Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

DS had gone to the other farm this morning, to start that bush hogging...but after I was out back raking, so I never saw him and he never saw me.... he called me to see if I was going to rake it, and I said... it is all done... he said, wow, thank you... and if he called could I come get him at the pasture since he had the tractor (drove it with the bush hog there this morning).....I said that I was going home so could come get him.
Laundry did not get hung before, but is out now. The 2nd load is in soaking but I probably won't get it out this afternoon because now they are calling for 60% chance showers/storms after 8 pm. Will let it soak and get it done and out in the morning. I will bring this load in later... There is a wonderful breeze out there so even though it is jeans and stuff, ought to dry nicely. Storms coming down from Ohio and WV....
Hay should be done long before, because DS called and I just took him back to farm to get tractor/baler and wagon.

Just ate a sandwich... and another nice cut up tomato.....

Dishes are next since I didn't do them earlier. Then will get the wax beans done up. If we get the rain, I will probably go on and pick beans, maybe go out this evening and see or else, tomorrow. There is a 50% chance of showers on Monday. The green beans look like there are alot there about ready to pick. Wax beans will be pulled and so will the purple ones whenever I pick them again. Green ones might do for another picking.

Got lots of bread crusts etc., in the freezer so might make a stuffed chicken to eat on a few days... Need to go take one out of the freezer.

He said GF talked to the dr and she doesn't want to be moved even though DS said that sister and mother and he all agree she is not getting the care she should have... he said to me, if it was you mom, you would already have been moved, because she looks like an overstufffed bloated dead animal with the swelling and fluid and all...and the 2nd incision looking like it is infected...that the amount of liquid from the stint every 3 hours is what the dr said should be what she sees once a day, and there is alot of blood and stuff in it that no one said should be there. Someone is not doing their job, considering the symptoms and all are not considered normal... the emergency room dr told them that when DS took her back there the other night and they admitted her...
Sister called DS and asked what should she do, and he told her, since gf is making the call, then that is on her... he had no say so since no legal ties, he is not going to argue with her anymore.

The funny thing is, his bosses wife had her gall bladder out 2 days after GF and she never needed a stint, is a bit nauseous, and a little sore but otherwise is doing good.... different doctor... same hospital.... and his boss stayed home with her a couple days and is back to work and his wife is back to doing most things just a little careful of the incision and all.... thinks the nauseous is the pain medication more than anything...

He asked me my opinion, and I said that if she is making the call, then it is her decision... and I hope for her sake, that she starts getting better....that I don't agree but that is me. Not going to make any other judgement opinions.

Time for late lunch break to be over...

 

[farmerjan]

In for the night. Did another "battery's worth" of weed eating, some around in the garden some.... picked about 1 1/2 gallons of tomatoes and some peppers... locked chickens in crates and then finished up the battery around the house. Then got the clothes off the line and it was right about dark.
Haven't done anything with the beans, still in fridge... Going to cut up the peppers and freeze them since that is easy. Will pick beans tomorrow whether it rains or not tonight... looking less and less likely... radar shows it staying north of here 50 miles or so.
Dishes all done, ready to be put away out of dish drainer...

DS called, got right at 200 sq bales...stacked the wagon to the tippy top; wagon is in the covered arena at Deb's... baler put away... he was going to feed the dogs at her house and take a shower and head to the hospital... that's going 25 min south to go back 40 minutes north of here to the hospital. But the daughter is at the father's house and God forbid that she ask her father to take her to feed them.... they are supposed to be her job when she was home but she never did them, DS always did them, whenever he got there.... NO responsibility being taught to the daughter....and of course now she has been staying with the father more than she stays home with the mother..... and now is there pretty much all the time. Okay, enough...

I think I will do these peppers, get a shower and, IF I can stay awake, sit and fold clothes and all and watch a movie maybe????

I

 

[Baymule]

That’s not good news on the GF. She has a habit of bad decisions and this is one of them.

 

[farmerjan]

9 am. Warm, and going to be muggy today and over 90. Already 76 in the shade.
No rain overnight after all but SOOOOO glad the hay is done and under cover. DS sais he needs 5 more wagons like that for hay customers for the winter... We will get some more 2nd cutting of orchard grass from his barn but it is getting some weeds in it, and some from the 10 acres at Dennis's field but that is getting johnson grass in it and horse people don't like it. With having had rains often enough, it is not drought stressed so no chance of prussic acid and the cows really like it... but horse people are very picky. No offense to anyone here, but sometimes they are ridiculous. But that is why he is now getting $8 a sq bale. If I was a horse I would get tired of always having the same thing every day... I mean they do eat other stuff out in pastures....not as diverse as sheep or cows but..... oh well... it is the bread and butter "hay making payback" money which helps to pay for all our hay making costs.
On that note, the net wrap has more than doubled in cost... he says there is at least $2.00 worth of net wrap on every bale now... Used to be a roll of net wrap was $180... it is now over $400.... and the 16,000 "twine" that we use with the other round baler was $26 for a "bale" which is 2 rolls of twine, is now over $60... costs about .80 a roll of hay to use the twine. The sq baler uses 7200 twine which is heavier and is higher than the 16,000 Plus we make larger bales with that baler... So every time you use a roll of hay that is net wrapped, realize you have $2 of totally inedible "packaging"... when you make 100-200 rolls of hay using the smaller net wrap baler, you have 2-400 worth of just wrapping and then more trips in and out of the field with the smaller bales as there are more...
Figuring in the value of the hay... fertilizer, costs of each trip across the field with mowing, raking and baling.. if we don't have to tedd... but each trip, initial cost of establishing the hay, land lease or taxes of ownership, there is over $60 in each roll of hay now.....BEFORE we get paid for our time. Except for the initial cost to establish the hay, every one of those costs is incurred every year... regardless of the yield so if we have a drought or if the hay gets made late due to wet conditions... the amount and quality of the hay dictates what each roll costs us in the long run.

