Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

It’s time to get your place fenced. The calf hutches and hog panels will do for starters. Having your fence up would give you more options. A 3 sided lean to with a lot would be the icing on the cake. At one time you thought you would sell this place and move elsewhere, off a main road, but it looks like you are staying there. Having the bottle calves there at your house would be so much easier on you. Or even a nurse cow, it would be easier to care for them, especially on bad weather days when you have no other reason to leave home that day.

You also mentioned leasing or buying a small piece of land next to you. That sounds made to order for a baby calf operation.

Give it serious thought and make a plan of action. One roll of wire at a time will eventually get you there. Buy what you need for a stretch down the property line, hire it done. I’m slowly getting mine done, it might take me several more years, one of these days, I’m gonna have one fine farm here.

 

[farmerjan]

Time to get things together to have to leave shortly for work. Sunny and a nice 50 out there with little wind.

Just ate a sandwich, bottles and all fed and washed, took the calf coats off today so they can get out in the sun and soak it up. Temps around 32 tonight and they are all dry so they should be okay. No wind to chill them.

I need to get 1 more tray of bottles to take to test. Hanging clothes in a minute then having to leave.

 

[Ridgetop]

but I think maybe we need to worm everyone this year.

Is it possible that the wet weather has caused an increase in worms?

It’s time to get your place fenced. The calf hutches and hog panels will do for starters. Having your fence up would give you more options. A 3 sided lean to with a lot would be the icing on the cake. At one time you thought you would sell this place and move elsewhere, off a main road, but it looks like you are staying there.

Definitely! With the increase in cattle prices raising several calves at a time with a couple nurse cows would be perfect for you. Once they were old enough and off bottles you could either raise them older or sell them young - whatever the market would be for the ages. Perfect for you to go into with your dairy connections, experience, and wanting to semi-retire.

 

[farmerjan]

Done with the day, testing went fine, always does at this farm... no set up, efficient and not too many cows...
Samples in the house and got 2 gal of milk from a fairly fresh cow that is not in the milk tank yet... will mix it a little sparingly with milk replacer. Waiting to hear from one farm about possibly testing Tuesday... then meters will come out of the car for a week.

I did get the plants in the greenhouse watered at least, before I left to drop off reports and go test.

It was sunny and pretty decent for the first of Feb.... not complaining. Hit 62 and down to 37 already...

Got a meeting Monday eve,,, sorting cattle on Wed aft for the ones DS wants to ship on Thursday.... he wants to load at 4:30...A.M. ..... to be at the stockyard to check in by 6... they will be going in the graded pen... if they all pass grade on Thursday... then the graded sale is at 6 p.m. that evening...
Then, on Friday..... have to drive one of the trucks and pull a gooseneck flat bed that he is renting for several hours, to the college for a "mock convention" of some sort, for the upcoming elections.....there will be 50+ trailers and wagons ... 1 for each state and territories (like Puerto Rico)... he has 4 trucks and 4 flat bed trailers promised; they will start decorating on Monday...then we go down with the trucks to hook up the flat bed trailers Friday morning at 7:30 or something... and 5 hay wagons that others are pulling...(total 9 "trailers/wagons from us) they go all around town....... he has already pulled 2 trailers down there, wagons and all the rest will go this weekend I guess... "GF" is helping him move all the trailers and wagons down there I guess... I asked this evening if he wanted me to help do any of it tomorrow but he said he was "covered"....

Dinner on Friday night for some farm thing also...
CRAZY WEEK....

I am going to get another load of clothes done, didn't get them finished today to get hung so let them soak. Will just bring them all in at once on Mon or Tues...

I am so done for the night....

 

[farmerjan]

@Ridgetop there is a possibility that the wetter weather here late this fall has caused an increase in worms the cattle picked up from this pasture, since nothing was on it for a couple of months. Especially since it seems to be a problem at this one pasture and not the others. But they are all going to get a 2nd dose of worming at this place, the end of the month....

@Baymule ; The calf hutches and hog panels are the best way to go to keep the calves "under control" for the first few weeks and will provide them with some good cover.... I don't want them to be in tiny little pens but even something like up at the barn at the nurse cow pasture is a good size. Don't want them running on an acre at that small size...Besides, she might have all heifers born... I might not get any... but I expect there will be 50% bull calves or so...

Already have the fence wire to get put up... talking to a guy to do it here, soon...I hope.

