Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Boy, it is wet out there. But we are not getting the terrible winds and looks like they might stay to the east of the blue ridge mtns... fine by me. Looks like we are going to get some real serious rain later... 4-5 p.m....

 

[farmerjan]

We got by with mostly just rain all day. Breezy but the horrible winds stayed south and east... they got hit in NC and a couple counties in Va in the Halifax area with a couple tornado/straight line winds... power out and trees down. I did not look at the rain gauges, will record it tomorrow.
Sorry to see @Mini Horses has power problems. @Mother Hen is in the general area that got alot of rain and wind.... also @secuono , @canesisters . Hope they are all okay. Temps got up to 49 and will stay above freezing.... there is chance of more flooding.... then more rain coming in Friday??? and temps dropping... going to be a mess of a week.
Thoughts with everyone affected by this messy storm.

 

[secuono]

We got by with mostly just rain all day. Breezy but the horrible winds stayed south and east... they got hit in NC and a couple counties in Va in the Halifax area with a couple tornado/straight line winds... power out and trees down. I did not look at the rain gauges, will record it tomorrow.
Sorry to see @Mini Horses has power problems. @Mother Hen is in the general area that got alot of rain and wind.... also @secuono , @canesisters . Hope they are all okay. Temps got up to 49 and will stay above freezing.... there is chance of more flooding.... then more rain coming in Friday??? and temps dropping... going to be a mess of a week.
Thoughts with everyone affected by this messy storm.

Possible wind gusts up to 45mph over night. Rain stopped. Pond over filled, had to remove the pipe to let it drain faster. Flat areas under water. Creek almost overflowed, might still, as neighboring rain drains and flows by. But don't think it'll be anywhere as bad as it was a few years ago, that was nuts.

 

[Ridgetop]

I have 2 "calf hutches " here at the house..... but I would be outside in the rain/snow/weather to do the feeding; and they are basically big enough to lay down and sleep in them... no exercise room...

Calf hutches for summer calves and barn for winter calves.

 

[Mother Hen]

Yes @farmerjan I'm good. No trees came down, power stayed on cuz if it hadn't FH and I would have had to deal with the weather to go to his shed to get generator then deal with weather to get it close to house deal with weather to plug a couple extension cords in and run them in the house. He says the generator is just fine being stored in the shed out of the weather.

 

[Mini Horses]

Yeah, I wasn't doing a generator in this storm. Besides, dark & bedtime. Ours went out about 6:30 last night. I'm good for a while...frig & freezers full & closed. It's annoying more than anything. It will be on today, probably.

Have all I need ... Oil/kero/battery lamps, heat, food, water, propane burner to cook, etc. phone charger in car.

 

[farmerjan]

Wind came in late evening and has been blowing and gusting pretty hard ever since. Temps got down to 34 overnight. We did not lose power but with this wind we could easily have some trees come down so would not be surprised if it did go off.
Getting ready to go up the hill to the calves.
There was a big wreck on the interstate right at the exit 2 miles south of me and the traffic was non-stop on the road in front of my house as everyone was looking for ways to get around it. Really hate the traffic on this road.

Supposed to go set up for the farm this afternoon... going to contact them and make sure they still want to test.

 

[farmerjan]

Home for a few minutes.... Did calves this morning. Wind is drying out ground fast ...
Oh, dumped the rain gauges.... 1.9 inches in both of them..... WOW..... more than I would have believed.

Went and set up at the farm, for this afternoon.... Then had to go get the 2 things that got left at a farm last month... haven't been in that direction to just run by to get them... and I need 24 meters for tomorrow's herd so needed the pieces. PITA again. Got the 2 pieces, then stopped at TSC.... DS gave me a gift card for there and I wanted to see if they had another calf bottle; the kind I like; and treated myself to a bird feeder that they had marked down a couple dollars and I saw back awhile ago and liked. So I got it, found a "bottle brush" to help try to get to the bottom of the calf bottles, to clean them, but no calf bottle like I want. So, spent part of the gift card, and then came on home.
Called the herd for tomorrow to see how they made out with the past weather, and if they still wanted to test, and they said yes, let's go on and do it, as long as it works for me. I just decided that I would like to get it done and it will be a push tomorrow but I will do it.
Got all the meters in the car for tomorrow, and the hoses. Then came in and got the bottles all into trays, for this afternoon and for tomorrow's herd. Unloaded bird feeder and bag of bird seed, and the extra bag of milk replacer I had gotten when I was at the feed store last week.

