Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mike CHS]

We had all four of our feral cats fixed but two of them disappeared after bringing them home. One of them wound up at a neighbors so there is three out of four accounted for.

 

[farmerjan]

Good CHILLY... COLD actually..... morning... Down to 26 last night... winds died down overnight, a light breeze out there now, but should be picking up here real soon... Tomorrow is even supposed to be windier...
Some sun and clouds out there...

Being lazy a bit, since it is quite chilly out there. Let the chickens out and the cats are out... it is "up to " 34 degrees.

I had checked with the one local vet we used to use more.... the one vet we liked retired from there and then we started using the vet we have now since he does alot of the dairies around here too... anyway, they wanted $110 for neutering the male, .......PLUS ...... the rabies shot ($20 or something)......PLUS a wellness exam...... plus a followup... would have been over $175.... the female was $220 for the spay, plus all the extras..... NO and NOPE.... used to work for a dairy farmer that would castrate the male cats on the farm... a little "lysol" spray, cut like a pig, spray again... and off they would go. Okay, very "rudimentary".... but really....
A friend in Conn. said it was going to cost $500 each to get her 2 calico females spayed...

Glad I soaked and got all the plants back in the greenhouse on Sunday....
Doesn't look like the cold temps hurt the daffodils last night outside. I know they can take some cold, otherwise they wouldn't be coming up so early... but sometimes I have seen them get "burnt" from extreme cold... The ones inside are pretty, that's all that matters. They won't last but a few days but that's okay.

Time to get motivated... making a list of things I know need doing... will depend on the weather/temps...

 

[purplequeenvt]

I have a friend who is a vet and a dairy farmer. She would round up all the male barn cats and neuter them. One time she released them back in the barn before they were fully recovered from the sedation, her father saw a bunch of cats staggering around and shot them all because he thought they had rabies.

The humane society neutered all my boys (except my most recent one) for free and even drove them home for me.

Monster, my most recent cat got neutered on the kitchen table. A vet friend brought meds to sedate him.

 

[CLSranch]

used to work for a dairy farmer that would castrate the male cats on the farm... a little "lysol" spray, cut like a pig, spray again... and off they would go. Okay, very "rudimentary".... but really....

It works. I used the wound kote spray though. Also if you have a man sized lace up boot around it really helps hold them just like your knee's hold a pig.

 

[farmerjan]

Chilly day, quite breezy and I was not motivated to get much done today. It only hit 51 in the sun and was alot chillier feeling with the wind. aMaybe tomorrow I will get more incentive to get some things done. Been sorting through papers and stuff here....
Did notice that the cold did affect the bleeding heart that had put up a small sprout with flowers coming on it... it is all wilted over so guess it was too cold for it. .

Been spending some time on the site for Greenworks... my self-propelled walk behind mower came from TSC last year on sale... and I really like it... Looked at the riding mower last year and could not convince myself to spring for it... been looking at other ones this spring, and they are all getting so expensive... and there is a special on now, that is even a little better than last year, and I spent nearly an hour on the phone with a rep today... asked all sort of questions... and am going to watch the video she was going to send me on what assembly needs to be done... said it was not alot to do... but I am not mechanical that way... I can do stuff on the older tractor and rake and such... I want to see if it is something I can do... it is the seat and a couple of levers that have to be assembled.... I really think I am going to go for it. I am not wanting the zero-turn one, I want the more "regular" tractor type seat one.... I think it will be easier to get on and off than the zero-turn type of getting in and out of the seat.... I like the carrier "cargo" section behind the seat, and that I can hook up to a cart or something in the back and also a hook up in the front. I can hook the grass catcher/sweeper to the back and collect all the grass for mulching in the garden too...
I want to get things cleaned up here, around the fruit trees that are here... around where the fence will go around the garden and such like that... use the walk behind for the smaller areas and I might be more inclined to keep it neater and mowed better...especially since the guy cut things way back this past fall when he was doing all the cleanup stuff and cutting the brush and all that is piled in the garden.
The fence guy is supposed to drive posts here when he comes to do a bunch at the farm... around the 1st of May... so a little over a month... I have to get to work on that pile of posts that is at the farm, get more wire off them, out of the pile of posts and fencing there... that I worked on some last year; I had gotten 22 wood posts untangled, unattached and 25 T-posts done last year...... so that some of them can be reused in the line... will use new ones for the corners and braces and gate posts.... once they get the posts in, then they can come by and get the wire up when they have a few hours after another job or something... work it around their other schedule... since there are 4 rolls of fence here... I can do the stapling off of the wire and that.... DS will be into hay by then and I am not even asking for help on that. I will get a couple of gates and a few more 16 ft panels to use where I need more "temp" sections... so it is slowly coming along some.......debating on 2/ 8ft gates or a 16ft one... got 2 places I want gates for sure....so will get the posts driven in for them, and going to go out and see where else I might want some... even if I don't get the gates up right away...probably do 16 ft in 2 places and might do 2 / 8's one other place... want to be able to drive any vehicle through that might need to go in....

