Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[canesisters]

Thursday. Down to 68 and already up to 80 at 1 p.m.. Hazy again... this is really a turn around from the clear cooler, crisp air we had 2 weeks ago. More humidity granted... but it is just so hazy to look out across the fields and all.
Let chickens out, another small possum in the trap. Took care of it. Walked through the garden a little... cannot believe how fast the plants are growing since nights have warmed up.... I would like to get the small patch weeded and plant some more green beans.. I laughed at @SageHill (I think it was her) that said she was over whelmed with green beans and was looking for more recipes.... I cannot ever remember getting tired of green beans... my favorite veg I think.
Went up to the field about 10 and raked the rest of the hay.... it is dry except for some weedy spots... he will be able to bale it all this afternoon and it will be off the ground before the forecast rain and possible severe storms Fri and Sat.

It is a little too humid for me to try mowing right now. I cannot take the humid heat temps... NOPE, could not survive in the TX heat and humidity.
I did water all the petunias and the flower pots.... I have not watered the spider plants and house plants hanging under the tree...they look pretty good so might leave them to see if we get the rain. The flower pots are out in the sun and dry out faster than the ones under the tree.

I made it a point of looking at the fruit trees next door to DS's house, that he didn't get moved for me last year.... and there are NO PEACHES on the trees. I didn't see any pears but did not get as close to them; it was one of the small fields I was raking hay yesterday. I have lost one peach tree here that we transplanted... it was the worst of the 3 as far as not a good root system, and the tree did not have a good main trunk... BUT.... there are peaches on one of the other 2.... Now that DS mowed the hay in the lot, I will take the walk behind weed eater and get the high grass near the trees cut down, and be able to mow around them better. Might try the "baling string" fence around the 2 live trees and see if I can save the peaches.... FOR ME.... I will ask the lady that has the pear tree that is covered with pears growing, if I can get pears this year... she doesn't do anything with them anymore. The "orchard" was her husband's thing and he has passed away.... a couple of trees have died or have broken main branches. I LOVE pears, so hope to can a bunch this year. I think that fruit will be harder to come by and be more expensive in this area....

I have a headache, woke up with it... not head splitting but very achey.... not fun.... going to take a couple tylenol or something, see if I can tone it down. Ate some lunch and need to wash dishes .....in a bit.

I hate waking up with a headache!!! It happens 2 or 3 times a month and absolutely ruins the day. Usually, no matter what I do, it will linger and flare up.. then start to go away.. then flare back. Miserable. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[SageHill]

I don't think most of them have 2 brain cells to rub together

You're absolutely right. Most of them only have one brain cell and it bounces around inside there like a ping pong ball

 

[Ridgetop]

I did like the "Give me pizza or give me death" guy flinging pizzas over the gate at the governor's mansion. How come the governors get fences and complain about pizza delivery over the gate when they won't allow fences at the border?

DH just told me about NY getting rid of their illegals by offering them tickets to where ever they want to go. One guy wanted to go to China!!! so they bought him a ticket.

 

[farmerjan]

DS got the hay baled and the baler and tractor put back in shed. That is good, all that was on the ground is rolled.
I went out and ran the mower until it showed no "lights" in the little gauge like thing, so was running out of charge. Did the little bit of lawn in the front, around the deck a couple swipes, back and forth a few swipes to the clothesline, finished the pathway to the chickens, and another pathway I had started to the garden... splitting the overgrown "hay field yard" into sections to get it done with the walk behind... then chopping it up better with the mower. Will rake some of that , which I try to blow into windrows with the mower to make it easier to rake up the stuff; and drop it over the fence into the garden.

Got the long hoses into the car and a couple more meters for tomorrow. Bottles are in the rack ready to go.

If he gets the hay moved around, I might move a few round bales in the morning before it rains. I mentioned it and said I could move some more if he has made room.

Got up to 84 today and the air actually cleared out some this evening. Not quite as humid either.

I mentioned in a text, that if he moved any cows, that I wanted my nurse cow back at the "nurse cow pasture" across the road.

Still have that nagging headache... probably didn't need to mow but it is no worse and that is done for now... walk behind is next to get some more of the overgrown stuff knocked down but that is gas so not a job for the next couple of days... testing...wedding... rain....I really need to take the hand held one around the netting inside and get that stuff scalped flat... going to mulch closer to the netting now that the garden is basically mulched. Would like to get the next couple of rows of green beans in after this weekend. That will need mulching.
I finally brought one of the "repaired" pieces of soaker hose to the house since I can't remember the tape measure... and it is about 10 ft long... longer than I thought it was. There are 2 pieces that are about the same size so that is what I will make any new ones I make......and I will see where the 2 others that are needing new ends are leaking and fix them since I got all the stuff in the mail. I also have a couple of regular hoses that have leaks... not much but a little pin hole type... so I haven't bothered to do anything... but might make a couple of short "leader hoses" so the soakers are not running down the walkways and making them soft and wasting water where there are no plants. Who knows, I might not even need to use any again this year...

