Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

@Ridgetop I get what you are saying... but the concrete and getting them out of the mud is 99% for health reasons... ( I don't see the muddiness making them look like they are scoury, but I look at cattle from a different angle...).... but for making the feeders more comfortable for the calves to come eat at. Buyers do NOT want these fat sleek looking animals.. those type will lose 50-100 lbs when turned out....That's thrown away money on the buyers part if they drop weight and then regain it at the buyers costs... yesterday in the short conversation on his changing over to feeder steers, instead of the cow/calf operation that they used to have... a comment was made about them looking ready to go to the bunk... and that they shy far away from the pretty fat shiny cattle... And I said, "you want them in their working clothes' and he said, EXACTLY what we are looking for. We do not want those "nice clean" cattle.... they need to look like they will be able to get in there and go forward....
That does not mean they need to be muddy and rough... but he looked beyond the mud to see that they were what we call "hard calves"... and he said, don't worry about the mud, it has been everywhere and that doesn't bother me.
Still, getting some of this "fixed" and the upgrade of their feeding areas will make it more comfortable for them and make it better for them to eat. It is the traveling to the feed bunks and standing in the muck that is just not good for the calves. DS also wants to put a roof over each bunk so that when it is raining, it will prevent some of the water that saturates the silage, making it like mush and they don't want to eat it then. Not fancy, he has mentioned it a couple times this past year about making it better for the calves in the winter... and I get it... a roof that extends from the bunk feeders, back over where they are standing so they can stand without rain pouring down on the feed and on them... Think of the simple roof of an open shed... no sides...won't make it "dry" but will deflect a good bit of the direct "raining down"...

Yeah, they will look better if not all muddy... if it also makes feeding and things like sorting more efficient then that is a big plus. It took an extra 15-20 min for him to go get the other tractor to come pull the skid loader out of the mud after it had warmed up and thawed the crust on the mud and got stuck the other day.... You start adding up all those lost 15 minutes to "fix" something that didn't need to have happened...then it adds time to your day to do something more productive or even not to have to work so hard...

 

[fuzzi]

Yeah, they will look better if not all muddy... if it also makes feeding and things like sorting more efficient then that is a big plus. It took an extra 15-20 min for him to go get the other tractor to come pull the skid loader out of the mud after it had warmed up and thawed the crust on the mud and got stuck the other day.... You start adding up all those lost 15 minutes to "fix" something that didn't need to have happened...then it adds time to your day to do something more productive or even not to have to work so hard...

Like having to repeatedly go back to the shed/barn for a tool you didn't think you'd need...eats up time.

A second drill would cut down on my building time, switching back and forth from bit to driver and back to bit.

 

[farmerjan]

Cold night coming. It snowed some off and on. We got about 3 inches and the roads were a mess until after 2-3 p.m. Still slick spots on secondaries but main road is okay.

When I went to snyder's earlier, I took a bottle for the jersey calf; the "4" calves were in, as well as the younger black calf on my charolais cross cow.. he has learned to come in and I think he likes to not be out in the cold snow. He is starting to stick his nose in the bunk too. So, I put feed for the 2 cows and then fed the calves on the other side their grain. Betsy practically knocks you down to come in; I left the gate open and luckily the rest of the cows were not right there... finally the black one came in. I had given the calf the bottle because I didn't know if she was going to come around the barn but she did. He went right over on her so I just ignored the cow, she went to eating and I left well enough alone.

In the meantime... DS calls.. he got the bred heifers in the pen... yesterday he couldn't find the new calf so decided to not move any... today the calf came in the catch pen.

I'm thinking, REALLY... it is snowing out there... and you want to be driving the truck and trailer in it... like it couldn't have waited for 2-3 more days until the snow was gone???? I mean he//, what is a few more days after waiting nearly 2 months longer than they should have been left there...
So he calls, he has 6 and the little calf on the trailer.. so I said just bring them... I am here at Snyder's doing the cows.... He finally gets there... and decides he wants to tag the little calf before he turns it out... it is really wild but being born out there with no one around that is not unexpected. He gets the 6 cows off... and I slam the door so he can tag it. When we opened the door, it took off in the opposite direction of the cows and heads to the other end of the field...
All this time, it is still snowing a little... I said, just go and I will see if I can get it to come back ... he left, and I went across the field a little and called the cows... of course the ones already there are playing "push the new girls around" and playing bully boss to establish a pecking order...... Bless my longhorn , she hears me and heads in my direction so the rest follow... and they finally see the calf so then everyone is trying to check it out... and then the momma finds it and they go off a little bit away from the rest and I drive back towards the barn... the rest follow along a little bit so the heifer with her new calf were off a little by themselves but headed back in the direction of the barn. Then they went to the hay so all was good. She is a very good momma for a newly calved heifer...

So, I finally let the black cow out... and spread a sq bale of hay in the bunks... and put a calf coat on the jersey bull calf so that he can hold his core body heat. He looks and acts fine, but it is just cold out there.

