Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Thank you for the tip @Mike CHS .... I will try that this evening when I get home. I have wood glue that I used to put a stool leg back in the hole and try to keep it from coming out/getting loose and so far it is holding. I have a new box of toothpicks... That will be my first project tonight.

 

[Baymule]

Fill the hole with toothpicks and it will hold better than any filler. You can dip some of the toothpicks in wood glue to make a better, more solid fit.

That’s what I was thinking too!

Mike, the talented wood worker, has spoken! Y’all ought to see the pretty end tables he made!

 

[farmerjan]

Hey.... after 10 pm and it was a good afternoon....

Got all the stuff in the car for work, took out the meters so I could take the feed and go to the pasture and go straight to work rather than have to come back and trade for the other car... loaded the buckets of feed in the car. Went to the pasture and the cows were all laying around down in the field with the rest of the unrolled hay. They saw me and meandered their way to the catch pen and I had gotten the feed inside in the bunks and some outside. Then put more in the outside bunks and opened the gate partway. The older/bigger animals wanted "more feed" after eating some out of the outside bunks... so came around the gate and went into the pen. As soon as they were done there, they went into the barn and I managed to lock 3 of the ones I needed in the barn, and then reopened the gate and took a bucket and put more in the couple of feeders in the pen and and when the other one I needed went it... I shut the gate to the pen and then fed more out in the bunk feeders so everyone could get a little more. Then I opened the barn door and sorted off some of the heifers, kicked them out, then the one single cow went into the barn... shut the door and got the rest of the heifers out and then again opened the barn door and sorted out the heifers that were inside... and got them out in the pen... shut the barn door and 'shooed' out the rest of the heifers... put a sq bale of hay in the barn bunks for the 4 cows, and left the one door shut on one side; they could go out into the smaller pen and into the barn on the other side... and left all the gates to the outside field also hooked shut.
It went better than I thought it would.... Texted DS and said they were in and had hay and would be fine until he could get them and I was going to work.
Talked to him on my way home and he said, are there a couple of steers in there that were on one of the cows, and I said yes, they are on 801... the nurse cow... and he said oh... they had gone in the creep gate and were looking for their momma... and I said she needs a break... and they are pushing 7 months old... he said that's fine, I thought a couple of the cows looked like they had calves on them and I said yes, the calves are 7 months plus and it is time to wean them.... he said he just wanted to make sure that he didn't take the cows and not the calves... and I said they are all old enough to not need the cows. So he got them moved and took care of feeding the cow with the grafted calf and all that at the barn also.

Anyway, since it went so well getting them in, I left with time to spare, and stopped at the Goodwill store and picked up a couple of paperbacks... and got a nice western short sleeved shirt for testing/tractor time.. a little big so cool in the summer... and with the 2 snap pockets to be able to put note pads in for testing , or to carry things if I need it on the tractor, when raking hay etc. VERY VERY FEW shirts have 2 front pockets anymore except western snap shirts...

Need to go to bed. door is going to wait for tomorrow.

 

[farmerjan]

It is Sunday afternoon. Been a decent day today except for the weather. Talked to DS as he had originally said he was planning to go to get the cows around 9 after feeding a few places. Well, he got called into work at 5:30 this morning.... so he worked til the crew came in at 8 due to the possible sleet/freezing rain we MIGHT get... then he went and started feeding... and called about 10:30 and said what was I doing... I said,,,weeeellllll, I was waiting for him to call.... and he told me about getting called into work, and that he had looked at the weather and it wasn't supposed to start until late this afternoon, so how about noon or so? I said okay fine...
SO, I did the toothpick thing... and it worked like a charm !!!!!
.

THANK YOU @Mike CHS ..... I stuffed several pieces in, used some glue on some... and then screwed the screws in... I had taken the hammer and tapped the little pieces in and it was hard to screw them in by hand.... but they are tight and the door swings on the hinges again.....YAY...... I am MUCH APPRECIATIVE of the tip/help.