Need to make something for some supper... and might just do some yogurt... cool and soft and enough to take the edge off.

 

[farmerjan]

Saturday evening. Home from the wedding... she was a beautiful bride, Modest but flattering dress.... a nice wedding party and the dresses were a sage green and very flattering for all the different shapes and sizes. Her dad looked real handsome and the groom looked good also. A little sad with her mom being so recently gone... but they have amazing faith in "God's Plan" for life, and it went well...
The weather, however, did not co-operate. It was planned to be outside... and watching the radar and sky... it sprinkled a few drops then stopped... and they were getting ready to do it outside... but a dark line of clouds and checking on the radar... decided to move it inside with people sitting at the tables they were assigned to... and it wasn't 10 minutes and it started to rain... thunder.... and then it POURED......If they had started it outside, there is no way everyone would have gotten inside without getting soaked... I know that was a disappointment... but "plan B" went very good at the last minute.
It was poignant for me of course... she is a really nice person and I will miss her at the farm she worked full time on when I tested there... and in the big farm she helped me test...
Her dad is going to really miss her once things quiet down and get back to "normal" since his wife is also so recently gone... We got talking about age and stuff today... and he remembered that both our birthdays are in Sept... he is going to be 49... so right about my DS's age...... and I imagine that down the road he will find someone to fill that empty space... For his sake I hope so.... He said that one night we ought to get together and grab supper or something, and I said that would be great sometime when he is done working and I am done testing and neither of us feels like going home to cook....

When I got home I went out to check out the rain gauge; and there was .65 inches in it... there were puddles and looking at the past 6 hours radar... they got it here at the house about 1/2 to 1 hour later than we got up there at the wedding venue.... Went out and locked in the chickens and walked through the garden a little and I have GOT to get in there with the small weed eater and get the edges of the garden worked on... Naturally the plants looked really fantastic after the good drink of water they got. Looks like tomorrow there will be another round later in the day.

I moved some round bales Friday morning before I went to test.... DS moved them into the rows and I wish I had had time to get more moved today, but didn't. He wants to move cows out to pasture that we checked this past Tues.... maybe tomorrow.

I'm tired, it is sticky with the humidity, and I need a shower...

 

[Baymule]

What a lovely day. Yes, you will miss her and so will her dad. She’s starting a new life and that’s what it’s all about.

I guess it takes an outdoor wedding to get some rain!

 

[Ridgetop]

Such a shame that she and her new husband are moving away.

 

[farmerjan]

It was always that they would live in PA, that is where his father's small beef farm is and where he works at the poultry farm hauling litter and such... Her dad has quite a bit of family in Pa also, and I suspect he will wind up there, eventually, also......especially since her sister that got married in January also is up in Pa... his family has laying hens... HOUSES of them... they run over 300,000 hens... for table (eating) eggs.... and the 2 guys met each other when they started coming down to "court " the 2 sisters..... each met "their guy" within a month or so of each other... different online sites... and when they found out where the other's boyfriend lived, the guys got together and they started traveling down together and on alternate weekends the girls would travel up together since one could drop the other off and go to the town where their guy was. It worked out well after the sister got married and moved up there, when her mom got sick as one could come and go and there would be someone coming and going in that direction so they could save a few trips, miles and have someone to ride with.... I know that they will be coming down a bunch yet for the dad, but eventually the trips will be less as they get their own new lives/marriages into a routine....

