Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[drstratton]

DH uses an inhaler for lng damage from Covid. He was on Alburerol but it wan't working so the pulmonologist changed him to a dry powder inhaler. You inhale it through the mouth once every morning. it works much better but may not be appropriate for your problems. It is Breo Elipta (fluticasone furoate and vilanterol inhalation powder). Like I say it may not be good for your problem since it works differently fro a standard asthma inhaler.

Too bad about the VT cows being so short bred. I thought the owner said they had been with the bull for the past 6 months.

I had a daily inhaler like that. The Combivent and Albuterol are rescue inhalers. When I went on keto, it pretty much got rid of my asthma. Lowered the inflammation in my body. I'm no longer on keto, but I haven't had to use my inhaler again. I'm sorry about your husband's lung damage. Not being able to get your breath is a terrifying feeling. I'm really hoping Jan can find something that works for her. A daily, might help.

 

[Ridgetop]

DH is fine and the scarring seems to be lessening per his last visit. I just hope Jan can find something that works for her. She is always working and having this alpha gal stuff is miserable.

 

[fuzzi]

A nebulizer, perhaps?

This woman uses DMSO in her husband's nebulizer:

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday. It was 61 overnight and already up to 80 at 11.... Here we go, might hit 90 today. lower 90's Mon-Tues... Wed with possible thunder showers coming in Wed eve and into Thurs-Fri-Sat??? Then cooling back to the 70's and possible 40's at night.
I'm getting motion sickness from all the up and down swings in the temps.... .

Yesterday got up and at the barn by 4:45 a.m. DS had sorted the calves from VT the night before... and got the STUPID idiot hereford of his that was going to be a beef, that has been a fence jumping B#@&%... in with them ... Loaded the one trailer, then backed up and loaded the other one and she ran right on with the group... THANK YOU GOD, he FINALLY saw some sense and she is GONE....but she jumped a gate the other day and bent the top of it... that was the final straw... still, been telling him for months that she needed to go as she was just a wild high headed idiot. WHY do some people think that you talk through your hat until something finally pisses them off like that... could have saved all the time and aggravation of her back when I wanted him to ship her 3 months ago...

Any way. They sold good; problem is even though there was one real nice group of 10-12... most were red and red does not sell as good down here... being heifers it was not quite the discount as steers... and heifer prices are holding...
Regardless, they all brought in the 4.40-4.80 range... DS was keeping up with the groups as I had very little interaction with them at the barn. Averaged in the 450's for one group, to the 530's for another group... and the bigger heifers were 750 or so.. They all averaged about 2150 or so per head... with the one small one that went in the graded pen with other ones was 390 lbs and she brought like 5.10 so still brought about 2100....
It DOES NOT PAY to get them over 550 or so... because of the price per lb going down, you have that much more feed in them, and no real gain of $$ overall... Been preaching this for years and years...
In this area, the sweet spot is from 400-575 for most per lb.... and with the feed conversion, anything over that will just be a stagnant return... more feed, more lbs, less $ per lb...Just a fact of life here... BLACK is what sells.

 

[farmerjan]

Oops, hit the post...

So his big nutcase idiot fence jumping B@&%# hereford heifer weighed 1115, and brought 2.05 or something.. he got back what he paid for her when he bought her along with the 2 hereford cow/calf pairs... did not get back the feed costs... but the WITCH is gone... no more riling up eveyone else she is in with and making them nutty too... He has a steer to kill for the July date, and old Red is going to go for the Sept date .

We came back from unloading in the morning... no wait to get backed up and unloaded... wonderful. DS was going to feed and go to Colt's last game... T-ball ... and asked if I wanted to go... I said I would....

