Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Ate a little. More cold tea to drink. I went back out and got the clothes off the line. There were some clouds again, after the sun had come out bright and hot for about an hour or 2. They feel fully dry... amazing how fast they dried.
Got the bottles in the trays for tomorrows' herd, and the one on saturday that was supposed to be today. They are in the car ready to go.... I sat on the back of the car changing the meter brackets for tomorrow... got about 6-7 done and it had thundered a little, then it started to rain again. I just closed the back of the outback and came in the house. Radar is showing a pop up cell right over this area. I will be going up to the cow in a little bit. The rain is trying to move and I see some "sun" to the west. It is crazy. It will clear off again and I will go out and finish the brackets on the meters and go do the cow.

Anyone see that the stock market dropped again... another 700+ points....

 

[farmerjan]

9 pm and it is "down" to 75... we had another burst of rain for about a minute. The total in the rain gauge is .3 for yesterday eve and today. Now there is a weather alert for some strong t-storms into tomorrow afternoon.
Hay will stay standing... DS said he might cut on Saturday if things look clear for a few days. Better lower quality than moldy or musty or something catching on fire.... This will hurt 2nd cutting too as it would be growing now for cutting in July.... Do what we can do.
Corn is looking real good though. Hope it is putting down a deep taproot so that it will continue to do good if the rain dries up in the heat of the summer.

DS talked to my brother and it seems he has also been quite sick. Turns out it is a virus and they tested him for covid and all that crap...he went to the urgent care place up near him and then to his regular dr.... he told DS he was really scared there for a couple of days..... he is on 3 different things... he told DS that he was afraid 2 nights that he might not survive the congestion, and the hot and cold spells... the coughing and all that. I guess that my immune system is stronger than either one of them as I have not been as sick.... even though it has sapped my strength and energy. But then, I am not as stubborn and start taking things to bolster my immune system when I start to feel run down. I know that it was all the stress, and long, hard hours pushing to get things done up there...DS is taking several things to keep the congestion broken up like I am,,,, don't know if he is taking the vit C or the echinacea....

So, I am going to try to get some extra sleep again tonight... and then go from there.

 

[Ridgetop]

Hope you feel better soon. Nothing worse than a summer cold!

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks @Ridgetop ..... we are working on it.

Friday.... 9 pm. Been a decent day. Got up, did cow, went to barn and DS was already getting cows down the hill. He had come from work grabbed a bucket with some feed from my car, and took the 4 wheeler up and they pretty much followed him down. I made sure they stayed in the lane to the barn until he got them all down out of the field. Then he got called back to work to go take the big loader as there was a tree down in the road. I went and got the samples, info, and my milk etc from the farm and came back home. Made sure I had everything for testing and went to the barn.

DS was there sorting the calves from the cows so we could just run the cows through the chute. Vet called and said he was done with the other call, and did it suit for him to come on and I said, yes, we were at the barn then sorting. He got there, GF came to help and she had her daughter and the 2 yr old nephew... but luckily they stayed out of the catch lot and under some shade trees so they were not under foot... that would not have been good.... I honestly expected some problems with that but it worked out. GF works slow with the chute so it took longer than I had hoped... but we got them all done.... Everyone was pregnant... 1 only 35 days, 4 were 3-4 months, the rest were right in the 5 month range which was expected. It was good. Vet had 3 more calls and I had to leave so DS and GF treated a couple for pinkeye... YEP... ALREADY this season... and then he turned them all back out on the hill as he is planning to sell some calves in August. Most all these are steer calves anyway... There are several old cows in there and they will get this last pregnancy and then get sold next year after that calf. Like NO TEETH old cows. They are all in very good shape this year.

I went to test and it went okay. They did not start until 4 so I was in plenty of time. A little less than 2 hours, then paperwork and meters washing, and I was on my way home before 7 .
It got real dark thunder and all that and got about 20 drops at the farm. DS said we got a real fast hard storm, I see lots of branches off trees... water puddled. My rain gauge said only 1 tenth inch... looks like more at the barn there.
The good thing is that the storms have finally gone east and we are supposed to have 4-5 days of a bit cooler and drier... DS is going to cut hay tomorrow... no wet forecasts until next Wed....

I have to go to the farm that was cancelled yesterday, 125 miles north.... but then it will be done. He only tests every other month... and who knows if he will get the cows that are left, sold before then.... Got one for Monday afternoon...

Looking forward to the cooler and drier air tomorrow. Got to get into the garden now too. Ought to have the cucumber and butternut squash seeds coming up and the watermelon if they are viable. Plus the green beans I did for fill ins, in the rows and the 2 short pieces of rows....
I am going to get about 10 more bales of straw from the farm I get my milk from... he said they have it in the barn and they will be combining the wheat in a few weeks anyway so will have more. That ought to pretty much take care of covering everything with whatever old hay and cardboard I have to put down... and give me some to mound up around the potatoes too...

Ate an egg salad sandwich for supper and drank a glass of milk. Going in to take a shower and quit... Need to leave earlier than I planned tomorrow as I want to go by the little feed and supply store right near the farm since I will be there... check on a few things and I don't know if they close at noon on saturdays, many do.

 

[Baymule]

Heavy bred on the cows is good! Even the stragglers are good. When you say the cows are old and have no teeth, is that just their front teeth? Can they still chew with back teeth? I look at my older ewe's teeth, they still have their row of bottom teeth. Ringo's are looking like old horse teeth, longer and pushed forward and crooked. LOL He needs braces!