Then I wait for DS to come back... he finally calls... he got them loaded.. there are 8.. and he nearly didn't get in to get them loaded and then barely got out of there... had his friend whose dad passed away a couple weeks ago... come and with the 2 trucks tandem, pulled the trailer up the hill and out of there... He wanted me to go see if they had plowed the road there to come up the rather steep hill to get to the road that snyder's pasture is on... and I went down and told him that they had not touched it. He was going to go down and come up the road the other way... and hoped he could get up the one more gradual hill. I said okay... then about 2 minutes I called him back and said, just take them to the "peterbilt pasture"...you are going to wind up wrecking the trailer with the heifers on it if you get to sliding somewhere... the cows in the peterbilt field are all the cows that we just got home from the other pasture, they are preg, due to start calving in a month.. these heifers are due to start in a month... so just put them in there... I said, you are not going to be able to get up the hill at snyder's to get them in there... you probably aren't even going to be able to make the turn to get into snyder's driveway... and he said, well, okay, I will have to turn around and head that way... The thing is it is nearly "flat roads" and then he could just back the trailer off the road at the peterbilt field, and then drive right up the road 1/10th mile into the driveway at the farm.
So I went down, got the gate open when I saw him coming.. he backed the trailer into the opening and kept the truck on the road.. got them off and then he went to the barn... I closed the gate and came on home... This is like 2 p.m.

It was a long day.... I got the samples packed and then the roads were pretty much cleared off as the snow had stopped for a bit... took and dropped them off and went to Walmart next to UPS and got a couple things while I was out.

I cannot believe he was so thick headed to decide to move them in this snow... I mean, seriously, use your brain......STUPID ...... FORTUNATELY, it turned out okay with the 2nd trailer load.... so they are all out and in pastures to calve here "at home"... I really did not want any at snyder's to calve since there are 15 there that need to be preg checked that have been getting bred.... and it will be a pita to get them in the catch pen and not get the ones I don't need...but he had said that would be the best place for them the other day.... but at least there are only 6 there now, I don't need to deal with all 14 that were at that pasture......

When the weather clears off the bull has got to come out...been in there about 60 days... they all should be bred. My 2 holstein heifers are coming back to snyder's.... DS decided that that will be the best place for them, then we will do preg checks on these 15, plus Betsy, fl), and my charolais cow. Will wait 30 days after the bull is out to preg check, to be sure if they are open or bred.... And by then it will be apparrant what the black cow is doing, as far as the jersey bull calf... I will deal with her for a month or so...

I texted the farm and told them that I could test...BUT that I would see what the weather was like in the morning and let them know for sure. We are supposed to get another 1-3 inches tonight. The snow is supposed to come across the mountains in the early hours of tomorrow and be done before 11... Guess I will test if the roads are decent... Get them out of the way... have the one that cancelled today and one other to get scheduled for next week. plus 2 others that do not test regularly...

Temps are really cold. It got up to 25 today, and is already back down to 18... dropping more. It is cold...

 

[Baymule]

Conditions you are describing would totally shut down the south, Texas included.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, got up to snow... as expected, and really cold temps, expected... But .... BRRRRR. It is just COLD....17 to start.

It is still snowing, have gotten more than an inch, they said 1/2 to 1 inch total... it is very fine snow... Then the wind is supposed to pick up and be frigid wind chills in the single digits. Decided I would wait til 9 to see what it was looking like... Next to no one on the road this morning.....
Don't think I am going to go test. Next week the temps are supposed to be up to the 50's ... they can wait for Monday or Tues... I just don't want to be hauling equipment in and out of the barn. If it was a farm I didn't have to set up at I might consider going......Guess I am getting "soft" in my old age... don't want the hassles and dealing with the meters and hoses and all that, in the cold all the time. It is one thing to do my own stuff in the cold and snow...
It is still snowing out.

 

[Mini Horses]

Stopped snowing here but, cold & white! Pics on coffee thread. For 4 yrs, barely a dusting. Now? About 7". Most in 14 yrs....shouldn't complain.

 

[Baymule]

I don’t blame you for staying home. Phooey on going to work in that mess. Next week sounds much better.

 

[farmerjan]

Bright COLD morning.. 15 degrees to start. Today is supposed to get up to the mid 30's but still a strong wind chill so feel like temps are supposed to be in the 20's...
We had another 1- 2 inches of light blowing snow yesterday...it was blowing so hard it was hard to measure...

It was cold doing the chores with the calf and all. The black cow is doing good about coming in and going right to the bunk and eating and letting the calf nurse her out... Amazing that she has ramped it down since being able to be out side, and comes to the barn on her own and comes in. Still supplementing the calf with a bottle. He seems to be doing pretty good, and the calf coat has really helped in this cold weather...

Weather is supposed to start a warming trend... 40's on Sat and 50's the next couple days after that. Nights are supposed to stay in the low 30's after tonight so hopefully the snow will melt slowly enough to not make a huge mess, with the ground firming up overnights.
I will get back to working next week. Have to take the reports back to the farm I tested the other day... was going to drop them off yesterday when I tested. Plus, there are several big groups of feeder cattle going to go through the stockyard at today's sale. Want to go by and see what the prices do. See how they compare to what we sold directly to the buyer the first of the week. All the sale reports that I see are about on par with what we got for ours. There is a big group of heifers being sold also... want to see what they are doing as we will have some to sell. Be good to see how the market prices are trending. Never know, I might find another jersey cow unexpectantly... Ha ha... Betsy is doing good but she has pretty much dried up... The 2 calves eat grain and hay, but they do stay with her out loose most of the time. In fact the "4" stick pretty much together out there... and the 2 month old calf on my char x is hanging with them and coming in the barn some too..
Will be interesting to see how long it takes the new calf on the heifer that he just moved there, to start hanging with the other ones... plus the other 5 heifers will be calving and my longhorn will be calving too. Lots of playmates soon.