So, I am in, ate some lunch and going to sit for a few minutes before I have to leave at 4 to go to farm to test. Will go back there in the morning, test, do the computer stuff, get the meters out of the parlor, come home, go feed calves, and then go to test the 240 cow herd for Thursday afternoon. Going to be a push...

@Mini Horses sent me a link to an article in Beef Magazine... regarding the beef cow inventory, the lack of cattle numbers to go on feed so that the buyers are going to have to pay more for the available cattle. Also, the beef cow inventory will be coming out the end of the month... and with the weather conditions in the mid-west and expected % loss of calves ( it is figured into most cattleman's numbers since calving in the winter, to get calves bigger to go out on grass, you have to allow for a % of loss) on top of the decreased breeding cattle from sell off's this past year (and some from previous years) due to the drought.... there are going to be less and less available calves this spring....
What it is getting at is that the cattle prices ought to be quite good this year... which I have been saying for the last 2 years... I don't have as much faith in the prices holding all year and into next year as some do... but this spring the prices ought to be real good.
Since DS said that he wanted to sell a group next month, then sell most all the weaned calves we have this spring, and I said I agreed.... we ought to be able to keep some pastures around the barn empty and let the grasses grow and even go to seed this year. Give them a break and them have grass to bring cattle home from summer pastures .... preferably in Nov like we used to do...
Plus, with expected higher calf prices, maybe get some bills caught up/paid off and get some things done that need doing...

Thanks @Mini Horses for the reference link..... yes, I try to keep up on some of this stuff besides just using long time experiences... but I always read any and everything I can find to get other's opinions.... just to know.. which way the winds are b lowing in other cattle areas.
Some good comments on the way other countries are trending too... especially with grain production....grain should be a little cheaper, so feed should stay the same at worst, and a little cheaper at best. Corn here in the US is down from the over $7 a bushel highs, down to the more "usual" $5 a bushel. Used to be corn was $3-$4 a bushel, but with the increased costs of producing it, $5 is still not bad... I know people with buying feed in small amounts feel it, and even with us buying by the ton we feel the increased prices.... but it is better than it was. Plus, nitrogen for fertilizer has dropped down from nearly $1.00 to about $.55... I think that is by the pound... but regardless... it is alot better than it was.

Got to get bottles in the car and get something to drink and get ready to go test. Temps got up to 44 but it has been sooooo windy all day... down to 38 already this afternoon....Not but a peek of sun all day... not much better tomorrow, then rain coming in again on Friday.

Also, vet preg check confirmed for Monday so whatever we can get moved to the barn for this trip.... doubt we will get the ones out of the nurse cow pasture... it is pretty wet up there where we have to back into the gate at the barn there. We'll see...

 

[Ridgetop]

A couple months ago Cody said that he wanted to increase his herd but he couldn't buy any cows because prices were so high.

 

[farmerjan]

A couple months ago Cody said that he wanted to increase his herd but he couldn't buy any cows because prices were so high.

You can't pencil out paying $2-3,000 for a bred cow.... if you figure it costs $750/yr to keep her... the calf needs to bring $1500.... gives you $750 for her yearly upkeep and $750 "profit" from the calf... at that rate... IF you get the same money for a calf every year for the next 4 years, then the calf "profit" goes into the cow, so the cow is paid for.... NOT going to happen except in most of our dreams... and that does not pay you anything in labor for taking care of that cow for those 4 years....what if she doesn't have a calf every year for 4 years? Then you can sell her and get back some of what she costs.... right now a decent cull cow is worth about $.85 /lb... so just say she brings you back $1,000.... and you got to sell 2 calves... you are basically at "even steven" against her cost.... you have gained nothing in the long run... And who is to say she would bring $1000 for cull price... but that is best case... what if she dies... like I buried my nurse cow... $$$$ in a hole in the ground....
Cody is right....cow prices are too high..... the only ones that can afford to buy bred cows or cow/calf pairs are people that have money to spend and do not depend on the cattle income to make a living/pay their own way....

Tested this afternoon, got to go to bed to get up and go back to this farm in the morning, pull meters off the wash line, come home feed calves and get trays of empty bottles to take to early afternoon farm...
It's down to 32 already, upper 20's they say tonight... then comes some more wet weather and temps here dropping next week also.... Hard ground would be nice actually....