Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

12 preg and 9 open..

That puts you behind but you kept warning him.

I think I have finally convinced him that all the bulls need to get a BSE.... and he agrees that getting the heifers bangs vacc is not a bad idea... HOLY COW....he says we will just sorta start over this year with getting them back on track.

Agreed with you? Holy Cow! Can it be that he realizes you are not just talking through your hat when you give him good information and recommendations based on years of experience?! Prime experience!

Hopefully he will keep that attitude for a while.

 

[SageHill]

DST -- again grrr. Went out and grazed (ah sigh yes good) but at the same daylight amount as last week. Then cleaned stalls and barn - then grrrr it's after noon - beyond lunch -- this time last week I'd be able to get paper work done and have lunch. I'm already behind. GRRRRR

 

[farmerjan]

That puts you behind but you kept warning him.

Agreed with you? Holy Cow! Can it be that he realizes you are not just talking through your hat when you give him good information and recommendations based on years of experience?! Prime experience!

Hopefully he will keep that attitude for a while.

 

[farmerjan]

DST -- again grrr. Went out and grazed (ah sigh yes good) but at the same daylight amount as last week. Then cleaned stalls and barn - then grrrr it's after noon - beyond lunch -- this time last week I'd be able to get paper work done and have lunch. I'm already behind. GRRRRR

Yep, hate this DST.....

 

[Baymule]

I’m still sleeping on regular time. On second cup of coffee and it’s 7:30, getting daylight. When granddaughters go home, I’ll set alarm and get on a schedule.

 

[farmerjan]

Mostly sun coming up with high white clouds... 44 for the low, already 53... Got another load of laundry in washer to hang here in a little bit.
Got to feed out more round bales so the truck can go tonight to the place that is going to put the new transmission in... can't believe they told DS they had ordered it when he gave the go ahead... it would be shipped and be there yesterday or today, they were finishing up a job and could get started on it Thursday, so to get it there Wed evening... So, he told me to feed out some extra so he doesn't have to bring the tractor up here to feed with, too many times... just because of the distance from the barn and running it on the road.

Need to get the samples packed, and dropped at the vineyard to go out. Feed transferred from truck to car since we are supposed to get rain end of the week, meters all put back in storage box in carport....

Got a list of things so might as well get started. At least it is going to be warm and pretty nice out today. Cool down next week... back into the 40's and 50's days...

 

[farmerjan]

Been 2 interesting days. Weather has been great, got a 2nd load laundry hung yesterday and a small load in now to hang today. Then will bring it all in later this afternoon.
Turns out I did not feed hay yesterday. Went to get truck and could not find it. Called DS and it turns out the guy had the transmission, told DS he might be able to get it in to start it Wed aft... so DS fed a bunch more hay on Tuesday aft/eve and they took truck to the place on the flat bed Tues night. He for got to tell me... So, cows have several rolls to work on....
Samples packed and dropped off at the UPS store as I had to go talk to them at SPCA about fixing the cats... now, because they are not feral, and can be caught and "worked with" as opposed to being totally feral and wild, the cost is more... $100 each.... cash paid up front... does include a rabies shot. The female is in heat, been a couple of neighborhood males hanging around... but she will be out of heat and barely pregnant in 2 weeks which is when they are supposed to go. Since it is more, I am going to call a couple of local vets here to see what they charge.... our farm vet is large animal only and they are an hour away.... but suspect it is even higher... I will get her spayed and then decide what to do about the male later. He is so laid back and "lazy" I am not concerned about him going around and "spraying" here to mark his territory... need to get her done so no kittens.

Went up to the nurse cow pasture and fed the grain and then opened the gate closing off the creep access. Made sure I fed hay in the pen also, and 2 of the black calves went in to see about getting some feed... I will see who is out and who is in and if they come when I go in to feed grain today.
Weather is changing and this weekend not so much rain... spotty showers on Friday into early Sat morning now... it is drying out fast. Temps hit 74 yesterday, it only got down to 47 last night and already up to 60 at DST 9 a.m. which to me is still 8... so warming fast. Mid to upper 70's today and 60's+ for the next couple of days... then a cool off next week and only in the 40's and 50's.....
Plans are to go to the Maple Festival on Saturday... Deb is coming out Friday eve so we can get an early start. DS has not said anything else so she and I will go.

