Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Bruce]

I said, enough is enough, you NEED a lawyer to fight FOR you at this point.

Sadly.

I think the workman's comp job description is "Say no. Say no again. Say no again. Repeat". Without an open and shut case like a broken arm, they don't want to get caught up in an open ended claim, especially something as complicated as brain injuries.

I'm glad that you have a good relationship with your sister and the one brother.

 

[Baymule]

I hope your son can get his problems resolved, and that won't happen unless he fights the workman's comp. He needs medical attention, blank spots are scary.

I am glad that you are finally getting some sunshine. Maybe the mud can dry up and make your life easier.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sure hope the weather stabilizes for y'all and ya can get thru the mud gates to replentish the hay and grain.....my working years ended with a workers comp case, tho it was only my foot and not my brain.....and it forced me to disability....so, I know it is a tough and long row to hoe.....

 

[farmerjan]

Haven't had much time to be on here with testing and trying to get some things done while it was nicer and sunny.
That all came to a halt; they said we had a chance for some spotty showers, and that was okay. We had 8 days of no precip and it was great. Got alot of things done, sure there's always a ton more, but it was nice to not be wet and cold.
Got up and left for work at 2:15 this morning. Hit a couple of sprinkles but it wasn't doing much until after 4-4:30. Then it started to rain at the farm and it hasn't stopped since. I finally got home about 11:30. LONG morning and my ankle and knee hurt so much I just about want to cry. It is still raining. I looked at the rain gauge real quick as I put water in the chicken pen and we have had well over 1 inch already. The original forecast was for showers with maybe a quarter inch. Then it was saying a possible half inch and some possible wet snow mixed in along the higher elevations. We had some wet snowy type rain drops on the windshield coming home. It is staying right at 41 here at the house but was in the 35-36 range up on the ridge. I am not worried about any real "ice or snow" type stuff, but it sure has gotten colder and nasty with the wet.

 

[Bruce]

So "spotty showers" is what they call steady rain adding up to over an inch by noon? I hate to think what they would call it if they expected a steady rain and how much THAT would be!

 

[farmerjan]

I accidentally hit the post button.
Anyway, it is WET and water is running down the fields and there was water laying everywhere there was a low spot in the roads. You can hear it on the tin roof of the porch around the house. Not just a light rain but REALLY RAINING.
I looked up and we have had 9 inches of rain since the first of the year AND over 12 inches of snow. That's OVER 10 inches of rain equivalent. Normal is less than 3 for the year to date..... Not sure what this portends for the rest of the year.
I am going in to take an hour nap because I can barely keep my eyes open after being up for over 11 hours already. No work on the horizon tomorrow, so I will be able to get a decent nights sleep I hope. But if I don't get a little now, I will be totally useless later. I need to pack the samples to go out UPS and can't see the list clearly so a catch up nap is in order. I am not much of a nap person, but when I am like this it does help to take the edge off. I will try to get back on here later on.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Shoot, I try to get a nap even when I'm doing nothing at all....so, having been up that long and working in pain....ya sure deserve a nap.........hope ya rest well and when ya get up the rain has subsided and moved on.....

 

[greybeard]

It's been a week now since we had any measurable rain. I went over to a neighbor's for most of the afternoon yesterday and when I got back late, the thermostat in the house said it was nearly 80 deg inside. 76 outside. Was nice to be able to open all the windows and not have either heat or AC on last night. (House needed a good airing out anyway)
I saw both fireflies and June bugs late last night, so spring has sprung in my region.

 

[Bruce]

I'm not opening any windows! Currently 42° supposed to drop and drop and drop until it hits 22° Saturday morning. Granted 22° ABOVE zero is pretty warm compared to a month or so back. But we are also going to get about 8" of snow from 1 AM tomorrow through 2 PM Saturday. Nope, NOT opening any windows. The chickens are gonna be bummed. They like to range when there isn't much snow around.

