Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[murphysranch]

My Mother moved into assisted living two weeks ago. Her mind has taken a huge hit just from that move, from independent living to AL. Sad. She's 94.5 yr old. Her boyfriend will be 93 this June, and he moved with her. ONLY NOW is Mother getting less stubborn...

 

[farmerjan]

Tuesday evening... has been rather chilly out to do much the last couple days.

40 this morning, and mostly sun for awhile and then some clouds off and on... Supposed to get some rain but it fizzled out AGAIN...

Sunday I unloaded the 12 / 50 lb bags from the explorer into the back of the ranger... took them to the barn at snyder's then proceeded to unload all them over the gate into the barn, then went in and filled the cans to the rim and piled the rest on top of the hay bales in there... The pain/numbness in the right leg and the hand makes this more difficult than it used to be when they were working more normal. Also put out a 50 lb block of TM (red) salt for them. Brought the cow(s) in... stupid came in after the jersey... I fed the calf a bottle and he went on her but she has very little milk since she is "hit and miss" on the days she deigns to come in the barn. So she is drying up. but need to keep her willing to come in so she can be caught when he is going to come up with the trailer. Fed calves and all the normal. Told DS that the bred heifers were starting to bag up so he needed to watch the ones that were at the "peterbilt field"... Did not work on the chicken run due to the biting wind...

Monday was about 20 sprinkles and cloudy early, then partly sunny later... and WINDY again... chilly to be out. I had a chiropractor appt then went to JoAnn's fabrics as they are closing all the stores and things are marked down more than 2 weeks ago when I went the first time. Got more fabric that I probably don't need... some more "notions" like some zippers for repair work... Sad to lose that store. Even though it was often a little expensive comparatively, if you needed something, that was the place to find it.
He called before I had left to come home, and 2 of the heifers at snyder's nurse cow pasture had calved and he was all worried about the one... said she had not licked the calf, but was eating the afterbirth/sack and the calf was trying to figure out nursing but the heifer kept backing up and was "confused"... I said I would check on them when I got home later. The other was way off by herself and seemed to be doing fine with it...
I did go up when I got home quite a bit later... calf looked okay, mouth was warm, heifer was talking to it and all... I did not see it nurse but it was acting okay. Then came back to the house, made a bottle and went and fed the calf and watched her some more. Never saw the calf nurse or even acting like it was hungry.

So, this morning, I went up there and the calf had gotten through the 2 strands of electric out in the ward around the house and was just laying there... I unplugged the fence, it scooted back through the fence and she was talking to it. There is another heifer close to calving that kept "butting in" and the calf was trying to go on the mother, she would keep backing up, the other heifer was getting in the way... but finally I saw the calf go on her, she would back up a few steps but she was licking it... and then she was watching me and the calf got on her and was actually getting a decent meal... By the time I left it had been nursing a bit so it will be fine... The other one that calved had brought her calf up near the one "confused one" and she and her calf looked okay... I never did see it nurse but it acted good... sometimes it is best to leave well enough alone.

I left there and went to test the 200 cow herd; stopped and dropped off reports I had printed off at a farm, went to the farm, and then stopped at the farm I get milk from and dropped his reports of his couple of cows and left a bucket to get milk on Thursday... I will be right up the road at another farm testing and will get my milk on the way home. Brought home about 2 gal of milk he had just milked to supplement my bottle calf; he is feeding 4 bottle calves but not using all his milk so this is surplus he is dumping.... not handled "clean" so it will be okay for the calf but not what I want to bring in the house.

Home finally, locked in chickens, samples in the house to pack...made a sandwich for some supper.... then spent some time on the phone with @Baymule ... It is waaaay past time to go to bed. I will pack the samples in the morning, go set up meters for tomorrow late afternoon.... the farm has gone from 3x a day milking back to 2x a day again... he is back up to about 45-50 cows now... and would like to take a ride up to the dairy cow sale to see the animals of the guy who is retiring from the 500 cow dairy, and selling his 15 milking cows and his heifers also... he is going to try to put more time into his beef cattle and his sheep and such now that he is officially "retired"..... It is at 1, then I can leave there and come down to test this herd at 5...... then come home and do it all over again at 5 a.m.....
Supposed to be cold tomorrow... maybe 50. Down to low 30's tonight and then upper 20's tomorrow night... BRRRR

 

[Baymule]

Baby calves are so darn cute. No more cattle next to me, but plenty along my road. They are calving and sometimes I stop just to watch them.

