Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

I think the idea of opening the wall under the stairs for storage is excellent. Leaving 18" of space with the existing door on it for a pantry is genius too. If you go on DIY "Under Stairs storage" you ought to find some more ideas. I have seen some good stuff including not only storage closets, but a complete office space fitted in under a staircase.

 

[farmerjan]

@Baymule he doesn't want me out, he keeps saying that I don't have to push to get out; he actually wants me to stay there as long as he thinks I will, as he doesn't want to have to rent it to someone else.... have told him that I cannot afford to keep paying rent and a mtg..... and he says well, I'm not trying to push you out, take all the time you need, sure hate to see you go....blah blah.... he wants me to stay until this house is completely redone.... like into next year!!!!!... what he is trying to figure is if he can get a few more months rent out of me.... and when I am out, he is not willing to let me leave anything there "for later" like the stuff in the storage shed that is there....

I will check out more under the stairs storage idea stuff. Thanks @Ridgetop. Heading down the hill... got the stuff moved into the DR from the hall, and some more unboxed. At least I don't have to get up before 6 at least.... I will load some stuff in the car in the morning when I can see....

 

[Ridgetop]

Wish we were close enough to help you move!

 

[farmerjan]

I think that this was meant to be this way so that I can get things done in a more orderly way.... except thinking that I would be able to take a little more time with the odd stuff and the freezers.... I am not going to stress about it... over my mad...except for the sh#tty way he did my friend... and me indirectly..... by not telling me sooner that it was not what he was comfortable with... Decided that the better thing would be for him to get a renter that did not pay rent on time.... then have to deal with him putting them out and them leaving a mess....
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.... KARMA is a real b$@#h sometimes....

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Would there be any possibility he would be willing to rent the storage shed to you? That way you can get out of the house but still have a little more time for the rest of the stuff?

 

[Baymule]

One's good reputation and standing in a small community is priceless. He obviously doesn't have a clue how his actions will hurt him going forward. You don't have to bad mouth him, he's doing it to himself.

 

[farmerjan]

Friday morning. I went and tested yesterday. Nice day, comfortable temps, sunny. I hated being inside. But at least it was comfortable in the barn. Long day, I left up there at 7 p.m.; they are up to milking right at 185 through the parlor so took 5 hours . I hurt by the time I got in front of the computer. Then it was a real long trip home. I went directly to the rental house, took a shower and got into bed. Woke up a couple of times over night but was able to go back to sleep.
I did get the 5 drawers from the sewing table in the car and a couple boxes and brought up to the house yesterday morning before leaving to go to the farm to test. This morning I got the base cabinet into the back of the car to bring up. I need to get it cleaned, dusted and all and brought into the BR but that is probably going to wait. I have to get the samples packed from the herd yesterday. Then I will be leaving to go to this afternoon's herd and I am going to see if there is enough time to stop at Lowe's on the way for the stuff I haven't yet managed to pick up.

Not alot else going on. I need to get going here, but have spent some time on here this morning since I never even came to the new house last night. It is somewhat cloudy, not too cold but we are supposed to get rain later and possible changing to snow showers. Then colder and kinda crappy tomorrow . Hopefully will go through and then colder and partly sunny on Sunday. I think that it is going to warm up again towards the end of next week.

No, the landlord is not interested in renting out just the storage building at the other house.... he asked if I would have everything out or would still be there for another month..... made a comment about stuff left would be thrown out like the peach trees cut down..... not going to go there with him. I f I don't have to talk to him again it will suit me just fine. I am keeping my mouth shut UNTIL I am done......

Hey @Baymule , have you ever had any of the milk and stuff from the Promised Land Dairy in the Dallas area? Our discount chain up here got some of their Choc milk and Eggnog...... probably surplus that they were trying to move.... It was VERY GOOD. Story about how it is a Jersey farm, family owned.... I guess it was a one time thing cuz I asked the other day if they had more and they said no, we don't have any more and it was probably not going to be a regular thing. I wish I had bought more of the choc milk......it was cheap so I know it was a "closeout type thing" to get it moved....
Time to get the samples packed.

I made some comments on @Ridgetop 's thread.... about the cost of fuel oil prices..... if anyone has any storage, they need to get it filled.... prices are going to go up and with the new administration coming in..... it is going to be a problem in the future......