 

[Mini Horses]

The ruminants system allows a little more leverage in old age. My old stallion has front teeth and molars all gone. 😔 That's why he gets the fluffy senior feed that he does. 😊. But he looks great, excellent weight, etc. He salivates it to mush.🤣 But it has all the roughage he needs for his gut.

Ruminants use their tongues a lot when foraging, to almost swallow whole, it's partially digested in gut. Regurgitated to chew on and swallowed again. 🤪 What a food frenzy. 😂. Interesting to follow our animals food processes.

Well that was a real good vet check! Always nice to know what's coming....and bulls are doing their job. Is this from the new bull y'all bought not long ago? Whoever it was, thanks for a good job, right?

I MUST go get that straw! did get a couple rolls of string for row marking, finally. That will help me out! Ready to do that. Drop seed and call it done...? Never done but, close.🤣🤣. Lotta hot out there! But got a good downpour late yesterday. Hard, fast and ample. Last predicted for several days though. Reckon they'll hay last area across road now. I love to watch them bale. Sit on porch, see the methodical drop of hay bales. Yeah, without my working any of it!!! 👍🙃no sweat here.

 

[farmerjan]

When we say no teeth, or just nubs or popcorn teeth we are referring to the front bottom jaw teeth or incisors. They get worn down from different things, mostly just through daily eating... but sandy soil areas will see cattle with much more wear and tear on the teeth.
Often there are molars are missing by the time the fronts get worn down. A cow does not bite things off like any other animal that has top and bottom front teeth. They will swipe their tongue out and get a clump that gets bitten and pulled off the plant... Kinda hard to explain.... the molars will do the grinding of the food they take in and then it is swallowed into the rumen, then masticated by the juices there, a "cud" is brought back up for more chewing and such. It is a weird process but it allows them to eat more roughage and get it well worked through their system for digestion.
When their front teeth get that short or are missing, they really have a harder time eating and subsequently do not get enough nutrition. You can't "float" or file the teeth so that their bite is better like a horse... there are no top teeth to match the bottom.

 

[farmerjan]

Will not use the new bull until this fall/winter... We have bulls out with all the cows now, and these pregs were with the registered Limousin Bull I bought a couple years ago. Not too thrilled with the one that is only 35 days as she has been in there since late NOv. and should be in the 5 month range like the bigger group. I am not too upset by the couple of older ones being only 4 months... the winters are hard on them feeding a new calf, keeping up their body weight, gaining some and then cycling and sustaining a pregnancy. But the one that is "short bred" is DS's so it is his call.
There are actually 2 "new bulls"... DS bought one a couple of months ago at the stockyard... there is a guy who raises about 10-15 a year and advertises them and brings them to the stockyard to sell... so really a mini bull sale.... just convenient to bring them to the "yard" as he is in WVA ....
We have one big bull that has become a PITA to get in and he needs to go....plus he is getting so fat.... and we sold the one that was shooting blanks and lost the old red bull. The Limi will get leased out this year for the summer to a neighbor that uses a bull every year... 15-20 cows.. at most... right now he is "resting" with the bred cows. The one that they had for the last 2 years is out with some of our cows this year. There will be 3 or 4 here for the summer with no "job".... the one needs the rest that had been in with the red bull .... they had been out breeding, then back for a week or 2 and then that group came up open and he and the red bull went right in with them.... so "black Powder" needs a rest this summer... those cows mostly all came up 50-60 days bred after we put the 2 bulls in so they worked....2 will be the 2 new younger bulls and one will be the older easy calving bull since we don't have any heifers being bred now. The ones that calved at the nurse cow field are in with the other easy calving bull and he will be going with them to DS's other place in a week or so... we get caught up on some hay and he will move a group down there.

He cut about 40 acres today he said and will cut another 10 or so tomorrow to finish up down in the one area.... he said the one field is very dry and rather thin.... not alot of volume. The other 2 places look pretty decent. Got 4 different fields down at the place where the one field is thin... 3 are just grass hay and the thin one is a planting of orchard grass that is starting to play out I guess....

 

[Mini Horses]

They cut about 10 acres across street today. Thick but way mature and headed out. 🤷. They may round bale it. Good grass just weather wait issues. He tedded this afternoon. So thick. Prob have to do again. Has no livestock, just makes and sells hay.

Upper 80s but 15 mph winds all day. I did some garden planting in slow mode.😁. No rush 4 more days at home. But lots to do!!

 

[farmerjan]

I went and did the cow this morning, went to the farm 125 miles north. Got to the feed store there a little before closing and they did not have the "darts" we use for the dart gun for when an animal has pinkeye out at pasture... did pick up 2 more bottles of tetanus toxoid to use on the bull calves when we band... it was 27.99 and 2 months ago they were 19.99..... 10 shots to a bottle... Getting expensive for even that.
They had several "mint plants" and 1 was spearmint... and I got one. It will get planted in a contained "tub planter as mint spreads and "takes over"... but it just smelled so good.

Got home, picked up a bag of feed to get me through the weekend with the nurse cow and went and turned her out. Came home and feel like I got rode hard and put away wet. No stamina or strength.
DS called and said "they" were going to the local carnival to eat and all with the kids and did I want to go. I politely declined... don't feel up to dealing with or being nice to the kids when I am tired like this. I shouldn't be like this, but I just can't get "into things" with them. Not going to try to push myself when I am still feeling the effects of this cold/virus and being tired too.
I am going to go out and look at the "garden" WEEDS is more like it I think. See what of the recently planted stuff has come up... then go to bed early.