DS had a run in with the "bigger boss" at work... because he has been driving the work truck home and to the farm (which technically butts up to his house property here, although the driveways are on separate, different roads) and "home to her house" at night, then goes directly to work. As a supervisor, he has the privilege to do so... and especially since his boss is still off of work, he is the acting supervisor..... So, now it is a bone of contention that he has to declare his "residence" and cannot drive it and park it anywhere else... it is safer at the farm when he goes from work directly to the farm to do stuff, and then has it there if he gets called out and such... and although her house is in his district, and he spends more of his time there at night now.... it is not his "official residence".... and they have GPS in all the new ones so now it is coming into question... EXCEPT.... that he has to drive an "official work vehicle" when he gets called out for after hour complaints... like all the trees that have been down in the roads and such with the rain and windy conditions we have had... the other night he got a call at 2:02 a.m. for a big tree across a main road... 15 min from her house... so he got there in less than a half hour and then had to call someone else to come with a loader or something to get it out of the road... but as the supervisor he has to go to it... and if he had to go from her house to get the truck at the office, then all the way back to the road, it would have taken an hour at least... then get the guy to come and then take it all the way back to the office and all that...
I get that they don't want someone to "drive around" in the work truck... because the taxpayers are paying for it.... but when he doesn't charge them the extra time he is allowed to, when called out after hours.... you would think that there would be some sensible trade offs....I told him that someone said something and so they are going to scrutinize this... so he said fine, he would leave the vehicle at the office. He paid $3/day to use it as a perk of the job.... and had no problem with that. His boss (that is still off work) called him and he is going in to meet with the "bigger boss" today, since they called him...he said this is a bunch of petty BS.... but DS said fine, he doesn't have to drive it and he will just make sure that he has all his time charged against work now like he is allowed to do.... and the inconvenience for the DOT with him not being able to go directly on a call since he has to go get a company vehicle... Can't say as I blame him since he has been doing the work for both his job and the bosses job since he had the pacemaker put in before Thanksgiving.....and it is stressing DS out and he is getting physically and mentally worn out....

So that set the stage for this morning.... we hauled the 16 calves that were going to the graded sale... Now, some background.... Caleb came and he and DS went through them and these 16 made the "grade"... then the owner of the stockyard had called DS and wanted to know if he had anymore, and he and another guy came out and looked at them and said, they would "work" for the graded sale... so DS has kept these calves and fed them for 3 weeks instead of selling at the other auction... Got up there and they were sorting them (2 different sizes) and they pulled out 2 that they said did not make the grade... DS was hot and said forget it...he was not going to have them put those 2 in the regualr sale because they would not do as good with buyers concentrating on the graded calves and the ones that do not make grade just bring less.... he loaded them ALL , back up and they are back home in the field....he told them that there were no hard feelings, but they had come out and looked at them 3 weeks ago, and he kept them and fed them for 3 weeks because they said they would work... and now they said they wouldn't all work... so he wasn't going to sell any of them. He told me coming back that he will just take them to the other stockyard we also deal with and be done with this BS of having them "graded".... Because of hauling them today, they will be off weights so he will take them next friday to the closer stockyard... they do not do graded cattle there... commissions are less, and that will be the end of this trying to please them at the graded sale at this other place. Last month we took 30 and they rejected 2, and they sold for more than the ones we had in the graded sale...at the other stockyard...
He was hot about this..... it would not have been such a big deal, but he got them looked at here at the farm and sorted off the ones that "didn't make grade" ..... and the owner of this yard CALLED DS and wanted to come look at what he had... after he had them sorted and "graded out" .... not like DS contacted them to come look at them on the farm....they contacted DS....
He went to this stockyard on some advice that he would do better here, and it has not turned out to be worth the time or the trouble... I have never sold much at this yard... just not one I like to go to very much.

So, we got back, he went to work and I put them back in the field that he had taken them out of yesterday afternoon...
Got the clothes in the machine on the final rinse, so will hang them shortly.... did not get the meters out of the truck yesterday, so that will get done here shortly...I did put the feed in the car yesterday....
Might go on and get the electric fence put back up at the nurse cow pasture... now they are going to build a garage at the house there...and want the cows to stay out of the area with the guys in and out... so this time it is going to get left up... not taking it down again...

