Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Friday morning. Slept hard after all the driving yesterday. It was a good day though so no complaints.

DS called last night... we did not get ONE SINGLE THING at the online auction that we went to look at all that stuff yesterday... It was basically over at 7 pm... and he said stuff went from looking like a few bargains to STUPID HIGH .... things like the tires for the skid loader brought new prices, the couple of bale feeders brought twice what he thought "was enough", the big truck that he thought might be a good thing for hauling silage that started out at 1500 and was a bargain, and at about $4,000 he said was a fair price, brought over 8,000, several other things that were way overpriced in his thoughts. So we had a day out yesterday... and didn't spend anything except gas money...
Don't know how the auction here close, will wind up this evening... he said there are 2 others bidding against him on the 2 silage carts we are very interested in... and we know the value of them since we have several.... a couple other things we said would be useful around the farm... so we'll see.

Deb called and is out at the farm for 2 days but has to go back Sat eve... so we will eat supper this evening... DS cut some of the fields there as she has a friend that wants to bring out her horses for a bit... and there is alot of fencing that needs to be fixed/done that has had damage from the ice storms the last couple years, and the fencing is getting older and some of the posts are rotting and breaking off so there are some stretches of wood board fencing that needs replacing. DS cut the fields on the one side of her driveway, that need the least amount of fixing in a few spots.... he didn't want to cut much more due to the cloudier conditions the next few days although we are probably not getting any moisture from that storm... but hoping that we get some from the one coming in from the Atlantic Tues-Wed maybe. I will rake it on Sunday most likely... it is not real thick so ought to dry okay... He can bale it on Sun eve or Mon before the forecast possible moisture.
He did bale the one other field down the road I raked and will bale across the road from me today sometime he said.
I am going to go out and see about getting out my mower and getting on this grass here. It has been quite heavy dew the past couple mornings, but not as bad today... past time to get on it. Need to get some stuff cleaned up and things starting to get put away for the winter coming... Won't be too hot out here today.

Got lots of tomatoes to pick, and some other stuff to do out there... cut down the corn stalks... might just make 2 "shucks" for decoration here... or just take to the cows. Have to go do some feeding if DS isn't going to do it today. Haven't heard back from Lindsay about sat testing....

 

[farmerjan]

Also, compare 1) same CO that has your home...normally a package gives discount between those. 2) shop a lesser "known" company. Some larger ones cover so many that the ratio of overall claims to overall covered allows them to give a better rate. Don't tie it in for multi years. Re-rate for adding or dropping a vehicle -- bad.

Yeah, we are looking at multi discount for company having house and vehicles... trying all angles before I commit... and that is why the guy here said he would talk to his friend that is a whiz at vehicle insurance as he can seem to find things others don't ... Luckily I have 2 weeks to "play around" looking before it gets critical...

 

[Mike CHS]

I was with USAA for over 40 years but we switched to Farm Bureau since we needed farm and equipment insurance that USAA couldn't provide. Overall cost was lower for more insurance.

 

[farmerjan]

Friday night. In and done...
Was a nice day. DS did get the field across from me baled this afternoon... I took him over some iced tea when he was half or a little more done... knee is aching some but he needs to do some of these jobs for a little while to get things working better... not any real "pain" but sore and aching.
He was surprised and called me to tell me there was alot more of the mix of wheat/rye/orchard grass in there than he expected. Said he originally thought we would do good to get 15 rolls, then after cutting it said it might make 25 or so... I told him it was thicker than he realized... and he wound up with 50.....yes, 50 ..... 5x5 rolls for the cows and it was perfectly dry to bale. That is a BIG PLUS.....

He was going to go, after baling the hay, and get the "new to him" skid loader he bought from a friend of a friend who bought a bigger one for their operation.... he had been wanting a bigger one...it needs some work and got it for a good price. He looked at it and said it was worth what they wanted with what needs doing... some hydraulic cylinders need to be rebuilt... and our friends in VT ... their son specializes in that... DS needs to make a trip up there to visit and get away from here anyway this fall.... it won't be until cattle things are caught up... corn chopped and all that... has a couple other cylinders that need rebuilding so will take everything that we have and make a trip and go visiting...

He did cut the couple of fields at Deb's, and I will rake them on Sunday.... the effects of that storm that is hitting some of the south central states, some to @Mike CHS area too... is staying south and west of here... doubtful we will even have much for clouds for the next 2-3 days... before the more hopeful looking precip comes this way for early-mid week....

Had supper at Deb's, took tomatoes and a couple of cucumbers from the garden, couple of the peppers, and some sunflowers too for her to look at.

Got 3 boxes emptied of bottles so I can go to the 500+ cow herd tomorrow... I guess I am going... haven't heard anything so planning on it. I always take 2-3 empty boxes and 10 full boxes of bottles, that's 600 bottles... so we have extras... Will get sandwiches tomorrow to take. If she does not show up I am going to try to do it myself... will probably be exhausted but I can do double 12 parlors, so will just have to hustle more for a double 16... we'll see... might be worried for nothing and she will show up as planned at 3 to leave.