Met DS at the barn and we loaded a couple sq bales on my little truck and then took truck and trailer and my truck to pasture. Took my truck down the "road" to the catch pen he had set up, and put some hay in and they all came.... bull is walking real slow and it looks like he is stifled... he is one of the 2 oldest bulls and I am afraid this is his last time around... Hate that, as he is one of my favorites... but he will never be able to mount a cow again...hoping he got them bred before he got to hurting. DS made 2 trips and I stayed there in between just to make sure no one tried to get out of the catch pen. It started to sprinkle as he was unloading that group at the barn and within a half hour he was back for the rest. Got them to the barn, put the 2 sq bales in and fed one to the cow with the grafted calf, put the other one out with this group of cows since they have a roll out in the front lot... fed her grain, I did not take a bottle hoping he will keep working on her... he came up to me looking but was not pushy about it. DS then said he had to go back in tonight at 8 so I told him to get his butt home and get some sleep. He said he was going to go to his house... because why drive all the way down to hers 1/2 hour away when his house is 10 min from work..... but I am sure he wound up going to her house as he can't seem to spend 5 minutes away from her...

It has been cloudy and chilly/raw feeling all day. Temps never got above 34 here from a low of 26.. no sun...

So they are there ready to bring in the barn from the lot, tomorrow for the vet... If we do not get the 4-5 from across the driveway that were supposed to be calving and haven't yet... to recheck... they can get done the next time as we will have 2 more bigger groups to check in the next 2-3 weeks or so. We'll see how things go in the morning.

 

[Ridgetop]

Can I get some of that wood filler stuff that I have seen and use it to fill the holes then rescrew the screws back into it? There is no way to change the placement of the hinges with them being cut into the frame.

Also get longer screws. The door hinges are screwed into the casement BUT the casement should be backed by 2"x4" framing studs. Fill the screw holes with wood glue and toothpicks and et dry. Then use screws that are at least 1/2" longer than what pulled out. Some door hinges screws, particularly for interior doors (that are lighter than exterior doors) are only 1 1/4" long. You should be able to go to the hardware store and find screws that are 2" long in the same diameter. Since the casing is only 3/4" wide, a 2" -2 1/4" screw will go through the casement and bite into the 2" x 4" framing. I used to that at the apartment with doors that had kept pulling out. Tenants are notoriously hard on door and everything else in apartments! You can use long coarse thread drywall screws.

 

[Baymule]

I guess that bull has a one way ticket to auction. Kinda hard to let favorites go. But it comes down to sell him now and get a little money for him, or wait, he doesn’t breed the cows, but eats the same as he ever did. Or worse, he dies and you have to deal with that. I hope you can find a replacement that measures up to him.

 

[farmerjan]

Mon morning. We wound up getting a skiff of snow around 10-11 last night... I looked out and the ground was white and then this morning you can see where it was barely enough to cover the ground. Sun is out... it is right at freezing and is supposed to get into the low 40's so it will be gone. Didn't get much moisture out of it as it stayed more south and went mostly just east and not northeast as our storms are likely to do. I will bet @Mini Horses wound up getting a fair amount of moisture.

I am headed to the barn in a bit for the vet appt at noon. Got to get serious about getting some farms scheduled too.

