Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[CntryBoy777]

.....I don't think ya will have to worry bout dem britches.....ya never stay in one place very long and with less discomfort than ya have had the past several years....ya will need spenders or a belt before long....or a piece of baling twine....

 

[farmerjan]

It's gonna be weird for a day or 2 to get used to not having it.... and I want to be very careful to not go and mess it up..... but I am so psyched now to be able to walk. Have to find a pair of sneakers that are maybe a size bigger for awhile as the swelling isn't going to go down overnight yet. Pull the laces loose so that it is as loose as possible. Can't bend it near enough to even put on a pair of pull on boots yet.


Yeah @Bruce, that was my thought.... just get back the automatic to be told that I can rid of the boot, so can drive a clutch without any problem......FIGURES HUH!!!!!

Maybe my knees will hurt less once the boot is gone too.....

 

[Baymule]

Just got caught up on all the good news. Got your car back, getting house appraised, BOOT COMING OFF! Starting therapy! Life is good and getting even better.

 

[farmerjan]

Busy couple of days. Not good news, car is not right. It is at a shop right now and will get an idea from them next week. My son is done with it and that is probably a good thing. I will make the decisions and will not be affected by his friends' offer of help anymore.

On to better things. Boot is OFF. Got a pair of sneakers from a friend that were practically brand new that they didn't wear in a 10 1/2 man's EEE that I could get on the foot. So am wearing my regular sneaker on the good foot (8 1/2 EEE man's size) and the gray one on the other foot. Walking with just one crutch for some balance. Sore legs, knees etc but SOOOOO nice to not be carrying around the boot.
Going to test the herd on Monday that I was supposed to do Thursday. Then PT appt at 5 Monday afternoon. Got another farm scheduled on Tuesday afternoon and Geneva is going to help. Didn't figure I was able to do it all by myself as they milk fairly fast. But at least I will be getting around better.
The foot feels funny, the tingly feeling, but at least there is no real pain.

We moved the cows out of the one place Thursday afternoon and sent 6 calves to town and one CRAZY cow on Friday. I went in to the stockyard sale and watched them sell the steers. Prices were much better than I expected.... 131. for the orphan little calf, 1.40's, 1.50's, and one was 1.65. It was a good day at the sale, about 1,000 head total and buyers were spending decent for the steers. I did not stay for the heifers as we didn't take any and didn't bother about the cow because no matter what she brought, she was leaving.
Temps got up into the low 80's with sun on Friday. Lows in the 55 range, back up to 85 today with mostly sun early, then some clouds and then thunder late this aft . Cloudy after about 3 but still warm. Finally started getting some rain after 8 p.m. It is raining fairly steady right now but not too hard. Still 70 out.

Had a big bowl of yogurt with some of the fresh strawberries in it. NOTHING like the flavored store bought stuff. I buy plain vanilla yogurt and then add my own to it. Froze a qt of the smaller whole berries, and gave my son a qt, froze a pt of sliced and have about 2 more "servings" which probably will be strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream....
Our strawberries ought to be getting ready here pretty soon. I guess that I will try to pick some since the boot is gone and I can get down on my hands and knees. Lord help me to get back up though!!!!! But since there are no peaches, I ought to take advantage if there are strawberries.

Talked to the neighbor of my son's that plants the big garden and said I would like to take him up on the offer of produce but that I would like to barter some chickens. He likes to grill halves, so a few whole ones will be GREAT for him to thaw and cut in half and grill.

Haven't heard on the house appraisal yet.

Driving the clutch is almost normal now without the boot. Takes a little more to push it down since there isn't as much flex, but no trouble with it. Thank goodness. Think that maybe that will actually help with the flexing the ankle too.

Going to run the cows in the chute tomorrow and I am going to pregnancy check and see if there are very many that are very far along. They can be as far as 5 months along. Bull went in on Dec 12th. Especially want to see if the cows we sold the calves off are bred well along. A couple should be close to the 5 months as the calves were a little older since we held those cows back from the spring calving group. There is another one that is looking really old and she just might get sold regardless. That is on the agenda for the morning if it isn't too wet, as they need to go somewhere out of the barn lot. The calves aren't as big as we would like and at least half of them are out of a bull that we bought 2 years ago. If he is throwing calves like this and they don't have the size, we will sell him. Don't want small calves that don't seem to grow. We have 2 bulls that throw smaller calves that we use on the first time heifers, but the calves come on and grow decent. Just not too big at birth which is good. This other bull was not supposed to be a "calving ease bull".... and even so, they should have been growing better than this. Sometimes the genetics just don't click.... Problem is then we are out that investment without ever having gotten some of it back in calves. Most bulls we keep for 3-8 years if we like their calves and that makes a 2,000-5,000 dollar investment not a bad deal. To get one crop of calves and they just aren't very good is a real loss. The bull won't bring 1,000 for pound/cull price right now. I will have to check the records and see if there are any other calves at any of the other places out of him to make a comparison.