The extra acre next door is not available at this time... they have to decide what they want to do with the christmas tree farm and then maybe will consider splitting off another acre or 2 adjoining me along the garden side. No fences so not going to even try to rent or lease it...

House getting some stuff done is bigger priority than the property next door. That is in the works too... got a name of a guy highly recommended and he does work on alot of older houses....trying to get a time set up when we both have a minute..... not for another week or so....

Definitely on the lookout for a nurse cow or 2... have several people keeping their eyes open...

 

[Baymule]

You found a guy to put up the fence! And you found a guy to work on the house! I realize it’s not a done deal, but you actually found someone!

 

[farmerjan]

And yes, I am still looking at some other property a couple hours southwest of here.... but need to get house and things here done to make it more usable in the meantime.

 

[Ridgetop]

And yes, I am still looking at some other property a couple hours southwest of here.... but need to get house and things here done to make it more usable in the meantime.

Also if you do decide to sell and move, any improvements will increase value and sale price to be able to buy new place.

Calf hutches and stock panel pens can be moved easily to new location too. I used calf hutches for newborn calves so I could keep an eye on them for diarrhea. If a calf scours you have to be ready to jump on it immediately. I noticed that people raising calves for Fair in larger corrals would lose a calf before they noticed something was wrong. I used to move them into a corral around 2 weeks old. I used the picked over stalky hay from the goat feeder for the calves and they grew like weeds on the goat milk.

 

[farmerjan]

Nice bright sunny day this morning. Down to 29 but already mid 40's at 9 a.m. Little frost out there but that is fine.
Clothes ready to hang in a bit, heading up to calves in a minute. Want to spend some time cleaning up some stuff outside today.
Farm texted me back and will test on Tuesday. I will need to get the other set of hoses in the car for this farm, and have to change all the meter brackets (of course!) which I will do when it is a little warmer out there today so it is done. Need 200 bottles for the samples, and this week will be all the testing I do. Have 4 other herds to get in contact with for testing.... shortest month so will be the busiest of course !

 

[farmerjan]

BEAUTIFUL DAY out there today.

Calves fed; 2 loads clothes hung on line. There is a slight little bit of a breeze so they ought to dry good.

Meter brackets all changed and hoses all switched out and in the car for testing on Tuesday... once I get done there and put the stuff back in the carport, I am going to CLEAN OUT the car... too much gets stuffed in the back seat and then not cleaned out often enough... and it needs to be just reorganized and the hatchback mat pulled back so the meters fit and the back closes without slamming it like I do now...

Another not so good thing... DS found a cow laying dead near a roll of hay... young cow, 2nd or 3rd calf... and had nearly 3 month calf . ( Not with the ones that we had the water tested and fecals done on.. he says they are looking better already...) NO IDEA Why.... So yesterday he got the calf caught up and moved up to the nurse cow pasture, and put in the barn/lot with the bottle calves. Don't know if I am going to try to bottle feed it, but it went right in the bunk feeder with the other calves and was eating grain and also was munching on hay... so I will probably just let it eat hay and grain.... it is about the size of the calf that was born to the nurse cow (that died)....the 2 oldest ones I am weaning.... although it is a heifer and mine is a bull calf... At least we have a place where we can feed them and hopefully keep them growing and not get stunted from not getting enough nutrition.
On the cattle forum, one of our members is from Lithuania ... she went to school to be a vet... married, with a little one probably 3-4 years old now. They have beef cattle, and she has had one nightmare of a start to her calving season... pulled a set of twins that were dead, cow laid on a calf and it died... just had a cow that was looking close, older experienced cow, brought her in the barn into a pen, checked 30 minutes later and the water bag was showing. Went out a bit later and the cow was DEAD... and calf died in her... she said it looks like an aorta burst or something... nothing like a uterine rupture or anything... their cows routinely have 90-125 lb calves... she weighs them and has a calving thread every year on what they have, gestation # days, all that... this calf she said was about 99 lbs...totally unexpected situation for her...

So, it is not just us, or other members on here, or just here in the USA.... or even a certain breed of animals...

Just ate some lunch since I did not eat any breakfast. Going out to move vehicles around and load some branches and other "garden refuse" ...cut off stalks of the snowball bushes and such, and take out to garden to the pile to burn. Got several paper feed bags full of papers to use for the burning. Maybe after the next rain....
The sun feels so good today...