Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Monday evening. Was an okay day considering.
There was more ice on the ground/trees and all than I first realized... but it is nearly all gone. It hit mid 40's with the sun out.
Got the samples packed from Sat aft herd tested. Vet called and he was stuck at a farm with some problems with an emergency calving and would it be okay to be later, like 1-1:30 or would it be a problem with my having to test. I said I would ask DS but I was not testing so that it would work.... DS said okay, and he had already gotten the couple of odd cows from across the driveway into the barn, and everyone was separated and ready to go.... So, called the vet back and we set it up for then.
Met DS at the barn about 12:30/12:45 or so and it was late when the vet got there... 1:45 when he did finally get done and get there. It went fairly smoothly... the 5 from across the driveway were all open again... after being confirmed preg back in the summer... so they will be getting sold. 1 is a 3 yr old should have had her 2nd calf, as her "sister" just had hers about 2-3 weeks ago. (Raised them together ) couple of others are not real old but that is that. They are going.
My nurse cow is open, not surprised... and the char heifer that was so lame this past year that we left her at the nurse cow pasture with her calf... turns out she BROKE her PELVIS... that is why she gimped so bad for awhile, and barely got around.... and it healed with it like a "dropped hip"... she actually gets around real well now... BUT.... vet said she would never be able to deliver a calf again the way it is healed inside. The stupid acting cow with the one "blue eye"... damaged eye, blind in it,.... is 6 months... of course couldn't be one we could sell as open.... and my other nutty acting 1/2 holstein that has a CRACKERJACK HEIFER is 7 months...
The cow that we just grafted the calf on we had the vet recheck because she had some bloody mucous discharge... and yes, she is open... and yes, she is making more of an udder... so at least that turned out okay....
So we took 801 and this just fresh cow/grafted on calf, to the peterbilt field with the other cows and small calves, to go with the bull. Since our cut off was technically Jan first for anyone fresh... we will see if #3 does breed back... but she will be held back and put back with a bull in June if she is open since there is a good chance she will not cycle but maybe once, before we pull this bull out the first of March. Trying to shorten up the calving window to 90 days or less and no more of these late Dec calves. But the calf is following her good, she is showing an udder now, and if the calf is resourceful, and hungry, he will steal off another cow out there since they all have calves that are 4 weeks or less....

Then for the cows from the pasture... 7 of 12 were pregnant... one 4 months and the others 5-7 months. There were several open... and they are all with a bull as of this afternoon. Since we are trying to decide when we are going to ship calves, we just put anyone that is getting a second chance along with the preg ones from today, all together out in a field with the cleanup bull. The calves will have to get pulled off in 45 days to either feed or sell... and we should have more that are at other pastures... back at the barn by then and can just pull and sell in bigger groups. These will be getting some silage at the barn field they are in so that will help the cows and the calves.... When we pull calves off them, then all the confirmed preg ones will go out in the back "autumn olive" field and the ones we put back with the bull will get rechecked in May or June or whenever we have a chance. They will not have the calves on them pulling them down and if they are bred then they will be fall calving, and if not bred, they will go....
So the bull got hurt in late summer so he must've gotten that last one bred and then got hurt.

He is bady stifled and will never breed a cow again. He will be going to the stockyard with the 5 open cows that are not getting bred back.

DS also moved 2 OLD cows that just calved a couple weeks ago... to the nurse cow pasture so they will not get bullied and can get silage... they will feed out these calves and be sold .... "one and dones" ... one has a TINY little calf.... and she would have been sold after the last calf if she hadn't been well along pregnant. They are cows he bought from a friend and the guy told him she was OLD... but she had a nice calf and DS figured if she bred back okay... if not, he was going to sell her... well she wound up pregnant... and the other one is almost as old... so they will have this last calf and hopefully we can put some weight back on them too.... The real old one doesn't look like she is making much milk either... but we will see. Since there are mostly all heifers at the nurse cow pasture... with 2cow/calf pairs still there that are not going to get bred back... and the one short little cow that just calved, that will get held over for breeding in June; and the longhorn... the 2 old cows he just put there will not be competing with a bunch of big sturdy cows and calves. PLUS... some of those heifers are going to come out of there and get sold also... the good thing about there, is that there is no bull there, and no cattle on adjoining fences so no concerns that a bull will get in there. It is sort of the "special needs pasture", anything that needs extra TLC or watching. Normally I calve out bred heifers there... but we didn't breed any for fall calving... I prefer to calve heifers in the spring anyway.... so this year it is just the best place for anyone needing a little extra watching over etc...

