greybeard
Herd Master
I wonder how Secuono's doing? This was him from a few years back:
https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/2018-waiting-on-lambs-♡.36600/page-31#post-556655
Farmerjan's journal - Weather
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I wonder how Secuono's doing? This was him from a few years back:
https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/2018-waiting-on-lambs-♡.36600/page-31#post-556655
Goat Whisperer
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We've had some crazy weather. Yesterday we torrential rain- but the temps were in the 60's and the wind was crazy (45+ MPH gusts).
Today we have had heavy rain on and off, with thunder and lightning. We even had HAIL
The first day of winter, and we have thunderstoms. Crazy. It was 64 degrees a few hours ago.
Today we have had heavy rain on and off, with thunder and lightning. We even had HAIL
The first day of winter, and we have thunderstoms. Crazy. It was 64 degrees a few hours ago.
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farmerjan
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We had thunder today too, and a couple of real quick, short, but LOUD downpours. I looked quick when I went out to get in the 4x4 ranger, over 2 " in the rain gauge, but I didn't dump it. I will check it in the morning and dump it. Imagine we had 2 1/2 inches. Was still some spotty showers/drizzle at about 7:30. Looks like we are on the edge of the system, mostly staying west, and turning into some snow/flurries for far SW Va and WVA. There was water everywhere. Most all the calves were in the barn, they can come in through the creep gate. Don't blame them, I wouldn't want to be out in the pouring rain either. Fed and put a sq bale in the hay feeder. The cows have eaten the rolls but it will be tomorrow before Michael can get into the field to take them more. They won't starve and the calves will probably clean up the hay inside so that is good. Got 2 that are coughing.... DAM# this wet rainy weather.
Looked on the one website for the station north of us. Avg YTD rainfall is 36.5 inches. They have recorded a little over 62 inches...... that's not counting todays'. I will have to go through my little calendar where I record the weather, and see what I come up with for rainfall here. And there is a good chance for rain again next Thursday/Friday. Maybe the 4-5 days inbetween will help to dry it out some. Supposed to get 30 + mph gusty wind tonight.
Looked on the one website for the station north of us. Avg YTD rainfall is 36.5 inches. They have recorded a little over 62 inches...... that's not counting todays'. I will have to go through my little calendar where I record the weather, and see what I come up with for rainfall here. And there is a good chance for rain again next Thursday/Friday. Maybe the 4-5 days inbetween will help to dry it out some. Supposed to get 30 + mph gusty wind tonight.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
We have had so much that I am so glad that I made lanes on the outside of all of my fences. Just hauling hay and feed to the far pastures has made a muddy mess.
I know what you mean about the muddy mess. Thankfully now, the cows have thier round bale so I dont have to get them hay, but I still had to go to the barn to get feed for the chickens and it was awful how bad the mud is.
I didnt eve go out there last night because it was pouring down the rain when I got home. I had made sure everyone was well stocked on water for the cows and chicken feed for the chickens the night before. I also had multiple buckets under the overhang to catch water so the cows and chickens had extra.
Now its just going to be cold. Just cant win.
I didnt eve go out there last night because it was pouring down the rain when I got home. I had made sure everyone was well stocked on water for the cows and chicken feed for the chickens the night before. I also had multiple buckets under the overhang to catch water so the cows and chickens had extra.
Now its just going to be cold. Just cant win.
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farmerjan
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Monday 12-24. We wound up having between 3-4 inches of rain over the period of last Thursday-Sat. All according to where you were. I had 3 here in one gauge, the next door neighbor had right at 4. Crazy. My son worked Friday and most of Sat doing ditching and down trees and stuff. Got called out twice Friday night. We went to a friends over 2 hours away for a Christmas get together on Sat eve and he was beat.
Today is part sunny but windy, chilly temps. 38 at present and not supposed to get up much more than mid 40's. Got a sick calf, treating him for pnuemonia type stuff, snotty nose and all. It's been one after another. Never had so many sick/coughing/snotty noses on animals. This has been a bad year. Difficult when they are out on pasture to see them all, when they have 20-40 acres to roam over. Been very discouraging.