 

[farmerjan]

Friday evening... Have tested several farms, Tuesday the 200 cow herd... Wed eve/Thurs morning to the one that sold 100 cows, then had 30 went to 3x day milking, just went back to 2x day milking... up to 60 cows now.. Left there, dropped off meters at the jersey farm that decided they wanted to test 2x... so did them Thurs eve/Fri morning.... It goes okay, and they had loaded all the meters in the car after the wash cycles, and I was done with the computer stuff...
Went by the pasture on the way home because there was a "heifer" looking very close Thurs night when I did the calf and all... She had the calf overnight/this morning... this one is a heifer calf... nice lively calf. She is actually a 2nd time cow... her calf last year got bloat,,, vet worked on him, and he kept bloating and then one morning he was dead... so she got dried up and let her breed back... She was a good momma for the short time she had the previous calf... 3 months or so.... she was small, so not so bad that she wound up with a long dry period and starting over now. There is another one that is laying around... she is close too...
DS said that a couple of the ones he took to the other pasture that snowy day he was moving them, are making udders, so they ought to drop some calves too... It is warmer and nice so perfect time for them to calve now...
The one that was doing all the backing up when the calf was trying to nurse is doing fine now... she's "got it" now... so that is good.

DS said we are not selling anything tomorrow... so that's okay I guess... The guy, who bought the 8 a week ago.... did call to see if we had anymore heifers to sell... DS said there were about 5-6 more out there... we actually had turned 3 or 4 back that morning because he didn't want them crowded on the trailer... so the guy said he wants them... that he won't go buy any at the stockyard... $1800/ each... We got about $1815 at the stockyard... but paid out a commission .... the guy said that was fine... he does want to weigh them for his own knowledge... he wants to put them with a bull in June for spring calves next year... They are a little small/young for me to be breeding them... but everyone is different... We have about 12-14 that are a bit bigger that will be going with the bull in June/July for spring calves next year.... I like them a little bigger/older... 27-30 months for their first calf..... but most want them to calve by 24 months.
DS says we will be taking some in a couple weeks... after the guy comes and gets what he wants... there are a few small ones, my longhorn x steer, the bigger holstein at the nurse cow pasture... another 2 or 3 odd ball ones...
We are going to band the black calf at the barn I was talking about pulling off his mother early.... he might match some that will be coming off the fall calving cows, in another month or 2 when we preg check.... so will make him a steer, and he might match some others.....Going to band that holstein bull calf and I think I will have him go on and band the 2 that Betsy (the jersey) has been feeding. I saw them both on her yesterday when checking for calves... so will let her keep them for now... she will get preg checked at the same time the heifers get checked... so no reason to pull them yet, since they are still nursing a little....DS also said he will move "stupid" to the barn if I get her in... so I think I will have him take the bigger holstein that will get banded, put him at the barn and have him handy there to take to the sale with the other odd ones..... that will get everyone out of the nurse cow pasture until preg check time... He can go with the twin holstein heifers that are there at the barn too...
With the price of the heifers at the dairy sale the other day, I am not going to keep them.... I am not overly attached to them, and they will go a long way to finding another jersey or 2 to raise calves... prices on the dairy cows that the friend sold were okay but jerseys are not overly popular with the mennonites... but his holsteins and brown swiss did pretty good... and the heifers were stupid high.... Yearling heifers in the 700 lb range were bringing 1700-2000.... NOT BRED..... smaller ones were nearly as high... So these 2 will go.... I had thought to keep them, breed them for replacements to sell but not worth the amount of feed it will take to keep them another year... I will look for some jerseys, and yes, I know they don't bring as much, but unless they turned out to be total WITCHES.... they would stay until they were culled for meat... and it does not take as much to feed them either... I don't want to pay $15-1800 for jersey heifers... and certainly not $25- 3200 that I saw some springing ready to calve holsteins bring Wed.... Plus selling these heifers now is smarter than keeping them and having something happen to them... Next dairy sale is April 23rd I think... They are getting some silage, and feed, and I will worm them. They are in with the crippled steer so not much competition either... The holstein "soon to be steer" will fit in with them.,..he is a little smaller but no one is crowded there...

Headed in to take a shower... got to get up to test ANOTHER farm tomorrow morning... it is the farmer's weekend to milk...not due to the first of April.... but there are 5 weekends in March and this is better than waiting until like April 12th or so on his next weekend... may as well get it out of the way... BUT.... 3 mornings in a row... something I hardly ever do nowadays....