So I did chickens and he picked me up at 10:30 or so... They don't keep score in T-ball... and all the kids get up to bat a couple times... they pitch 3 times then if the kids don't manage to swing and connect, they use the T-post until the kid gets a hit... then they run the bases like a regular game...
Like DS said, for the most part it is like "herding cats"... the attention span is miniscule... so they get coached at each base when to run or not... and when the kids play the field... when a ball gets hit there are 6 kids running to it, no one guarding their base to tag a runner... and a couple would get the ball and then hold it... like a prize... so funny and so cute... some are clueless... but it was fun to watch them... and there were a couple that were pretty good... Colt and one other boy were pretty good hitters... good eye/hand/ball coordination... and some could barely hit the ball off the T.....

Finally got home around 1:00... everyone has to stand around and gossip after the game... and DS is as bad... lots of family drama going on all the time... the sisters are at odds and not speaking barely civilly... what a bunch of BS for 40 and 50 yr olds... DS and I dropped the friend's trailer off at his place on the way back from the game... right near there... Was glad to get back...

Did some puttering... dumped more containers of old soil from the planters... Want to get them done today if I can.. Soaked all the Dahlia bulbs in water for a couple hours... then pulled them so they wouldn't get too waterlogged. Plan is to go out and get them done today.

Finally left for the sale at 4... Sister was late coming to get Colt as he wanted to come to the farm with BZ...(DS's nickname)... she is ALWAYS LATE... never comes on time to anything... Colt was helping DS with servicing the disc bine... he would get under and use the screwdriver to get out some junk from joints, then used the air hose to blow it out clean... DS said he was a big help, and Colt was having a blast using the air hose to blow all the stuff out...

We had dropped our trailer at the sale.. that morning.... then came home with 2 trucks and one trailer.. This was saving fuel to not haul the trailer all the way home and then all the way back... we never hardly ever go to a sale without a trailer... but why waste the gas. The truck I was driving was hooked to the friend's trailer he borrowed...

So got back there and they were still on sheep... they had over 700 head sheep and goats.. no sale next Sat the 23rd on account of memorial day weekend... and some ethnic holiday... so they had advertised a "special sheep and goat sale"... and boy was it full....
Finally got some small steers selling and then they had the graded sale at 7... that 's when all the ones we took were sold... EXCEPT idiot heifer as she was too big ... they stop the graded "qualifications" for anything under 1,000.... so she went in the regular sale... Which ,meant a REALLY LATE night.

During the sheep sale, DS actually bought 2 rams with some pretty nice horns... look like Dall's... but their horns were in very good shape... and he is thinking resale.... not the wide spread that his have, but still respectable heads... paid 350 each and they ought to bring 6-800. Good thing is they don't eat alot so they will not cost a ton to keep.... they will eventually get turned out at the farm with whatever cattle are there... where he kept his other rams that have all been sold... but with no ewes around, they do not get into "head smashing" near as much... The other rams are at his house, and the ewes and their lambs are out at another pasture.... When he weans the ram lambs off, the younger rams get put in with the "bachelor" group... and some will go with these rams too... if the young ones are "young enough", they don't try to get into contests, and most will get along okay...

Anyway... after all the graded cattle were sold, they got back into the regular steers, and then they sell the "head cows"... ones with calves, breds etc... and DS wound up buying one with a steer calf... There were about 6-8 there from one farmer... they announced that he is overstocked, out of grass, the lack of rain has made him sell off some animals... so she was one of them. There were 2 nice black cows with nice calves... brought over 4700 each... a couple of bred way too small heifers... one was very pregnant.. one had a calf... the heifer with the calf didn't weigh 650 lbs... decent calf considering, and she was putting her all into being a momma... but she also brought over 2000... and the other bred too young one brought about the same... NO and Double NO... Not taking a chance on losing her... she might do fine... and "back when" taking a chance for $6-800 would have been plenty...NOT doing it at 2,000....
Sold a couple more and they were thin... brought in the 25-3500 range. I think DS paid 2800 for this pair. Cow looks to be "old", but calf is rounded out good... and with some grass she might just do okay with him... We will get her in and mouth her, give her a shot of Triangle -10, black leg the calf... and go from there. She weighs over 1100 so will be good as a cull cow if she is too old to breed... or will go with the small group of old cows and get a chance... Worst is she doesn't breed and she gets culled after she raises this calf.