Hope everyone has a nice day and a nice Christmas.
Today is part sunny but windy, chilly temps. 38 at present and not supposed to get up much more than mid 40's. Got a sick calf, treating him for pnuemonia type stuff, snotty nose and all. It's been one after another. Never had so many sick/coughing/snotty noses on animals. This has been a bad year. Difficult when they are out on pasture to see them all, when they have 20-40 acres to roam over. Been very discouraging.
Hope everyone has a nice day and a nice Christmas.
Hated to like that post Jan. Hope things dry out for you soon and get better all around. Hope you're able to have a merry Christmas and enjoy at least one day.
Southern by choice
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farmerjan
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Well, I hope everyone survived the holidays and enjoyed good company and good food. Except @greybeard , of course he had to be in the middle of a TEXAS SIZED incident...... not the best of company in the long haul..... but hopefully that is going to resolve it's self with help from the appropriate authorities.
It was cloudy and grey and breezy all day yesterday, rather dismal looking but no precip. That is about to change, again thanks to the TEXAS contingent on here. They are calling for mostly sun today, changing to cloudy tomorrow with a significant amount of rain for late Thursday and Friday. I just heard the radio say 1-3 INCHES......compliments of a system that is heading this way from the Texas area that should be getting precip today.... We appreciate the "largess" of all the Texas members.... how about you just keep it this time? We really don't mind.
Had a nice "Italian themed" dinner with friends yesterday. We sat around and talked about the state of farming. I do not watch TV but he was talking about different things on RFD and seeing how bad the dairy industry is suffering, as well as the problems we are seeing here in the beef industry. It really is getting depressing. All I can say is how thankful I hit 65 right now and going on to Medicare and starting to collect SS after the first of the year. My income has dropped by about half in the last 3-4 months and if I wasn't going to be able to start getting SS I would be looking for some kind of job and at this age, that just isn't very feasible with my ankle and joint issues. I had hoped to be able to squirrel away most of the SS for a bit but will have to take a little of it towards seasonal things like the fuel oil this winter, if I need to. I don't want to start pulling anything out of my small retirement 401 at this time. It won't be alot monthly, but I am leaving that for as long as I can. I had counted on my cattle sales to help with the transition and it may get better a little further along in the spring. Luckily, I do not require alot of "stuff". Don't have the food from the garden I usually do, but am trying to empty out the freezers so that next year I will be able to "start over" with some extra space. There's still quite a bit in there to work on.
Has anyone ever used/bought a "freeze dryer" ??? I have been doing alot of reading, and wonder if they are as good as they say. I am really thinking about one, as I am very concerned about the future and the idea of a possible recession or even getting into a depression in the future. I am not such a pessimistic person, but tend to want to be "more prepared" rather than not. Yes, canning is great and drying food is good. The freezer is a life saver but I worry about what if the electricity goes off in the summer like we had several years ago with the "derrachio" that caused us to lose power for 5 days right before July 4th with 90+ degree days. We had a generator that my son and I switched back and forth between us. I won't do anything "big" here at a rented house, but still wonder if something like the freeze drier wouldn't be a better way to preserve some food for long term storage. Also, what if gas/diesel was to be in short supply and we couldn't run the generator?
It's 25* out and supposed to be sunny and get up to the low 50's. Then the rain.....
It was cloudy and grey and breezy all day yesterday, rather dismal looking but no precip. That is about to change, again thanks to the TEXAS contingent on here. They are calling for mostly sun today, changing to cloudy tomorrow with a significant amount of rain for late Thursday and Friday. I just heard the radio say 1-3 INCHES......compliments of a system that is heading this way from the Texas area that should be getting precip today.... We appreciate the "largess" of all the Texas members.... how about you just keep it this time? We really don't mind.
