Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[SageHill]

but I go in & leave without buying something I needed quite often.

I have a personal rule -- if the store doesn't have what I need that is on my list, I leave and buy nothing. Stops that "ohhh that looks good" impulse buy in the bud.

 

[farmerjan]

I actually take my time when I "go shopping"... I walk all the aisles, look at everything... and yes, occasionally impulse buy. BUT,,,, I don't actually "go shopping" much... I will stop for a specific thing or 2 on my way to or from testing or something... and don't spend much time and seldom buy anything that is not on the list...
Since shopping is not my favorite thing, although groc shopping I like better than any other shopping... I make it count when I am there and make sure there is nothing more I want to check out. I can find the discounts, bargains, closeouts, that way...
Now get me in a farm store, Rural King especially around here, and I can spend some time... or a garden shop/nursery/greenhouse store...

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday night. Got in the house about dark. It has been a pretty good day overall.

Carried the batteries out and put in the mower. Mowed the whole area that I had mowed last time... set a little lower. Then did a path out to the well casing so DS doesn't hit it when he mows for hay... I want to make a couple passes out and around where the 2 surviving peach trees are. Will have to get the one that died last year out of there.... Trying to decide where to put the blueberry bushes I got at the poultry swap.... Set them in a "tub" from the protein/molasses lick from the cows so I can keep them watered... the berries are getting bigger. Need to see what to use for "plant food" for them. I know they like more acid soil so will not go right in with the fruit trees.
Did not get mowed around the garden area yet... that is in the plans for tomorrow. I have several piles of little rocks to pick up also...But I ran the batteries down to less than 40% and got a bunch done. 4 batteries in here on charge and will do the other 2 tomorrow but it will run fine on 4... the other 2 aren't fully "dead" yet... It will start and move with just the 2.
I need to take the self propelled mower out to do some tighter spots and the weed eater to get around the posts and such with the split rail fence and the short bank along the ditch next to the road... then I am going to take the mower tractor and pull the cart with wood chip mulch out there and "smother" the ground/grass...
Planted the irises I rescued from the dirt pile at the farm, in a pot, so they can get established a bit and then will get them planted later on.

Went up and did the calves and got several of the cows in but only 1 calf that I need to match the cows he is going to move out of there. I texted him that I would try again tomorrow night. First time getting them to go in the gate... and the calves were feeling good with the nice comfortable day so not cooperating.
The last heifer to calve was up with her new calf this evening, too...

Got to go fill feed buckets in the morning since I am using alot more grain to try to get these guys in the lot... but that's part of it... Probably will get a couple in and then a couple more the next time after that... I really don't want the whole group of cows to come since there are so many... it was mostly the cows with the new calves there so that was good... if I can get the calves to cooperate....

Time to move the spider plants out on the chain hanging between 2 branches for the summer... going to trust no more frosts.

Need to finish packing the samples to go out tomorrow...

Time to go to bed.

 

[farmerjan]

Sunny, nice start to the day. 58 was the low but already up to 73 at 9 a.m. 80's today, near 90 by Wed...

Slept like a rock last night... woke up with running nose and eyes wanting to itch...

Took the allergy pills as the nose was running early this morning. Not a good start, but it is to be expected... Always right around first cutting hay, orchard grass....

Chickens out loose and clothes washing, so I can get them on the line. Got water in the gallon jug to put out for making tea. Will carry the batteries out to the mower, and bring the other 2 in... Got the 2 batteries in the self propelled mower to use...

Need to get the small tiller I got, when I got the riding mower, out of the box and see what is what, now that the weather is looking like gardening season. Think I will use it along the base of the split rail fence for getting some of the stuff planted; once I get it mowed off as low as I can get it to "scalp" the weeds....

Will stop at the neighbors place when I go get feed to see about the tilling... and then I can keep up with it with the small tiller, if I don't get it all planted at once.. but I intend to try to get it all done as fast as possible.

Got to get the samples finished packed and drop off at the vineyard in awhile.

 

[Ridgetop]

Busy season going to be busier than usual with haying starting earlier and garden planting starting later due to weather.

 

[farmerjan]

In for the night... and I am tired enough...