Weather was nicer today... it was miserably windy cold the first part of the week... yesterday was a little better. Today was partly sun and some clouds... they said a chance of a shower but it was not much of a chance that didn't happen.... Temps warmed up to the mid-70's with just a light breeze. I wound up working on the poultry pen and have the whole base together... but there are 2 pieces of the "trusses" that have to hold up the roof panels, missing... so have to see if I can get 2 made to finish this one... Opened the box with the "chicken coop" one, "box 1", and it looks like it is mostly the whole coop part... but not seeing the roof sections... I did not take it all apart yet. That is the next thing to do... Next couple of days are supposed to be warmer and mild so might be able to get together what all is there... plus there is the other poultry run to work with... there are no roof panels for it I don't think... but that shouldn't be too hard to make some frames to put some tin on them for roof panels ... copy the other ones maybe. I am not so sure about the 2 missing "trusses" as I am NOT a carpenter... trying to think who I know that could follow the one as a pattern and make me 2 more exactly like the 2 that I do have...
We have a slight chance of rain coming in the next couple days... but they are saying that we will be lucky to get a "trace" to less than 1/4 inch... Staying warm... in the 70's and maybe hit 80.... But it was 33 Thursday morning... CRAZY...

 

[Baymule]

Taking the bottle calves and raising them with a bottle plus nurse cow, selling them now, will give you the money for more Jerseys. Pretty smart.

 

[farmerjan]

Sat afternoon. I got up at 3:45.... left for work at about 4:10.... we tested and then I went from there to Sharp Shopper as I was out of bread for making sandwiches... wanted to check on the possibility of the iced coffee??? NOPE....and none of the Klines Coffee Sherbert ice cream bars... I didn't get alot, but I did get some more unsweetened apple butter at 2.99 a pint, but did get several loaves of bread, couple other things.
Came on home and got my mail at P.O.... stopped at the farm and DS wasn't there but GF was... talked to her for a few minutes... left the new Rural King CC, on the account.. that I got for DS as an authorized user... so he doesn't have to borrow mine when he goes to the Dr office etc...
DS had just left to take a load of scrap to the place... it is up to $10 and the talk is that they think it will drop if these tariffs and all go through the first of the month. So he decided to get it there and they have a buying station that they are only at 2 days a week here.
While I was at the farm, the guy came in who buys silage from us... he helped when we poured the concrete for the slab for the silage pit... anyway... I asked him if he knew of anyone that did some carpentry that could make a set of the "trusses" for the poultry pen... and he said he had a carpenter coming this next week... they are remodeling some of his house... and he was sure he could get him to make them.... so I gave him the one I took with me... HOPEFULLY... will get it back fairly soon... said that I was glad to pay for it but I just didn't have the stuff to make all the angled cuts and that I was not carpenter anyway... Danny is a nice guy, has some cattle, his wife is nice too... I trust his judgement.. He will get the guy to make a pair and I will pay him and it shouldn't take forever to get them done.
I then went by the farm and checked but the other heifer has not calved yet... have 2 left that are there to calve... plus my longhorn....

Then came home. Brought stuff out of the car, let the chickens out and carried water... and realized I was really hungry, had not eaten and just made a corned beef sandwich... I had frozen some of the meat I got before, and took it out yesterday. It was good.

It is cloudy but not cold... Said it was going to be mostly cloudy all day.. slight chance of showers and then more chance on Sun/Mon... Sure hope we get some of it...

So I am going back out and do something for awhile... I need to go pound some staples on the wire that DS has up... might do that while no one is at the farm to bother me... They were going somewhere this afternoon. Another reason why he wouldn't commit to taking the calves to the stockyard... he had other plans and made it sound convenient to "just wait" a few weeks.

I am tired and will be quitting early this evening... I need a good loong night's sleep...

 

[Mini Horses]

Have a once in a blue moon hot toddy! Watch a movie, relax &

 

[Baymule]

Have a once in a blue moon hot toddy! Watch a movie, relax &

Good advice!

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday, just after noon.... I just got done with another corned beef/ reuben sandwich... no cheese on it... (forgot it) and used up the rest of the package I had taken out of the freezer...
Yesterday afternoon I decided to take apart "box 1" and see what all was there in the chicken coop part... WELLLL... the sides are there and most of the inside parts... BUT.... the 2 ends of the coop part and the end of the small run part are all "missing".... in the "box 2" of 2 boxes... Not sure how to go about making the ends since there are NO sizes at all listed... one of those "picture " directions papers.... Need to find someone that is a better carpenter than I will ever be to see if they can make the ends of it so that it will work. I cannot make it work with the other "partial run" that I have since there are no solid ends for the end of the chicken coop... I went on the internet and found the company, so will see if I can contact them.... TSC does not carry that model any longer.... and cannot find that model on the company website either... maybe the company can give me dimensions at least.
The 3rd "partial" poultry run that I have is missing the roof pieces and the 4 panels that makes each side longer...have the front and back panels with the door, and the first side panel for each side, and the 2 wire top pieces.... BUT.... I think I can take the 2nd one that I put together apart and take out 2 panels... 1 on each side... and make the 2 pens the same size... spent some time looking at it all... and trying to do the figuring so that it will work since the top roof panels fit on the "trusses" with holes and dowels to help line them up and make them more secure... If I do that, then there will be 2 roof pieces for each one, and I can add some metal roofing over top of a section of the wire top cover panels...... 3 ft of metal roofing does not cover much, up high like that... but it would solve needing to make any roofing pieces for it... I just have to make sure that I get the truss pieces in the right place when changing the siding pieces... I think I can do that without too much problem... I will have to drill some holes for the metal bolts that go through the side piece to support the truss pieces.. I think I can use the side pieces with the holes, as a guide to copy the making of the holes into the other side piece that doesn't have the holes...
OR..... I could just leave the 2nd pen intact and put it together and make the other a 6 ft pen with just the wire top pieces... I just think that 2 - 9 ft pens are more versatile to use in the long run...and I would have to make a roof of some sort, to go over the wire mesh panels for shade anyway....

