Farmerjan's journal - Weather

Xerocles

Loving the herd life
Joined
Nov 11, 2019
Messages
540
Reaction score
1,573
Points
173
Location
Clinton (piedmont) SC
I just limp and lurch along like a 3 day drunk. And all this time I could have been using an office chair! Do they come with 4 wheel drive and mud tires?
:lol: I've got a couple good ole boys here in SC who would love to hook you up with that! They'd also probably toss in a fuel injected, turbo 357 if you gave them a couple six packs of PBR. "Here, hold my beer and watch this."
 

thistlebloom

Herd Master
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
2,037
Reaction score
7,612
Points
383
Location
Idaho panhandle 48th parallel
Some people are so self absorbed that they are oblivious to anyone else's life. It wouldn't matter even if you could explain your side, or chew him out, or even whack him upside of the head. He wouldn't get it, and would not change or do anything differently.
Sorry you have to deal with his stupidity as well as your discomfort with your boot, and all of that instability we are all feeling these days. I hope you find a much better living situation soon. And by all means take those peach trees with you!
 

Mini Horses

Herd Master
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Messages
9,290
Reaction score
29,331
Points
728
Location
S coastal VA
Yep -- ya need to move!! Any news on the little house that needs a driveway???? I'd also move everything away and assemble as you suggest, until you can re-establish. The guy is lower than a cow paddy to bring this up KNOWING your recent medical op. He should have just said "if you'd like, I'll come cut the grass for you tomorrow".

Here's something to take your mind off the landlord.

When you (or the friend) makes silage, do you add any "cultures" to it as it is thrown into that donut bag? In spare time (LOL) I was looking into silage for goats. Safety, etc. And this Utube showed some farmer making it -- You'd love this!! -- they chopped and blew it into a concrete pit, lined with plastic(?) for moisture/air control, etc.....maybe India? Then into this 10' deep pit to get it out as using. Really! But, a local farmer here raises & packages for his cattle. Thinking "maybe" I could buy a couple. Thinking ahead.....and way before I approach him. He'll be putting up what looks like winter wheat in those sacks before long. Not the corn silage.

Thinking into winter 2020-21 obviously.
 

farmerjan

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
10,194
Reaction score
38,741
Points
748
Location
Shenandoah Valley Virginia
Hey guys, thanks for the outlet to blow off steam......

I went by our "rented" main farm this morning after setting up at a dairy that I am going to test this afternoon and tomorrow morning, & talked to my son, and he said to me a couple times, Mom, quit yelling, I'm standing right here....

Yeah, I was pretty hot even after sleeping on it and all that...... He said you know they aren't the sharpest tacks in the bunch..... but that it was pretty bad that the landlord seems to think that I need to pay his son when his son can't support himself and he (the landlord) has to supplement his own son's daily living expenses. Yet he never offered to let me have a break on the rent with the surgery etc..... