Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[fuzzi]

My Mother spoon fed me this exact strategy as I was growing up. Her words: You plant an idea in his tiny little brain and feed it, nurture it and it comes out his mouth all his idea! You clap your hands together and exclaim, That’s wonderful! I’m so glad you thought of that!

I learned it through years of marriage: don't headbutt, it just makes them more stubborn.

 

[SageHill]

@Ridgetop and @Baymule --- exactly! Though I learned it on my own. LOL "plant the seed" and let it germinate, then harvest!

 

[farmerjan]

Thursday evening... Had an interesting day. Went to Sharp Shopper and they were totally out of the new yogurt I tried... Called "Brown Cow"... whole milk yogurt in Maple Flavor... I was a little hesitant to get more than a qt... wish I had bought 6.... since this is like a warehouse/discount store,,,, I may never see it again... It was $.99 / qt.... and it was good... Also, none of the New England Iced coffee ... again, one of the occasional things... Went to Harbor Freight across the road and got a couple of inexpensive hammers... $6.99 each... since mine keep disappearing... and next week they have a big sale starting 4/9.... so might go get a couple more at $3.99 to put at the barn so mine get left alone in my car or where ever I have them...
DS calls... he is getting the heifers in , to take to the guy that bought the others... He was going to come look at them... but said if DS could get them to him before Friday (tomorrow) they have the vet coming...did I want to take a ride and go with him... and then in another week/or two, they are going out to pasture.... and then getting bred starting in June... SO....I said I would be home in about a 1/2 hour...he went and got the truck/trailer weighed at the truck stop... and then we looked at them. We wound up taking 6... one of mine I was not going to sell but she was an "okay" heifer so I said, yeah she can go... I have her momma...young cow, so can get another heifer out of her hopefully... Anyway...took the truck and trailer to the truck stop and reweighed with them on it... and they weighed more than DS thought... As in 806 lbs.... avg each... the ones he bought 2 weeks ago were 702.... They had agreed that he would pay the same for them... we thought these would weigh in the 7-750 range... but they were bigger... Anyway, it is about 1 1/2 hours out there... and it was a nice enough day to go... Warmer than yesterday... still mostly cloudy with slight possibility of some showers... but we didn't get any rain this afternoon.
This farm is known for their BISON (buffalo).... the whole area is promoted as the buffalo farm area.. and they used to run about 2-300 head... they sold USDA bison meat and all that... and it is set up for working the buffalo, so heavy duty stuff... Owned by some people in NJ... over 12, 000 acres... mountain land and all..

Bison meat used to be in high demand... $5.00/lb for ground meat when beef was $1.50.... now the pendulom has swung the opposite whay and they can hardly find enough buyers for the bison meat... and beef is higher than anything... They have scaled down their bison operation to about 30 cows and a few bulls... and want to have mostly cattle now... hence the wanting heifers they can breed and have some cows already. But they figure they can buy heifers and breed them cheaper than they can buy bred heifers or cows...
Anyway... they paid around $1800 for the ones they bought 2 weeks ago... at 700 lbs... these cost a bit over 2,000 each, with being just over 800 lbs at the same price..... We were a little concerned and DS was willing to drop the price per lb... since we thought they were lighter and they were talking around the 1800 price range... which we were thinking was fair... The farm manager wasn't going to be there, he had to leave at 3... but said his one guy that worked there would come meet us at the store and we could follow him just up the road to the farm when we finally got there... So after getting the weights on them... as we got there to the store... the guy at the store called the other guy and said we were there... and then he brought the accountant lady, and she brought the checkbook... she wrote the check for the full price, and we took them up and unloaded them...saw our other heifers..... saw some of the buffalo....then as we left, DS texted the mgr and told him what they weighed and that we did not expect them to be that much heavier... and that if he was concerned they could discuss it since we did not want him to think we were taking advantage of him in anyway... We did not hear back, so DS texted him back and said that they could discuss it this evening when it was convenient for the guy to call... He called DS a little while ago, and said that he was well satisfied with the weights and price... that them being heavier that was that much less weight he had to put on them for breeding... and he was fine with the price if DS was satisfied... Since we were thinking in the 1800/hd range, getting a bit over $2,000 was just fine with us. I am glad I sold my heifer too...

There were 6 there that they bought...this past week.... 3 had calves and 3 were supposed to be 8+ months, due any time soon... and the other guy that worked there that took us to the farm to unload, said that they cost 3700 each.... Which is on the high side of current prices... but we are seeing 2500-3000 for just mediocre stuff ... so 3700 is not unreasonably high...

