Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

I would be just be "paying his bills" over and above what the disability payments cover... can't stop me from putting money in his account , or paying his bills..... and he is only helping me on the farm... no compensation and neither of us take a salary/paycheck from any of the farm work... his tax guy does all the farm taxes and all that... there is no actual salary taken from the income from the cows... it gets "written off", in whatever way he does it against mortgages, operating expenses, all that stuff.

It's all a racket. How many people do we know that are collecting disability payments and then see them out mowing lawns and cutting firewood and all sorts of things... "real disabled"..... several are just too lazy to get a real job... the one that is the real joke is he hurt his back... but cuts firewood... and sells it.. and I mean A LOT of truck loads of wood....

The long term disability for now might get him through as they have sent him to yet "another doctor"... to try something else, different PT....also determining if the vertebrae damage is going to have to be operated on... which he is very much NOT in favor of doing... He is scared of the possible outcome of paralysis... which I have to be optimistic about instead of being negative; if it could stop the pain by stabilizing the spot and maybe supporting the damaged area with fusing the 2... which is now being talked about as a possibility.... which should take the compression off the nerves in theory... maybe that would "fix things".... I just don't know... time to try some other stuff they want to do now, at least through the winter...

 

[farmerjan]

Friday morning... The sun is coming over the tree line... we were supposed to have some spotty showers and got a sprinkle yesterday that barely got the road wet.
Thursday; Got up at 3 a.m. picked up DS and went to test the 500+ cow herd... it went okay but there are over 550 cows now... had trouble with uploading so have to swing by there when they get some things straightened out.. to do the final closeout... this is getting to be a bigger PITA than it is worth some days. Oh well... Got home and DS had to get on the phone with some more of the disability stuff... I came to my house... got the samples in.
Had to do things here, then leave to go pick up samples from the guy with the couple cows, then went to test the other herd in the afternoon.
Testing there went fine... have to set up there... had to fix a few small things in her computer that we set up last week.... then after it was all done... had to pull all the meters and come home. Have to call computer support to get them to fix a few things to get her straightened out...

I was plumb tired out last night.

Heading up to the cow and calves to put her in and feed the bottle... then will have to come back and get the samples packed and take all with me when I leave to go test this afternoon. Plus have to swing by that big herd to get that uploaded and all that... GRRRRRR

Sun is out... maybe some passing showers on Sunday... Never can I remember going so long with no measurable rainfall....

 

[farmerjan]

Saturday... 43 and climbing. Not going to be as warm as yesterday... It got up to 85 in the sun on the recording thermometer.... Of course I was not home to enjoy that...

Yesterday, got up in the morning.. went out and filled 2 barrels of water and went up to the nurse cow barn... I have been putting the cow in and out, but like yesterday, was not getting home until late so she was not getting let out... staying in with the calves for 24 hours... She had drank most all the water I had taken up the other day... When I can bring her in, in the morning, then let her out late afternoon so she can be out all night, she has been drinking very little since she can go to the water trough down the hill during the night.
Anyway, she was right there looking for me... and I backed up near the gate, and opened it and she went right in.... I had naturally made a bottle before going up also... I got the bucket of feed out of the truck, and went in and she was right there with her head in the bunk , eating some grain she had not finished... and one calf on each side of her just going to town nursing her.....
So, I dumped grain in the bunk... she backed up a foot and then went right back to eating... I went out and opened the gate and backed the truck in and got the water dumped into the water trough. Then pulled it out and shut the gate. My longhorn Jess always seems to know when I am there and will come around looking to get in, in case I have anything for her... and I do not want to deal with her coming in the pen with the new jersey. Then I got the bottle and pulled the holstein off... and gave it to him. I can tell that the cow still does not have much milk... and this will give the little jersey a chance to get a little more... As soon as he got done with the bottle, he went back over to her... so that is pretty good. Took him a couple days to figure out what a cow was for... but he has it down now. I got part of a sq bale and put it in the bunk too. Then I took some grain and put it out for the 3 holsteins and lo and behold... the 3 came in... including the hol bull calf... HOLY COW... they all seemed to "get it" yesterday morning... So, every one situated... came home... Packed the samples from Thursday eve... got everything loaded in the explorer to to take to test. There is a funny noise in the outback and I want DS to look at it before I drive it more... so even though I try not to use the explorer for work... it had to be for Friday aft.