 

[farmerjan]

Been a busy day and DS is now mowing some hay.
He called this morning... we had cows at the neighbors from another pasture... big hole in the fence where a tree came down... and DS went up and took his truck out and all our cows followed his truck down and he got them in the catch pen... had to work 2 with pink eye so did them in the chute there, then loaded them and moved them back to the pasture... the bull is still over there with another group...because their cows are all coming into heat and still no bull in there... and our young bull is over there and it will ruin him if he keeps trying to breed all these big cows... he can slip trying to jump as they breed and actually can "break his penis"... and there goes a 5,000 bull....but they procrastinated getting those heifers out... and why they didn't move their bulls in that day after the heifers were moved.... who knows... so DUMB... since they were complaining that they needed to get the heifers out so their bulls could go in....
So, naturally, their cows are down along the fence .... in heat.... and the young bull says.... hey... I'm going over there... and with the tree destroyed fence... hey why not.... What a PITA...... so we got the cows back... and then DS talks to the guy about getting our bull back in the next day or 2... as soon as they can catch them down near the water trough by the catch pen... and the neighbor said... did you get the new calf with the red cow... yeah, she had a red calf... well, DS had said that these 2 red cows didn't have calves ... one had a calf and it got stepped on and broke it's leg real bad at 24 hrs old and he had to put it down... he thought the other cow had lost her calf... NOPE.... she was preg and they were bought and never went through the chute to preg check them.... so he just assumed... So, we go back over there near where the cows were when he called them to follow the truck... and we see a new calf... it was brownish black, not red... but it was right where the cows had been when DS called them... so got the calf in the truck... drove over to the pasture around the corner from this farm.... tagged it and banded it... and called our cows again and they came and the calf followed the cows and the red cow was talking to it so we are sure it is her new calf... That could have been a train wreck if we couldn't find the calf... just luck it had gotten up and was looking for it's momma we guess... and DS was able grab it as it laid back down again....
Disaster adverted.

Then got in the other cows at the barn, and started sorting them... several of the calves have lost tags... so trying to match the ones that we know... have several locked in the barn, away from the calves.... and will try to match them up this evening... they have shade and most have access to the water troughs, and the few that don't, do have a shaded alley to stand in so are out of the sun. It has gotten very hot and muggy. By locking the calves away from the cows, we will be able to match them up to their mothers later when they get let back together..... and re tagged and then moved somewhere together. Moved the ones that were only 75 days bred to a different pasture and luckily we did. Seems that something tripped the breaker,,,, and they had no water... I HATE all this fence out of creeks and only have wells and crap... because in hot weather like this, it is hard on them when they are suddenly out of water... Got 2 out there that he will have to take the dart gun out and dart them that have pinkeye... so that is something else he will have to do this evening.

Sorted out a couple that are "troublemakers"... getting out of the pasture next to me, and high strung hard to get in cows... they will go with their calves on the hill and then will be easy to get them in to pull calves in a couple months for the cows to get their 60 days break before calving again in Oct/Nov... but 2 of them have calves we are just not sure of so they are all separated from their calves if we do not know for sure who belongs to who.

So, got done with that for now, DS said he wanted to go mow some more hay, and that in a couple hours we will go back and see about getting the calves matched up and he will take the dart gun and go "shoot" the ones with pinkeye symptoms at the pastures where we don't have catch pens....and check the water at the one place to make sure that it is still working. Cows had to be without water for at least 24 hours the way they were ganted up... good thing we went out there to take the 4 short bred cows....

I just made an egg salad sandwich... and drank some tea... put another gallon out for sun tea... and will go to the barn in a bit and see if I can figure some of them out before DS gets done. It is too hot to work in the garden right now with the sun... and no, it is not near as hot as Texas... but at 90 I am not working out in the sun in the garden. Hopefully tonight in the cooler I can get out with the small battery weed eater and work around the inside of the netting fence.

Got the 500 cow herd set up for Tuesday morning since DS is already off work... got to take all the meters and hoses out of the car, to fit all the boxes of samples in there. Get that all done tomorrow as we will leave here by 3:15 a.m. Tuesday morning. Another herd set for Friday afternoon... haven't looked at the schedule or calendar to see what else. Got the big herd that tests every 2-3 months wanting to do next week...and a couple more to call and see what their thoughts are.

Going to get some more to drink, done eating and maybe go out to get the meters out of the car since they will go in the carport in the storage thing... mostly in the shade... get a start on things... DS is going to call me if he goes and takes the tractor and discbine down to the other place, and I can bring him back up here to the barn to his truck.

 

[farmerjan]

DS called and was heading down the hill to the other place and I was just putting on my sneakers to go to the barn to see if I could get any matched up. He said to come get him at 7.... this was at almost 6 p.m.... so I said okay.
I went to the barn, and got a couple cows back in the barn by themselves, let calves in, got some matched... did it again... and kept the cows and calves separate so that they could get run in the chute and tagged....with the right numbers to match .... had them ALL figured out by the time I went to get DS, except the one smallest calf... and there wasn't anyone hollering or wanting it; and he got p.o.ed at me because I hadn't figured out the one small calf that no one was claiming... like I had accomplished nothing...I felt like I had done pretty da#@ good all by myself just quietly moving cows around and putting calves with them and getting them all matched up.... and then got mad when I wasn't opening the gate fast enough to let some out when he said... but I had to make sure I did not let out a couple of calves... and I cannot see into the darker part of the barn well... so wanted to make sure I did not let out someone I wasn't supposed to or he would be having a hissy fit. He is back to his old short tempered self... and it is because he is talking to her again.... and nothing I do is good enough or fast enough or anything... Don't get me started...