It is crazy times for beef cattle... I am thinking that he might ought to sell half the cows and he could pay a good chunk down on the mtg..... We are in a good position though... we still have another 14 ready to go with our bull in June/July... and 25 in the barn that are in the 500 lb range... plus all the fall born calves that will be weaned off the cows when we preg check in another 60 days so the cows can go to pasture... and all the ones calving now... There are about 2 to 1 bull calves to heifer calves on the ground this spring... of the 5 heifers that have calved so far, 4 are bull calves....
It is almost scary what the cattle market is like....
It is almost scary how dry it is and the possibility of drought again this year in this area... so glad we are not overstocked... but there might be a shortage of hay again.... we are planting 20 acres of corn this year instead of the 12 last year....but if it is too dry... it might not make alot of silage...

IF, IF, IF.... What if.....

We did just get a short burst of rain, quick downpour shower, around 9 pm... more to come the next couple of days. Temps are 10-20 degrees above normal right now... it hit 74 and is not supposed to drop much below 55-60 the next 2-3 nights... low 80's next few days... way too warm for April.... but next week is is supposed to be in the low 50's and 25-30 a couple nights... TOTAL YO-YO weather...

Glad we are not getting the snow that @Weldman is getting though... but his temps are supposed to get way up there too...

The "tariff" situation caused a huge drop in the stockmarket today... will have to see how that plays out... India and another country... maybe Japan... have already made calls and offered to drop their tariff's on our goods if we will drop the new ones Trump imposed... if they just stick to their guns and congress and all the "disaster people" just shut up and sit tight... I think this will work out in our favor in the long run.... but yes, it is going to cause some things to go up in the short term... BUT.... MAYBE... this will get people to actually see some economic sense in the long term... that we HAVE to get back on a more sensible PRODUCTION type way of life and not all the handouts with the few paying all the taxes that IN TURN gives so much to people that are not contributing members of society....and I am not talking taking away from disabled or really needy people...

OOPS ...forgot to hit post last night.

 

[fuzzi]

Thursday evening... Had an interesting day. Went to Sharp Shopper and they were totally out of the new yogurt I tried... Called "Brown Cow"... whole milk yogurt in Maple Flavor... I was a little hesitant to get more than a qt... wish I had bought 6.... since this is like a warehouse/discount store,,,, I may never see it again... It was $.99 / qt.... and it was good... Also, none of the New England Iced coffee ... again, one of the occasional things... Went to Harbor Freight across the road and got a couple of inexpensive hammers... $6.99 each... since mine keep disappearing... and next week they have a big sale starting 4/9.... so might go get a couple more at $3.99 to put at the barn so mine get left alone in my car or where ever I have them...
DS calls... he is getting the heifers in , to take to the guy that bought the others... He was going to come look at them... but said if DS could get them to him before Friday (tomorrow) they have the vet coming...did I want to take a ride and go with him... and then in another week/or two, they are going out to pasture.... and then getting bred starting in June... SO....I said I would be home in about a 1/2 hour...he went and got the truck/trailer weighed at the truck stop... and then we looked at them. We wound up taking 6... one of mine I was not going to sell but she was an "okay" heifer so I said, yeah she can go... I have her momma...young cow, so can get another heifer out of her hopefully... Anyway...took the truck and trailer to the truck stop and reweighed with them on it... and they weighed more than DS thought... As in 806 lbs.... avg each... the ones he bought 2 weeks ago were 702.... They had agreed that he would pay the same for them... we thought these would weigh in the 7-750 range... but they were bigger... Anyway, it is about 1 1/2 hours out there... and it was a nice enough day to go... Warmer than yesterday... still mostly cloudy with slight possibility of some showers... but we didn't get any rain this afternoon.
This farm is known for their BISON (buffalo).... the whole area is promoted as the buffalo farm area.. and they used to run about 2-300 head... they sold USDA bison meat and all that... and it is set up for working the buffalo, so heavy duty stuff... Owned by some people in NJ... over 12, 000 acres... mountain land and all..

Bison meat used to be in high demand... $5.00/lb for ground meat when beef was $1.50.... now the pendulom has swung the opposite whay and they can hardly find enough buyers for the bison meat... and beef is higher than anything... They have scaled down their bison operation to about 30 cows and a few bulls... and want to have mostly cattle now... hence the wanting heifers they can breed and have some cows already. But they figure they can buy heifers and breed them cheaper than they can buy bred heifers or cows...
Anyway... they paid around $1800 for the ones they bought 2 weeks ago... at 700 lbs... these cost a bit over 2,000 each, with being just over 800 lbs at the same price..... We were a little concerned and DS was willing to drop the price per lb... since we thought they were lighter and they were talking around the 1800 price range... which we were thinking was fair... The farm manager wasn't going to be there, he had to leave at 3... but said his one guy that worked there would come meet us at the store and we could follow him just up the road to the farm when we finally got there... So after getting the weights on them... as we got there to the store... the guy at the store called the other guy and said we were there... and then he brought the accountant lady, and she brought the checkbook... she wrote the check for the full price, and we took them up and unloaded them...saw our other heifers..... saw some of the buffalo....then as we left, DS texted the mgr and told him what they weighed and that we did not expect them to be that much heavier... and that if he was concerned they could discuss it since we did not want him to think we were taking advantage of him in anyway... We did not hear back, so DS texted him back and said that they could discuss it this evening when it was convenient for the guy to call... He called DS a little while ago, and said that he was well satisfied with the weights and price... that them being heavier that was that much less weight he had to put on them for breeding... and he was fine with the price if DS was satisfied... Since we were thinking in the 1800/hd range, getting a bit over $2,000 was just fine with us. I am glad I sold my heifer too...