Sun has just come over the hill and it is warming up to 41 already in about a half an hour since I sat down. WOW... going to enjoy it.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday evening. Was an okay day considering.
There was more ice on the ground/trees and all than I first realized... but it is nearly all gone. It hit mid 40's with the sun out.
Got the samples packed from Sat aft herd tested. Vet called and he was stuck at a farm with some problems with an emergency calving and would it be okay to be later, like 1-1:30 or would it be a problem with my having to test. I said I would ask DS but I was not testing so that it would work.... DS said okay, and he had already gotten the couple of odd cows from across the driveway into the barn, and everyone was separated and ready to go.... So, called the vet back and we set it up for then.
Met DS at the barn about 12:30/12:45 or so and it was late when the vet got there... 1:45 when he did finally get done and get there. It went fairly smoothly... the 5 from across the driveway were all open again... after being confirmed preg back in the summer... so they will be getting sold. 1 is a 3 yr old should have had her 2nd calf, as her "sister" just had hers about 2-3 weeks ago. (Raised them together ) couple of others are not real old but that is that. They are going.
My nurse cow is open, not surprised... and the char heifer that was so lame this past year that we left her at the nurse cow pasture with her calf... turns out she BROKE her PELVIS... that is why she gimped so bad for awhile, and barely got around.... and it healed with it like a "dropped hip"... she actually gets around real well now... BUT.... vet said she would never be able to deliver a calf again the way it is healed inside. The stupid acting cow with the one "blue eye"... damaged eye, blind in it,.... is 6 months... of course couldn't be one we could sell as open.... and my other nutty acting 1/2 holstein that has a CRACKERJACK HEIFER is 7 months...
The cow that we just grafted the calf on we had the vet recheck because she had some bloody mucous discharge... and yes, she is open... and yes, she is making more of an udder... so at least that turned out okay....
So we took 801 and this just fresh cow/grafted on calf, to the peterbilt field with the other cows and small calves, to go with the bull. Since our cut off was technically Jan first for anyone fresh... we will see if #3 does breed back... but she will be held back and put back with a bull in June if she is open since there is a good chance she will not cycle but maybe once, before we pull this bull out the first of March. Trying to shorten up the calving window to 90 days or less and no more of these late Dec calves. But the calf is following her good, she is showing an udder now, and if the calf is resourceful, and hungry, he will steal off another cow out there since they all have calves that are 4 weeks or less....

Then for the cows from the pasture... 7 of 12 were pregnant... one 4 months and the others 5-7 months. There were several open... and they are all with a bull as of this afternoon. Since we are trying to decide when we are going to ship calves, we just put anyone that is getting a second chance along with the preg ones from today, all together out in a field with the cleanup bull. The calves will have to get pulled off in 45 days to either feed or sell... and we should have more that are at other pastures... back at the barn by then and can just pull and sell in bigger groups. These will be getting some silage at the barn field they are in so that will help the cows and the calves.... When we pull calves off them, then all the confirmed preg ones will go out in the back "autumn olive" field and the ones we put back with the bull will get rechecked in May or June or whenever we have a chance. They will not have the calves on them pulling them down and if they are bred then they will be fall calving, and if not bred, they will go....
So the bull got hurt in late summer so he must've gotten that last one bred and then got hurt.

He is bady stifled and will never breed a cow again. He will be going to the stockyard with the 5 open cows that are not getting bred back.

DS also moved 2 OLD cows that just calved a couple weeks ago... to the nurse cow pasture so they will not get bullied and can get silage... they will feed out these calves and be sold .... "one and dones" ... one has a TINY little calf.... and she would have been sold after the last calf if she hadn't been well along pregnant. They are cows he bought from a friend and the guy told him she was OLD... but she had a nice calf and DS figured if she bred back okay... if not, he was going to sell her... well she wound up pregnant... and the other one is almost as old... so they will have this last calf and hopefully we can put some weight back on them too.... The real old one doesn't look like she is making much milk either... but we will see. Since there are mostly all heifers at the nurse cow pasture... with 2cow/calf pairs still there that are not going to get bred back... and the one short little cow that just calved, that will get held over for breeding in June; and the longhorn... the 2 old cows he just put there will not be competing with a bunch of big sturdy cows and calves. PLUS... some of those heifers are going to come out of there and get sold also... the good thing about there, is that there is no bull there, and no cattle on adjoining fences so no concerns that a bull will get in there. It is sort of the "special needs pasture", anything that needs extra TLC or watching. Normally I calve out bred heifers there... but we didn't breed any for fall calving... I prefer to calve heifers in the spring anyway.... so this year it is just the best place for anyone needing a little extra watching over etc...

It could have been a train wreck with that bull getting hurt... but it wasn't near as bad as I was afraid of. The couple that were open that had been confirmed pregnant are all 2 strike ones so they aren't getting another chance either... Thinning out the less efficient ones....
Hoping that cull cow prices are good... they will go on Friday since it would be better that the bull goes asap... before he goes down. There will be some salvage value which is better than burying him. He's been a real good one... but he is also 10 or 11 yrs old which is OLD for a breeding bull....
Time to start looking around for another calving ease bull as the other one is also the same age.... we need to replace at least one now.... We bought those 2 bulls this past year but neither is supposed to throw small calves... and we have sold 3 bulls and buried one this past year (counting this one that will get sold this week). Only replaced 2 and we have one that we are not thrilled with his calves and would really like to replace him too.... At an average $3-3500 each, though... that's a chunk of money. Of course we have fewer places than we used to have, but still, like to keep a bull or 2 in reserve in case of injury.

