Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

@Mini Horses ; Now I am curious. Which CL was she posted on? Can't seem to get it pulled up. There is a registered guernsey for sale in Monterey....2500. Wow. Nice looking cow, A2A2 milk which is most digestible, but still, that's alot, even bred AI to a guernsey.

 

[Mini Horses]

Richmond VAhttps://richmond.craigslist.org/grd/d/amelia-court-house-nurse-cow-in-milk/6948549466.html

Wrong -- Holstein, not Guernsey. Saved you some money!! I even thought black & white isn't Guernsey....Sr moment

We don"t have the auctions as you there, or the numbers of cattle, beef or dairy. So prices vary greatly. Especially with inexperienced buyers.

I've seen several Jersey for sale but, often heifers and/or a family cow where they are selling their best friend. Not buying one but, I'm a sucker for those big eyes and sloppy tongues. And the Jersey are smaller, in general.

See...my goats eat a LOT less. I always loved fresh butter from the cows milk at my grandmothers. Goat milk is naturally homogenized so doesn't rise as much. BUT a cream separator was a lot less money than a cow. Bought one.

 

[Baymule]

I admire the dedication of those who milk goats and cows. Every. Day. It makes me appreciate my non milking sheep even more! Sometimes I am tempted.......nah

 

[Mini Horses]

It makes me appreciate my non milking sheep

Of course you CAN milk them....you might want to try the milk when they freshen. Just taste it.

But thanks for seeing that it does take time & commitment if you are serious. Hey, I had fantastic cream in hot tea this AM. These products offset the cost of feed. Plus FRESH.

Cows - as you can see from stats Jan posted...huge quantities. Of course, not all produce that much. Goats same, the little nigies generally give less than the full-sized breeds but, heavier cream. I let my kids be dam raised, so I share for a while. Helps on days I don't want "my share" But once weaned you have more obligations. I have sometimes worked the doe into 1X day milking when I don't want so much & it's generally before I dry her off. Some don't want to dry, those are and will actually milk thru without re-breeding. You have to LIKE to do it. For me, it's more fun than a job -- so long as I have time. Jobs get in the way retirement (or slow down, at least) will help.

Last night I made a couple pounds of ricotta as frig was full & I needed to use up some milk. Tonight, I will make more. Hey, good in Italian dishes, spiced up for snacks, stirs up almost like cream cheese. Plus you know how great the cheese is from Devonviolet. Soon I HOPE to try for a hard cheese -- while the milk is flowing.

It's not for everyone to do and that's OK. Jan doesn't milk all the time, let's the calves do it & takes what she wants, when she wants it. A cow has more the share. But, if you want excellent production, you pull newborns, bottle feed and keep the mommas doing their job! I can be more flexible since it's all just for my own satisfaction & lifestyle.

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks for saving some money @Mini Horses . That kind of production is common for a decent holstein. I have a jer/hol cow that will take any/all calves that want to suck her. She is a peach to get a calf grafted on.

I would love to have someone like you close that would like to do the cheese making so I could just do the milking. I just get to the point that when I get in the house I want to be done and I would rather be in the barn with the animals. Then we could have the cow/s and all the milk and you could like being around the cows and not have to do all the work. It's like the meat birds. I like the raising part, and don't mind helping out with the dressing if there are others doing it too, but just don't have the energy or desire to do it all like @Baymule does. Of course she has help from her DH.
Yes, I like being able to put the calves on them and then getting my share of milk when I need it. After nearly 50 years of getting up at 3-4-5 a.m., I just don't want to get up before the crack of dawn so much anymore. Once a day milking, and not every day, suits me alot better now.