Need to get the meters and hoses in the car for the herd on Thursday... have to be there by 1 so leave here by noon... they start milking about 1:45 and will be done and out of there by 6 or so... Friday the calves go to the sale...calling for rain that afternoon... maybe I will be able to burn Friday night.

Need to get back on this paper sorting and getting things a little cleaned up and organized.....

 

[Mini Horses]

We're getting a storm Fri night. Saying possibly 2.5" rain on Saturday . No, please no. Coming from south...heavy winds, too. Sounds like real fun!

Windy today, more tomorrow...10-15 pretty steady plus gusts. Hard to work outside in that. Makes chilly into downright cold. Heck I wore flannel lined jeans to work.

I moved jobs to be home tomorrow for outside work but may change it, given weather. Thurs Might be less windy....bush hog & fence.

 

[Baymule]

I have a friend who is a vet and a dairy farmer. She would round up all the male barn cats and neuter them. One time she released them back in the barn before they were fully recovered from the sedation, her father saw a bunch of cats staggering around and shot them all because he thought they had rabies.

That made me bust out laughing. Sorry kitties, but what a travesty.

 

[CLSranch]

That made me bust out laughing. Sorry kitties, but what a travesty.

Me too but I didn't want to tell everyone else. What might ya'll think, me laughing at the tragedy.

 

[Baymule]

Me too but I didn't want to tell everyone else. What might ya'll think, me laughing at the tragedy.

I have a twisted humor to start with, but that was totally unexpected.

 

[farmerjan]

Chilly start , 29, but the wind died way down to just a slight breeze today... only 57 but felt way warmer...

Got the truck and fed a couple rolls of hay to the cows at snyder's.... and came upon the whole roof peeled off of the one bigger 2 story building there.... the owners used the upper story for storage of some stuff I guess and the bottom part is "fenced off" and they have a bunch of lumber and other stuff under there.... The whole metal roof is laying there partially in front of the gate where I let the cattle in and out of the barn lots... and where we load out... luckily we do not have to load anything out of there...
Called the owner and told him... SO THANKFUL that it was not the little barn and lots where we get the cattle in and I raise the baby calves/nurse cows etc....
Some of the gusts of wind here hit 60 and 70 mph yesterday... it was rough...

Cows are wanting the little green grass that is coming up and not overly interested in the hay... but it is there for them to work on....

Went to town and stopped at a parts place with the hub and all from the silage wagon that the one side broke apart... DS took the other side apart and they are going to see if they can get a replacement... This guy is the grandson of the original owner... and he is as good or better than his grandfather at getting parts and figuring things out... especially on older equipment... I prefer to deal with him when possible... and his prices are often a little better because he doesn't have a fancy place or anything....
Then went to test. It went fine, and have 190+ samples to pack and ship tomorrow. I will take the meters and hoses all out of the car since I do not need them for Monday's herd....Waiting to hear back from another herd but don't need meters there either.

Not shipping calves tomorrow... several have snotty noses and don't act the best... DS got them in the barn, treated 3 and the whole group will get aureomycin crumbles on their feed for 5 days... they won't go next week either with Easter holiday weekend... and he has agreed that they need to get vaccinated like I want to do... to build up resistance to these respiratory things... so tomorrow I will pick that up and they will get it as soon as the antibiotics on the feed is done... It is a killed virus vaccine so will just help to boost immunity... and he says that all the heifers should get it also before they go to WV, which will be at least a month yet....


So, tomorrow I have to get some feed for the calves, feed some hay next door and maybe another bale up at snyder's... calling for an inch of rain or so Friday night and into Saturday... don't want to have to go in there for a day or 2 after the rain if I can help it...
Truck transmission is sooooooo much better since they put the new one in... now if DS doesn't get rammy with it, it ought to last.,...

Going to bed....