Also came up missing one cow from the pasture yesterday... she was an old cow that was not supposed to go there and DS moved them without me being there to tell him not to.... and then it seems that there was a cow that died up there this summer... and he "forgot" to tell me about her.... I don't know how the he// he expects me to keep records if he doesn't tell me these things.... anyway... it was my old cow with a heifer calf... the calf looks real good so it must have gone over on another cow.... so I will be keeping her... I am glad she is a nice calf and will keep the line continuing. She was supposed to be a one and done... along with 2 other cow/calf pairs he put at a different pasture... he can't remember things and then goes and does things and sometimes they shouldn't be done... and once they are out at these pastures, there aren't any catch pens (we take portable catch pen panels to set up when we need to move them out) so it is not very easy to get them back... The couple of accidents have affected his memory and he won't admit that he cannot remember when he is told things. It drives me batty sometimes...
Luckily GF has a list of the cows that they moved out the to peterbilt field... and who their calves are... because he has never told me the first one... and I have asked twice... he said, well they are the ones from out of the "calving field"... but if I don't know where they got moved to then how am I supposed to keep track of things???? AND.....he never told the calves matching numbers... so not only do I not have the cows#'s that got moved... or even how many.... but who their calves are... GF said that she has convinced him to start entering it into his phone in a text msg.... he used to carry a little book in his pocket and write them down.... but that is too much trouble it seems.
I KNOW I forget things and even to write things down, so I make an extra effort to try to do this "paperwork" as soon as we get done doing something so I have it still fresh in my mind... and calvings I always write on a small calendar so I at least can reference who and when....

So, tomorrow morning early I am going to go to the Dr appt down in Blacksburg with him, as he is supposed to be getting some of the prolotherapy shots and it makes him very sore for a day or 2 until they start to make him feel better.... I want to have the "cow papers" all done so that he can look through them if he wants or ask questions and I can find the answers without looking through a dozen lists... and will get to go to the Rural King down there for a change...

Ate some of the beef stew tonight again...

Hope it is a sunny day tomorrow... Would like to make another gallon of suntea...

Need to go get a shower, wash my hair, and get some sleep. Have to meet DS at 6:30 a.m..

 

[farmerjan]

Well, it has been 2 days "off" becdause we have been kinda busy.
Wed got up and went with DS and turns out they didn't do the prolotherapy shots; so it was just a ride down with him... didn't go to Rural King because he was planning to stop and look at a tractor that was on the way home, for a friend... So, did that and got home to the house about 1 or so. I put the tea out, and was going to stop on the way home from meeting him to get the car muffler looked at... but he wanted to go look at a couple of bulls a neighbor has for sale as he is cutting his herd from 100 to about 25-30 cows and giving up a couple of rented pastures... He is in his mid 70's and said he just cannot keep up with stuff like he should. So we went and looked at them... they are registered Gelbvieh bull... very thick and muscled... I am not 100 % sold on them, they are a little flighty but they are running on 50 acres with another bull and a steer since they were taken out of the breeding cows a couple months ago as they got sold. The price is really good... we can have both for 4,000 and he paid 5,00 for one and I think 3,000 for the other. But he said that he figures they are worth "pound price" and both DS and I agree that it would be a good financial move as we can get our money back out of them if they don't turn out like we want.
Went from there to feed some hay at another place and looked those cows/calves over pretty good. There are some nice calves in there and some that are so-so.... we will be bringing them home in another 10 days or so and preg checking those cows and pulling the calves. He switched out bulls this summer so that there is little likelihood of another fiasco with a bull "going bad" like last year... There are about 35 pairs there.

