Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Miss @farmerjan,

Just took a look at Lexington, VA forecast:
View attachment 56896

Hope you and your son can stay warm and dry.

Yeah, I saw a weather forecast for Lexington, Va. That is about 15-20 miles south. We rely on the WDBJ7 weather forecasts out of Roanoke Va. They seem to be much more accurate; maybe because they are "local guys". The latest pictures they are showing has us "back down to " 4-7" inches, but if you look there is a pocket of the 6-12 in Rocky Mount area and to the west in WVA and all. It is always "iffy" and we are at the highest elevation in Rockbridge County.... so it will snow when it might be a "mix" 5 miles away. I'm a few miles off I-81 exit 205 Raphine, Va.; just where Augusta and Rockbridge counties meet.
Oh well, it is January, that is wintertime here....
Gonna see if I can get a couple more pairs matched up so Michael can get them moved out of the barn to the winter pastures. Have about 8 or 9 pairs matched already. They were doing good where they came off from, so we'd like to get them moved back to a pasture with grass.... and plenty of cedar trees for protection from the worst of the weather. They will be better off out away from the barn, then to be here and stuck eating hay and slopping through the mess if it snows there at the barn. I will try to spend an hour up there inbetween the 2 farms I have to test tomorrow.

Which reminds me, time to hit the hay. Gotta be there at 5:15 a.m., but it is only 15-20 minutes away so not bad.

 

[Mini Horses]

Which reminds me, time to hit the hay. Gotta be there at 5:15 a.m., but it is only 15-20 minutes away so not bad

ANY time I have to leave at 4:45AM it's bad We don't jump up and feel ready to run like we did as teens!
You have to be up at least by 4.

Sleep well.

Yes, I "may" get snow here, not as much as you, I hope

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @farmerjan,

As I sit here next to the fire, staying warm while a cold rain falls outside, you have been up since 4, and it is now past 10 where you live. I sure hope you can get finished and get back home where it is warm and dry!

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[farmerjan]

ANY time I have to leave at 4:45AM it's bad We don't jump up and feel ready to run like we did as teens!
You have to be up at least by 4.

Sleep well.

Yes, I "may" get snow here, not as much as you, I hope

Yep, was up @ 4. Left at 5 and was in the barn @ 5:20. Forgot that they don't start 'til 5:30 when I was typing last night. It was COLD.... no heat in the parlor although he did shut the door between shifts. But when you have 6 cows on a side (2 sides so 12 in the barn at a time) and you are constantly putting 6 out and 6 in, it never has a chance to take advantage of the cows body heat. One farm I would dearly like to give up just because I have to go evening then back in the morning, and the lack of heat, and that I do not like the mexican that milks there. Many of my farms have mexicans, or spanish speaking from some country south of here. And I get along pretty well with most. But this one just gets on my nerves. He wouldn't work for me that's for sure. And I don't think he really means to be aggravating; he just is very unconcerned for anyone else there and is just a little rough with the cows in my opinion.
By the time we got done, I went to the house to put the milk weights into the computer, had a bit of a snafu so it took longer than normal, went back to get the meters out after the wash cycles had run, got home, packed the samples in the shipping boxes, fed and watered my chickens, got all the stuff ready for this afternoon farm, it was after 12. Son called and needed the fuel cans that were at the last place we had the tractor, so picked them up on my way up the hill. Dropped the samples at the place where UPS picks up, went to "doug's barn" where we have the last group we hauled home, with the young calves, dropped off the fuel cans, spent 20 minutes trying to match some pairs, and had to leave for the afternoon farm.

Got there @ 2:30, set up and were milking by 3pm. 3 1/2 hours later, started the "paperwork", putting stuff in the computer. Meters were going through the wash cycles there. There was heat in the parlor....except he didn't shut the doors so it went right out as fast as the heater was running. Wasting the propane... I would have been pissed if it was my barn. First time with this milker; nice enough guy but TALK TALK TALK.... til I was ready to scream. The milkhouse was even colder and it was the only place to set up the computer & printer. This farm had a bull that was shooting blanks, so no one got bred for a long time. Then figured it out, got a new bull, so everyone was getting pregnant. Therefore, they have a bunch of cows dry and going dry, and the first "wave" of cows are coming back in fresh. Must've had 30 or more calvings to enter, and nearly as many to record dry. The milker was cleaning the barn, and did offer to help me put the meters in the truck after they were done washing, which was nice. Then I still had to finish up the "paperwork" and finally left about 8. I was so cold it took 20 minutes of the heat in the truck on HIGH to get thawed out.
Got home a bit after 9 and got a shower ate a grilled cheese sandwich and am heading to bed. I put in my 18 plus hours today.
My son wants to try to get in a group of cows with ready to wean calves from a pasture we haven't been able to get into til it froze, in the morning. Hopefully before we start to get snow. Some in this group are tenatively going to be sold next Friday if the weather clears off and there is no threat of weekend snow. Might have taken a load today, but with the impending snow, not a good idea. Plus we were both too tied up. The weather does affect the prices, especially with the hauling and maybe having to leave them there for a couple of days "boarding" until there is clear roads. So I will have to get up by 7, to go help. I am sleeping SUNDAY and no one is going to stop me!!!!!!

