Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mini Horses]

We're supposed to see rain...Mon .07" and Wed maybe 3/4". More would work. Warmer here, all week

 

[Baymule]

I got 3 1/4” on Wednesday. Tried to go to church, was sliding and fishtailing so I turned around and came back home. Texted a friend that I wasn’t gonna make it and why. No rain on Thursday, got 3/4” Saturday and today. We needed that rain. It was dry here.

Im glad you are feeling brand kicking the crud.

 

[farmerjan]

Been a pretty good day. Lots of little things worked on as my energy was allowing. It got all the way up to 68 on the recording thermometer... sun and nice... I was out in T-shirt for awhile

Put a gal of tea out to steep. Load of laundry of the sweatshirts and flannel jeans, done and hung out. Put several bags of garbage in the car to take to dumpster....

Got the jumper cables and the ranger pickup started right up.... but it was alot warmer today than the other day when it was way below freezing, too. The battery is just getting weak... need to put the new one in it. Keep this battery for the charger for the garden with the solar panel to keep it charged up...

Took and changed the brackets on the meters to use them on Tuesday. Changed around my schedule a little bit... We are testing the 500+ cow herd on Monday since their vet was last monday. Doing the 100 cow herd on Tuesday that needs the meter brackets changed, instead of Thursday. Doing the 100 cow herd that doesn't need meters, that I cancelled just before Thanksgiving when I wasn't feeling good... on Wed... DS has Dr appt in blacksburg on Thursday and a trip to Rural King for grain for the cow....and DS needs dog food... I haven't set anyone up for then because I was not sure of timing getting home.. And maybe I need an afternoon off... Haven't gotten any further than that... but have 3 more to schedule so probably will do at least one more on Friday or Saturday; then a couple next week.

Then I went out to the trailer... got the top box that was falling apart off and unloaded... the directions were in it and actually fully readable... PLUS, all the screws etc were in it and I was able to catch them when the plastic was disintegrating...
Then low and behold... managed to find the other 2 boxes that went with this set... got them off the trailer. Unfortunately, there is one board and a part of another that are rotten... looks like they collected water... and the corner rotted out.., Of course, one has like a groove where the roof part slides in it... Going to have to figure out what/how to fix it... But... after getting them all opened up, and spread out on the grass... I realize that another of the boxes looks like it has the same numbers... so MAYBE I can take another box apart (the corrugated cardboard is all falling apart after 3 years) and steal this whole 4x4 section?? Anyway, feel better that they are all out and at least I know that I have one complete set...minus the "needs fixing" piece.

Sadly, the mice have been into the boxes and they have made a MESS of the styrofoam pieces that were packed to keep the stuff from sliding and banging and all that inside the boxes... You know the puffballs of styrofoam? Well, I was trying to scrape as much of that into a garbage bag so it wasn't all over the place.

But I am making progress. Turns out this is a large "run"; something for them to be outside but no coop in it... That's okay though, I can use the crate that the hens used to go in at night to put them into.
It has a "roof section" over part of it, and that is one of the corners that is rotten... but it is all hardware cloth type wire for the outside.... so protection from dogs etc getting after them.
There are 2 boxes that are the same, still on the trailer... says box 1 of 3; and 1 box I can't see since it is down inside of the trailer sides... these 2, I think are the ends ... the first box I got off that was falling apart, has the 2 ends of this "enclosed run". If the 2 boxes that are the same, are both "ends" then it would be alot easier to just make the side pieces the same size as what I have , to make 2 more "runs"... even looking at possibly making the "complete" one that is now off the trailer... a section "shorter" on the sides and making a smaller one with the sections I don't put in the original one.... It is going to be something like 12 x 16 or something for the full sized one... so maybe I could make it 12 x 8 and 2 use the extra side panels to make another 1`2 x 8? Or just use the measurements on the complete pieces and just make the sides for 2 more... I didn't measure.. so will take the tape measure out there and see exactly what size it is... I just got all the pieces out... tried to figure out what went where... need to get my dewalt battery thing (impact wrench?) that will screw in the screws, and start putting it together..
Directions says it can be assembled in 90 minutes... YEAH right... it will take me hours to do it... I am NOT carpentry inclined and not very adept at putting stuff like this together...and I just don't like to do it... give me cows and preg checks and sorting them and all that...

There are also 2 boxes that are different as one says box 1 of 2... so maybe I have another complete coop and run combination ????......again, can't see the bottom box since it is down in the trailer with the sides blocking me from seeing... and the set I took off is 1 of 3, 2 of 3, and 3 of 3 .... boxes...and the other 2 boxes say 1 of 3 and the little model number that I can see are the same as this set... so there are 2 boxes I can't see anything because they are down in the trailer where the sides are too close and the one on the end is totally devoid of any writing...