There were 6 there that they bought...this past week.... 3 had calves and 3 were supposed to be 8+ months, due any time soon... and the other guy that worked there that took us to the farm to unload, said that they cost 3700 each.... Which is on the high side of current prices... but we are seeing 2500-3000 for just mediocre stuff ... so 3700 is not unreasonably high...

It is crazy times for beef cattle... I am thinking that he might ought to sell half the cows and he could pay a good chunk down on the mtg..... We are in a good position though... we still have another 14 ready to go with our bull in June/July... and 25 in the barn that are in the 500 lb range... plus all the fall born calves that will be weaned off the cows when we preg check in another 60 days so the cows can go to pasture... and all the ones calving now... There are about 2 to 1 bull calves to heifer calves on the ground this spring... of the 5 heifers that have calved so far, 4 are bull calves....
It is almost scary what the cattle market is like....
It is almost scary how dry it is and the possibility of drought again this year in this area... so glad we are not overstocked... but there might be a shortage of hay again.... we are planting 20 acres of corn this year instead of the 12 last year....but if it is too dry... it might not make alot of silage...

IF, IF, IF.... What if.....

We did just get a short burst of rain, quick downpour shower, around 9 pm... more to come the next couple of days. Temps are 10-20 degrees above normal right now... it hit 74 and is not supposed to drop much below 55-60 the next 2-3 nights... low 80's next few days... way too warm for April.... but next week is is supposed to be in the low 50's and 25-30 a couple nights... TOTAL YO-YO weather...

Glad we are not getting the snow that @Weldman is getting though... but his temps are supposed to get way up there too...

The "tariff" situation caused a huge drop in the stockmarket today... will have to see how that plays out... India and another country... maybe Japan... have already made calls and offered to drop their tariff's on our goods if we will drop the new ones Trump imposed... if they just stick to their guns and congress and all the "disaster people" just shut up and sit tight... I think this will work out in our favor in the long run.... but yes, it is going to cause some things to go up in the short term... BUT.... MAYBE... this will get people to actually see some economic sense in the long term... that we HAVE to get back on a more sensible PRODUCTION type way of life and not all the handouts with the few paying all the taxes that IN TURN gives so much to people that are not contributing members of society....and I am not talking taking away from disabled or really needy people...

OOPS ...forgot to hit post last night.

Glad you got good prices for your cattle. It might make sense to pay off some bills or stock up on some things you will need in the near future. My parents were Great Depression children, my dad cautioned me about not having enough liquid capital, but I am glad I paid off the house when I had a windfall.

Get some fluorescent color electrical tape, wind it around the hammer handles so they're more obvious, visible.

I lean conservative on some issues, have some more liberal friends who are having daily crises. I have told them to stop watching the news, it will all work out eventually. They won't. Personally I'd rather spend time in my yard and gardens than watching Chicken Little "the sky is falling" media reports.

 

[Baymule]

My sister called me yesterday having an absolute meltdown. Furious. Ranting and raving, spewing hatred. Telling me to go buy all the materials for my barn NOW because prices are going up and the stock market is crashing. I calmly replied that this is a strategy to get other countries to either drop their tariffs or to lower theirs to meet ours. And lo and behold, that has already started! My sister spewed some more and hung up on me. Sigh……. I love my sister.

 

[SageHill]

Yup - it's the long game. I'm all for that. I feel that we've been taken advantage of and laughed at. Sigh. I seriously didn't realize other countries had tariffs on our goods. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. With that knowledge I think 'then why the heck didn't we put tariffs on them'.
Can't fix things that are so broken overnight.

 

[farmerjan]

Glad you got good prices for your cattle. It might make sense to pay off some bills or stock up on some things you will need in the near future. My parents were Great Depression children, my dad cautioned me about not having enough liquid capital, but I am glad I paid off the house when I had a windfall.

Get some fluorescent color electrical tape, wind it around the hammer handles so they're more obvious, visible.

I lean conservative on some issues, have some more liberal friends who are having daily crises. I have told them to stop watching the news, it will all work out eventually. They won't. Personally I'd rather spend time in my yard and gardens than watching Chicken Little "the sky is falling" media reports.