Left early to go to test as I had to go to the 500+ cow farm, to do the final closeout from Thurs morning since they had to enter in some ID's on the cows and such... couldn't finish it Thurs morning and the one guy normally does not do that stuff... had to get the other guy to do it and he didn't come in until thurs aft... opposite direction of course... Got up there, did what I had to do in a few minutes... then headed south to the other herd. Stopped at UPS and dropped off the samples... I had wanted to stop and get the new license plates for the forester... but didn't have enough time... and Monday is Veterans Day, holiday... so it will have to wait for Tuesday... Need it for a backup for the outback for work, so I don't get the explorer all dirty and smelling like cows....
Hoping DS will look at/drive the outback today or tomorrow...

Another sunny day but cooler... MAYBE some showers coming in tomorrow aft, into Mon morning... but nothing very much...

Might be able to get some more leaves swept up and bagged today... and some more of the grass I had mowed and mix it in...
Because of the lack of any real significant rain... I am going to take @Mini Horses suggestion, and drag out some of the soaker hoses and water some of the potato rows to get them dug... I may never get them dug if I wait for real rain to soften the ground... I am going to soak the squash plants this morning... and all the spider plants too... I did all the cactus and such yesterday, that I stuck outside for a couple of days in the warmer temps...

Time to get going...

 

[Baymule]

That’s good on the Jersey and the calves. Now the Holstein knows she is mom.

 

[farmerjan]

Today is Monday... Nov 11th... Happy Veterans Day and thank you to all who served... Have been to 2 funerals in the last week or so... for Veterans that served... one was almost 98 and the other was 96 years old.. They don't make many like that anymore...
For the ones that have served in the more recent conflicts.... my ex husband was in Vietnam..... I salute you for all that you have endured and come back to try to live with what is being thrown at you in today's world.

God Bless everyone of you.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday... somehow I have been a little lax in posting much...

In to eat a tuna fish sandwich...
Saturday was an okay day. It was mostly cloudy, and had to go the memorial service of a friend's dad... veteran that was 96... played taps at the memorial and they folded the flag and presented it to his widow... very touching.

Went up and did chores with the cow... then left with DS to go to our retired vet friend's birthday party... he is 80... small gathering... really nice... had a good meal of nice rare sliced filet, salmon, scalloped potatoes, green beans... and got to visit. I moved here in 81 and he joined the vet practice I used in 91 when he moved back here... his parents were in MD but he had been in NH for years. Known him for over 30 years. He was doing our preg checks after he retired until his hip and shoulder got to be too much. We lease his place in WV where we run the cattle over the summer... and DS still goes over and works on his tractor and whatever it needs... his wife (my age) boards horses and she gets her hay from DS also.

Sunday was mostly cloudy again.. DS wanted me to go with him to help move some equipment around... get the sq baler in the one shed for the winter... and he was going to take a side delivery rake he had bought quite a few years ago, and we have not used for years, sold to a guy that was looking for one. No sense to keep it if we aren't using it. We have 2 other ones anyway...

So, he called me and then we hooked up the sq baler to the truck... and went to the pasture where we are not going to make that last field of hay... it is kinda short anyway... bush hogging it will be good for the ground to have the organic matter decompose back into the soil too... and then had to pull the wagon out, and the other sq baler out to get at the rake in the back... then back stuff back in after shuffling things around to fit in both sq balers... we keep one of the 2 big round balers there, and another for parts, and one of the tractors there... we fill that shed up... it keeps the worst of the rain/winter weather off the equipment... We then rode down to open the gate between field 2 and 3...they were in 3... and then in a week they will come back up into field 1 and then we will load them out of there when the grass is gone, in a couple weeks, to bring them home to be preg checked and the calves weaned off. We got a misty sprinkle in the afternoon.

Got back to the barn and got DS to drive the car... went .1 mile maybe.. then back to the barn, he jacked it up... said wheel bearing is bad... and he does not have the kind of equipment that is needed to pull it all apart... so have to go talk to the guys at the mechanics shop I use... Not going to be cheap... but I see no reason to not do it... it lasted 235,000 miles...you have to expect things like this...it's a good car for work and just put the engine in it a year or so ago...

Went up and did the cow and calves... it was just misty enough to get the grass wet.

Today is more sun but still some clouds.. supposed to be nicer tomorrow... I did not get to doing any more leaves yet, so might try tomorrow. There was still some dampness earlier from the little bit of wet we got... It barely got the rain gauge bottom wet...