Daffodils are all out and blooming... time to do some yard clean up work....

 

[Ridgetop]

I don't blame hm for bringing them back home! What a rip off to come out and tell him they wanted them then reject two! I would just go to the other sale all the time where the SCOM is cheaper and they bring better prices.

Good thing that he is going to charge his extra time to work now. Being nice and not submitting the time sheets for the extra time does you no favors. The bosses don't see how much actual time he is putting in after hours. Plus he had to pay an extra $3 per day to drive the company vehicle and then was not showing his overtime, he will be money ahead this other way. The bosses will probably be shocked to see that how much more it will cost VADOT doing it this way.

 

[farmerjan]

I don't blame hm for bringing them back home! What a rip off to come out and tell him they wanted them then reject two! I would just go to the other sale all the time where the SCOM is cheaper and they bring better prices.

Good thing that he is going to charge his extra time to work now. Being nice and not submitting the time sheets for the extra time does you no favors. The bosses don't see how much actual time he is putting in after hours. Plus he had to pay an extra $3 per day to drive the company vehicle and then was not showing his overtime, he will be money ahead this other way. The bosses will probably be shocked to see that how much more it will cost VADOT doing it this way.

He was putting in for some of the "over time" when he was getting called out... but they are allowed up to an hour to get to the headquarters for these "emergency call outs" and he was not getting exact about putting in the time... stopped and picked up some other stuff on the road on his way to or from gf house and never put in a claim for the extra 15-25 minutes, that type of thing... The $3 per day he said was more than worth the savings of wear and tear on his vehicles and the fuel... and it was saving him time to be able to go directly from work to the barn where he had all his other trucks and all... he said he tried to trade off some of the time he was saving by not putting in for every minute he was "entitled to".... but it is not appreciated by so many of these companies... and to top it off, there are a couple of crew members that have complained several times about some things, thinking he is getting "extras" when he actually has been doing the company favors in the long run... but those kind of people only see what "they are not getting" and what someone else is getting, not realizing what that other person is trading off... you will always have those kinds... and he has had to defend himself too many times against what has been seen as preferential treatment, only to find out that he has actually been getting less in the long run, but it worked for him so was satisfied...

He has the land next to him listed as an approved "dump site" for like gravel and such from cleaning ditches... it is the other half of the farm we rent from the other widow... gives him fill dirt/gravel etc to use... but it cannot be dumped on his farm (the half we bought from the one widow) because it is against company policy for a VDOT employee to benefit from it... even if the dump site is 10 miles closer than the next place that is approved, when they are doing road work etc... and a comment got made about that also... so he said that as of today he is removing her farm from an approved dump site and the hell with making it more cost effective for VDOT to dump there instead of going somewhere further away... this also will prohibit any VDOT employees from going down the long driveway to the barns and being nosy anymore... I think this is where some of the BS about where the VDOT truck was parked...since he would take and park it there when he was on lunch and do some feeding or something... legally on his own time... right there at the barn in case he got called out for something... and technically he is on call 24/7 as the supervisor... so even if he is eating lunch, he has to take phone calls.... Just ridiculous....
I know there are people that take advantage of things, and they have to have "policies".... but the "bosses" should be able to have some discretionary maneuvering for things too.... When we had the vet check and he was there Monday... he had the phone with him in the barn and took off an hour or so past his lunch time as personal time...just to cover his being "at the barn" .... they never take into account the time he puts in after hours checking things for work... meeting with a landowner about a complaint or anything...

Doubt DS will ever sell at this sale again... we will patronize the one closer, even if he gets less money he said...and some of the things we don't like there.... and also the other stockyard that we go to on saturdays and some wednesday evenings.....

Headed up to see about doing the electric fence... just ate a pbj sandwich. for lunch...

 

[Baymule]

What a load of crap. Yep, park truck at work, bill for all overtime, do it by the book. Him trying to do favors has backfired in his face.

Don’t blame him one bit for loading up ALL the calves and leaving. I would have done the same thing.