Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[thistlebloom]

Sorry you're hurting.
Hope a house comes available for you one way or the other.

 

[farmerjan]

On top of everything, the "main farm" that we have rented for years, where the friend passed away from cancer..... is going to be appraised and going on the market. The widow has had her house on the market, wanted to get out from under debt because he built this house and was always one to have to have big and fancy....... but there is no market for her house . So there is alot of in-fighting amongst the 3 daughters and the widow has decided to sell, pay off the debt for the house and all, then I guess give the 3 girls what they are going to get out of what is left. It is a mess.
So now we are looking at this whole situation.... We have first refusal, it is in the agreement for the rent..... son tried to buy it when doug got so sick but the daughters said NO WAY..... As soon as we get the appraisal/asking price.... then are going to have to figure out if there is any way to buy it as it is crucial to what we are doing. The barns, the working facilities, several small working pastures , the corn, and 25 acres of hay ground is all on this place. We also rent the place next door, that belongs to the deceased friends' brothers widow. See the 2 brothers bought this 250 + acre place and split it. Both brothers are dead. We rent both places and operate them together. The other widow rents to us for taxes only, she is great. Talk about getting hit in the face all at once. There is no house on it or I would put all my money towards it...... I could just stay here and put my money towards it. No septic there that I could tie into so would have to do all that if I were to put a trailer on it. Michael said we will have to sit and talk about it in the next few days. Hoping that he can swing it to go help me test that herd that is 2 hours away so we can sit and talk.

He said he can see if he can sell his 75 acre farm with the house and might be able to clear 100,000 after paying off his debt on it, which would give him a downpayment. He hates to do that. He has a couple of other pieces of property that he is working on to get on the market that he has talked about selling off and on.... so now is a push. Problem is that things are not looking very good real estate wise around here.

I just don't know. I hope that he and I can sit and talk here in the next few days. I really want Glen's opinion on the house tomorrow......and then go from there.

Oh well, you just take it as it comes......

 

[frustratedearthmother]

just read an article that this virus, the shut downs, and all things is going to bring housing prices to it's knees within the next 2 years...

I hope they're wrong!

I was watching the news just a few minutes ago and they say there seems to be a mass exodus from the city to the suburbs and that people are willing to pay premium prices for moving to the 'burbs. They featured a couple who had just paid 25K OVER asking price to get a house and get out of the city. (I like my news better than yours, lol!)

Hope you feel better and get good news on the house.

 

[Baymule]

The whole country can have real estate in the dumps, but Texas never hits bottom.

I hope y’all can swing it on the land. Putting a trailer on it would be better than you buying some old house that needs work and you would be living on your farm. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[farmerjan]

It might be that the "city/town" properties are going to suffer and the suburb and country properties will get better. I will just have to see for this one for me.

Another thing I just found out. You all know that I get the "left behinds" from the one farm that has broiler houses. Anywhere from 10 to 50 or more. These are broilers that don't grow and meet the minimum size when they come to get them out of the houses. These are supposed to be disposed of, by the farmer. There are some cripples, but mostly just some small ones. I have found that they will do pretty good once they get some room and get out of the houses and go about being treated like a "normal chicken". Sometimes they will be sickly, and I have lost half of what I have brought home but often lose about 1-2 out of every 10 or more. Since I am not paying for them, and they are in the 2-3 lb size already, anything that I raise is pretty cheap for just the feed I have in them.