Possible chance of some showers on Thursday this week... but nothing that is saying "rain".... so going to go out and drag the soaker hoses back out , to put down 2 rows at a time to start getting the potatoes dug... Temps are supposed to drop down nights into the upper 30's so will move all the plants back in that I put out the other day....
Once the cactus all stop blooming, I will see about getting some of them repotted that need it...

Going to put some jeans in to soak so I can hang them tomorrow... couple pairs got plenty of splatters last week with testing.
Got a farm set up for Thursday this week so far... Bred cows and cow/calf pairs this Tuesday (tomorrow) evening... Wed is trip to DR with DS. Will go to Rural King for some feed for the jersey and the holsteins... while down there in Blacksburg. That will be an all day thing since the appt isn't until 1.... he normally does not ever have an appt after 9 a.m. since they wind up running later and later as the day goes on...but this is what they had because the lady did not schedule one as she usually does when he gets done... they schedule appts 2 months ahead and somehow this one did not get scheduled. We will leave here by about 11, I guess...

So, I am going to go out and get the hoses stretched out and see about getting the ground wet so I can start the digging... it's late for me to start... but I kept hoping for some rain to soften the hard ground. Sun comes and goes but it is up in the upper 60's so not cold.

 

[farmerjan]

Plans .... ha ha.... DS texted... the cows all came down in the alley and then the calves came through the creep gate that hadn't followed the cows... so could we work them this afternoon???? This was planned for Tuesday aft... so could I get them moved across driveway into barn lot . Then we could sort out the not yet fresh ones... get the calves worked and those pairs moved up the alley into the other field with the ones that were already turned out there...
So.... I go to the barn. There were still 5 calves that had not come out of the field... so I reset the creep gate because DS had closed it off so they wouldn't go back up into field... and got 4 out and got most of the cows moved across the driveway into the barn lot... Closed some gates... got 3 more cows and about 6-7 calves down the alley and finally across the driveway... then there was one cow that went around the tractor and into some other grass... so I opened the gate so the one dummy would come out of the field... she had walked up to the creep gate but would NOT go through it... finally got her out and got them across the driveway and into the lot.

DS is out with the fencing guys...so I text him and say they are all in... one of the guys that has been doing some work with/for him with the fencing... came and so DS came to the barn and asked if he could help me work the calves. DS was supposed to be at his father's to help with closing up the pool... DS helped get the cows sorted so we could put the dry ones back and then we got the calves separated and DS and Dennis took the cows back across the driveway and into the "calving field"... then he left to go to his fathers.
While they were getting the dry cows back across the driveway, I got the calves that were all sorted, into the small catch pen that leads to the chute so we could work them... Trying to herd 14 little calves down an alley and around the gate into the other pen was like trying to herd cats... but I got them moved... Dennis has had cattle so he came to the barn, and we worked them through the chute... he banded and I gave shots... and wrote everyone down... It went pretty good. Then we let the cows out of the other side of the barn, with the calves and took them across the driveway and up the alley to the gate that went up the hill... I took the truck and went and opened the gate but the cows were slow to come so he followed them and the little calves. Got them through and closed the gate and we came in the truck back to the driveway... got the gates situated...opened the gates across the driveway and the panels we put up by the barn to make a lane across... and then I went to the barn and got my phone, made sure the gates were opened for the other cows to come in for water...that we had locked out... and I came home to get feed and the bottle for the calf.

Went to the nurse cow pasture, fed the cow grain and the calf got the bottle... and then finally kicked her out with the calves staying in. By this time it was getting dark.

So, now I am home, and nothing got done at the house I had planned...

Tomorrow is another day... It is supposed to be nice tomorrow... then getting alot colder tomorrow night... and then they said a little bit ago on the radio when I went to do the cow... that Thursday is supposed to be cold and wet and damp... So, I would like to get another bunch of leaves into bags and finish going around the rest of where I mowed and get the good dry grass too...
I will plan on getting most all the plants in tomorrow and recover the squash that I have left open for the past couple of days. Going to take a couple 2 gal buckets of water out to soak them since they didn't get any rain I was hoping for... then put the homemade "hoop cover" back over them.

I may wait to see what we get in the way of rain on Thursday before I drag out the soaker hoses to put on the potatoes... that was something I had on the list for today... Not going to hurt to stay in the garden for another couple days... more important to get the leaves gathered up and bagged while they are dry.

Not going to be any other opportunities to do the leaves before this moisture they are predicting.. but then it is supposed to clear off and be nice again by the weekend... not as warm but nice. We'll see...