So enough of that. Just was on my mind this morning as I look at the weather forecast and am thankful we have only had a very little get much rain and although late with some that we will feed our cattle as they can pick through it some, we have had a good year for getting the hay made in pretty good shape and condition.

Time to go let the chickens out, get the laundry done that has been soaking, and hung as there is another chance of some storms late today... and get going on theses peppers.
Took a shower last night and just quit... no movie, no peppers done, no clothes folding, nothing.

 

[Ridgetop]

now she has been staying with the father more than she stays home with the mother

Probably just as well since her mother is in such a bad way. Having her out of the way takes the strain off the rest of the family. With all GF's previous health problems, cancer, and now this infection, the prognosis doesn't sound good.

it is not drought stressed so no chance of prussic acid and the cows really like it... but horse people are very picky.

Horse people hear about the dangers and don't know when the prussic acid is formed so they go the other way. Can't really blame them. Better safe than sorry.

every one of those costs is incurred every year... regardless of the yield so if we have a drought or if the hay gets made late due to wet conditions... the amount and quality of the hay dictates what each roll costs us in the long run

That is why I am so happy Cody wants to bale the 30 acres every year. Even splitting one cutting with him in a drought year will cut my feed costs. I want to be fair to him though, so I am really thankful to you for talking about the costs of hay production. Good for us to know those costs since otherwise we would just be saying 'Why is hay so expensive? It just grows and they cut it. Doesn't cost them anything except tractor gas." They buyer doesn't know the costs to the producer, just like livestock.

 

[farmerjan]

@Ridgetop ... wasn't planning on a "lesson" in hay costs especially, but glad that it helps for people to realize that there is alot more that goes into making hay than just some fuel in the tractor...
Yes, some of the places we make hay it just grows and we cut it and all that... not improved, seldom fertilized on some of these "we just want it made and the fields cut" kind of places, but the quality is pretty much in the "low to fair" category. It is "free to us".... not counting the fuel to cut rake and bale and transport it off there.... and of course our time is "free" too... we're just farmers that have nothing else to do except ride our tractors in the sunshine and enjoy life...... Oh well..... The thing is that sometimes it is barely worth our time to make hay on these places... and there are a few that DS simply says that he cannot make it and will bush hog it if they want to pay for it... but that there is not enough good enough grass to justify the costs to make it into hay.

Laundry done and hung. Chickens out and ran a battery's worth of weed eating around the deck and porch and such. Kinda glad since it was getting hot and I was able to work in the shade... but I was dripping, sweaty wet, by the time I got done. Just sat and ate a sandwich and am now going to work on the peppers. Put all the dishes away and dug through some boxes to find more vacuum bags.

The forecast says maybe a few pop up showers .... one says 3-4 pm and the other forecast doesn't show anything before 9-10 pm. No clouds on the radar, but we are getting some high clouds already.

I am going to get these peppers done and get the beans done and then worry about possibly picking more tonight.
I cut the cantaloupe from the farmer... it is very sweet. Saved the rind and such to put in the trap but I haven't seen anything back in the garden. Not much else to worry about them bothering right now... but I do want to put in some broccoli for fall... They ate that one butternut squash, completely gone, and haven't seen any more missing or with chunks out of them. No ground hogs killed on the road so it didn't disappear that way....
The sunflowers that I saved with spraying the blood meal liquid on are now putting up heads and have a couple of real pretty solid yellow ones, and some with dark purplish stalks that haven't opened yet.

Many of the potatoes are starting to die off. It will be awhile before I actually do any serious digging. I did grub around in the dirt and got a few red ones the other night just to bring in the house. I am going to come up with a system; probably boxes that are labeled as I dig each row so I can keep the varieties separate to do comparisons... But that is down the road a month or more at least.

It's 89 out there in the shade and the humidity is up. I'd never last in TX.....

 

[SageHill]

Ya' know -- every time out weed whacking I'm thinking 'Jan does a battery worth' -- thinking that I ~could stop after a battery or string run out. but then I 'see' another area to work on (ya' know like the Lays potato chip thing - betcha can't eat just one) and either grab another battery, or weed whacker, or restring and keep going. Though I ~ guess that listening to an audio book I kind of want to hear what happens next. As long as the book is good and I haven't soaked my shirt wiping my face I do a little more. I've got LOTS to do. A couple hours and I'm toast.

 

[Mini Horses]

I'd never last in TX.....

Me either!! I've been there, several times often a week or two. No, I prefer my green Virginia weather and landscapes for day to day. We have extremes but rarely more than a week.

The hay costs -- you're right, people NOT involved in more than using, think it's no more than the effort of cutting your yard, sometimes. The intensity of time, expense, care requirements & weather just isn't thought thru. No experience. And surely that steak they just grabbed from the meat counter didn't require 2 yrs to develop, being fed, fenced, vetted -- after 10 months to even be made & born! . Only farmers know the truth.

 

[Baymule]

Thank you Jan!!! I am vindicated!! All those hanks of hay twine i carefully save and neatly hang on nails are worth MONEY!! I use hay twine for lots of things.

 

[Mini Horses]

ME TOO