I ran 4 batteries dead on the weed eater earlier today. Working on the junk that has grown up all along the porch and deck and all that. Moved some of the large tubs of plants around, so I can mow around them; and will try to get to some mowing....in the next day or 2. Before we are due to get the rain.

I have to take all the meters and the hoses out of the outback since I need to put all the boxes for testing in the back. Clean out the stuff in the front seat area too... Can't use the explorer as it is making a grating noise and DS thinks it is the right front brake... so need to pull the wheel he said... so I won't drive it until he checks it.

DS said there was a new calf in the calving field so they are starting the fall calving looks like.

Time to quit for the night.Have a LONG list of things for tomorrow so will see what I can get crossed off it.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, partly sunny and nice out. A little humid. Started out 60, up to mid 70's last time I looked. Might hit 80 if the sun stays out like it is.

So, meters and hoses put away, car cleaned out, boxes loaded for sample bottles. Ready to go.

Talked to DS a couple times as he was checking cows and moved the ones from the one field to another and wanted to know about #'s .... how many etc... then he went to the pasture I was feeding them down at the catch area to get them moved... and there is 1 missing he says... so I haven't heard back as to whether he found her or she came down on her own or what.

Hadn't heard from Lindsay... so sent a text... got an immediate reply, driving, can't text, sent from my rogue... seems her car sends that automatically to any text that comes in when she is driving... which is good. So I called her, and said I never heard and was she still going to be able to go help me... She's sorry, she had to go to Winchester... she said she typed out a message and must have forgotten to hit send....
So, do I try to go do it by myself???? I am thinking yes, and I know it will really work me to do the whole thing as long a parlor as it is..... but I am pretty fed up with all this.

Really makes me think even more seriously about saying the he// with it and retire.

Deena said she could help this coming Thursday.... and she gave me fair notice what she could do. She is working 2 other part time jobs, so juggles schedules.

Just made a sandwich for me to eat now since I didn't eat breakfast. One of the guys that is milking this afternoon, that I set things up with, is slower than the other ones milking so might be able to manage it without too much trouble...he had surgery on his knee a year or so ago, so knows what things are for DS...... Guess I won't know until I try. I might slow them up a bit in the parlor, and they might get a little upset.. maybe it will go okay... I just want to get it done now.

 

[Ridgetop]

very nice people but no practical understanding of farming... so got into a discussion about things like free range chickens and how their life is not necessarily better when they are subjected to being picked off out in the "freedom" of being loose... the whole thing of "antibiotics" in milk..... NONE or the farmer can lose his license to produce milk.... organic and what it can mean for an animal to suffer, when an antibiotic can cure something...... just all sorts of things...anyway... we had a good discussion

Amazing how much people don't know if they are not associated with farming, but feel free to criticize the ag community for how they work. Good that you were able to give them some information about realities in farming/livestock. I love when people talk about "free-range" or "organic" with out really understanding what they are talking about.

 

[farmerjan]

Very busy night in the parlor... had a little help by one of the workers at the farm... he would write numbers on some bottles and get a few milk samples along... got it done but I had no time for a sit down to take a minute break. Would not want to do it by myself very often, but it can be done with a little bit of help along.
Crashed when I got home.
Headed to go rake hay so he can bale it later or tomorrow. It is partly sunny out there, 70 already but won't get too hot since there will be some clouds off and on all day.

 

[farmerjan]

In for some late lunch. Ate a ham and cheese sandwich and some cottage cheese with apple butter...

Got the hay raked, left the tractor and rake at Deb's and brought the red&white bale bed truck back. We will need the tractor and rake there and a few fields near there, next. It's a better place to park it down there with it not near the road or temptation for some jerk to mess with it....
Wound up taking the time to move the rest of the bales of wheat/rye/orchard grass off the field across from my house; over to the side where DS will put them in rows down the one side along the trees. He had moved some... or had unloaded them out of the baler on that end when it was a full bale, so had about 20 to move over there. This way he can put them in rows with the tractor without driving all over the field to get them one at a time (move 2 with the bale bed).... If it rains on Mon-Tues-Wed or whenever this week, from the tropical "disturbance" they say is forming along the GA/SC/NC coast and supposed to come inland... same one that is going to affect @Mini Horses .... any rain will fall on the orchard grass that was trying to come up when the drought hit earlier this spring/summer.... might come up better than DS thinks... but obviously it is better if the bales are not sitting on the field and it all gets rained on evenly.

So then I finally got back here to the house a bit ago... Got the load of jeans out on the line and put some summer type work shirts, all my snap shirts that I wear on the tractor, other light weight stuff, in to wash. They will dry fast, so I will try to get them out later and they will be dry by the time I get the jeans in tomorrow too.