It could have been a train wreck with that bull getting hurt... but it wasn't near as bad as I was afraid of. The couple that were open that had been confirmed pregnant are all 2 strike ones so they aren't getting another chance either... Thinning out the less efficient ones....
Hoping that cull cow prices are good... they will go on Friday since it would be better that the bull goes asap... before he goes down. There will be some salvage value which is better than burying him. He's been a real good one... but he is also 10 or 11 yrs old which is OLD for a breeding bull....
Time to start looking around for another calving ease bull as the other one is also the same age.... we need to replace at least one now.... We bought those 2 bulls this past year but neither is supposed to throw small calves... and we have sold 3 bulls and buried one this past year (counting this one that will get sold this week). Only replaced 2 and we have one that we are not thrilled with his calves and would really like to replace him too.... At an average $3-3500 each, though... that's a chunk of money. Of course we have fewer places than we used to have, but still, like to keep a bull or 2 in reserve in case of injury.

Also came up missing one cow from the pasture yesterday... she was an old cow that was not supposed to go there and DS moved them without me being there to tell him not to.... and then it seems that there was a cow that died up there this summer... and he "forgot" to tell me about her.... I don't know how the he// he expects me to keep records if he doesn't tell me these things.... anyway... it was my old cow with a heifer calf... the calf looks real good so it must have gone over on another cow.... so I will be keeping her... I am glad she is a nice calf and will keep the line continuing. She was supposed to be a one and done... along with 2 other cow/calf pairs he put at a different pasture... he can't remember things and then goes and does things and sometimes they shouldn't be done... and once they are out at these pastures, there aren't any catch pens (we take portable catch pen panels to set up when we need to move them out) so it is not very easy to get them back... The couple of accidents have affected his memory and he won't admit that he cannot remember when he is told things. It drives me batty sometimes...
Luckily GF has a list of the cows that they moved out the to peterbilt field... and who their calves are... because he has never told me the first one... and I have asked twice... he said, well they are the ones from out of the "calving field"... but if I don't know where they got moved to then how am I supposed to keep track of things???? AND.....he never told the calves matching numbers... so not only do I not have the cows#'s that got moved... or even how many.... but who their calves are... GF said that she has convinced him to start entering it into his phone in a text msg.... he used to carry a little book in his pocket and write them down.... but that is too much trouble it seems.
I KNOW I forget things and even to write things down, so I make an extra effort to try to do this "paperwork" as soon as we get done doing something so I have it still fresh in my mind... and calvings I always write on a small calendar so I at least can reference who and when....

So, tomorrow morning early I am going to go to the Dr appt down in Blacksburg with him, as he is supposed to be getting some of the prolotherapy shots and it makes him very sore for a day or 2 until they start to make him feel better.... I want to have the "cow papers" all done so that he can look through them if he wants or ask questions and I can find the answers without looking through a dozen lists... and will get to go to the Rural King down there for a change...

Ate some of the beef stew tonight again...

Hope it is a sunny day tomorrow... Would like to make another gallon of suntea...

Need to go get a shower, wash my hair, and get some sleep. Have to meet DS at 6:30 a.m..

 

[farmerjan]

Well, it has been 2 days "off" becdause we have been kinda busy.
Wed got up and went with DS and turns out they didn't do the prolotherapy shots; so it was just a ride down with him... didn't go to Rural King because he was planning to stop and look at a tractor that was on the way home, for a friend... So, did that and got home to the house about 1 or so. I put the tea out, and was going to stop on the way home from meeting him to get the car muffler looked at... but he wanted to go look at a couple of bulls a neighbor has for sale as he is cutting his herd from 100 to about 25-30 cows and giving up a couple of rented pastures... He is in his mid 70's and said he just cannot keep up with stuff like he should. So we went and looked at them... they are registered Gelbvieh bull... very thick and muscled... I am not 100 % sold on them, they are a little flighty but they are running on 50 acres with another bull and a steer since they were taken out of the breeding cows a couple months ago as they got sold. The price is really good... we can have both for 4,000 and he paid 5,00 for one and I think 3,000 for the other. But he said that he figures they are worth "pound price" and both DS and I agree that it would be a good financial move as we can get our money back out of them if they don't turn out like we want.
Went from there to feed some hay at another place and looked those cows/calves over pretty good. There are some nice calves in there and some that are so-so.... we will be bringing them home in another 10 days or so and preg checking those cows and pulling the calves. He switched out bulls this summer so that there is little likelihood of another fiasco with a bull "going bad" like last year... There are about 35 pairs there.