I'm going to try to watch a movie and fold some of these clothes that are still in the basket

 

[Ridgetop]

I can't believe it is almost Thanksgving already. The Primer I get the faster time seems to go by!

 

[farmerjan]

45 overnight. The sun is out and it is very nice out. Getting up in the 60-70 range then temps are supposed to get down to the 30 mark.... CHILLY..... The best part of this is that now they are saying 1/2 to maybe 1 inch of rain on Thursday.....
Of course I will be going to test, so I will have miserable weather and this is a farm I have to take meters in and set up. Then the long drive home later at night. Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

At least I will not be dragging the soaker hoses out. Then it is supposed to warm up more and be back to more comfortable temps by the weekend.

Have the air tank to blow up the tire on the forester and take it down to the co-op to get the leak figured out and fixed.

Clothes ready to hang... lots to get to .... Time to get at it.

 

[farmerjan]

Tuesday night. Been a fairly productive day.

Couldn't get the tire to blow up... don't know if it broke the bead on the inside of the tire... but it wouldn't blow up at all. So I texted DS and asked if he could change it... I had another tire for the car that actually had air in it.... I can not kneel down and see where to put the small floor jack underneath, that I have, because of the knees... he said he could do it later... I said that I just wanted to drop it off at the co-op tomorrow when we head down to the dr appt...

I left and went to DMV and got plates for the car. Will get them put on tomorrow... I had to wait a bit, but had expected it. Then I went from there to Sharp Shopper and got some stuff... checking on stuff I wanted but nothing available I was looking for except some bread/sandwich rolls... got some canned cat food; new kind... will see if they like it... I have several flats of 24 cans of little friskies canned food that I picked up when they had a bunch... You never know when they have, what.

Got a call that there was a heifer out at the pasture that one was out day before yesterday. They are going right through the hi-tensile wire.... GRRRRR I do HATE hi-tensile smooth strand wire... especially since the "geniuses" that built it made NO PROVISIONS for electrifying it...
They are going to have to get moved in the next couple days. Plus, the guy where we have 6 other ones, have got to get moved in the next couple days... so we will have to bring them home in the next day or 2.

Got the clothes/jeans hung out...

It was a nice day, sunny, with a light breeze. The jeans will dry pretty fast so will be able to be brought in tomorrow before we go, I hope. Worst comes to worst, they will get brought in after we get back from the dr appts.

I put the cow in, fed the calf a bottle that was half milk from the milk I brought home last friday......had about 5 gallons... will up the milk amount to 3/4 bottle so will get another week out of it... I put it in the big cooler chest in 3 - 2 gal buckets with ice, to keep it good. It is milk from treated cows that had antibiotics, and the mastitis was cleared up but she was waiting for the withdrawal time to be up before they could put it back in the milk tank so it ought to keep good. I have to haul water up there for her tomorrow... there was not much in the trough when I put her in. If we get much rain, it will fill some of the troughs under the drip line of the roof... I need to clean out the few leaves that might be in them... but I am not going to count on it and I do not want to be hauling water if it is raining or just wet and damp on Thursday. Better to get it done tomorrow morning...

Got the mower out and used the sweeper and got 3 full" sweeper's". Got quite a bit of dried grass and leaves off the lawn... more to do but I need to get this all bagged. I did 3 / 50 lb feed bags stuffed... and have to find some more bags... I want to get that picked up before it rains... then deal with more after we get whatever rain we get.... Worked on that and it was getting later... DS called and said did I want to go to the bred cow sale??? I said I figured that he didn't want to go... so it wasn't a big deal... but he said well let's go... So I said okay... I needed to drop the samples off at UPS... I went to the farm, and he was going to take the truck and trailer... and I said I didn't think he wanted to take it since they were probably going to be too high... so we took the explorer... He put his jack and impact wrench on the truck to come change the tire after the sale...

Cattle were mostly pretty high... No, we didn't buy any. There were 2 or 3 that we might have bought... older smooth mouth cows or broken mouth cows... so bad teeth deal old cows... but they brought over cull cow/pound price... $13-1600 each. They were preg 5-7 months... No calves on them.
The rest.... OMG.... sold several pairs... groups of 3 and 4 and 5...their calves were 150 to 300 lbs.... some cows were actually confirmed bred back 2-3 months... like the cows we just preg checked that were avg 4 months with their 300 lb calves... Cows were in the 1200-1400 lb average... and were in very good shape...
HOW does $3950/ PER PAIR ???? for the top selling group.... MOST were in the 2800-3500 range....
Bred heifers were nearly all over $2000.... bred 3-6 months for different groups... many were in the 2300-2700. range.
Cows checked preg only 2 months were bringing more than cull cow price... 12-1300 lb cows were bringing $14-1800 a head...
Why people would pay those prices for cows that will not calve until next summer... and not have a saleable size calf for 18 months... is way beyond me..... and no calf on them to sell now...
Many did not have much/any udder.... so it was not like they were cows that had just had calves weaned off of them... these are cows with dry udders of no size.... so who knows when they last had a calf... some of the heifers that were sold looked "older"... they were saying 2 years... they were "old" 2 yr olds...

