Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

SOS Same Old Sch!t. Too bad he can’t meet someone else who would actually be a good woman.
I hope you don’t get in on hauling square bales to those cows that he didn’t get moved. It’s his screw up, let him (and probably her) deal with it.

Come to think of it, have you ever told him to do it himself because he didn’t do it when he should’ve and it’s his problem now?

 

[Mini Horses]

Yep -- SOS!! It's annoyingly depressive -- wish there was a way to awaken his "get on with life" mode. . I'm sure his current work status is causing much of the "confusion" & lacking that he's experiencing with priorities.

Hope he got several rolls of hay up to the "stranded" group of cattle to get through the ice/snow. Then they can get moved when weather switches back to let them be moved, which will happen in a week or so. But 35 cows/calves will need a LOT of hay of hay....I'm guessing a roll a day at least. Scary thought.

Sorry you're feeling poorly again. Hope it's not a relapse of "winter crud" from last month.

 

[farmerjan]

Just a few minutes before I get going to the barn.... It got down to 10 last night... Cloudy already so won't be much of a warm up like yesterday with the sun.
No sq bales to the big bunch of cows... he takes rolls in... he took sq bales to the group yesterday to get them in the pen. The big bunch of cows are eating 4 rolls every other day.... 2 a day... He will have to take some in today so that he does not have to go in there in the new snow tomorrow.... We had a line along the hayfield there, that is where the damn bear likes to roll them all over the place... but had left about 20-25 there... I think he said there are 6 left so he will have to take 2 with him every time he goes in there, but they won't last another week.... it is just a pain to have to go feed that far away, and these cows need to be preg checked and calves weaned off too..

Took some of my "preventitive" (dental) antibiotics last night and will take some more today... Throat is not quite as raw right now. Have to eat though, or they make me stomach sick. Making some hot cereal now.

So, I am off to get going here...

He will never find someone else, since he won't let go of the past. It is a moot point anymore.....

His not working has been a double edged sword. He is getting alot done at the farm, and has been better with the headaches some, since alot of the stress has been off... but then he sometimes gets "adrift" without a structured day. The good thing is he is not having to work 12 hour night shifts at work when it is snow plowing and salting, and do all this during the day and try to sleep too... He talks to a couple of the guys that he worked with, and they tell him what a sch!t show it has become... and he makes some comments about all the stuff on the roads, that was not done this last snow/ice mess... and he misses the "guy" connections I know... I think this has triggered the "talking to her again" thing. Like I said, I give up... he is never going to move on as long as she is alive to talk to and she will stab him in the back again when her mood hits her...

Gotta eat and get going...

 

[farmerjan]

Long cold day.... it only got up to 29 on the recording thermometer...a glimpse of some sun after 2, but it was inbetween clouds and didn't really show much.... but there was no wind so not unbearable out there... Cold, and it was penetrating after a long stretch...

Went to the barn... got some new tags made for the cows as they went through the chute... These cows have not been handled much... and probably never been through a chute in their life.... and never been off the farm until we bought them and moved them. Some of them have some pretty bad attitudes, when worked up close.
3 were 6 months bred...bred to his bull; 3 more were about 30 days... so bred to our bull... the rest were open. DS was not happy... BUT... they had fairly small calves when he got them, and he didn't want calves in summer... so no bull in once we moved them... until about 4-5 weeks ago when he took a bull down there. So... not very good vet check. But, I will remind him in the next day or 2, that he made the choice to not have the bull in there, and then got one in there late...should have been in there first of Nov instead the end... so he shouldn't be too upset. Not their fault really.
There are 3 that will get sold... all 3 are open, and 2 are the bought ones that will hurt you... the 3rd one is the stupid IDIOT hereford of ours; that kept taking the other cows off to the woods at the pasture; one we have had for a couple years. She had a new calf just before we moved her group out of there this summer... so no chance to get rebred before now... but should have been in the 30 day range.... And all 3 have CRAZY calves.... like mother/like calf..... DS said no sense in keeping ones that will hurt you/ try to run through you..... So, moved 8 cows with current calves... 2 small calves and 6 bigger ones.... 3 cows that are 1 month bred and the other 5 open... to the pasture behind/next to me... with the bull... with the other 14 there already. The 3 nut cases are in the barn lot with their calves, to get sold... 3 that were 6 months preg got moved up the hill with our other spring calving cows...plus the one with the brand new calf that is still in the lower barn lot field: she wanted to fight you if you got too near her new baby... we left her alone... calf will get tagged and she is one that already had a tag.... and then the pair will get moved up on the hill with the spring calving bunch... there are 2 up there that calved after what we called the cut off... so will have bigger calves in the spring when the rest are calving, calves will be bigger than the rest of them when they go out to summer pastures... that takes care of the 15 he brought home.... They all got ear tags, all got vaccinated... and calves matched to the cows. There were 3 that were on cows with new calves so those bigger calves got weaned off as of today.... Since they didn't get tagged when he first moved them... I have no idea who the 4 big calves were on, that he took off a couple months ago...worrying that the cows were bred fairly far along....obviously not on the 3 that just calved.....
All the cows are in the 8-9 yr old range except one that he says is probably 11 or older... and of course she is 6 months preg... but she has a bit of a limp so this spring when she calves, it will most likely be her last if she is still limping... DS says it is in her hip...
Maybe now that they will be with our cattle... scattered in 3 different groups of our cows, they will calm down some and be more "workable".... we'll see. But with their age, most probably will just learn to tolerate, not really change their attitudes much...
Bull will stay in, at the pasture, with the 8 we just moved, for another 6 -7 weeks... time to give everyone 2 possible heats... and then in the spring, they will get rechecked and that will determine their status... if any come up open again, they are gone...Even with the 3 that are about 30 days, this gives a safety net to make sure they don't slip their short term pregnancies....