Samples packed and dropped off. Went to barn and got 6 buckets of feed from the feed bin to put in the back of the car. Stopped and talked to the guy about the plowing, said I finally got the pile burned... and he will come tomorrow eve...or Wed... he mows on Tuesdays'...... Sun tea made and in fridge. OOPS... forgot to hang clothes... okay, in the basket thing by the back door to hang tomorrow... I put in some jeans/work clothes to soak... they are pretty dirty. Might wait and hang them all at once tomorrow.

Weather was nice. 83 and sunny with some high white puffy clouds. No humidity... Talked to DS after he got off work, and he hadn't gotten the 2 replacement arms on the tedder so I went to the tractor dealership, that is closer to us than the one I like to use, but they are the dealer for our tedder... got the 2 arms and 2 sets of the "teeth" that helps to throw the hay out when it is working... and Jim was supposed to get it done this evening. He was working on the rake when I went to get the feed out of the bin earlier.... hydraulic fluid and all those sorts of things in the tractor and grease things etc....
So, If all goes as planned, I will go tedd the hay around 10 or so... ought to take 2 hours or less for the 12 +/- acres he has down. Then I will have to go rake it Wed morning, and it will have all day to finish drying raked up in windrows... DS will bale it Wed afternoon after work.... I will be testing Wed aft... no set up so won't be a big deal... I should be done raking in about the same amount of time... 2 hours or so... but I want to get it done at like 9-10 in the morning so it has several more hours to dry good before he bales it. It will get rolled so can wait for late afternoon to bale it.

 

[farmerjan]

I got all the mowing done here, picked up the little piles of rocks in the garden I had at the ends of some of the rows. Dug a few volunteer sunflowers that were growing and mowed off the whole garden that wasn't burned off. There were several volunteer potato plants but they are going to all get tilled up... may have some come back after the tilling when I plant.. but that's okay. I need to go out with the weed eater and do around some stuff... but the big stuff is done. Yes, I like the riding mower... getting used to it is getting easier... The one thing I do like is that it stops moving as soon as you take your foot off the "gas pedal"... I have not tried out the "cruise" button, because I like that it stops as soon as you get off the accelerator... keeps you from trying to stop it, like with a throttle that keeps it going.... keeps me from running into, or too close to, things.
When I got done with the mowing, took and hooked the large "gorilla cart" I had gotten at Home Depot (or was it Lowes) a couple years ago... so I can put stuff in it and pull it all out to the garden... Will fill it with the paper feed sacks, some cardboard, the plants, a sledge hammer to put the t-posts in for the cow panels for tomatoes...
And I want to go to my favorite nursery tomorrow and see about getting a yellow peony plant... the others are blooming nicely... with the 10% senior citizens discount... before they are all sold...
Irises are all about done for the year... a few of the roses are blooming... the "partially dried up " climbing yellow rose I got the other day has perked up quite nicely since it got a good soaking.. want to get that in some dirt or bucket or something so it will grow until I can get it in the ground near the split rail fence.

I did find out that the 4 cows and 2 calves that he sold a week or so ago, that one of the 2 calves was mine... the totally crazy one that would run out the barn.... didn't realize it was mine... I thought mine had been sold with the last group that went... so I will get more money out of this check... one cow was mine, one was 1/2 ... the last one of the jointly owned cows...from years ago... and the one calf was mine...
I will have fewer calves to sell with all the cows I have culled... 2 cows a few weeks ago, 1 this last time, 2 more that we are going to put out to pasture for a little while since their calves are smaller... let them eat for a bit and then ship when that pasture gets short... but I have some heifers that will be going out to WV in that bunch... next year my numbers will be down... Plus I sold 1 or 2 back earlier this spring... That will translate into 6-10 fewer calves to be born this next year... maybe that is a good thing...

When I went up to do bottles this evening, of course nearly all the cows and calves I wanted were at the barn area... but DS had to coach a ball game ... a playoff one I think... so no moving anything this evening... Hope they will come to barn tomorrow evening and I can get some of them out of there...

He is pushing to get some of the heifers out to WV... might take a load in the morning he said... short notice in my opinion...guess he is not going to work???; not worried about it.... he said he might bring 3 or 4 more up to get bred instead of taking them to WV.... so I have got to get the ones out I want out or there will be so many there that I will never get the calves in that I need with all the cows pushing and shoving....

Will see how tomorrow plays out, and if I can get some cows and calves in , when I go up late afternoon...