Well, got one problem/project done this eve. We had to get one group of cows out of a pasture that we normally move them out of in July. 2 weeks ago, got all in but one calf that had pinkeye and was spooky and would not come down close enough. He ran past us and went back to the cedars when we had him almost in the pen. So we turned his mother back out and another cow/calf pair for company, thinking that they would probably come into the pen for feed when they weren't being pushed. The next eve, got 3 of the 4 in so I just went about things like I wasn't concerned and figured in a day or 2 of "no big deal" I would get them in. The owner of the pasture decided the next day, to change the way I had the gates, and must've "ran them" as they were spooked and wouldn't even come to the pen to eat. I was furious. Told my son and he said something to them to just leave them alone because now it would take me more time to get them to come in. Everyday I would go there, give them a little mineral and some grain. The cows would come right in but the calves acted like I was the worst boogey man around. They would stand & watch me and after I would go outside the gate, would venture in with one eye on me. If I so much as moved a muscle, they were back out the pen in record time. I was getting pretty discouraged, because they were not getting any better after being run and them trying to force them in the gate and the calves taking off. Last night they weren't around so I changed the angle of the "gate" and moved one panel a bit so it was up close to the tractor that has been parked there for a couple of months. So tonight I went by there and the cows came right in and the calves came in then went right back out. I went up and sat on the step of the tractor and the calves came around the tractor and saw me and ran back up around it the other way. Then they came around and in the pen and didn't see me sitting on the step. When they got to the feeders, I quietly got up, took and pulled the panel shut. They heard it and RAN right for the opening; but I had already gotten it closed. They went round and round the pen looking for a way out but I had made sure it was closed tight. So I called my son and he was at his fathers and I said, I'm sorry, but you need to come home and get the truck and trailer, I got them in the pen and I am not leaving and have them get out. So he came home and they got loaded and we are done with this. The one cow kept walking the panels, looking for a way out and I knew if I left to go get the truck and trailer, they would get out. I sat on a bucket on the outside of the pen for the hour it took him to get home and get there......babysitting them so they didn't get out. But we are done. If the stupid "know it all know better than me" owner had just left well enough alone, they would have been moved sooner.
BUT he is a man and knows more than a woman...... NO OFFENSE to the guys on here. This guy is a little younger than me and has no respect for women at all. I've known him for 35 years.
But it is done finally.
Spent several hours moving round bales home from a couple of hayfields the other day. Moved all the rolls off the sorghum/sudan fields so any rain we get now will really get it growing again. Michael bought an automatic truck from a friend that wanted to sell it, had a bale bed put on it , so that I could move hay because I cannot push the clutch on the other truck we move hay with. I don't mind doing it, but I couldn't push the clutch with this ankle. Next year I should be okay, but this gives us another truck to move hay with. It is also set up to haul a gooseneck trailer so has a couple of uses. It does not get very good fuel mileage, it is a diesel, but we will not be pulling a trailer often with it. So rolls are off the fields which some years they don't get moved off in a timely fashion.

It's raining all of a sudden, really coming down hard right now. Some places here got over an inch yesterday and we didn't get enough to get the ground wet. This will just help the hayfields and such come back good and the pastures keep growing. Have one spring that I have been watching so this will really help. Supposed to have some chances of rain Monday, then only 20% Tuesday, then 50% Wed., then nothing for a few days. We will get the 20 acres of hay made for the friend, as soon as the rain chance lessens.
Glad the cows got moved before it opened up......

 

[Baymule]

At least some places got rain. 2 nights ago we got a half inch of much needed relief. While the forestry mulcher was here, he worked in a cloud of dust, at times he couldn't see 3 feet in front of the machine. He had to stop every 2 hours to blow out the air filters and radiator coils.

What a moron to rile up the cows and calves like that. People just don't realize that cattle can be WILD animals, they are prey animals and are very interested at self preservation-at any cost. The real world is not Walt Disney's version of puppies and rainbows. Glad you finally got them caught up, loaded and moved.

I've been tempted to have a milking animal, but I am just not that dedicated. We wouldn't be able to use it all anyway.....would have to get more pigs......take care of them.....more chickens to eat the clabber......making butter, kiefer wouldn't be so bad, I would probably enjoy that. I'd have to make cheese.....more things to do and I am already overloaded. I am not afraid of hard work, but I do like to have an utterly worthless day now and then.

 

[Mini Horses]

I am not afraid of hard work, but I do like to have an utterly worthless day now and then.

When you find out where to get one -- let us all know!!