We will also be checking out the quality of the calves and if a cow does a crummy job, then she might get sold even if she is preg... we'll see...Trying to cull for "better" calves...

So he said that he was going to take the cull - open cows to the sale on Wed eve and not wait for Friday... he talked to the sale barn owner and told him about the bull and that he would prefer that he just get weighed and sold directly to a buyer so he did not have to walk back and forth through the stockyard pens, and not be put in a bull pen with other bulls so he wouldn't get hurt. They said they could do that and that they would look at him when we got him there.

So, I went to the barn around 3 and got the 5 cows in the barn and the bull came along slowly and I put him in the alley to the trailer and gave him a little extra grain... that way he didn't have to walk into the barn and then back out and around. He actually got up from where he was laying pretty easily and walked without a real problem... we know it is hurting him some but he has been real good but just real slow about getting along. DS said he wanted to leave by 4 but naturally he was late getting there because he was doing some feeding on the way home from work. It is SOOOOOO MUDDY.... temps did not go below 30 so only a little firm on top this morning early, and it was 49 at my house this afternoon, so just a mucky mess... softer than soft. So, we got the cows and the bull loaded, separated by a cut gate in the trailer so he didn't get jostled around as one of those cows was not willing to stand quiet...
It started to sprinkle a bit on the way... we got there about 5:15, got unloaded and they put the bull in a "sorting pen" and said he would do good as he was walking pretty good. They did bring him in the ring and he looked pretty good considering. He weighed 1705 and probably has lost 100 lbs in the last couple weeks but still did good. Real good bulls, in real good flesh were bringing right around 1.00/lb. and there were a couple that brought up near 1.10... Ours brought .79 and DS had been hoping for .50 so we did good. We paid about 3,500 for him and have had him for 9 years.... he doesn't owe us a penny.....
The heifer with the broken pelvis weighed 905 and she looked good... the other cull cows weighed around 1200 each and one actually hit 1300 lbs and they all brought in the 72 to 75 cent range... except the one that weighed 1300 brought 82.... she will kill good.... so all in all it was a good night to take them to the sale... We like the way they treat the cows there, and the owners are pretty decent people... we seem to do better there with cull cows and "odd colored" calves and have been actually going there more frequently than the one sale closer to us. The black calves do better at the sale closer to us so we do take the steer calves there more often.
They also had their once a month beef cow sale with cow/calf pairs and bred cattle... they were a little cheaper than I expected, and we only bought one bred cow... should have bought a few of the cow calf pairs as they were a decent price... but DS is wanting to pay some bills and if we buy the bulls that will take a good part of this check... still with selling this hurt bull, we will only have 2700 in the 2 new ones so that is really a good deal. He knows someone that is talking about maybe getting a gelbvieh, to put more muscle on their calves.... so might be able to sell one... or maybe just lease it to him.... possibilities...

So we got back about 9:30 and DS said he was going to unload the cow into the barn lot for the night... she needs vacc and an ear tag. Then we will decide where to put her.... and he had to feed some hay and I offered to help but he said he was fine and so I came on home. He was going to use the tractor since it was so muddy....

So that has been my last couple of days. Have a farm set up for Friday afternoon to test... time to get back in the swing of things.

Tomorrow I want to take the car down about the muffler and get a price and see about maybe leaving it over the weekend... DS could pick me up on his way up to the farm and then drop me off on his way home one evening... he is off Monday for the holiday.... .
And I want to get the other car down to get the price on the windshield so that can get replaced....
We are supposed to have some rain/showers tomorrow and temps staying above freezing... but then Friday night and Sat night supposed to get down in the mid 20's so that will be good... for feeding and getting the portable corral panels moved to the next place to get more cows moved to the barn...

So there we are... things are peaceful pretty much with him and I.... at least for the present.... that is nice.
Past time to go to bed.

 

[Baymule]

It has to be hard to sell the old bull. I’m glad he was treated kindly at the auction instead of jammed in with others. It is a hard fact, but a basically almost “down” bull that brings .79 at auction is much better that a big dead pile of meat in the pasture that you gotta deal with.

