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farmerjan
Herd Master
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Tuesday night. It started out a little sunny, but became more cloudy for some of the day and then a little more sun late afternoon. But it was "breezy" so quite chilly. Not a very comfortable day, but it wasn't as drab/dreary as the past couple.
Did PT early and then came to new house. I hurt today from it and knees were not as flexible as they have been some days. We talked about the upcoming dr appt as I got the "paperwork" on the computer they said they would send a week before.... He asked me what I was thinking of a time frame... and I said that if I was approved and all, if they had an opening/cancellation for surgery in the next couple weeks for any reason I would take it.....he said that was good to go into it with a plan and with a backup plan....I would be out of the rental and in here to "come home to" after the rehab.... and then be able to just work on getting the rest of the stuff put away at my time frame. I am thinking that I am going to just start getting the rest moved up here and stacked now....IN CASE.... something might work out.... plus be done with the other place, Waiting to hear from the moving guys as soon as they get their "quarantine" thing done....
I then worked on the herd to get the samples done and sent out after all the problems with their computer. Got them done finally.
Got the bottles and stuff in the car, put on farm clothes as I am not going to wear my clean good clothes in the parlor and get splattered and smelly from the iodine and cow sh#t.....
Left and dropped off the samples, then went to the farmer that only has a couple cows now that he milks. Got his samples and we were talking about the state of the country... and 25,000 "troops" for an inauguration where there will be no civilians.... but the gov't was not "allowed" to send in troops to protect the federal building they were burning down with people in it this summer.... SAD TIMES.....
Called another farm.... left message. Got to the farm and had to change all the meter brackets for this farm due to the height/positioning of the meters. Started milking at 3:15 and done at 6; then computer stuff and waiting for them to go through the complete wash cycles. Finally loaded them up and got here just before 8p.m.
The farm that is selling out next week is where my one cow is. She is dry, due in the end of March. Had trouble getting her bred. He said that he will be getting all the cows moved to the barn area and has trailers lined up to move them all on Wed morning. He is keeping some of his bred heifers and some younger ones, as well as 1 or 2 cows. He said that we could get together to get my cow out of there the end of the month or so; she will not be in the way and will be just in with the ones he is keeping.
That is good, since I want to see how the dr appt goes. She has never been hand milked or raised calves.... I am thinking that she needs to go on the dairy with the other ones..... We'll see after next week since he is not pushing to get her moved out..... Hate to see him sell out...he quit testing about a year or 18 months ago I guess..... but it is the sign of the times.... and the kids don't want to milk. Don't blame them. They are amish, but more modern.... drive cars and all that. Nice people.
Heard that there are a couple more Mennonite farmers going out up in the Harrisonburg area. The forecast drop in milk prices have finally made them say enough.... it is going to get ugly this year I am afraid.
Going to get these samples packed this evening and then go down the hill. Tomorrow I have to change all the brackets back to the other position for the farm I am going to tomorrow.... 200 cows.... and they will be milking by 2 pm so will have to get there by 1 to set up. Nothing much will get done here once I get up to the house and get the brackets switched, and then the hoses I need for that farm and then the different hoses I need for the other farm where I will leave stuff for them to test Thursday eve/Friday morn.....I will drop off the stuff Wed night after I get done testing since it is so close. Plus all the sample bottles loaded for both farms.....
Thursday have Pool PT at 10:30.... hoping to get a little more flexibility and less ache on these knees.....
Friday I have to pick up the samples from the owner sampler farm and do his computer work.... Thinking I may go by the stockyard for the sale.... there are supposed to be some cow/calf pairs there. DS went and looked at them and said they are pretty nice cows, quiet.... but they are 10+ years old and he wants more than we feel we can spend on them. Most will raise this calf, and MAYBE one more.... and he wants 1200... then came down to 1175 and then when DS said that we really did not want to put more than 1000 in them with their age even though they are nice cows... he came down to 1085.... but it is still too much. 1000 is really more than they are worth.... DS knows the guy and he was very nice about it and explained that we were really looking for some 6-8 year old cows that we could get 3-5 more calves out of..... and the guy was very honest and said at first that they were maybe 8-9 years old.... but his daughter said that they were more like 11 or so because they had gotten them when she was in like 4th or 5th grade... she showed a couple of calves from them and she is now in college....so he told DS that they were older than he thought at first. So DS is feeling a little torn because they are in good shape.... and there is a bull running with them so they could be bred back.... the guy is losing this pasture so they are selling this group.... There's only 8 but that is still 8,000 at our max price.....the calves are all in the 150-225 lb size so won't be ready to sell until late summer.... if even one or 2 don't breed back then the salvage value is maybe 500..... selling the calf for 4-600 is only going to break even and we will have fed them for 6 months....
So, if he takes them to the stockyard.... they might go in the 7-800 range... and we will, can afford to take the chance on some of them. He will be getting market price for them. And if they go higher... then good for him.
We were really looking for cows to be calving in the spring..... don't like to calve these old cows in the fall as the winters are harder on them with little calves.... and we cannot afford to hold them over with paying 1000 a pair for them. Like the $750 little hereford we bought yesterday.... she will be a spring calver and it won't cost that much to feed her for 2+ months til she calves. Plus she is probably only 4 yrs old.
Well, we'll see.... he and I will talk before Friday.....I know he has to work so doubt that he will get off in time to get there for the cows....
Going to close and get these samples packed so I can take a few extra minutes in the morning. I might try to do the errands tomorrow.... that I still have not gotten to....leave early to go to the farm....I really need another heater for the house with the forecast night temps this coming weekend in the teens. Maybe Thursday I can get back to moving some more stuff up here.... and getting more stuff put away in the kitchen cabinets. I know that I will not be up to it tomorrow eve, if tonight is anything to go by....