 

[farmerjan]

Saturday afternoon. I went and tested yesterday afternoon. Things did not go as I hoped... it never goes smoothly like I hope it will...... It started to sprinkle/rain as I left. Hoped to get going earlier but didn't get things here done... phone calls again for work.
So, left at 1:30, I got to the farm and we started milking about 3:15.... got done about 6:30. The first group of cows don't want to come in the barn so they have to go out and get each group of 5.... lose at least 1/2 hour just doing that. 5 min wasted time getting in a group at a time, adds up.... the second group comes in much better. Then they did not have near all the computer work done. There is a glitch in her computer and it was a real nightmare. Couldn't finish stuff out so she will have to get on the phone with the computer center Monday and then they will have to send me info so I can pack the samples. I like them, but honestly am getting very tired of all the BS.... they have calf numbers and then they change their numbers when they come into the milking herd. So some of them have numbers like 9320 etc.... some have been changed over to a number that is under 200.... so #9320 is now #54..... but when they came in the barn, the eartags have not been changed so I have them down as #9340 and she is really # 60 .... and the number on the sample bottle is 9340.... and I have no "conversion" chart.... it is getting old. They don't test every month anymore so this goes on for several months..... and it never gets caught up. REALLY getting tired of it. I really think that retirement is getting closer....

So driving home was miserable. We had some snow/flurries stuff, then rainy, and it was so foggy. Hard to see and when I finally left there it was nearly 8. Got back up here by a little after 9 and I just went to the rental house since I just did not want to stop here then have to try to drive in the fog in case it got worse.

Got up this morning and it was white. Not alot but covered the ground. Snowed/flurried until about 9.... then changed to sprinkles/rain.... much is already gone off the fields. It has been cloudy all day, but the sun is trying to come through in the east, clouds still in the west. Forecast says it is supposed to clear off.... cold tomorrow and then a little more clearing and warming. Back to the 40's+ during the day and 20's at night. It is just cloudy any dreary and cold out today.

DS got another smaller group of cows preg ck yesterday. He had gotten them moved home the other eve.... only like 12-14 I think.... all are bred but they have smaller calves on them so not as far along.... a couple 2 months and the rest 3-5.... one cow has very little milk, has a very small calf... her and her calf will both get sold. He is going to probably take the open cows the first of the week to sell. No sense to keep feeding them, don't need to lose (bury) any of them and the prices will not be getting any better in the foreseeable future. Got to move some of the others around. He had to work last night for VDOT and then had a breakdown with his plow/salt truck so then had to meet with the mechanic who came to see about fixing it. So he was going home to get some sleep after being up all night. I told him that I will get the list from what he did Friday, and get together a list of who needs to go where so he can get the older cows out of the barn and the weaned calves can get more of the silage/feed.

I brought up a couple of small boxes of stuff that was easy to get packed. I am going to spend a couple hours here working on getting some stuff put away. Haven't had much time to do that the last couple of days. I need to go up and see if Deb came out and feed the horse if she didn't.
SOOOO glad the chickens are done with this cold weather.

So, I will get off and see about doing something productive.

 

[Ridgetop]

It will be a relief when you are finally moved to the new place. Even unpacking boxes all inthe same house is easier than having to go back and forth to pack and unpack! It seems to spread the whole process out far too long.

Semi-retirement may be the option to avoid some of the herds that are not easy or pleasant to do. Can you just drop a few of them? Keep the others that are easy?? And where you have your cows?

 

[Ridgetop]

I have been reading some articles about types of livestock that make management easier on small ranches. Texas extension recommends doing stocker calves instead of cow/calf pairs. Also recommends grazing replacement heifers for small herd operators that run their bull full time with the cows. According to them, operators raising calves that keep a bull running with the cows need to pull their young heifer calves out and graze them somewhere separately until they are ready to go back in the herd with a bull. (I am reaching that saturation point now with our ewelings and needing another field for them while the different rams are with the mature breeding ewes.) They suggest these immature heifers as a good choice when renting out pasture land to a cattle operator.

What is your opinion on this? We are not very experienced with cattle (bottle calves and 4-H replacement heifers only) so really don't want to buy any cows requiring long term operation. We are considering adding Kiko goats (to graze woodland if any) if we need more weed control than the Dorper sheep can give us. Extension recommends putting cattle on pasture first to take the height of grass down to 4", then sheep to take it to 2", then goats to remove any unpalatable weeds. This is done in a rotation moving animals from one field to anther.