Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

The p-butter has been stolen off the trap twice so I know it is one of the littler field mice... they do that.. The bigger deer mice get caught more easily. I will get it set just right with next to no tension and catch it....

Yesterday's crazy weather got crazier... it cleared off late afternoon, and then clouded up and we got another rain shower for about 2 hours last night from looking at the radar... It was starting to rain again at 11 or so...

It is sunny out this morning... 39 overnight. 60's today? Then rain again tomorrow... and possible snow, or ice or "who knows what" on Tuesday...
It looks to be an every other day thing for weather of some sort all next week. UGH....

Going in to pack the samples... DS is meeting with the guy coming to look at the steers at 9:30...

We discussed the weaning of these calves off the cows we preg checked while I was driving home last eve.... I/we hate doing it with crazy weather swings...stress on the calves makes them much more vulnerable to getting sick....(of course, if they had been moved before all the crappy weather we could have worked around the wet weather).... but decided that if the guy does not want to take the calves or offer enough for them....... we will move all the cows that are bred more than the 5 months...dry them off..... keep the 4 that are shorter bred and my open cow, with the calves as "nannies" and so all the calves will be at the barn to come in the barn for a week to get started on the silage... the cows need to be out in the field we want them in to calve, and out of the mud and mess... 25 big cows are just churning everything up into mud with the rain we have had....plus they do NOT need the silage they are eating in the barn this far along in their pregnancy...
If the guy does not buy the steers, we are weaning them off the late trimester cows and will hold until March and have about 40-50 to sell...from 450-650 lbs so several groups... These calves need to be off the cows.... He said he might sell the 4 with the smaller calves at the bred cow sale next week.... breds/ cows with calves are bringing over $3,000 and these are out of synch with the rest that are due this spring....his cows and his decision... My open cow will get a 2nd shot and then go with her twins out to pasture and see if she gets straightened/cleaned out, and breeds back. I am not so upset about her being open... she will "lose 6 months" BUT.... there will be 2 calves to sell and although they are be smaller than a single to sell this year, it will be alot more income total than a single calf... so it will "pay" for her to get the extra few months hold over, considering what we figure it costs to keep a cow a year.
She is doing a pretty good job with the twins and they are the youngest calves that were out there anyway, so not surprising they are smaller.

Going to get some things done here...

 

[murphysranch]

I was thinking of you off and on yesterday. What I wish for is for you to go down to your friends, relax, smile and laugh, and spend some time pouring over the Zillow listings, driving out to those that may be interesting. Just moseying around, enjoying life, with nothing but a casual lookieloo to see how your heart feels about it all.

 

[farmerjan]

I was thinking of you off and on yesterday. What I wish for is for you to go down to your friends, relax, smile and laugh, and spend some time pouring over the Zillow listings, driving out to those that may be interesting. Just moseying around, enjoying life, with nothing but a casual lookieloo to see how your heart feels about it all.

That's the plan... just a day or 2 away... doing some looking... might come to nothing... might find an investment... might find my "final" home.... might be glad to come back..

She was at the farm again and he has included her into everything... I felt like a third wheel there... not a good feeling...

Talked to DS this afternoon, he called to see if I knew where the creep gate was that he puts up in the barn when he has smaller calves that get shoved out so they can go around on the other side of the bunk to eat without competing with the bigger ones...... I couldn't remember where "he had put it" when he took it out (2 years ago) but then he found it......... and I asked what the guy said about the calves... the guy said they were actually nicer than he thought they might be, and he would get back to DS in a few hours.... so nothing definite. DS said that if he doesn't get back to him by Sunday morning... that we are pulling the cows that are far along, and putting them out in the field that they are going to calve in, and the calves will be weaned off and fed until mid March when the demand goes up and he figures that they ought to bring real good prices with grass coming on.... said he is not going to wait on this guy... if he calls him back and gives him a good price, they will go out of there on Monday and then we will move the cows on Monday... so that the calves do not spend a night hollering and not eating and drop weight overnight...obviously the weaned ones will not drop weight ....
I am of the mind of just take them to the sale in a month... Get the cows out and feed the steers... and whatever they weigh, sell them. He hems and haws so much it gives me headaches... The big draw of selling direct is that you are saving the $50/head average for stockyard/consignment fees... that's $.10/lb that you basically pay to the stockyard.... on 40 head that's $2000..... that adds up....
So, I told him I would be up to the barn in a little bit to feed the calf the bottle... I dropped the samples at UPS and then went to the barn... I was feeding the calf the bottle and he came by and made the comment that he would've waited til after he fed the cow and let the calf nurse... well, no one told me he hadn't fed the cow yet... he could've told me that was the "order" of doing things when we were on the phone... so I could have waited... I mean, really..... the problem is the calf is penned separate from the cow at night and he keeps putting the calf on the cow when she is in the chute, so it is not letting them really bond... I am of the mind to let the calf get a little hungry and let him pester her more out in the laneway where he has been putting them during the day... not put her in the chute first... but give her grain out in the lane and let the calf work on her... but it is getting really muddy in that laneway now from all the rain and the snow/ice melt from last week... it doesn't get hardly any sun either...
Really, I need her at snyder's where I can work with her a little bit... and if she doesn't work out, she can go to the sale when he comes and gets the calf off the longhorn. That steer does not match the rest to try to put him in that group... and that is okay because I get it...has more of the longhorn build.... I need the cow to be there for a week or 2 for me to deal with her... and no chute... to make a decision... and if she will tolerate the calf, and it will follow her around and nurse, then she will just go out with any other cows we put out to pasture for the summer, and get bred back like she would if she still had her own calf...But I need her where I can deal with her in a more normal type situation.