We will also be checking out the quality of the calves and if a cow does a crummy job, then she might get sold even if she is preg... we'll see...Trying to cull for "better" calves...

So he said that he was going to take the cull - open cows to the sale on Wed eve and not wait for Friday... he talked to the sale barn owner and told him about the bull and that he would prefer that he just get weighed and sold directly to a buyer so he did not have to walk back and forth through the stockyard pens, and not be put in a bull pen with other bulls so he wouldn't get hurt. They said they could do that and that they would look at him when we got him there.

So, I went to the barn around 3 and got the 5 cows in the barn and the bull came along slowly and I put him in the alley to the trailer and gave him a little extra grain... that way he didn't have to walk into the barn and then back out and around. He actually got up from where he was laying pretty easily and walked without a real problem... we know it is hurting him some but he has been real good but just real slow about getting along. DS said he wanted to leave by 4 but naturally he was late getting there because he was doing some feeding on the way home from work. It is SOOOOOO MUDDY.... temps did not go below 30 so only a little firm on top this morning early, and it was 49 at my house this afternoon, so just a mucky mess... softer than soft. So, we got the cows and the bull loaded, separated by a cut gate in the trailer so he didn't get jostled around as one of those cows was not willing to stand quiet...
It started to sprinkle a bit on the way... we got there about 5:15, got unloaded and they put the bull in a "sorting pen" and said he would do good as he was walking pretty good. They did bring him in the ring and he looked pretty good considering. He weighed 1705 and probably has lost 100 lbs in the last couple weeks but still did good. Real good bulls, in real good flesh were bringing right around 1.00/lb. and there were a couple that brought up near 1.10... Ours brought .79 and DS had been hoping for .50 so we did good. We paid about 3,500 for him and have had him for 9 years.... he doesn't owe us a penny.....
The heifer with the broken pelvis weighed 905 and she looked good... the other cull cows weighed around 1200 each and one actually hit 1300 lbs and they all brought in the 72 to 75 cent range... except the one that weighed 1300 brought 82.... she will kill good.... so all in all it was a good night to take them to the sale... We like the way they treat the cows there, and the owners are pretty decent people... we seem to do better there with cull cows and "odd colored" calves and have been actually going there more frequently than the one sale closer to us. The black calves do better at the sale closer to us so we do take the steer calves there more often.
They also had their once a month beef cow sale with cow/calf pairs and bred cattle... they were a little cheaper than I expected, and we only bought one bred cow... should have bought a few of the cow calf pairs as they were a decent price... but DS is wanting to pay some bills and if we buy the bulls that will take a good part of this check... still with selling this hurt bull, we will only have 2700 in the 2 new ones so that is really a good deal. He knows someone that is talking about maybe getting a gelbvieh, to put more muscle on their calves.... so might be able to sell one... or maybe just lease it to him.... possibilities...

So we got back about 9:30 and DS said he was going to unload the cow into the barn lot for the night... she needs vacc and an ear tag. Then we will decide where to put her.... and he had to feed some hay and I offered to help but he said he was fine and so I came on home. He was going to use the tractor since it was so muddy....

So that has been my last couple of days. Have a farm set up for Friday afternoon to test... time to get back in the swing of things.

Tomorrow I want to take the car down about the muffler and get a price and see about maybe leaving it over the weekend... DS could pick me up on his way up to the farm and then drop me off on his way home one evening... he is off Monday for the holiday.... .
And I want to get the other car down to get the price on the windshield so that can get replaced....
We are supposed to have some rain/showers tomorrow and temps staying above freezing... but then Friday night and Sat night supposed to get down in the mid 20's so that will be good... for feeding and getting the portable corral panels moved to the next place to get more cows moved to the barn...

So there we are... things are peaceful pretty much with him and I.... at least for the present.... that is nice.
Past time to go to bed.

 

[Baymule]

It has to be hard to sell the old bull. I’m glad he was treated kindly at the auction instead of jammed in with others. It is a hard fact, but a basically almost “down” bull that brings .79 at auction is much better that a big dead pile of meat in the pasture that you gotta deal with.

Sounds interesting about the 2 new bulls, I hope they improve the herd .