Did PT early and then came to new house. I hurt today from it and knees were not as flexible as they have been some days. We talked about the upcoming dr appt as I got the "paperwork" on the computer they said they would send a week before.... He asked me what I was thinking of a time frame... and I said that if I was approved and all, if they had an opening/cancellation for surgery in the next couple weeks for any reason I would take it.....he said that was good to go into it with a plan and with a backup plan....I would be out of the rental and in here to "come home to" after the rehab.... and then be able to just work on getting the rest of the stuff put away at my time frame. I am thinking that I am going to just start getting the rest moved up here and stacked now....IN CASE.... something might work out.... plus be done with the other place, Waiting to hear from the moving guys as soon as they get their "quarantine" thing done....
I then worked on the herd to get the samples done and sent out after all the problems with their computer. Got them done finally.
Got the bottles and stuff in the car, put on farm clothes as I am not going to wear my clean good clothes in the parlor and get splattered and smelly from the iodine and cow sh#t.....
Left and dropped off the samples, then went to the farmer that only has a couple cows now that he milks. Got his samples and we were talking about the state of the country... and 25,000 "troops" for an inauguration where there will be no civilians.... but the gov't was not "allowed" to send in troops to protect the federal building they were burning down with people in it this summer.... SAD TIMES.....
Called another farm.... left message. Got to the farm and had to change all the meter brackets for this farm due to the height/positioning of the meters. Started milking at 3:15 and done at 6; then computer stuff and waiting for them to go through the complete wash cycles. Finally loaded them up and got here just before 8p.m.
The farm that is selling out next week is where my one cow is. She is dry, due in the end of March. Had trouble getting her bred. He said that he will be getting all the cows moved to the barn area and has trailers lined up to move them all on Wed morning. He is keeping some of his bred heifers and some younger ones, as well as 1 or 2 cows. He said that we could get together to get my cow out of there the end of the month or so; she will not be in the way and will be just in with the ones he is keeping.
That is good, since I want to see how the dr appt goes. She has never been hand milked or raised calves.... I am thinking that she needs to go on the dairy with the other ones..... We'll see after next week since he is not pushing to get her moved out..... Hate to see him sell out...he quit testing about a year or 18 months ago I guess..... but it is the sign of the times.... and the kids don't want to milk. Don't blame them. They are amish, but more modern.... drive cars and all that. Nice people.
Heard that there are a couple more Mennonite farmers going out up in the Harrisonburg area. The forecast drop in milk prices have finally made them say enough.... it is going to get ugly this year I am afraid.
Going to get these samples packed this evening and then go down the hill. Tomorrow I have to change all the brackets back to the other position for the farm I am going to tomorrow.... 200 cows.... and they will be milking by 2 pm so will have to get there by 1 to set up. Nothing much will get done here once I get up to the house and get the brackets switched, and then the hoses I need for that farm and then the different hoses I need for the other farm where I will leave stuff for them to test Thursday eve/Friday morn.....I will drop off the stuff Wed night after I get done testing since it is so close. Plus all the sample bottles loaded for both farms.....
Thursday have Pool PT at 10:30.... hoping to get a little more flexibility and less ache on these knees.....
Friday I have to pick up the samples from the owner sampler farm and do his computer work.... Thinking I may go by the stockyard for the sale.... there are supposed to be some cow/calf pairs there. DS went and looked at them and said they are pretty nice cows, quiet.... but they are 10+ years old and he wants more than we feel we can spend on them. Most will raise this calf, and MAYBE one more.... and he wants 1200... then came down to 1175 and then when DS said that we really did not want to put more than 1000 in them with their age even though they are nice cows... he came down to 1085.... but it is still too much. 1000 is really more than they are worth.... DS knows the guy and he was very nice about it and explained that we were really looking for some 6-8 year old cows that we could get 3-5 more calves out of..... and the guy was very honest and said at first that they were maybe 8-9 years old.... but his daughter said that they were more like 11 or so because they had gotten them when she was in like 4th or 5th grade... she showed a couple of calves from them and she is now in college....so he told DS that they were older than he thought at first. So DS is feeling a little torn because they are in good shape.... and there is a bull running with them so they could be bred back.... the guy is losing this pasture so they are selling this group.... There's only 8 but that is still 8,000 at our max price.....the calves are all in the 150-225 lb size so won't be ready to sell until late summer.... if even one or 2 don't breed back then the salvage value is maybe 500..... selling the calf for 4-600 is only going to break even and we will have fed them for 6 months....
So, if he takes them to the stockyard.... they might go in the 7-800 range... and we will, can afford to take the chance on some of them. He will be getting market price for them. And if they go higher... then good for him.
We were really looking for cows to be calving in the spring..... don't like to calve these old cows in the fall as the winters are harder on them with little calves.... and we cannot afford to hold them over with paying 1000 a pair for them. Like the $750 little hereford we bought yesterday.... she will be a spring calver and it won't cost that much to feed her for 2+ months til she calves. Plus she is probably only 4 yrs old.
Well, we'll see.... he and I will talk before Friday.....I know he has to work so doubt that he will get off in time to get there for the cows....
Going to close and get these samples packed so I can take a few extra minutes in the morning. I might try to do the errands tomorrow.... that I still have not gotten to....leave early to go to the farm....I really need another heater for the house with the forecast night temps this coming weekend in the teens. Maybe Thursday I can get back to moving some more stuff up here.... and getting more stuff put away in the kitchen cabinets. I know that I will not be up to it tomorrow eve, if tonight is anything to go by....