 

[Mini Horses]

How many of "your"cows do you generally keep? Maybe you will get a chance to buy a couple at another auction -- or a couple of your heifers may be close to breeding age. Then 18 more months for a return.

That's the thing with a 1x a yr babe. Used to be a so with the minis -- a reason we added goats, so there could be a different "crop" season. Horses are seasonal. Most dairy goats are seasonal, most meat breeds, yr round. All about cash flow

Livestock is long term investment unless you're a trader type.

 

[Baymule]

I do like the year round thing with my sheep. I can plan for lambing twice a year instead of all at once. Five months gestation is nice too.

 

[farmerjan]

The once a year with calves isn't so bad with us having 2 calving seasons... spring and fall... so there are usually some to sell more often than everything all at once... although we did keep all those through the winter on the corn silage and it was a good decision... besides it needing to be fed out... since prices were much better this year... and keeping most of the heifers and putting them out in WV... which will not generate alot of income this fall if we decide to keep a bunch... although anything at those 6-9 wts will be pretty good income because they could go either to feedlots or someone could take and breed them... We sold a couple that were "eh" calves early... so what we have now are pretty decent.

Got up and he had texted me about maybe helping him do the 2nd vac and worm the heifers so he could take them to WV... Called and he was getting done and had 14 loaded to go. Will take them out and then another load in a week or 2... need about 35 out there but he can't take 20 on a load with the size they are so he might take 2 more loads out but I don't think we have 30+ ??? So, I got the clothes hung, had to go get a couple bolts for the tedder arms since they didn't give them to me yesterday... they gave me the ones for the teeth attachment but not to attach the arms to the tedder part that goes around from the pto ... anyway... Jim got them on and I hooked up and went out back. Got it done... but the one field will have to be done again this aft/evening... it is very thick and very green... and it is hemmed in by trees more than the other field... so not as much sun around the edges , and not as much air/wind across it.
Took allergy pills this morning, and they had started to wear off, and eyes were itching and nose running by the time I got off tractor and got home. But since this was mostly rye/wheat mixed, it wasn't as bad as when we get into the orchard grass..... Just came in, took some more pills, washed my face and soaked eyes with a wet wash cloth for a few minutes. Going to go to the nursery here in a few minutes... trying to giv e myself a half hour for the pills to kick in so I am not blowing my brains out with this runny nose...

@Mini Horses I have been keeping about 15-25 head of cows of my own the last couple years... cows and like yearling replacement heifers I guess... usually figure between 10-20 head calves a year born... I think I am down to about 12-14 cows now... maybe fewer...but I have sold at least 7-10 in the last year with non-breeders and a couple old ones... got one more old one that I had moved to the nurse cow field , that will probably have to go this fall; wanted her calf to grow more and she does come in the creep gate... cow is getting old and she is getting slower... I am not sure if she was preg checked... plus there are the 2 that are not so old, going out with the other 1 old one of DS's.... with their calves, to be sold in the fall... one had a dink calf and the other one is the one that is high headed and will go over a fence/gate... not going to listen to DS if she does something stupid again... If she was bred she would stay... but she's not so good reason to ship. I will start watching at the stockyards for a few odd balls, one and done older cows and such and maybe pick up a few.... when the spring rush and all the grass gets past, there are sometimes some bargains to get that you can make some money on down the road... we'll see.
There are a couple of the heifers at snyder's that are mine that are going to be bred when the bull goes in next month... so not like I am going to run out of cattle...just I had gotten up to about 25-30 and have reduced numbers this year... Was a good year to have a larger number of calves to sell, with prices being so good.
Sometimes I think we ought to sell way down and make more hay this year and then buy back in a year or 2... don't think prices are going to stay this high for more than a year or 2 down the road... and there are bargains to be had if you are patient. DS went and looked at 16 cows a friend has to sell.. 11 or 12 calves on the ground... 30 grand for them... so a little under 2,000 a pair... DS said they are big cows though... 1400+ probably... bull in there all the time, we are not interested in the bull, we have enough bulls.... so a few might even be bred back... and they can stay there until Aug. when the guy's lease is up 1st of Sept... his health is not as good as it should be and wants to just cut back some...I think he is going to get them which is fine, he has also culled at least 10 in the past year of his own...

Heading to the nursery and then will go tedd that field again.