So, finally got the idiot sold and then we loaded the cow/calf pair, and the 2 rams and came on home...

He let the 2 rams out into a little pen for the night, cow/cf pair in the immediate barn lot where the VT heifers had been... and went to his house to sleep as he never would have made the drive to her house... he said he was not getting into the middle of their problems either...

So this morning, he calls, about my opinion on some hay...this years first cutting.... and says he is finishing up servicing the discbine to cut the wheat at doug's in the back field... after a whole long discussion.... I finally told DS to go buy 2 rolls of the hay this guy has offered... bring it back, unroll it for the cows, look at it real good. If he likes it then get 50 rolls or something... I mean... really???? You go buy hay sight unseen and now you need my opinion???? We got into some words last night... and he got ticked off... and this is his way to try to "make up to me for his temper tantrum"....

Decided he will let me know later when he gets done and wants to do the cow and calf... etc...

So, I just ate and am going back outside to get the tractor/mower... take the cart full of soil to the garden to spread... maybe mow the lawn since it is growing from the rain we had last week... get the planters filled and get the dahlia's and stuff planted... got lots to do... might even try to burn the pile this evening... not much breeze today...

Just go down the list and try to do another job... GOT PLENTY to pick from...

 

[Baymule]

700 sheep and goats is a pretty darn good sale before the cattle auction. The cattle auctions near me think it is a WOW if they have 30. Needless to say, I don’t bother unless I only have a couple that need to go and it’s not worth the drive to take them farther.

And as we ALL know…….BLACK HAIR TASTES BETTER THAN RED HAIR!

 

[farmerjan]

700 sheep and goats is a pretty darn good sale before the cattle auction. The cattle auctions near me think it is a WOW if they have 30. Needless to say, I don’t bother unless I only have a couple that need to go and it’s not worth the drive to take them farther.

And as we ALL know…….BLACK HAIR TASTES BETTER THAN RED HAIR!

Yeah, no joke.....

 

[farmerjan]

Monday, and already sweating. This weather is absolutely unbelievable. It only got down to 64 last night... this is May... that was more July temps.... it is already 80 at 10:30... Much more humid too...

I am sure not making alot of progress on the TO DO list.

I did mow most of the lawn. Have to do over behind the chickens and to the clothes line. Then I texted with Deb and she wanted to know if I was coming to dinner... so I did go there about 6. She is rapidly getting worse. She even texted on her phone to me, that her condition is getting worse. I mean it is progressing very fast. I see a difference since they were here a month ago. She hurts over all her body now, and after just a few minutes at table, she ate very little, she said she wanted to go into the living room and sit on the couch. The hard wooden chairs around the table just don't work for her. So as soon as her friend/caregiver and another friend that came down, finished eating, I went in the LR with her to sit and talk. She fell apart and just cried... and this disease is taking her ability for her body to send messages, so sometimes she cries in wrenching sobs that she cannot control.
I just sat with my arm around her and held her...
Then DS stopped in to say hi... he came to get the tractor and rake as he got the wheat cut and will probably rake it this afternoon. I will be at work testing... he is going to bale it then they will wrap it.... he wants to get it off the field as that is where he will be putting the corn... and since the weather is soo unpredictable, they are going to get it planted as soon as the guy gets the rest of his planted.
So he stayed and joked with her a bit, told some stories, she was smiling... and he left before dark to get the tractor and rake to the barn. I stayed til about 9 and she was getting fidgety and you could tell she was hurting. Gave her a hug and said I'd see her before she went back Tuesday.
Talked to Dawn a few minutes outside, and asked how bad it is looking... she said the dr said it is progressing at a very fast rate... something they didn't foresee... I asked her what the prognosis was, and she said months, not years.
It was a bit of a shock, although seeing her, I can see where she is getting worse fast.