DS just called said the guy made him an offer of $3.25/lb for the calves... they will get weighed at their place... they will haul 2 loads and DS will haul the third load, so he will be there to get them weighed...... but they cannot take them until next friday.... and DS said that would be okay.

We will wean off the heifer calves, and kick those cows out of the barn into the calving field and get the couple with the smallest calves out of there also...
He wants 5-6 wts...just steers.... there was one he said he didn't want out in the group of weaned calves...there are 36-37 out there.... which is fine, and there is about 15-20 in the ones that are on the cows... approx 50 steers, and he said that any number in that general number was good. DS asked what I thought and I said that I guess that was pretty good considering... I haven't been to the stockyard for a couple weeks to see in person what they have been doing... just what I see as results posted....
I think that is a fair enough price... he will even take the charolais cross steer of mine off my cow and the char cross steer of DS's... they are both nice calves ... but they are grey, not black like so many want black calves.... you know, that "certified angus beef".... they have to be black to be the "better beef" marketing ploy.... they are 3/4 angus... cows are 1/2 char/angus, and both were bred to an angus but the grey color is usually very dominant.. I like my char cross cows... got 3 of them... but sometimes you take a hit on those calves... although right about now they aren't docked much, since good feeder cattle are getting harder to find...

DS said he wanted to talk it over with me... because some of them were mine.... so wanted to know what I thought and I did not have to make a decision tonight.. he said he would call the guy tomorrow.. So we talked over the pluses and minuses... I think basically it is fair enough... probably would get a little more at the sale if they were advertised, but then the commission would take at least $.10 / lb of that so probably wouldn't be a gain.. The only thing that I am not sure about is getting paid for the pounds of my own calves... especially if they are heavier ones..... because they will be in the group average..... but if there are any that are smaller, then I would get the advantage of the average weight... I need to see what calves are in there... I really need to go out and see what all the numbers are, since seems like I don't have a list of what is still on the farm... just make lists of what gets sold...
I think overall it will probably come out okay... If I can see what is out there... I know there is one larger one in the barn that is mine.. off a cow that was open, and I decided to keep and rebreed, and is weaned off... I need to see what else is mine... 2 from the cows that just got checked.... because I have fewer cows since several were sold last year that were open...
The guy does not want any that are under 500 so there will be a few kept back out of the ones on these cows..... and since they will be coming to load, he will be sorting them as to what he wants which is good. Any that are a little smaller or even too big, will stay and then get sold in March.

So, I will tell him that it would be okay with me... and see how it goes.. A neighbor farmer sold some of his 2 weeks ago to this guy and was very satisfied... he is the one that told DS about this guy and how it went down for him.... and I will try to get ear tag numbers this week of the weaned group... so I know all that get sold and I can record it... and I will check the ones in the barn to see which ones are mine... since they are still on the cow list from the pasture.. Then will know what goes and what stays. Need to spend a little time out in the lot with the weaned ones and get some numbers... but I think there might only be 1 or 2 out there...

It was sunny all day, temps in the low 60's...supposed to get down chilly tonight. One forecast says 28, and no precip until tomorrow afternoon, cold raw and damp all day... the other station says rain/ice/even snow coming in tonight and ending by mid afternoon... partly/mostly sun on Sunday and Monday... then getting into a weather system that could bring some decent snow or just rain... but quite a bit. I think it is going to come through from out @Mike CHS way and head east and slightly north to us by Tuesday... have a possibility of flooding with anywhere from 2-5 inches forecast...
Got to get that cow to the nurse cow barn tomorrow or Sunday.... can't stay in the pen at doug's barn...

I'm going to bed...