The hammers don't get "lost"... they get "confiscated".... "oh can I borrow this for a little bit".... then they somehow never get put back...... sometimes it makes me madder than a hornet... sometimes it is only an aggravation.... and I have broken a couple of wood handled ones so these will not break when I am putting alot of strain on them and cussing trying to get a nail or some staples out..... and the ones that wind up in the fencing repair buckets can just stay there....

I have thought about paying down on the house a little... but the interest rate is 2.87%.... I can earn 5.5% on my checking account if I use the debit card as required... and have a couple savings accounts that are just under 4%... manipulating the money around... and if it should get bad, interest rates will go up more... both on the lending side and the saving side.... so... even though I pay a fair amount of actual interest...due to the balance amount... I am still making more by keeping the money more liquid...so I can use that money in a moment if needed.... NOW... if the interest rate were over 5-6% as so many are, I would be paying down on the mtg...
I remember when my parents built the house when I was about 12-14 yrs old... interest rates back then were in the TEENS %..... it was a scary time... 1960's..... but savings accounts and CD's were much higher rates too... I remember at one time interest rates on just a regular savings account were over 5%... now they are like .1% or something????

 

[fuzzi]

The hammers don't get "lost"... they get "confiscated".... "oh can I borrow this for a little bit".... then they somehow never get put back...... sometimes it makes me madder than a hornet... sometimes it is only an aggravation.... and I have broken a couple of wood handled ones so these will not break when I am putting alot of strain on them and cussing trying to get a nail or some staples out..... and the ones that wind up in the fencing repair buckets can just stay there....

I have thought about paying down on the house a little... but the interest rate is 2.87%.... I can earn 5.5% on my checking account if I use the debit card as required... and have a couple savings accounts that are just under 4%... manipulating the money around... and if it should get bad, interest rates will go up more... both on the lending side and the saving side.... so... even though I pay a fair amount of actual interest...due to the balance amount... I am still making more by keeping the money more liquid...so I can use that money in a moment if needed.... NOW... if the interest rate were over 5-6% as so many are, I would be paying down on the mtg...
I remember when my parents built the house when I was about 12-14 yrs old... interest rates back then were in the TEENS %..... it was a scary time... 1960's..... but savings accounts and CD's were much higher rates too... I remember at one time interest rates on just a regular savings account were over 5%... now they are like .1% or something????

No one borrows my tools anymore. Ron was really bad about that, then laying them down where they were lost for weeks, months, years. At one point I bought my own tool box and put a lock on it.

My dad put his savings in my name. After he passed I got a CD. I just rolled it over for another 18 months, rate was 5.75, is down to 5.15 I think, but it's earning more interest than a regular bank account.

We bought our house during the bubble in 2006, before the burst. For a while we were underwater, but then it got better. I'm thinking the mortgage was about 10%. Anyway, it's moot. All I pay now is property tax and maintenance.

 

[Ridgetop]

It is almost scary what the cattle market is like....

With the lower numbers of beef cattle now due to so many being sold to cash in on the high prices, is most of US beef being slaughtered and staying in the States?

The "tariff" situation caused a huge drop in the stockmarket today... will have to see how that plays out... India and another country... maybe Japan... have already made calls and offered to drop their tariff's on our goods if we will drop the new ones Trump imposed... if they just stick to their guns and congress and all the "disaster people" just shut up and sit tight... I think this will work out in our favor in the long run....

The market bounces up and down - people sell off for a profit, then buy back lower to try it al over again. Sit tight and things will work out. The tariffs are necessary to correct the big difference between what foreign mfgrs can import their goods to us for and the exorbitant prices our goods have to sell for to pay the foreign tariffs when imported to other countries.

A fellow sheep breeder (he does a lot of commercial sales to the packers) was worried about the tariffs with Australian lamb. I tod him that the big sheep industry people were seeing high beef prices and beef tariffs on foreig imports as an opportunity to get more American lamb on people's tables. I reminded him that the tariffs would not affect American lamb producers as much compared to Australian producers. Australian lamb producers get subsidies from their government for both meat and wool. That is why Australian lamb comes into the US and undercuts American lamb prices. I am hopeful that the tariffs on foreign goods will eventually benefit American farmers.

The hammers don't get "lost"... they get "confiscated".... "oh can I borrow this for a little bit".... then they somehow never get put back......

That is why we have a full drawer of measuring tapes - when we were remodeling our apartment building everyone was grabbing tape measures from everyone. I had to keep buying more to kee the peace. We now have some that are still in the packages! And we still go looking for misplaced tape measures. Same goes for our battery operated drills. The biggest offender is He Who Shall Not Be Named (starts with D, ends with H). His tool misplacement has led to all of us having our own personal tools hidden away.

 

[fuzzi]

You can't have too many tools