I am going to try to take a picture of the drawings I did and have @Mini Horses add it to this thread... if it works, maybe someone can tell me if I am thinking right...basically with the way the trusses are and the pegs and holes in the top panels that cover... I basically am making a double truss by taking out one set of 3 ft wire panels on the side... this way the roof panels should line up to fit on the trusses... just be extra support. If I don't put the extra set of trusses, I don't think the roof and wire panels will lay flat on the tops... guess I can always take a set out if I have to... panels do not overlap on top so think this will work and give me 2 complete pens and I can add an extra sheet or 2 of metal roofing so it is more covered for rain and such... I have already decided that I am going to close in the back third or even half, for the winter with a good heavy duty plastic... may close in the whole thing for them for winter...we'll see. At least the west/south facing side since that is where the storms mostly always come from.

So basically, I will be taking out the screws, moving over the shorter back section with 3 ft sides and the end already made, and adding a back end to the front 9 ft long side that is made, then adding the door end, and the 6 ft panel to the back end and 3 ft sides that is put together... but got to do it when there isn't so much wind as it is too hard to hold them up and deal with the wind... even with the mesh the wind will cause them to "blow over" and I have to move the already assembled back section over so I can add a new front section... and that is not too easy to do so by yourself... don't need even a breeze "pushing on it" a little bit. Since I have done this, I have learned a little bit about trying to keep them up and straight while putting them together..

Okay, enough "time out" . Time to get back out there. It has been partly sunny, more clouds, all day and WINDY again... mid 70's but cool with the wind.
Batteries are all charged for the riding mower/tractor...I just need to get more motivated today..

OOPS just realized I did not hit post.... above is from earlier. Below is now...

Spent some more time out there looking over the panels and am going to try making them into 2 pens of 9 ft on the sides and then there are enough panels; of wire and solid roof panels, to cover it all. I might have to figure out the "trusses" ... but I am pretty confident they will work the way I want.
The other "partial" chicken coop ... box 1 ... with missing box 2, will wait until I talk to someone at the company.... then see what I can figure out...

Going to have the bull calves in at the nurse cow pasture tomorrow after 4 pm... got into words about them this afternoon... since DS never called me to tell me what his day was looking like... and then wanted me to drop everything to go up there about 4 so he didn't have to be "late" going home this evening... and I just said to forget it.. so after a little bit he texted me and we got it down to a 'low simmer" and I will have them in the barn and all the stuff there... and we will do them there and then he can take my bigger holstein bull/steer calf to doug's farm with the heifers for now... and take "stupid" 1305 cow so I do not have to keep feeding her to get her in the barn... then anything that is going to get sold will all be at the barn and I do not have to listen to him "b#@ch and complain" about having to go up there for 1 calf or something, when he is loading the trailer, and is running late as usual... the calf is weaned and will be getting some silage at doug's so that is good.
The one black one I had originally said to pull off the cow and sell, I said now to leave on the young cow until she is preg checked... and it might match some that will come off other cows that will get preg checked from other places... he is still nursing but she does not have alot of milk... he is eating feed really good in the barn with the other calves to make up for her lesser amount of milk...... and she is slowly gaining some weight back too.

Okay... going to HIT POST... and get a shower and go to bed...

 

[Ridgetop]

If I do that, then there will be 2 roof pieces for each one, and I can add some metal roofing over top of a section of the wire top cover panels...... 3 ft of metal roofing does not cover much, up high like that... but it would solve needing to make any roofing pieces for it...

If the pens are put tgether with wire over the top how about covering them with tarps for the summer? If the carpenter recommended to you by your friend does a good job reasonably on the trusses, maybe he can copy the missing pieces for you. If the copany doesn't make that model anymore, check on line for "Directions to Assemble" that model. Often companies leave the assembly/operating directions on their websites even when the product is discontinued.