Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

Feast or famine as they say! Good that DS called to discuss the farm stuff, hopefully he will keep up with it and not get distracted by GF again.

 

[murphysranch]

I hope you are paid hourly and not by the job. Sheesh on them!!

 

[farmerjan]

Our pay is determined by the cow #'s.... not by the hour.... and it is typical for a couple of the farms to lolly-gag around.... you either accept it or don"t become a milk tester....farmers are what they are...
Some are fast and super efficient.... some are not. Some are PITA to set up at and some there is no set up.... just a fact of the job....

Got done testing, came home and got the samples packed and dropped off at the vineyard... came back and got on the tractor and raked hay at the sub-division and then took it down to dougs where DS had cut 1/2 the sorghum field.... he was tossing around tedding but I think it will rake okay tomorrow as soon as the dew is off and then will come back up to the sub-division and rake the other field as he just cut it Tuesday aft... the one I raked today, he cut Monday....and it was dry but it is fairly light.... and get both the hay and the sorghum turned up for the sun and he will bale it Friday.... There has been no humidity so it ought to dry pretty good and he will roll most of it anyway...

Ds took me back to my car and I came home... then he called a little later and gave me numbers on new calves he has tagged... 11 on the ground so far in this fall calving group. Getting the papers together with the fall calving lists and all that...

Got to run to the bank in the morning, forgot to make a deposit from the one bank, to the other one that I have the explorer payment made directly out of the checking at that bank.... they set it up with a free checking and normally I put money in it a week or so ahead... but forgot.... so first thing in the morning because my debit card is expired and they say they sent a new one but I haven't found it so will have to get a new one and a new number they said when I went to use it last month... and again, I just forgot about it... so will have to get that done.
Then I will get on the tractor and get the stuff raked... couple of hours... and then get stuff ready to go test a herd on Friday..... need more meters than I used for the one I just did... and have to get the bottles in the racks....

I am going to go to bed early and be glad that I don't have to get up at 4 or so to go to work... Bank drive thru opens at 8:15 so want to go down there and get that done... then can get on the tractor about 9:30 or so once the sun is up and dew is dry... the field is out in the full sun so will be able to get the sorghum raked and it will have all day to dry in the sun in the windrows... then come up to the grass hay and get it raked...

Got a load of clothes in the washer so that they can have all day tomorrow to dry too...
I'm going to get a shower and crash....

 

[farmerjan]

Nice cool 57 this morning... Partly sun, supposed to be clearing off a bit more. Been to bank, got that done. Clothes running through final rinse to get hung. Chickens out.
Put extra meters in the car for tomorrow afternoon's herd. Will get the bottles in the racks later...
As soon as clothes are hung going to head to field to rake the sorghum and then get the hay turned up.
We are supposed to get some "weather" Friday eve and into the weekend. Not like @Mini Horses over on the coast... it is a toss up as to the "models" for how far inland the moisture will come... Hope we get some of it on Sat....
As long as we get the stuff baled tomorrow afternoon that is good.

I would like to try to get the walk behind weed eater out today and get the garden done. Not quite ready to open it up for the chickens... there are some tomatoes I think I will be able to pick yet... but most are done. Time to get on the potato digging and weighing job... I did dig one of the 2 short rows of the "Pinto" fingerling potatoes... that end of the garden is not as good as it gets more shade from the pine trees along the property line... but they did real good considering. They are a hoot to dig as there will be some more purple-ish with a couple creamy whitish yellow spots... some are much more creamy with a little purple... and they are big for a fingerling... haven't weighed what I dug yet... will get the other short row next to it that was also planted with that variety, and then see... but I suspect that the 2 lbs will have given me at least the 10/1 ratio of lbs dug to lbs planted... maybe more. Considering where I planted them, I think they have done REAL GOOD... they will be a definite repeat next year.... and with all the littler ones I am saving when I dig, might have a good amount of them to plant without getting more... or might get another order and then be able to have plenty next year...
This is all about experimenting with the different varieties...
I'd like to get the weeds down before we get this next bout with some wet weather... the damp soil has loosened it up alot and has made it alot easier to dig. It had gotten so hard from the lack of moisture.

So about time to get the clothes out. The dew has been slow to dry off with the early high clouds... sun is out better now so ought to be good to get down to the raking. At least no trees around the sorghum and the very few down at the hay.