She has accepted that she will not be coming out here to "retire".... Dawn said the dr asked her at the last visit and she shook her head no, she realized she will not be able to come out here to live. She had a rental house, that the tenant moved out of and they are doing some work and it should go on the market by June... Dawn said she really needs to get this place sold too. They are doing some work on her current house to make it easier for her to live there... she uses a motorized wheel chair in her house there. The other friend that was here, was getting the information on the 2 horse trailers here, so she can help get them sold... and there is all kinds of tack and stuff in the barn that I guess she will help get sold. Dawn said that she needs to get all the equipment, tractor and stuff, sold too.

I called DS after I got home, and told her what Dawn said, and he said he would go back by this evening, and offer to help her get some things liquidated.. he was going to talk to her about the house and property... how many acres exactly, and all that..

We will have to figure on this season and then that's it. Won't be able to keep stuff in the arena this winter or anything... he is going to have to get the equipment shed and another hay storage barn put up at doug's...

 

[farmerjan]

Such a sad situation. She is 62 years old...

I can't change it... wish there was something I could do... I am glad that she has done some things she wanted to do, done some traveling and all that. But you work all your life and then when you are ready to enjoy it and slow down, you get hit square in the jaw and everything changes.

So, early this morning, I went to the barn and we worked the cow and calf... He was already a steer... But when in the chute to ear tag her, found that she is crawling with ticks... the little ones, deer ticks, and she had them all around her head and ears... the calf had little bumps all over his neck when I gave him the blackleg shot... ear tagged him and we found him infested with the ticks also... all in his ears... the pour thing... used the pour on for them both... and even in the entrance of ear canal... DS could not believe it when I said the cow was infested with ticks, and then he looked and he was like OMG.....
It is a wonder they are in as good a shape as they are. Calf is not thin, and cow is older, short teeth, but very rough coated... for the infestation, they are in surprisingly decent shape. This should really help them to get rid of the ticks, and shed out, and start to gain some weight. DS is going to keep them isolated from our cattle for awhile....
Then we got the bull calf/ turned steer in and cut the shriveled sack off... they start to stink in this heat, and gave the shots to the heifer to abort her; she is going to be sold in 2 weeks. it is making her look "preg", and it will hurt her sale price... even though she was only 45 days, she was a little pot gutted. They look for any reason to dock the price at the sale... So, she ought to slip it easily at this stage, and she has 2 weeks to come around.

So, I took water and filled the waterers in the cornish pen and the NH pen... feed to the cornish. I took the feed from when we were at Rural King last week, that was in the forester; chicken feed into the can here, then went up to unload cattle feed at the barn at snyders and put some in the bunk for the calves if they come in the barn. Got the 2 large hanging metal feeders there and brought them home... going to want to put them in these pens and the one in the cornish pen has 2 holes in it, that I need to fix as the feed comes out all over the ground... So I switched it out for another hanging feeder and I will fix that one so it can be used again.
I then took the cart full of dirt and dumped it in the garden. Came back around and will see about doing the planters, but usually I do them on the back of the truck and it is in full sun, so won't happen during the day today. Maybe if I get home from work early enough.

Came in to get a drink and will go out and finish the mowing. I will at least get that done before I go to work. I need to get sample bottles in the racks for this afternoon. Going to be hot testing... but he has put me off 3 times, so I am not going to cancel today. Won't be doing him that much longer anyway, they are talking robots also... I expect to see them doing that within the next year too.

It is stifling out there... way too hot way too fast.... But after the rain coming in on Wed/Thurs... temps are supposed to drop 20 degrees again... If it takes this heat to get us several days of showers and storms, then I will suffer through it...
Maybe if we do get those rains/showers/storms, I will finally get the brush pile burnt.

Wanted to take the weed eater and work on the electric netting weeds... but it is in full sun now... That is an early early morning thing before the sun comes above the trees across the road... or a later evening thing...

Well, time to go out and at least get the rest of the grass mowed... break time is over...

 

[murphysranch]

It makes me sad that you are losing a good friend, slowly and painfully. Hugs to you.