and DS was at Doug's, working the bigger bulls into steers, but then had to meet someone at 4:30 for sq bales of hay and a guy who used to help some said he could come and do a couple hours if DS wanted some help... so they were going to start going around some pasture fencing....
So I just left the creep gate open and they all let themselves out after eating the grain... maybe tomorrow afternoon???? I did come back by this eve after testing as I had let the holstein bull calf in through the gate and didn't know if he could get out the creep gate...figured I would let him out the gate, but he was out so figured out how to wiggle his way out. I will be much more "devoted " to getting them in the next few days so that we can get the bulls calves "worked", and tagged so I know for sure who is on who...for sale purposes...

Bad news..... we lost our big old red poll bull. DS said he was acting a little "slow" and he wasn't sure if he was sick or maybe off his feed a little... he found him up in the pasture dead.... Besides the tremendous money loss ($1500-2000 ) he kept all the other bulls from fighting... his presence just made them think twice about getting into a scuffle... he would walk down, when we put bulls in the bull field... and they just did not get into fights....like he was a big "bouncer" and they just did not want to test him... and he was not mean, very quiet and well mannered... He had to be at least 10 or 12 yrs old....never tried to go through fences, or get out anywhere..... gonna miss him. That's 3 that we have gotten rid of/lost in the past couple of months.... and only replaced one.

Testing went good as it always does here... Computer work went smooth and I came home. Got to the pasture before dark to check on the holstein calf to see if he got out the creep gate... Then came here, locked the chickens in this eve, and came in the house. Brought the samples in and will get them packed to drop off tomorrow for UPS.

Need to figure out something for supper... don't know what I want.

Knees ached a bit in the parlor tonight... and realized that it is partly from the squeezing the calf between them yesterday and holding it in place until I managed to get it backed into the "corner " of the open truck door... and then today again. straddling the calf and being bent over and holding the bottle and all... putting different strain on these muscles that aren't used to it... time to get "back at it".... If I could just start losing some weight too.....

 

[Baymule]

Haha, sounds like you are back on the calf squeeze to me! You are doing more and getting better every day. You are a little sore, what would it have been before your surgery?

Sure am sorry about your bull. I know you will miss him, he sure sounds like a dream bull. Is 10-12 years a bull’s useful lifetime? He will be hard to replace.

 

[Ridgetop]

Shame about losing such a good bull. Not just the breeding art but his entire attitude and keeping the other bulls calm. Glad the calf is taking to the bottle Soon she will recognize you and come running for her feed. Coyotes are getting worse than ever and getting bigger too. Steroids in the water?

 

[farmerjan]

Only down to 42 last night. Thermometer is hanging where the sun hits it for about an hour and it is 70 !!!! As soon as the sun moves up a bit it will drop to probably about 50 then the air will get warmer and it will climb again. Forecast is mid 70's today then near 80 the next 2-3 days then back to the low 70's with some intermittent showers and into Easter weekend. Going to put the sprouts out on the table against the house on the deck as soon as the sun gets up a bit more.

@Baymule , 10-12 is getting pretty old for a breeding bull... Many people use them for 2-4 breeding seasons; so that makes them in the 3-6 yr range; and then sell and get a smaller/younger bull. One thing is their "athleticism" as ability to breed. Also, there are just things that seem to happen to bulls as they get older... leg/feet problems... have had a bull "break" his penis and that renders them unable to complete the act... loss of libido sometimes, and then like the one bull of ours recently that all of a sudden started "shooting blanks".... But mostly it is size and weight that makes the determination for many farmers to sell. We have never let the age/size matter if he is a good breeding bull and not causing any problems. That is partly why Red was still here... and that he kept the peace in the bull field... But their size can contribute to heart issues.... and Red was busy this fall with a group of cows and then wound up in with the group that came up open; he and the other bull that came out the gate were the 2 that got stuck in to get those cows bred back as fast as possible. May have just been too much for him... The average age for many good breeding cows is 10-12 yrs also... some do fine up into their teens and even some range types, like longhorns and such, will be fertile into their 20's... but 10-12 is an average age for breeding. We keep our cows for as long as they produce a decent calf... mostly an older cow will come up open and that is when we make a decision to cull.... sometimes they will get foot problems with age, or they just stop making much milk and the calf doesn't grow good... then they get culled too.

Plus, any of the cows that we question their age, we will check their teeth when they are in the chute being preg checked... and those with no teeth or short/few broken teeth that are pregnant, will get moved to a different pasture when they do calve where they can't get bred back (no bull) and they can have the last calf, spend the time out on pasture, and then will hopefully keep up their body weight while nursing the calf if they are also not pregnant so less drain on their body... and worth more when we do sell them.
There have been a few that got to live out their lives and got buried... but it is hard on an old cow to survive the cold winters and it is really kinder to salvage some value out of them and not have them struggle to survive even with good feed and all, through the bad weather.

@Ridgetop , there is some consensus here that these coyotes are a percentage mixed with dogs... coy dogs as they were originally called when the 2 were crossbreeding alot up in Vt and areas years ago... also, the bigger ones are the ones that wind up as the alpha's, so they get to do more of the breeding, so the genetics get "improved" through natural selection. Some of these here have the size and build of dogs; looking like there is some german shepherd in them....never see any with coon hound type characteristics or floppy ears or anything... plus they are eating good here... besides the chickens,lambs, calves.... there are deer everywhere, and rabbits, turkeys, and such. Not that they are making any dent in the deer population around this area.

So the thermometer has dropped to 64 since the sun is off it... but it must be warming up quickly out there...

Funny, I ate oatmeal the other morning because it was just chilly... I ate cold cereal this morning....
Need to get on the phone to some of these farmers and see what is what with them... get these samples packed too. Let the chickens out... stuff to do and the nicer temps to want to do it...