Rain is coming down pretty steady, so I am going to go and check the clipboard with the cow records, and go to bed early.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Now, I know a nice "farm gal" like yourself has an empty 5gal bucket around....somewhere.........preferably with a handle....take it with ya to the strawberry beds....sit and pick and ya won't have get up off balance from the ground....if ya have to sit on the ground...use cardboard to sit-n-slide....that way ya only have to get up once....at the end of the row........when ya are down, turn so ya are on hands and knees and use the crutch to climb up on it to get up on the good foot..........I've had "sperience" with these "issues"........sorry bout the car and the bull.....I know it is very frustrating....

 

[Mini Horses]

Geesh...car & bull. Well we all hope for the best when we buy the males but, can't always get what we hope for. BTDT.

Wish the appraiser would get done. We are all anxious!

You might want to practice picking before you go. LOL

 

[Bruce]

Not good news, car is not right. It is at a shop right now and will get an idea from them next week.

Someone is very incompetent

Rain is coming down pretty steady, so I am going to go and check the clipboard with the cow records, and go to bed early.

Hey at least unlike some, you know where your clipboard is

Now, I know a nice "farm gal" like yourself has an empty 5gal bucket around....somewhere.

I figured since she is a dairy farm girl she must have a 3 legged milking stool around ... somewhere.

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday afternoon. It rained last night, had 1/2 inch in the gauge this morning. Went up and we ran some cows through the chute and I tried to preg check. A couple were to the point that I am pretty sure that they are near 4 months. A couple I couldn't tell, a couple I am pretty sure were open. There was one that was really nutty that just got turned out with her calf with the group. She is old and will go when these calves get sold. Not even going to preg check.... We lost a couple of old cows this winter that were in with this group. But the calves are obviously sucking other cows as none look smaller than the others. So we decided to turn out the whole group together, leaving the 2 that are open to get sold on Tuesday. Both raised pretty crummy calves so no great loss, that I don't think they are bred.

Realized that these calves are only 4-5 months old, so decided to turn the whole group out together there at the farm. They will be the first to get in again to sell calves off, and they will get preg checked then for sure. Taking the 2 that I was pretty sure are bred, and moving them to a "dry cow pasture" as we sold both of their calves off on Friday.... the escape artists. I had about enough of standing on this ankle and knees after 2 hours. But that got that group that we had moved there on Thursday eve, out of the barnyard.
Got another big group of cows with calves about this same 4-6 months age, to bring in and look at. There are a few big calves that were older, that will get sold, and the rest will all go with the group we just moved. Then about July, we will bring them all in, and pull calves and sell a group..... at least that is the tentative plans.

We have about 15 cows with new calves to get tagged and moved to summer pasture, and another group to get moved out of the place where my nurse cows are. Have to get all those calves in, work the bull calves, and decide where they are going to go. That group is first calf heifers, and I doubt many will be bred back as they are a little on the thin side, although they could be because a bull was put in this group in Dec. Be better to put them out with a bull here in June and have spring calves next year. I don't like to calve heifers in the fall and this is why. It is hard on them to feed a new calf, and continue to grow, and get bred back in the winter. The nutrition just isn't there in the hay and this group didn't get much silage as it is a pain to haul it to this pasture. So they would be better off to not be pregnant at this point. We will only lose 6 months time if they get bred starting in June. They could be bred as there is a bull in there now.... they will have to be preg checked to decide where they are going. If not bred, they can keep their calves with them out to summer pasture, but if they are preg then the calves will have to come off by mid July so they get a rest before calving again in the fall.

I guess that we will get a few more moved around this week. Got to get it done while we are having all these showers and all, because I think that as soon as they call for us to get some dry weather we will be into hay in the next week or so. Hay is short, but if we can get it cut soon, hopefully it will come back with a good 2nd cutting. The up and down crazy temps have affected it's growth. Heard several guys talking about hay being short when I was at the stockyard Friday.

I went up to the nurse cow pasture to look them over, and went into another pasture and matched a few calves that were tagged to their momma's so they can be moved.

Got my sample bottles in the truck, and going to get my computer and printer in it ...be ready to leave tomorrow morning @ 5:30 or 5:45 in the morning. No set up there at least. Then get home and go to the first PT session. Since it is not raining out, and hasn't pretty much all day, I think I will go out and see if I can cut some of the lawn for a bit. If it rains most of the week, it will get awfully tall if I don't get it knocked down some now. I had to get off the foot for awhile and I ate a sandwich and all.

 

[CntryBoy777]

How was the PT treatment today?.....

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @farmerjan,

Yes, I am with Mr @CntryBoy777 -- how was your physical therapy?

Yesterday I watched a video from the YouTube channel "Dodge Brothers Farm and Ranch". Carl, the brother that does the videos, talked about the troubles that farmers are facing. In that video, he mentioned another video from another YouTube channel that I had not heard of. I watched it as well. I thought of you while watching it. So this video is for you:

Here is the Dodge Brothers video where he mentioned the other video that is worth watching as well:

Senile Texas Aggie