And nope -- you do NOT have to milk a sheep, goat or cow. It is not mandatory. Anyone near who does milk will be GLAD to share...because the is normally a LOT extra!

 

[farmerjan]

Dumped the rain gauge today after all that rain late last night. Had a full 1 inch. It got cloudy again this eve and we got a sprinkle a little bit ago. Might get a little bit more before midnight, then mostly sun and clear tomorrow with another front coming in Wednesday.

Going to get 2 hog panels tomorrow. The meat chickens at my son's property, like to come out the "driveway" part and out to the road. Need to "fence it " so they don't come down there and I can still get in off the road. The bottom welded wires are closer than the "combination" panels and they are not as tall as the cattle/combination panels. Be a little easier to handle of I take cutters and just cut them in half to 8 ft long. I can then use them as a square if need be for the meat birds to move them around. The taller ones would be more versatile for other things, but since I have several of them, really want something just a tad bit easier/lighter to move. There is woven wire/field fence there so really only need an area at the gate where I can get truck in.... like a gate that is set back from the fence. They are still like 39-40 inches tall as opposed to the 45 or 48 inches of the cattle panels. Used some one time for the turkeys and it was alot easier to just move a couple of them.

Got to get on the phone and get some farms scheduled. Had one that called Sunday morning, set up for wed eve/thurs morn then texted later and said it wouldn't work as they were changing silos and cows would need some time to get adjusted to feed. So back to ground zero again. Getting tired of it and my ankle has been hurting .... I really am ready to get it done.

 

[Baymule]

[QUOTE="farmerjan, post: 618743, member: 15168" Getting tired of it and my ankle has been hurting .... I really am ready to get it done.[/QUOTE]

The healing process and therapy will drive you nuts, but your life will be so much better for it.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, it is the "middle of the night" and I should have been long ago in bed. But it is still sticky, like 76* , and not cooling off. We are scheduled for some morning rain, then a break then possibility of some severe t-storms in the after noon. Weather has been very crazy.
Son got the 20 acres of hay mowed for the friend and it was raked and he got it baled this eve., so that is done. Friend goes in for his surgery tomorrow, so at least he doesn't have to worry about that.
I have spent several hours on the tractor w/bush hog mowing at pastures. Got about 2/3 done at the one place, it is like 80-90 acres in 3 sections that we rotational graze. Cows are in the second section now, I've gotten most all of section 1 and 2 done, just a little more and then on to section 3.

Of course, all my farmers are wanting to test this week.... Did only 2 farms in 13 days, but one was the 500+ cow herd last Wed.; now I did one today, 190 cows; one will be Tues eve and Wed morning, 120 cows but does 2x test; one Thursday aft, 250 cows that has a small parlor so takes alot longer; my owner sampler called and will have to drop off stuff for him as soon as we figure what will work for both of us ( I haven't called him back yet). Then have a 275 cow herd next Monday aft..... everyone is getting ready to start chopping corn; a couple have already chopped some, and they all want the same time..... look for a few more to call me too.

On top of that got a text this morning that the chickens were "going out" at 5 a.m. so after I tested this afternoon, I went up to catch however many chickens were left. Luckily that worked out as I was only 5-6 miles from the chickens, at the farm I was testing. There were only 20 this time, and only 2 that were much smaller than the others. Looked pretty healthy. I put them in with the bigger ones tonight, will run up with water first thing, go set up at the farm I have to test Tues eve as they are only 4-5 miles from the chickens, then come back to see if they will get along. I still haven't gotten the "hog panels" for the "driveway", so have to go do that in the morning. Don't know if the bigger ones will be picking on the smaller ones, they mostly are about half the size.... Was not expecting them til at least next week.... guess I just lost track of time. So this group will hopefully have some size too by the time we have the chicken swap in mid Sept and I can sell the whole bunch. At this rate there will probably be some more around mid Oct.... so I will more than likely get them if there are any, and have them killed just before I have the ankle done. Then won't go get any until like Feb or March.... the spring swap is in early May so wouldn't mind having some for that.....
Going to give a bunch of freshly frozen chicken to some people for Christmas this year since I have a bunch in the freezer and know a couple of people that would appreciate it.