So, we have another friend here close that put up 2 big broiler houses about 2 years ago. I had asked once and he said they were picking up pretty much all the birds. So I talked to him back about the first of the year and knew I would be going in for the surgery, and was wondering about the birds and he said they were leaving some lately and that we could do something. So I said after I got back on my feet from the surgery I'd talk to him. With all this insanity, I talked to him the other day. He said the last 2 batches he got, the chicks were very uneven and they had left quite a few. All the growers have been talking about it and not happy. So asked if he had any going out soon. He said he was getting new ones in this next week. He had been empty for 28 days which is longer than normal....usually it is maybe 2 weeks between flocks. So, he said the last ones that went out they had a huge number left behind and he had actually took 50 and put in the small chicken house that his sister is going to take. He said there were about 100 left in the one house, and about 200 in the other house. WOW . I cannot imagine going and getting 300 chicks..... but there is an example of what I might be looking at. He said that he would be glad for me to come get them since they are leaving so many. So I will call him about June 10th, and find out when they will be going out, so I can be prepared to go get them. They stay right at 42-43 days, so if they get them this week, they will be going out by about the 15th. I have a set of wire panels to fit over the back of my pickup now so that getting them is easy with the net to catch them.
So I am going to get the pen put back together at my son's piece of property where I had them last year so that when it happens, I will be able to get how ever many there are. I will be calling the guy who kills the chickens and start setting up a regular schedule if there are very many from this farm the first time. I am also going to talk to the man who made all my hot dogs and stuff several years ago. See if he can use chicken, then I can get them killed and get them processed into something other than whole chickens or parts. I'll eat chicken hot dogs if they are my chickens even if I don't like them as much as beef..... don't know about the snack sticks, and the bologna and such.... but you can buy turkey and chicken franks..... so why not?
And there is still the farm I have been getting them from in the past.... they should be going out the end of May....

OH @Baymule , I sure do wish we were closer. I would love to let you have a bunch when I get them, save the cost of the chicks and have them be already started so you didn't have to feed them so long.

 

[Bruce]

I guess give the 3 girls what they are going to get out of what is left.

Why? She isn't dead yet, it should ALL be her money should it not? Unless her husband left the property to them all in common. Sounds like the daughters are a greedy lot and deserving of nothing.

 

[farmerjan]

I think that there were agreements on the farm part of the land, which is across the road from where the newest last house was built. The one daughter (oldest) was supposed to be in charge of the land as far as the rent/lease agreement and she has been a real dope to work with. The 3 sisters have been fighting over things and the mother has had enough I guess. I am of the impression that the mother has the final say so but that there might be stipulations. The oldest had decided she wanted to build a house up on "her portion" of the land, but they have no money to do anything so that's not going to happen. One sister (middle) doesn't talk to the others except when she has to and has always made her own way and not expected a hand out. The youngest is not very financially responsible as daddy had always spoiled her and they all got pretty much what they wanted as kids.
We wouldn't be so concerned but there are a couple of other people who have said they would be interested in it if she would ever sell, so we probably are going to have to do something at market price rather than wait for it to "come down". Gotta wait for the appraisal and then go from there. It might be way too much for us to consider anyway. I am not in love with the place, it is simply very practical for what we do.

 

[farmerjan]

Don't think I mentioned this either. Had a horrible day this past week. My son found a lamb that had been torn apart one morning. Thinking either a coyote or a dog. Moved the sheep to the front field there right at the house. The next night a pack of coyotes got into the field.... this is at his house, right out in front of his house, about 300 ft from the front door, and killed all the lambs and got a 2 of the ewes. Tore them to pieces. He has a friend that does coyote hunting at night with an infared scope and he has gotten one and missed a second one the first night out there hunting them. He has never kept any guardian animal at the house that close, just at the fields where they are more isolated.
So there will be several "hunts" there at his house. He moved the sheep into the cattle trailer for the time being, there at his house. Hoping that it will keep the coyotes around enough for them to shoot them and kill them.
It must be a new group that has moved into the area as there hadn't been any problems with the few odd ones over the years. He is over the hill from the big farm we rent, so lots of wooded areas for them. But there were a couple several years ago that got 2 calves and they were shot. Then there was 1 that was seen a few times but never had anything bothered. The accepted thoughts are that if there is one around and it doesn't bother your livestock, let it alone as it will keep others from moving into the territory that might be more destructive. Don't know if that odd one moved on, got killed or what; there are at least 2 in this bunch that killed the sheep but we suspect more.( well there were 2, now minus the one that was shot so far). Time to get some more llamas and/or donkeys I guess. The 2 jennys are out with the group of younger rams and there are coyotes out there so don't want to separate them. Due to fences, and neighbor problems, LGD's are not an option.

 

[rachels.haven]

Kill them all.
I hope you can at least weaken the current pack enough for your old one to come back if that's what happened.

 

[Mini Horses]

WOW-what a loss. So sorry to hear. Now, the rented farm issues, your own anticipated move -- a lot going on there, lady!!