So it was decided that the small calf had to belong to one of 4 we took to the other pasture earlier...where the water had been off..... I had a ? next to one that he said might have calved but he never said anything after that so I didn't know... AND there were 2 that were intact bull calves that almost got turned out with cows.... that HE didn't get banded and luckily we caught them before they got turned out..... and they got worked... one was a pretty big bull calf.... but I didn't get on his case for not doing them... put them on the hill with their calves (they are "trouble makers") , with the other ones with bigger calves... took 8 cows with calves to another pasture with bigger calves that will have to be gotten in and the calves weaned off in 2 months also... but there is a ton of grass there and it needs to be eaten down some... so that will work... then took the small calf to the pasture where the water had been off... checked on them and called the cows down and turned that calf out when we saw the 4 that I said it could maybe belong to one of them... and after about 5 minutes.... and NO bawling by the calf or the cow... it suddenly went to nursing on the cow that he had said he thought had calved but wasn't sure... so a happy situation there...totally unconcerned acting cow and calf both... not a peep out of them.... shoot, some of the ones at the barn were hollering like they were gonna die without their calves after 3 hours.... But at least that disaster was averted...

Came back to the barn, loaded up 4 to go to the nurse cow pasture and go up there. It is getting dark by now and I wasn't too happy about that. This is where the electric fence is and the cows can't see it... and of course he goes in and comes back to the gateway, and lets them out there... near the fence... and of course there is pushing and shoving and so a couple of them got into the electric fence and it was not a good thing. I hated seeing my nurse cow get zapped so bad when she has never had to deal with the electric before... I fully expect to have to go up and fix it tomorrow since they are not used to it being there... and the ones there, including my longhorn, are having to do their "dominance " pushing and shoving for a bit.... He gets so bent out of shape when he says I don't think... but he was just as bad... I never expected him to turn the truck & trailer around and come back to let them out at the gate instead of out in the middle of the field... and all the other cows naturally followed the trailer to see what was there... so they were all right up near the fence...

I chased the cows away from the fence to go do their pushing and shoving in the field away from the electric fence, he left with the truck and trailer since I was in my car separate... then I came out and shut the gates and all that, and called him and said that if they are in the part fenced off with the electric to let me know when he goes by in the morning, because they had gotten into the fence with them all being right up next to it to do their pushing and shoving and the 4 we just put in there have not had the electric to deal with before... and he says gee, he guesses he should have let them off in the middle of the field and not up near the fence but he wasn't thinking....

So, I just came on home... he is going to take the dart gun up and dart a couple tomorrow that he didn't get to tonight and take a different bull to the one pasture where our bull is in the neighbors... and when they get our bull caught up he will come back to the farm... they fixed the place(S) where the fence was down.... and hopefully they will get their own d$#n bulls moved in their place, to take care of their own cows coming in heat....
I have been updating the sheets of who is at what place... and he has a few to move to a small pasture that we usually put old cow calf pairs at to sell... but we don't have but a few... and he already moved them somewhere else (which they shouldn't have been moved but he had it in his mind he HAD to move them) so they are not going to this pasture... so a couple of my older cows are going there with calves, and one is 6 months bred back... so guaranteed she will not get brought back for her calf to get weaned when it should so she gets a break.... tried to tell him and he was not receptive to my suggestion to NOT move her there... she is easy to catch and that is what he wanted to take there... . And he had wanted to take 2 other older quiet cows there and they got moved and he was not receptive when I said hey, you said they were supposed to go to Hangers but you didn't cut them out with their calves... so I just shut my mouth...

It started out as an okay day... and quickly went to he// in a hand basket in my opinion... just when I thought things might actually get better with the cattle/farming....It will never get better as long as he is reconsidering and I refuse to discuss it with him anymore... told him he has to do what he thinks will make him happy, just that he had better seriously consider what she told him and he told me... that she does not want to be married to the farm and what is going to happen when he retires and is farming and she is wanting to "go places"....she said that it was not what she wanted to be doing in 10 years... so why is he doing what he is doing now...

Life can be a trial sometimes...