Sounds interesting about the 2 new bulls, I hope they improve the herd .

 

[farmerjan]

We were lucky in that the bull didn't look bad and didn't limp.... he was just walking very slow and deliberate....and yeah, it was sad but the guys that bought this sale barn a couple years ago have really done alot to be more "small farmer friendly" and still work to keep the larger farmers taken care of.
I have known them for as long as I have lived down here.

Used to be just one sale a week, on Saturday.... I worked there every Sat for a year or 2....for the previous owner about 20 yrs ago I guess..... now they have a sale on wednesday....Just baby calves and cull pound cows and bulls... doesn't start til 6 p.m. This is to accommodate the farmers... mostly dairy, that have cows they want to ship and it was to undercut another sale barn on Thursday where the dairy farmers used to frequent.... but the monopoly of the Thursday sale also led to some lower prices on the cull cows and the baby calves.... There are many many dairies in Rockingham county, north of me... so now a choice of sales.
And the cattle that get sold for culls, to go to slaughter, will be on the truck right after the sale headed for a slaughter plant so it works real well on a Wed all around.... They still have their normal Saturday sale here too. Plus, they added a beef sale the first wednesday.... cow/calf pairs and bred cows.... this is the sale we were at... they still sell the cull cows and baby calves... then at 7:30 they stop the cull cows and sell the bred cow sale... then they will go back to cull cows after the "beef sale" is done.... They still had at least 75 or 100 cull cows to sell after the beef sale was done.
.They also added a "dairy sale" on the 3rd Wednesday... for farmers looking to sell a few dairy animals or others to buy some replacements.... They also will do dairy dispersals there....
And they added the "exotic" animal sale on the 4th Thursday eve.....and that has become sssssssoooooooo popular... They sell chickens, ducks, turkeys, all types of fowl..... rabbits..... parrots and other types of "birds", sheep and goats for take home breeding...pigs/hogs..... and some for slaughter especially in the season.... horses, and every kind of "odd ball" breed of cattle and all the miniatures... and they have one he// of a bunch of people at them...
They sell alot of sheep on at the regular Saturday sale... mostly the slaughter and feeder type lambs... and do a big business in the spring for Easter and for the ethnic holidays....they also sell hogs and such on Sat but the exotic sale is where they have a following for the odd ball stuff and it brings mostly absurd prices...

Yeah, the bull brought like 1300 or so... don't have the check stub in front of me.... but DS was hoping for .40-.50/lb so did alot better. And he will be in a plant today or at latest tomorrow, so not spending alot of time standing around or getting beat up by other bulls... alot of the buyers of the cull cows, also buy the kill bulls and they will run them in with groups of cows so they don't get to fighting on the trucks. It is in their best interests to keep the animals up on their feet and walking and not all beat up or down in the trailer because they HAVE to walk into the kill plant.....
There were 2 bulls that were in ALOT worse shape than our bull... one was barely walking he was so crippled up....
I will miss 24B for his disposition, and for his consistency in getting heifers bred and for decent calves. He was an "easy " breeder and never had a heifer get down because he was rough.....

Today was a cloudy day with some misty stuff late this afternoon. I went down with the car to the muffler place and it had a sign that it was "closed today".... starting to really pi$$ me off....called twice too and just rings, doesn't even go to an answering machine or forwarded to a cell phone or anything.... I will stop tomorrow on my way through town going north at a muffler place there and get an estimate as I am not going to wait forever for this guy to decide to work.... at least I will have a general idea... and if this one doesn't at least leave a note about when he is going to be off, I might just say tough.....
I went to Walmart after stopping there, and then by lowe's since I was right there. I got myself 2 "hard rolls" - kaiser rolls - for .84 and the 6 pack was still 3.99... so 42 cents each if you buy 2 at a time.... equals 2.52? So a real rip off to buy it by the 6 pack. I can barely believe it... So, I treated myself to 2 for sandwiches.