Had a nice "Italian themed" dinner with friends yesterday. We sat around and talked about the state of farming. I do not watch TV but he was talking about different things on RFD and seeing how bad the dairy industry is suffering, as well as the problems we are seeing here in the beef industry. It really is getting depressing. All I can say is how thankful I hit 65 right now and going on to Medicare and starting to collect SS after the first of the year. My income has dropped by about half in the last 3-4 months and if I wasn't going to be able to start getting SS I would be looking for some kind of job and at this age, that just isn't very feasible with my ankle and joint issues. I had hoped to be able to squirrel away most of the SS for a bit but will have to take a little of it towards seasonal things like the fuel oil this winter, if I need to. I don't want to start pulling anything out of my small retirement 401 at this time. It won't be alot monthly, but I am leaving that for as long as I can. I had counted on my cattle sales to help with the transition and it may get better a little further along in the spring. Luckily, I do not require alot of "stuff". Don't have the food from the garden I usually do, but am trying to empty out the freezers so that next year I will be able to "start over" with some extra space. There's still quite a bit in there to work on.
Has anyone ever used/bought a "freeze dryer" ??? I have been doing alot of reading, and wonder if they are as good as they say. I am really thinking about one, as I am very concerned about the future and the idea of a possible recession or even getting into a depression in the future. I am not such a pessimistic person, but tend to want to be "more prepared" rather than not. Yes, canning is great and drying food is good. The freezer is a life saver but I worry about what if the electricity goes off in the summer like we had several years ago with the "derrachio" that caused us to lose power for 5 days right before July 4th with 90+ degree days. We had a generator that my son and I switched back and forth between us. I won't do anything "big" here at a rented house, but still wonder if something like the freeze drier wouldn't be a better way to preserve some food for long term storage. Also, what if gas/diesel was to be in short supply and we couldn't run the generator?
It's 25* out and supposed to be sunny and get up to the low 50's. Then the rain.....
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Yep, you are getting more rain! Me, too. Looks like you are going to get hammered Fri thru "maybe" Mon.
Freeze dryers are expensive! $3K =/- That's out of my thoughts. Would be great to have a "community kitchen" with that, canning facilities, etc. to "share". I'd pay a fee for that! I have a dehydrator that provides good results (Habitat for $8) Two canners. Yeah, freezer has that electric need. So far, my generator has worked and gas has been available. In 20 years here I've only had more than 3 days outage one time. Small generator then, shared it with my 2 kids but, we managed. One I have now will run my whole house -- if careful with the 240 items -- but HEAVY!!! to move. I have a device at meter to plug in there. Daughter needs to buy a small one.
Like you, I don't need/buy a lot. I'm stocked for winter and "HOPE" we can all have a decent garden in 2019. I need to re stock the canned items. Freezer will get some meats. Shame we don't live closer as there are many things we could "share". Not a lot of people in my area who really want the work side of farming/homesteading -- only the results.
I started my SS at 62, never any remorse. Medicare began at 65 & I think they need to do the Allstate thing -- no accidents and reduce the copay when you do use it
But, it's all good. Believe I will go get a physical in 2019. I've paid for 8 years & never used it. Since an annual physical is "free" I feel like I want something out of the premiums paid 
Now I need to find a doctor -- don't have one.
Freeze dryers are expensive! $3K =/- That's out of my thoughts.
Would be great to have a "community kitchen" with that, canning facilities, etc. to "share". I'd pay a fee for that! I have a dehydrator that provides good results (Habitat for $8) Two canners. Yeah, freezer has that electric need. So far, my generator has worked and gas has been available. In 20 years here I've only had more than 3 days outage one time. Small generator then, shared it with my 2 kids but, we managed. One I have now will run my whole house -- if careful with the 240 items -- but HEAVY!!! to move. I have a device at meter to plug in there. Daughter needs to buy a small one.Like you, I don't need/buy a lot. I'm stocked for winter and "HOPE" we can all have a decent garden in 2019. I need to re stock the canned items. Freezer will get some meats. Shame we don't live closer as there are many things we could "share". Not a lot of people in my area who really want the work side of farming/homesteading -- only the results.
I started my SS at 62, never any remorse. Medicare began at 65 & I think they need to do the Allstate thing -- no accidents and reduce the copay when you do use it
But, it's all good. Believe I will go get a physical in 2019. I've paid for 8 years & never used it. Since an annual physical is "free" I feel like I want something out of the premiums paid Now I need to find a doctor -- don't have one.