So, the pieces are all laying out... yes they will get wet tomorrow... wash off the mouse turds and smell...
If it is not raining much I might go out and see about getting the front section and the back sections put together... maybe the first 2 side pieces so the front section stands up straight... so I can "see it" and then it might make more sense to me...
I covered the trailer back over so the rest doesn't get rained on/ wet again. Took all the loose, falling apart parts of the cardboard boxes, loaded on the ranger pickup. Back is full. I will take it to the dumpster tomorrow with the couple bags of household trash I stuck in the car.

Went out and dug some more potatoes. The ones that were close to the surface did freeze so are soft... but the frost/frozen ground is only was about 2 inches down, or so; so the ones that were deeper are good. I will try to dig more when the rain softens and thaws the ground. I would really like to get 2 pigs to put in the garden for the winter to really clean it up and dig it up some. I started on untying the strings for the tomatoes along the cattle panels.. will try to get them down here in the next week or 2.

DS had the guy come with the "forestry mulcher" and clean up a couple spots along the property line... along the road.....there was a bunch of small junk trees, brush etc... alongside the one dead ash tree, and another tree was too big for them to chop up...DS is going to have to use the chain saw to take them down... also cleaned up some of the other brushy stuff so that it will be easier to put posts in... Going to ask him if he thinks I should do 1 wood and 1 T-post.... for the perimeter... The guy with the forestry mulcher is cleaning out next door in the pasture we rent... there is so much autumn olive garbage growing up... and he wants to get a fence row cleaned out so they can build new fence there... owner has been talking about it for years... plus fix that corner that the tractor trailers take out all the time when they are on this road where they aren't supposed to be... then he will put the big boulders on the outside of the fence so they can tear up their equipment and not the fence all the time. Instead of a 90 degree corner,,, it will be 2/ 45 degrees with a short straight piece inbetween.... The guy with the forestry mulcher was finishing up a job and told DS he would get to it this week... but he came Sat and started on it...

Turns out the Christmas tree lot is closed... they are short of trees, couldn't get all he wanted to plant a couple years in a row... and with not much rain, growth was minimal this year and so they did some for regular customers... pre picked out... and that was it. DS went today to get a tree for ex and the kids..... and I said to him... there's the opportunity for a retirement job... they are talking about retiring from it...they are my age.... would be perfect for DS to lease it or maybe buy the 6-8 acres there maybe... he said yeah, it occurred to him when he was over there... I have told him that he ought to talk to them a couple times... but he obviously wasn't listening.. said there is alot of "up front costs" and it is 8 years to the first harvest... but if he could lease it with the trees that are already there.. or buy it..then there would be some income from the get go...... he is friends with them... it is their pasture across the road behind me....that we rent.... where they are going to build new fence and are doing the forestry mulching... their kids don't want it... like they didn't want this house...

So, I went up to the pasture and put the jersey in... fed the bottle; fed the calves and all. I waited and put her back out since I didn't take any water with the back of the truck being full of junk. I did make sure all the tubs were empty of leaves and stuff and all are under the eaves so that if it does start to rain, they will get runoff from the roof.
Tomorrow I will put the cow in, early since we have to leave by 3 the latest, to go test the 500 cow herd.

Then I came home, got the clothes off the line... picked up some of the potatoes I had dug...

Also got the last of the bags of feed mixed in buckets, for the cow and the couple heifers... and in the red car. We will take the explorer to the dr appt and Rural King on Thursday...

Done, and in the house. I have set a goal of at least 2 containers of shredded paper a day/evening... so working on that... the trash container isn't very big... but the shredder gets hot if you run it constantly... so 2 is very doable.

Made the iced tea and put in the fridge... Got lots of clothes to fold...Need to do some dishes.

Just got text that the heated mattress pad has been shipped... supposed to get here tomorrow. maybe Tues... Next cold snap is Thursday... so that is great.

Got a big basket full of sheets, mattress pad, blanket and spread to take to the laundramat to do in the big machine next time I go that direction.

Guess it is time to sit and work on some shredding.... or clothes folding... or something constructive...

 

[Baymule]

You will have to take pictures of the coop and send to @Mini Horses for her to post for you. You sure have a lot of work lined up to keep you busy for next couple of weeks!

 

[farmerjan]

Got up to 45 degrees. Some sprinkles.. looks wet but not "real wet".