At Lowe's I got a couple of Norfolk Island Pines that were 1/2 off the yellow sticker... so they were 3.49 each.... Really..... they were about 24.99 before the holiday.... Don't know if I can keep them alive here but I will see... they have to come inside in the winter... I think they are native to Hawaii maybe??? but they looked nice. And 2 variegated leaved holly shrubs that are really pretty.....3.00 each and that was 70% percent off the yellow sale sticker that I think was 50% off already... They are supposed to get 4-6 ft tall and be a bushy shrub...
I went in to get some sticky traps since Walmart was out... and to look at the African violets... but they just got some in so they were all in bloom so no discount there.
They were already getting out the racks with seeds for planting this year... I mean it is only the 10th of January or so.... for here that is really early. Usually they get serious with them in early Feb.... we still have 3 months of freezing temps to contend with.... and the little greenhouse flat things to start seeds in. I am so glad that I got the seed starting soil last fall when they had it on clearance because I don't think it is going to be cheap this year. I picked up 2 or 3 bags for less than 1/2 price on the clearance racks... when they were getting things wound down... like when I got all the hanging baskets of stuff for $1.00 a pot...

Didn't hear from DS so don't know if he called the guy about getting the bulls, or if he worked the cow through the chute. I will text him tomorrow and see what is what.
The guy that helped with all the concrete is going to help him with getting the poles in for the hay shed that DS got the metal for a year or maybe 2 years ago.... is going to come by and look at the upstairs ceilings. He isn't the most reliable... but he had truck trouble and no wheels for a bit... now is back and they are going to start on the holes for the poles for the hay shed. He said one day when he is working for DS he could stop on the way home... so I will have everything off the stairs so he can go up. Really want something to get started here. With the shoulders and not being able to do stuff way above my head for more than a minute... I am not going to even attempt it on ceilings that are 8 ft high.

 

[farmerjan]

Hit the post button but just wanted to say we are getting some more serious rain now... I am not complaining about rain, but it would sure be nice if we could save this for around the middle of July or August....it is so muddy out there right now... BUT we are not anywhere in the mess that California is in so......

Making a list of things to do on the way to the farm tomorrow afternoon.....
Guess I will head to bed in a little bit.

 

[Ridgetop]

It is sad having to sell the old ones when they have been good producers for so long, but it is a business and it is better to sell him now than shoot him in the field when he can't get up anymore.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sad but true about bull. 😔 Plus a large animal to deal with, not like a sheep or goat.

 

[Baymule]

I wish you could find someone reliable that would fix the darn ceilings for you. What a bummer.

Glad the sale went good for the old bull. That sale barn sounds like a real nice place. Bennet and Peggy went to the Crockett sale yesterday, invited me, but I had to do something to lock my bratty sheep out from under the porch, so declined. Boy, am I glad I did! They left right before daylight and came back after dark. No telling what they are up to now. Bennett was selling out, now he’s roaring back. Cows. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

 

[Mini Horses]

Over past month or so, it seems DS is seeing the error of his ways....and the need to review priorities. The relationship with GF is leaving the honeymoon phase and beginning to open into reality. This will mellow more. Appears to becoming more of the "tolerate oddities" to have a person at home for companionship life. Glad to hear he's putting together his farm -- silage containment, hay barn, more consideration for cattle work. While still not back to " pre GF" I do see changes "back to" are happening slowly. Better than a yr ago! 🤗

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, DS is seeing somethings a little better. And he wants a "tolerable companionship" rather than being alone... but alot of guys are like that. My father was one and I think that is part of why he gave up after my mom passed. He couldn't/wouldn't accept she was gone and he had "nothing" to live for... they had been together for nearly 70 years. Better for him in the long run I think. It is what it is... and I want to get things done here that he says he will do and never does so accepting it for what it is and going ahead to do what I can. But that is sometimes not very pleasant since I was not raised to do for a GF and not for your own family... how he kow-tows to her makes me ........

Oh well, on a nicer note. It only went down to 37, up in the 40's and mostly sun. Supposed to not be much warmer, even drop some during the day and tonight in the 20's. A few snow flurries to the west but not supposed to come across the mountain. Sun for a few days, then partly cloudy but no precip in the forecast. It will help to get the ground to dry out a bit.
Laundry in the washer; will hang before I go so it will have a day or 2 to dry.... Already got a few phone calls out of the way, stairs to the upstairs will be cleaned off and ready for him to look at this weekend... Dishes done in the sink. Going to take everything off the countertops in the kitchen this weekend... I think - PRAY - the last mouse I caught on the kitchen counter was the one digging in the plant since it has been 2 weeks today and no more in traps and no digging in the plant. I did pick up a few more sticky traps yesterday... but I hope to NOT have to use them anytime soon.

So time to get at it...