 

[farmerjan]

Okay, I got a little rest and am going to post a bit more. It did stop raining and saw a little break in the clouds but not really sun. Staying right around the 40-42 mark but now they are saying we might get some wet snow tonight before this "front" moves out. I will dump the rain gauge in the morning. It has been breezy, so cold and chilly and damp out today.

My sister sent me a message that my mom is back in the hospital. Blood pressure has gone crazy. Says it is good I am coming next week instead of next month that we had discussed also. It is not looking like a good trip. She has not even told my father I am coming at this point.

Am waiting to hear if my son has gotten an appt with the workmans comp lawyer.

One of our former milk testers is talking about coming back if she can get enough herds to go full time, so might be getting all the herds from the tester that is wanting to cut back/quit. So I might not be getting the couple she wanted me to take. Thing is, I have 2 herds that were hers ( the former tester) several years ago, that refused to have her back on the farm due to not liking her attitude, and some things she did that were not correct procedure. So don't know how all that is going to shake down. A farmer has the right to request to have a certain tester, or not to have a certain tester.... I will not be giving up any that I have currently, but the couple that were going to switch to me, may not be wanting this one that is considering coming back. It is a mess.

My son talked to a farmer, here local, who has money.... and was asking how things were going with his cows. He said okay, was very non-commital. So my son told him we were having problems, all the open cows, the problems with them not having the condition, and this other guy started to open up and seems that he has had a bunch of problems/difficulties too. It is definitely not isolated with our cattle. It seems to be a universal thing here in this area. And I am finding that it is more widespread than many would admit to or want to acknowledge.

Add to that, the horrible conditions in Neb., Kansas, Iowa, and surrounding states with the HORRIFIC flooding, the snow and blizzard and subsequent melting and flooding... and now the loss of so many stored on farm crops. If anyone on here has not heard, there are HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of bushels of corn and soybeans that have been flooded in the storage bins. There will be no salvaging these stored grains.
This is going to translate to higher feed prices. Get ready for it. Maybe not huge increases, but feed will go up. It will also translate into lower prices for our feeder cattle as when it costs more to feed them, they pay less for the cattle. The only thing off setting that will be the numbers of "losses" that will be tallyed from flood losses. There will be huge losses of adult cattle, but an even greater loss of calves as most in those areas were in the middle of calving. Many calves will never be found. The ones that do survive will be compromised health wise and they will not have the growth. It is going to be a VERY DIFFICULT year.

Someone mentioned on another thread, that there will be crop losses, in the planting and harvesting this year. That is truer than many realize. Just the flooding of the fields with the debris that will have to be cleaned up.... once they are dry enough to be gotten on. There will be all sorts of contaminants left behind. The flooding has cause all sorts of problems. Manure/sewage treatment plants have been flooded. This has been washed onto lands and swept down stream. There have been gas stations flooded, gasoline, diesel has been added to the mix. This will contaminate the ground. Then the saturation of just the water. Crops like alfalfa will "drown". That is one crop that does not like "to get it's feet wet". If the ground is saturated for too long, then grasses, like orchard grass will also "drown" and roots will rot. It will not grow. If it is contaminated with things like gasoline then the grass will be ruined and if it does grow, may not be fit to feed.
Most places out there would have been getting ready to be planting by mid April. This is an area that grows ALOT of our grain. If they can't get into the fields for a few weeks, then cleanup will be done, then planting will be even later if at all.
All the "winter crops" like winter wheat, some rye grain, and such were planted last fall. They will be drowned/ruined and not grow or may not be harvestable. Many places grazed winter wheat early then harvested a crop later in the season. There won't be any grazing. Possibly none to harvest for grain.
I realize that these are not the only areas that grow crops. But it is a significant contributer to our some of our food crops and to the crops for animal feed. Plus so many are out of their homes, and businesses have been flooded out. All these things support the farmers out there. It is going to be a very difficult year for this country. The thing that concerns me is what might happen if our weather does something screwy and we get dry into the summer. This flooding will not just affect us this year, but will affect things alot further down the road.