Got the 2 holstein heifers, bangs vacc, and dehorned. They got put back out at the barn... eventually they will go out with heifers their size... but will keep them around the barn lot for a few days. Replacement holstein heifers are high so hoping that they might turn out to be decent for replacement heifers for a dairy down the road... I am not too thrilled with holsteins as nurse cows... but we'll see as they grow. Too much milk for the most part, for a nurse cow...

He moved the bull, he brought back with this group of cows, out to the bull lot ..... So there are 3 more cows at the barn and 6 more calves (3 just weaned and 3 with the cows) for now.... But one less pasture to go to feed at... Now the pasture with the 35 cows/calves; that should have been brought to the barn already; will be the only place any distance to go feed at. Just hoping we will be able to get in there sometime in the next few weeks... and get them out....

He got xgf, to come help with the preg check. It does help to have the extra person, and she was good about opening gates and helping to match the calves to the cows, after we got cows tagged so could identify them.... so we knew who to move where. Since it is never going to change, I just decided to accept the inevitable... she is helpful with the vet, getting cows through the chute...until she is too busy to help when the time comes and he needs her to help as has been in the past....... but will just take it as it comes. I am tired of fighting it. I can be civil.... and DS is so much more pleasant because he is so "nice" to her... he yells and cusses much less... it is tiresome to see the dr jekyll/mr hyde personality with him when she is around...as opposed to working with me..... Oh well... another thing... she has agreed with me in the past about things that should get fixed in the barn... and he doesn't cuss her out like he does me when I get aggravated with things that have needed redoing/changing for years....and she called him out today, on one of the places he's needed to fix for years... especially when several cows and calves went and tried jumping and /climbing over this lower section.... so.... let her.... He won't listen to me and I am tired of talking through my hat.

So, I finally left, with them going to feed some hay. Went to the nurse cow pasture and put the cow in with the calves. fed grain, put hay in the bunk for them. The 2 little calves and the other 2 that come to eat, were all in the barn... the black one is not spending much time on his mother but would rather hang in the barn with the weaned hol and the 2 on the cow... out of the weather... and eating grain. He is still nursing, but she does not have alot of milk... she was young when she calved so I am not too upset. As long as he eats grain he is growing... She was in heat, and the bull did breed her, hoping she will wind up pregnant; so whenever we preg check this group in the spring, her calf will get weaned off and she will get some extra time to grow a bit and hopefully will be able to produce more milk next time.

Sad day, Nelson passed away this morning... It is a blessing in disguise, they were going to move him home with hospice to keep him comfortable until he passed. It is better this way for all.... it is sad but a better situation than to have him home there for her to watch him just deteriorate and die because his directives have said no feeding tubes, nothing to prolong his life... DNR.... she did not need to watch that.
I am glad DS decided to go to the car auction/show/flea market with him this fall.... good memories instead of regrets of things not done.

I made a cup of hot chocolate when I got home... going to heat some chicken, for supper... and then cut the breast meat off and package it to freeze for sandwiches and such.

Throat is scratchy but bearable for now.

Glad I filled the feeder for the birds... There were tons of birds there.... from what little time I got to see them this afternoon when I finally got home.

Stuff in the barn fridge was partly frozen... I took a new bottle of vaccine with me and good thing... the vaccine was freezing in the needle when I pulled a syringe full ..... and had to put it in my shirt to keep it from freezing.... Brought home alot of the stuff...
Went by the co-op and picked up a couple bags of sweet feed for the cow to mix with what I have left of the grain I have been feeding her, since we have not gotten back to Rural King to get the prepaid ton I got at 2.50 off a bag...it will be another 2 weeks before we go down in that direction for another dr appt.
I also picked up another couple bottles of the Triangle 10 vaccine I use on the cows, the blackleg vacc we use on the calves, and the Triangle 5 we use on the steer calves we feed.... because they don't need lepto since they are not "breeding age" cattle.... We are getting low and no sense in waiting until we need it and it is not available... Happens every time in the spring... so I want to have plenty on hand.. we can rotate it so that none of it is "old"... most dates are 2 years out so we are good... But that was nearly $300 for 3 bottles... Hopefully he is going to get smart and not keep too many to keep feeding... but will ship these calves. Even the "not weaned" calves are just bringing too much to keep them....

So, time to get something to eat.

Got a mouse on the counter last night... guess they moved in... cats have been watching some places so there must be some others in the house...