Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Thursday eve. Temps started out at 31 and got up to 60 and sunny... It was "warm " out there...

The 3 calves went in with the cows overnight and were laying in the pen this morning with the momma's. The 4th cow I got out and figured she did not have a calf on her but looks to be getting close. She should have calved I think, but I cannot find the list she was on to get preg checked... so maybe got missed??? There are 5 or 6 there, that will need to get checked as soon as we get other cows home from pastures... I will get these in and get them moved to the barn to get checked.
So this afternoon, DS came and we used the smaller homemade chute in the barn there... banded the 2 bull calves, and gave shots and ear tags to the 3 and they got moved with the 3 cows to another pasture where there is a bull in with the other cows getting bred back.

Still have 2 there with smaller calves, that will not be getting bred back... one is my older jer/hol cross that has refused to take any extra calves the last 2 times... and she took forever to breed back after the last one... now has a bull calf on the ground... it will be her last. Her udder has gone all to the dickens with not allowing any other calves on her... and she is getting some age on her anyway. We will get him worked one day when I catch them in the lot ... the other is a heifer on a cow that DS bought and this is her 4th calf since we have had her. She has always been somewhat lame and lays around alot... was never supposed to have more than the one calf that she had after we bought her, but she bred back so fast that next thing you know she was preg again... but not going to press our luck anymore. She lays around more and more... I think it is more in her hip/spine... and she is VERY cow hocked so not good confirmation. She will walk fine and then gets to limping.... and this year her front teats were just too big and the calf never did suck them so this calf is living on 2 teats... Her 1st daughter on the farm her is one of the 3 we moved today ; and she had a nice heifer calf. This cow has had 3 heifers, and a bull calf that died... the one we moved today is a nice 1st calf heifer and has a nice heifer calf.... Have another heifer that is 15 months, and then this latest heifer on her. She is a very good momma, but it is pushing our luck to keep her and the bull breeding her and may hurt her one of these times... the clincher is the teats and udder problem.
There is no bull in there this year with all the smaller heifers in there, so no chance for any of them to get bred back by accident. The bull was taken out the first of july... so I am hoping he bred back the 3 or 4 that had calves in the spring... those are the ones that I want to check and wean their calves off of; and these 2 didn't calve until late August, so no chance to get caught again.
I am hoping my nurse cow did get bred back, she has 3 on her... and if she is not preg, because she was feeding 3 and might not have been cycling before the bull went out, then she will get another chance. I can afford to give her a little leeway.

There have been a bunch of new calves born at the farm and DS wants to get them out in a field "out front" ... we call it the "Peterbilt field" since it is right next door to the peterbilt place... and then anything born after the first of Jan will get held back to get rebred in June for spring calves the following year... They will only go 15 months between calves pretty much... trying to stop all these late Dec calves because of the weather being so iffy sometimes. He says we will probably try to move them tomorrow... it is supposed to rain on Sat-Sun and he wants to try to get it done before then. Some of the calves are 3-4 weeks and some are just a couple days. These are on the cows from the big group that all came up open, when the bull went bad..... and we stuck 2 bulls in to get them bred back... so they should have been spring calving this year and are soooo late.... If he gets them with the bull now and they cycle... they ought to "back up a month"... hopefully get them back to earlier in the fall in a year or 2... no way to regain the lost 6 months, but it would be nice to get them to where they only have lost 6 months and not a whole year... The few that haven't calved by this weekend will just go with the spring calving group and if they have short mouths or anything, may get culled after this calf.

Still have the slightly scratchy throat and stuffy head so I never did shake it off completely... driving me nuts.

Ate some spaghetti for supper, easy to make, and warm to eat...

Water seems to be running okay now... thank goodness... Going to wash my hair tonight... took a shower last night here, and the water pressure wasn't quite as good as I think it should be, but water was good today when I did dishes and such.

Thought I had posted this last night but it didn't... So it is now Friday morning.

Got the hair washed and water pressure wasn't full but was okay. Need to get that looked at.
38 was the LOW last night... It is up to 60 already at 10 am. Going out to hang a load of clothes that I washed... again water pressure not what I think it should be but the washer worked okay if taking a little longer to fill. Temps supposed to stay in the 50's and 60's for the next week or so and nights above freezing...

 

[Ridgetop]

We pulled our ram off the ewes too. He was not marking any more ewes so it will be a waiting game to see who actually settled or not. I was tempted to just tun them all into the big field but have decided to separate off the new ones that are old enough and ready to be bred and stick those in with them with a different ram. The old ram (almost 7) did mark about 7 ewes.

 

[farmerjan]

Saturday noon or so. Temps only down to 41 last night... up in mid 50's and it has been raining/showers off and on since about 8 a.m.. What a change a week makes.

DS and GF got the group of cows in and the calves worked and moved to the peterbilt field. He called me and when he heard my voice... it gets very larynghitis sounding when I get all this sinus and cold crap... he said DO NOT COME .... STAY AWAY .... we don't need to get sick. Since it was getting near to dark, I didn't argue. I am really tired of him always waiting to late late afternoon to do things.
He did have to go and check/work on a some frozen waterers that the owner wound up taking apart... broke a piece and lost the other pieces out of the back of his stupid "mule" thing... instead of letting DS come right over after work and take the rubber hammer and gently tap the ball and get it loose and then break apart the ice that way... another landowner that is getting to be a bigger pita every year..... wants to do all this rotational grazing on some switch grass fields, that they READ about and were told would grow good and spread by runners (called tillers); that they planted because it was heat/drought tolerant and the cattle HATE it unless it is very short and very new growth tender... we refuse to even cut it for hay so it continues to spread and it gets bush hogged every year when they eat around it all the time... It grows fast and tall and very tough very fast. I HATE IT with a passion.
The cows do not milk good on it because it becomes much too stemmy too fast. They lost condition and the calves were very poor and scrawny from the cows not making much milk. The ground there is very poor to start with and really needed a good pasture/orchard grass mix planted and managed. We put fertilizer on the pastures and make part of the one big one in hay in June and then put it into the rotation for grazing. The part we make hay on does not have this switchgrass in. The cows like the native grass growing there.