Yes, the cows with calves were nice... most were 4-8 yrs old so good for a few more calves at least. BUT.... holy cow.... too costly for our pocketbook....

So, we got home about 8:30... dropped DS at the farm where I picked him up.... he followed me up to the house and got the tire changed pretty quickly.... it is in the explorer so we can drop it off at the co-op to get it fixed. I will check the air in the other tires and will have to get the feed out so I can put the meters and all in the forester...for Thursday late aft test.... Have to see when the mechanic's shop, can put the outback on the schedule to get the wheel bearing done. I will use the forester for a work vehicle for awhile.. But I will have to take and get a couple metal cans for feed, to put it in them... guess I will keep it here at the house in the shed so there is no chance that anything can get it in at the nurse cow barn... and just take a bucket up there to feed the cow.... the holsteins are going to come here after they get dehorned and bangs vacc to eat some of the grass here... they will respect the electric netting or even just a couple strands... and I will have some fencing up eventually on the perimeter...

Concerning that,,, DS wants to come here this weekend to look at the where posts are going to go... where I might want gates... he is going to get the guy to drive a couple posts across the road where the fence goes down around the corner on the dirt road... where several tractor trailers that are not supposed to be on that road... have taken out the corner several times... instead of coming down to a 90 degree corner... DS is going to back it up a few feet do 2 45 degree angles... and put several BIG BOULDERS on the outside of the fence so any big trucks that take the corner and tear things up... will be tearing up their vehicle... We get tired of fixing it... and right now have several gate/corral panels to make the "corner" since the last 2 or 3 times we have rebuilt it, it has been torn up by a big truck... This is not a truck route... and they tear it down, bent T-posts... wood posts broken off or laid over... fence destroyed... and we are tired of it... cows get out and all that... and we keep fixing it... It is outside the "right of way" for the road... we will lose about 100 ft of grass but it will be worth it...

I got the plants back in the house on the shelves... but just covered the spider plants with 2 tarps... they are in hanging pots so the hanger is holding it up off the plant leaves... I also got the squash plants recovered with the small homemade "hoop shelter" I made for it... I forgot to take water out to them... so will have to do that...

Time to get the cattle panels down from the tomato plants the whole garden needs to be bush hogged off with the tall stalks of the sunflowers and all the weeds need to be shredded... maybe the calves will push/break it all down once they get moved here. I will be giving them the garden and all that area with all the grass around it to clean up too.

So, tomorrow, water for the cow in the lot, clean out the water troughs of what few leaves and junk might be in them.... bring the clothes in off the line; get the leaves/grass in bags and all in under the carport, get the tractor put in there too, so it doesn't get wet.... drop tire off ....call the mechanic shop...

Need to go to Rural King for feed while we are down there too... I am on the last bag and now with the cow... I will be going through more... it is $2-3.00 a 50 lb bag cheaper there... I mix the 12% and the 15 % together... can't get it delivered in bulk for those kind of prices; much as it would be nice to have it in my feed bin to not have to handle the bags all the time... at least I can use them for leaf/grass collection.
There are still quite a few leaves on the maple tree at the house... If we get much rain, they will not be near as nice but can go in the gardens to protect the plants, like around the area where the peony plants are... and make mulch for the garden... and if they dry out enough to rake... can go in the calf hutches for when they are here... just for some bedding... and then get moved around......so tomorrow is "crunch day to get the nicest ones bagged for winter chicken house use...

Got a couple texts back... going to test the 200 cow herd on Friday... have to set up meters there also... then do the herd that I helped get the program in their computer that does the "herd shares" , next Thurs eve and Fri morning... have to drop off the meters Wed or Thurs morning so they can run them through their sanitizer before milking Thurs aft. Still have a couple more to contact for testing next week or the next week, just before Thanksgiving.

Going in to get a shower and go to bed...