DS called for me to come get him and take him to the barn, he went out to get in truck and had a flat tire. Wanted to go get the airtank, or a tire to change it... so I got dressed and went and took him to the barn. He was going to take the other truck up with the tire so I came home.

Haven't had much and it looks like it is going past us. I will check the rain gauge in a little bit. The sun is actually trying to come out. I just looked at the radar and it is going to pretty much be over for the day. Not encouraging. There is more in the forecast but not like a good solid rain.
Glad for the warmer temps though.

Going out to put the boxes for testing in the explorer since I have the meters and hoses all loaded in the outback for Tues afternoon testing.

Stomach was growling so I ate a pbj sandwich.

Going to go up to the cow after I get the explorer loaded and everything I need to test this afternoon.

Seems I can't get focused. Oh well, get out and get the car loaded and I might get my stuff together.

 

[farmerjan]

Wed morning. It is raining. Finally.

Yesterday I got all the samples from the big herd packed. took them with me when i left to go to test and saw a UPS driver just down the road... followed him to his stop and gave him the boxes. They are prelabeled so I don't have to get them weighed or anything, so any driver can take them. Worked great so I didn't have to make a special stop in town.
Went to get the sample and info from the farmer I get my milk from but told him I would get my milk later. Didn't have the cooler chest with me and of course, it was warm out in comparison to what it has been. So needed to keep it cold.
Tested, and got done and came on home. Stopped on the way to pick up my milk and got talking to the farmer for a bit. Then came home.
It had started to rain just as I left the farm I was testing. Had a couple of showers while we were talking and then came on home.

Got alot of wind overnight but it has rained off and on. This morning it is cloudy, some fog, and still raining some. Temps were in the 50's all night and will be for awhile today. BUT.... there is a cold front behind it... coming in by this evening as the rain continues east and leaves. We might get some snow showers at the end of it and temps tonight are supposed to drop to the teens. Pneumonia weather for sure....

Going in to pack samples from last night's herd. Then I will go up to the cow and calves...on my way to test this afternoon. I am going to leave her in and feed extra hay. I also will put the calf coats back on the calves since it is going to drop so dramatically later.

Need to eat something and get things done.

 

[fuzzi]

We're getting similar weather, lots of rain, wind, branches all over the roads. Last night I heard thunder. Temperatures are also supposed to drop, but just to 30° here.

 

[farmerjan]

BRRRR the wind has cut the temps almost in half. It rained off and on until at least 2-3 p.m.. I got a little wet putting the samples in the car to go to UPS, and the bottles for testing.
Got the samples packed and stuff loaded in the forester. Figured if I had to go feed, and didn't need meters, I could just as well take the forester and not have to try to put feed bucket in the outback.

I made a bottle for the calf, went up there, it was a little slippery near the barn... Fed calf, fed cow grain, put 3/4 sq bale in bunk... fed the 2 calves that were in the creep gate in the barn... Put the calf coats on them... I need to put a "regular" size on the "little jersey"... he's not so little... instead of the small/twin size coat... but they are "buckled in" for the night.

Then I went by the dumpster and dropped off the stuff that was in the car to go out... the stuff on the back of the ranger is wet and I didn't want this stuff to blow out of the back... so just dropped it off.

Then headed to town... dropped the samples at the UPS store.

Went by the bank and deposited the check from DS for my one heifer that was sold the other day.

Then I went to test. They weren't going to start milking until after 4... getting a little later than they used to... so I wasn't late like I thought I might be. Running about 100 through. Got done, computer work went good.. then left and came home.

The wind had picked up... and it is really gusting out there. I stopped and filled the forester since gas was a little cheaper up there... got regular for 2.84; it was 2.87 and I had the .03 cents off shell/kroger card... It was cold just putting the gas in the car. BRRRR.

Brought the samples in, will pack them this evening as soon as I eat something. Then I can drop them off tomorrow on the way home from DS dr appt....

Heated mattress pad came, will get it on the bed tomorrow. Don't want to tear everything apart this evening.
Temp is dropping... radio was saying it would get down to 31 and it is already 29.... I believe the other forecast that said upper teens or low 20's.... the wind is whipping around out there... Time to eat and go to bed...

 

[farmerjan]

Sat morning. It was a "balmy" 21 this morning... BRRR. Sun is out, and warming up where the sun hits the recording thermometer sending unit... it will soon move around and temp will "drop" a bit... OH WELL... it is winter time...

Have not gotten the heated mattress pad on bed yet... have a pile of clothes on one side that need going through and haven't gotten to them...