So because of that we do not put any cow/calf pairs there, anymore. One year of horrible condition on the cows and the crappy calves was enough. The grazing does okay for cattle in good condition that are dry and DS moved steers there after he pulled out the cows that were due to calve and brought them back to doug's farm. That will be the best use for that place...dry cows or steers that are 500+ lbs... but after the continued stupidity of the owners, DS has said a couple of times that he is not sure it is still worth it. They are talking about wanting to rotational graze it and move the animals every day... we are not going to do it. Too far away to be running over there daily when we have other better things to do... and the deer at this place are a real pain and even now will tear through the 3 strand electrified barbed wire with regularity and we have to go and replace insulators and work on the fence (electric is along the driveway and helps to split it into sections for grazing.)
Perimeter fence is hi-tensile and we have taken several deer out of it that have tried to go over/through it and gotten caught and hung themselves by legs and died... Not electrified either... SOOOO STUPID to not make hi-tensile electrifiable.... It is getting to be more a pain than not...

DS said he had some feeding to do today... sure hope he got up and going early before this rain got more serious as it will be muddy and slick in the fields.

I am going to do very little since I get to coughing with this stupid crap....

Need to fold the clothes I took off the line yesterday afternoon... they smell so good from the clean air and sunshine.... maybe watch a movie. Lots to do and not much energy to want to get into anything.

 

[Ridgetop]

What a pain! Rotational grazing is fine if you know what you are grazing, make your pastures the right size, and are willing to do the rotating yourselves. But to demand that tenants rotate daily is ridiculous. And with the poor grass they planted why bother.

 

[Baymule]

I hope you get over this mess soon. Get some rest, watch a movie and tomorrow is a new year.

 

[farmerjan]

What a pain! Rotational grazing is fine if you know what you are grazing, make your pastures the right size, and are willing to do the rotating yourselves. But to demand that tenants rotate daily is ridiculous. And with the poor grass they planted why bother.

Oh but they read all the info and a friend of their son told them it was the best thing for hot weather....

 

[farmerjan]

Well, I did next to nothing today. Feel sluggish too... let chickens out in rain, locked them in a bit ago and still a light sprinkle mist... ought to be stopping soon.
Have a headache to go with the coughing so just annoying.

Made myself a frozen pina colada... good rum and all.... using the juice "naked" something... I like their pina colada flavor... Put it in the blender... added ice and a good pour of rum and blended it right up...
Had some cheese and crackers that I thought I would take to deb's over the Christmas holiday but she didn't come out... got them out, sitting here having my own party typing on the computer...I want to stay up til midnight so I will sleep a decent nights sleep. Last night could not go to sleep and got up late... Hate that... so I figure a good "shot or two" ought to put me out.... Plus drinking it through a straw and that is good for a quicker "high" than sipping from a glass...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.... HOPING FOR A BETTER YEAR THAN THE LAST 2 HAVE BEEN....

 

[Baymule]

I’m with you on that! I had a bourbon hot toddy last night and went to bed at 9:30. I still have the cough and stuffy head gifted to me by my 15 year old granddaughter. Thanks a lot. A friend of mine is off work because she can’t stop coughing. I told her to make a hot toddy and get some sleep.

 

[farmerjan]

A REALLY GORGEOUS New Years Morning. Only down to 45 last night, already up to 60. Sun is out after a little morning fog.
The ground was squishy last night locking in chickens. Not quite as soft and wet this morning. The sun ought to help dry up a little on top.
Slept like a log last night and not near as much coughing this morning YAY.....

 

[farmerjan]

Whoops, hit the post button....

Got another mouse last night/this morning. I noticed something had dug in the plant again the other day and I was soooo beyond PI$$ED off.... and this one was in the sticky board on the counter so maybe I finally got the one doing the digging?????

Might have to do a few more nights of "adult beverages" if they will help me sleep this good and wake up with fewer symptoms.....
And no "morning after" effects either. Of course, I never was a drinker and the joke was that 2 would put me to sleep so I wasn't the kind of date to get "tipsy" so they could "get some" either...

Of course, I could just finally be getting over this cold thing too... I do know the nicer weather makes it much more tolerable.
I am going to put the spider plants out on the table on the deck to get some good full sun today. They are looking a little sad since I don't have as good a place for them as they had outside this past year. I am really wanting a greenhouse sun room for my plants here. Sure, it will really cost to heat it in the winter.... but I really do enjoy puttering with the plants.... especially in the winter when I am not so busy like with the cows and hay and all in the summer. Plus a place to start plants for the garden and to do things like messing with my african violets.... Tossing it around more and more....
I also need to sell some of the spider plants I keep propagating too... didn't get that done last fall like I had been thinking. .

Okay, things to do and ENJOY this unexpected weather... I keep thinking WOW... what a change a week makes. It is supposed to be warm and some more rain/showers mid week... then changing back to more winter type temps... I will gladly take all I can get of this right now.