Going to go out and get some mowing done for a bit. Going to load a bunch of stuff to go in the dumpster in the morning when I leave to go to massage therapist. I am treating myself to a good massage tomorrow. I figure I need it and I deserve it. I have to get the samples all packed but I am going to have to go get the racking list as their printer said out of toner/ink, and at 10 last night, no one knew anything about where/what to find it.... and I couldn't print anything. . Aggravating as all he//.....
So, car has been parked under the tree so it wasn't too hot... I am going to bring all the boxes in and have them ready so I can work on packing them tomorrow afternoon, then load the bags for the dumpster in the car.

Going up to the nurse cow pasture and do the calves in a bit, and have 2 buckets of grain to feed all the cows too so I can fly spray some of them too.... and just check on them. Have 3 that are bred to calve here this fall... so want to keep an eye on them. Plus trying to get the 200 lb calves to come in for grain more so we can catch them all in and work the bull calves and give black leg vaccs. Most are coming in but there are still 1 or 2 that sometimes don't see any need to come in....

Been a nice day out. 80 but with a good breeze so very comfortable.

 

[farmerjan]

DS called, neighbor wants to borrow a bull to breed one or 2 cows. So DS asked about the bull at the nurse cow field... and he is due to come out and does not throw big calves, so I said sure, take him down there... BUT... it meant I had to go up and get them all in, to get the bull in... So, that is what I did instead of mowing... Forgot to hang the clothes too... . I went up there and got the calves in first to eat some... and then had to go around the pasture to the other area where the bull was... and he followed the car when I called him (and the other cows) and then when they were all around the barn, I managed to get him and some others in and they got to eat some grain and I shut the gate before all the rest came in and I fed them grain out in the troughs.
Then I went down to check the water and they had all been down drinking as it was way way low... the poor goldfish was having trouble swimming. So I got a bucket and rescued it, and wound up taking it across the road to the water trough at the winter pasture, (behind my house basically) and putting it in there... There are a whole bunch of goldfish in there though... some need to be moved to another pasture where there is alot of algae in the troughs...
The water is coming into the trough at the nurse cow pasture, but very slow... So they are making the rounds and drinking it way down, then probably not going down there during the night, so that is why it has been up to 3/4 ths full, most days I have looked at it in the morning. Of course, the cows all came down after eating the dry pellets and were sucking it down to a couple inches... I will check it tomorrow... but the fish will do fine in the other one as it is full to the overflow pipe... just not much in there to eat. I will get some fish food for them, until some get moved to another trough.

So, he came to get the bull after I got him sorted and into the barn to load... and then told me to go to the calving field at doug's as there is a cow with a little dead calf.. he couldn't read the tag but thought it was my old cow... there are 3-4 in there that are really getting some age...

It is my cow, she had a dead calf by the looks of it... very small... I would say a couple weeks early... looks like she aborted it and it was dead. Fully formed but very small.. like a twin size but no other calf there. So, it was supposed to be her last calf... and does not have much of an udder which is another thought that it is early... I will not try to buy an EXPENSIVE $500 calf to put on her. She will just get sold sooner rather than later... So whenever we bring some of them in from that field for any reason she will get brought in and sold as a cull cow. Her last daughter is in WV at pasture with the other heifers, so there is that.

By this time it was getting dark so I came home... and then just a little bit ago I remembered the clothes...
Hope I get up early enough to get them on the line before I go to the massage therapist... have to leave here by 8..... figuring traffic and all... clothes are in the basket by the door to take them out to hang.. The jeans are hanging at least.

Samples in boxes are all in the house, and recycle stuff in the car. Might not get all the trash in before I go, if I can get the clothes hung.... Not far to take to the dumpsters, so will do it when I get back... Have to go get the stupid list to pack samples anyway... and I need to go to the grocery store so will do that all on the way back. Always something to sideline my plans, like this evening, to do certain things...

DS brought the tractor up and got all the bales across the road into a row and brought some from another field with the bale truck, and got them put in the row too... Took the r&w truck home and left the tractor.
He will bale that hay, that I raked today, tomorrow morning he said.
He took a load of sq bales off a wagon, across the mountain to the lady that we have been selling hay to for over 20 years. Then stopped with his flat bed trailer and picked up the backhoe that a good friend borrowed to dig some water lines at his house; so dual purpose trip.

Weather forecast is now saying some serious rain and wind from this tropical storm coming up the cost and inland. 1-3 inches with very windy conditions... Tues-Thursday... we can use the rain so not going to complain... I would have to haul water for the calves in the catch pen if it was not going to rain as they cannot reach the water in the trough if it is not filling up all the way... So, we will see what Tuesday brings.. and if I have to will take them a couple 15 gallon barrels to get them through... might see how time goes tomorrow and take some unless the rain looks imminent. Got all the water troughs ready, under the edges of the roof so can catch all the water for them..
It will be great on these fields we have cut... especially the one across from me... get the orchard grass a chance to grow and no competition from weeds or anything now.

Got to go to bed....

 

[Baymule]

That’s too bad about the dead calf. Sorry about the loss.
Hanging clothes on a line to dry is a good thing, but you gotta remember to hang them up! LOL My dryer isn’t working so I ran wire across my front porch, it’s covered, so doesn’t get full sun, but so far it’s working.

I hope you get some rain.