Got to get the sample bottles in the racks for this afternoon... got the 250 +/- cow herd to go to later today. Then got to change the brackets on 12 of the meters for this herd and make sure I have the right length hoses in the car. Need 2 long ones because they have the brackets for the meters up high on the end due to the opening and shutting of the gates compared to the others ones hanging much lower at the other stalls.

It takes a long time to milk simply because they only have a double 6... so 12 total milking units...... the parlor is too small for that size herd... it was designed for 125 cows or so... this farm is putting in robots... but like everything else.. it is taking twice as long as they thought... so we will see how much longer I will be going there... Thought that I might get a test in this month then that would be it... but it is going to be a little longer by the looks of it. I will know more after this afternoon's test.

The farm I went to the other day is talking robots also... I was very surprised... but the one son does not like to get up at 3 in the morning... so will see. Won't be for another year at least...

We wound up with about 1.2 inches of rain the other day total... a help for sure. But we are still in drought status. If anyone is interested... you can go on the US Drought Monitor... it will pull up a map of the US or you can look up your specific state.. a good part of the country is in unusually dry to moderate drought status... In fact lower middle TN is in severe to extreme drought in the general area @Mike CHS is in... even with the horrible flooding.. the actual ground conditions are still in drought status since that water poured down and washed away...
Understand that this is where alot of food is grown... with out a lot of irrigation like is common out in the western states. It is not good to be in this condition... and not for a prolonged time frame.

Supposed to get some "weather" moving in for late tonight, into Sunday... snow/wintry mix to start and changing to a cold rain...

Time to get the bottles in the racks and get things ready to go. Will go up to do the cow and calves... put her in. Got to mix feed for them since I just got more at the Rural King on Thursday.

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday morning. Expected to get up to possible snow, ice, wintry mix. NOPE nothing. Temp is right at 31 now... and by the looks of the radar, a "wave went over 4-6 a.m. and it is probably still so dry out there that it didn't even make it to the ground. 2nd wave coming this way... but if it warms up even a couple degrees, it will be a cold rain. Not really expecting as much out of this as they had hyped it up to be.

Went and tested yesterday. Actual milking time from 1:30 to 6:30... 250 cows. Which is about what a parlor like that is designed to do... 45-50 cows per hour. It's just that it is too many cows and too long for people to be in there... which is why they are going to robots instead of making the parlor bigger... which is what I would have done if it was mine... BUT.... all these guys are wanting to get away from hired help... and being in the barn 2x a day every single day.... This way, with robots, you have to make sure the cows are going in and getting milked... all the electronics and stuff read the cows that have been in, what they milked, and the ones that are not accessing the robots to be milked.
They will wind up culling 20-30 cows at least. Some will not want to make the change, and will not come in voluntarily... some that have hard to milk udders, will not work and the robots will not be able to attach the milking inflations to the cows teats... especially ones that have teats very close together... they can be programmed for cows that have a bad quarter, to not attach the milking inflation to that quarter....
These robots are designed for cows that have uniform udders... so all the new heifers should do good if they have an "average" udder.... it will be a "cookie cutter" herd of "udders".... which just goes along with the culling of cows that do not fit the mold.
They have some cows that need to be culled... some with pretty bad feet that do not get around all that great. But it is different with a human making them come into the barn to get milked and them wanting to go in on their own. Those type will all get culled even if they are otherwise a good milking cow.

Oh well... more farmers are going to robots so that they do not have to be there twice a day, everyday... the robots give some flexibility... but they are expensive to maintain... The way they work does amaze me... but not something I would ever want to deal with. I understand that the fluids, and things needed to maintain them run between $500-1,000 PER MONTH.... but then that is considered cheaper than a hired person... so I am told... And I guess a good hired milker makes at least $2,000 a month... which is only $24,000 a year... or more.. so I guess they balance out... The samplers that they can add so that they get a milk sample are 5-10,000 per robot and very delicate... so there are not many farmers that add them... and our company will not invest in them for the relatively small number of herds with these robots. They require careful handling and are not the easiest to add from what I am told. I would like to see it in action... but have no desire to get involved with using them. Past that time of my life.

Got home and brought the samples in, so that I could pack them this morning without having to go out in the wet/crummy weather... Oh well.... still, nice they are already in the house...

Got a herd set for Tuesday and another for Wed.... still got 2 more that I haven't gotten in touch with. Both need meters so not taking anything out of the car... Not that I want to test 4 straight days, but would be nice to get Mon and Thurs scheduled.

There is a bred cow sale on Tuesday but I won't go since I am testing... Might stop by there on the way home from testing since I will be going right through town.... not that we are going to be buying anything...

Guess I will go in and make some hot cereal, and put away the dishes in the dish drainer I washed yesterday. Go from there...