Honestly don't know what we would do without friends. The guy who did the seeding, is like a brother to my son. About the same age and all. He has been a real help. In the past he had a major tractor breakdown and we took the smaller 4wd tractor over to him (it was bought at a good price, did some work on it so it could be sold, and doesn't look like it will ever get sold now as we use it enough to justify keeping it and the money invested in it. ); and he used it the better part of the winter. We weren't using it at the time. Have borrowed his cattle trailer, and I have helped haul some of his cattle to town on occasion. We have traded off and on over the years. Michael has used his fertilizer truck to put fertilizer down on our stuff, and has spread some of Steven's for him, when he has needed it done. He has 2 chicken houses now, and stays pretty busy with them, and his kids are getting into sports and stuff so we don't see them as much.
Several of the farmers in the area have offered to help trailer the cattle back to the home farm and such. I will try to get a better handle on who is going to go where, when they need to start coming "home". Have 12 c-cf pairs and the bull that will have grass for about 2 weeks, they will be the first to come back, and they will need to be pregnancy checked. Have 8 others at the barn that need to be preg checked now and then they can all go somewhere together; and the 4 old cows and their calves at the other place, will be going to town. Then there will be a couple more groups with calves (12 c-cf and 30 c-cf) at 2 different places to come back to the "home farm" and be preg ckd and the calves weaned and maybe sold. There are about 20 at another place with no calves that will need to be preg ckd but they don't have calves so not a big rush. They also have grass for awhile so not a priority.
Going to try to get the one group in tomorrow, and pull the big calves, put them in the barn lot to wean. Those cows are already ckd and will start calving soon. They were a little behind the rest for some reason....I think we got the bull in their pasture late last year.....
Got about 20+ with new calves to get in, get the calves tagged and bulls banded, and moved to a winter pasture. Then there will be room at the "home farm" to start moving the others home when they need to. Will have to work testing around it so that I can be off at least every other day, and not gone several days in a row. And be available for our retired vet friend to come do some of the preg checks to get these guys moved "out of the way" . I can use the truck to feed round bales away from the barn, and the tractor to feed at the barn. Will have to learn to use the skid loader so I can feed the silage at the barn to the weaned calves. That is going to be a little bit tricky.... but can get one of the guys to do it.
Son was in a lot of pain this afternoon/eve. They got him out of the bed and into the chair. Managed to use walker with "hopping on left foot" to go to the bathroom. Said they would asses how he was doing tomorrow, possible even to release him. Not thinking rehab, and I am still pushing it. He will naturally have in home rehab for a few weeks, I guess that is what they are thinking.... then rehab at the center at the hospital????? I don't know.
He is confiding more in the girlfriend than me for some of this so I am just going to back off if he prefers that. I will take care of the animals, and told him in as nice a way as I could tonight that he can't be micro-managing the cows if I am going to be doing the work. That I have talked to several already about what we will need to be doing.
Yes, he is going to be going stir crazy once he quits hurting so much. But I keep telling him that if he screws this up, and it doesn't heal right, and he has to have it replaced, then he is looking at 3 more months. Honestly, it would be good if it hurts for awhile, so he is less inclined to try to do something he shouldn't. Don't like seeing him in pain, but that is about the only thing that really slows him down. Maybe what the dr has been drilling in his head will sink in. And this girlfriend is pretty outspoken. Problem is, although she is from "country stock" her comments about him,; "oh he's gotta do this or that farming sheet", don't set real well with me. I look for her to talk him out of most or all of our farming enterprise.... and with what I hope is an uptick in prices in 2020 and more in 2021, I think her pushing him to give up stuff sooner rather than later is going to cause a big problem. He tells her things that he doesn't share with me and we are supposed to be in this as a "partnership type" deal. He does more of the work now, but I have tried to support him through all the girlfriends, ups and downs, everything. I think we should cut down a bit more, but we have been weathering all the real bad prices now. To get out before it has a little more chance to rebound is foolish. I'm really hoping I am wrong, but I feel like it is going to be a problem for us (ME).... These cattle were to be my "extra" income, in the future..... I just hope that I am wrong on that subject.
Trying to give it some time and breathing room.