 

[Ridgetop]

I wonder if potatoes would do well in northeast Texas. I have enough ground to plant them even if just for fun. I wonder if the sheep would eat raw potatoes. Potato and tomato vines are members of the nightshade family and the leaves are poisonous so maybe not a good idea to let the sheep in to eat them. I have found that if you give them something that could be dangerous it will kill them, but if they steal it probably not. LOL However, I could just pull out the tomato and potato vines before turning in the sheep.

 

[Alaskan]

I wonder if potatoes would do well in northeast Texas. I have enough ground to plant them even if just for fun. I wonder if the sheep would eat raw potatoes. Potato and tomato vines are members of the nightshade family and the leaves are poisonous so maybe not a good idea to let the sheep in to eat them. I have found that if you give them something that could be dangerous it will kill them, but if they steal it probably not. LOL However, I could just pull out the tomato and potato vines before turning in the sheep.

My chickens have on many occasions eaten all of my tomato plants with zero ill effects.


I am sure you will have to fence the sheep out of the garden...

Potatoes grow well in the hill country of Texas... But they should grow great all over down there... nice long growing season!

 

[Mini Horses]

Try sweet potatoes. The animals can eat vine & all.

 

[Baymule]

Plant potatoes the last of February or first of March. They die back when it gets hot.

Northeast Texas is sweet potato country. The town of Gilmer puts on the Yamboree Festival.

 

[farmerjan]

Lots done today...
Clothes got hung and will bring in tomorrow before work. Went and raked the sorghum, then drove tractor up to the other bigger field in the sub division and got all that raked. It was real dry. The sorghum was still some green but getting it turned up should finish it drying. Took about 2 1/2-3 hours total... I didn't start as soon as I had thought since it had been cloudy for quite awhile early on.

Then took tractor back to the farm and parked it out back, out of the way and got the car... GF came in while I was there... and I talked to her a bit... being polite and all that, asked how she was feeling and all and she said she is getting back to normal... they are going to take out the stent next week .... I tried to be decent and nice enough... but it was "all about her" and her trials and all with this health situation... said she was so sick there for a while, which DS had told me, that she was contemplating writing her obit..... I wisely left that alone.... then I came on home.

I got doing a few things in the house, so didn't get the weed eating done... realized a little later that I hadn't gone out there to do it... which I had really thought I would try to do...

Boxes of bottles in the house to be put in the racks for tomorrow. Then I went out and wound up digging the other short row of the "Pinto" varieties of the potatoes ... it was a shorter row than I had thought... but after getting them all in, I have 18 lbs. of them... close to the 1 lb planted yields 10 lbs.... planted 2 lbs... and they were not in the best spot so I am pleased.... but it will be a lot easier if I get the weeds cut down/off....
Locked in the chickens and got my 3 eggs and done.
Maybe get out the weed eater in the morning.....

Going to quit for the night, I'm tired and should sleep good after being out in the nice sunny day and all...

DS called a little bit ago to see if I had any cold medicine... he is all stuffed up, and feels rough... said Jim had taken all he had in the cabinet and never replaces it... and asked if she had said anything about how much he had been available for her when she was sick.,... and I told him honestly that she really didn't say anything much except that he had helped her when she first came home... she really doesn't appreciate what he has done for her, and he just can't accept that she is not more thankful... because she just wants to be "friends", maybe he will get over it one of these days... although I somehow doubt it...
I don't keep any cold medicine here except the "mucinex" stuff... and he said he needed something more like the liquid stuff to open up his head and help him to sleep.
He says he got done most everything except a little he is going to sq bale and then the sorghum which he will roll... he said it would be good for me to get it raked in the morning... and I said it is all raked... I wanted to get it turned up to dry better and it should be good tomorrow... there was some green but not real "wet green"... and he told me thank you several times...
He is not spending the time down with her... and she is hanging around now because of deer season coming on.... and is around when it suits her.... maybe he is seeing some of it... I don't know...

Time to quit... tomorrow will be busy...

 

[Baymule]

Poor guy. Looking and hoping for a shred of attention, did she mention him? No you dummy, it’s all about herself.
At least he was thankful towards you and the work you put in.

At the auction in Nacogdoches yesterday, they ram weigh cows in first. Peggy told me the weigh cows sell by the pound, old or cull cows. Some were understandably thin, some were big, heavy and fat. I was wondering where those fat ones came from. Prices were 89 cents to $1.09.