 

[Latestarter]

Get some much deserved rest Jan.

 

[greybeard]

I have to 2nd the camp stove over charcoal grill. Charcoal is great, as long as you don't run out, and obviously, you don't really want to use charcoal inside your home.
I am not a big fan of propane stoves. They are a 1 trick pony and should you run out of propane, you're done.
I use an older style 2 burner camp stove, burns coleman fuel/unleaded gasoline and I have had it and used it many years.
The evening before The Great Flood:

Very recently, I also spent a bit of $ and have a little all fuel one burner stove. It will burn anything from unleaded gas/white gas, lpg, alcohol, diesel, jp5, and probably a few more.
Optimus Polaris is the name of it.
Other than that, I keep a couple cases of MREs and plenty of canned goods.

(If I could find one that was affordable, I would buy a British Army Cooker #12.)

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @farmerjan,

Looks like trouble is headed your way:

Please stay warm.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

I use an older style 2 burner camp stove, burns coleman fuel/unleaded gasoline and I have had it and used it many years.

I have the same stove. I think it is the one we used when we went camping when I was a kid. White gas yes, not sure if it can use gasoline. Last used 20 years ago during the ice storm. Power was out for days. We were lucky, our outage was sporadic. On often enough to keep the house from freezing. I had to put something on the leather plunger part, it was pretty dry, don't recall what I used.

The propane kitchen stove in this house doesn't use any electricity, built in 1931. No problem cooking other than not wanting to open the refrigerator when there is no power. Can still heat up canned goods though.

 

[farmerjan]

@Senile_Texas_Aggie ; YEP we are in for something... It has been flurrying since about 12-1 pm. Then had a good little bit and the ground was white. Then let up but is supposed to get real serious here this evening.
We didn't get started quite as early this morning, but had the cows and calves in by 8:30. Made 4 trips with the truck/trailer to get them all back to the "main farm". Then moved 17 cow calf pairs; that we had moved home on Wednesday, that are just little calves born this fall, that we worked through the chute and banded the bulls and gave everyone blackleg shots; to the winter pasture.

I went and did the feeding that I had to at the pasture where my nurse cows are, and got them all situated for the storm... I do not have to go out to do anything except my chickens here at the house tomorrow.
Michael got all the pastures fed extra rolls of hay except one place he was going to after I left, and was going to feed at least 4-6 rolls there so they would be okay for a couple of days. There are about 35 head there. They will be coming back to the "main farm" after we get these latest ones preg checked, and calves that will be sold or weaned to keep. They also need to be preg checked and calves weaned. All these preg cows will go out in the back part of this farm where we haven't had anything all summer and they will be able to graze the stockpiled grass, as well as be fed hay as needed. They will start calving in March/April this spring. But they will be right here, which will make things alot easier. Can always use the 4wd tractor if the ground gets muddy or too much snow. And not have to travel all over in the winter weather.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, we got "something". About 4-5 inches of snow, with some rain/freezing stuff mixed in. It is up to 36 but still cloudy. They just got my road plowed this morning at about 9-10 a.m. Don't matter to me, I'm staying home today. It will be a muddy mess if the temps go up to the upper 30's and low 40's as it will quickly melt. Oh well...such is life.

Haven't talked to my son, I imagine he is home sleeping after working 8pm-8am.. I know he didn't get but 2-3 hours to sleep before he had to go in. They will probably work again tonight, as the roads will surely refreeze. But he had said he planned to get that last place fed to last for 2-3 days so he could just go home and sleep today.
It's January, it's winter, it's pretty, and I am glad that the days are already getting longer.... if we can just through that d#@%$d ground hog in Feb......

If it does clear off some the next 2-3 days, we are going to tenatively ship a load of calves on Friday. Forecast looks like some showers next Sat or so but no snow. At least where they are we can get them in the barn and loaded without worrying about getting the truck/trailer stuck.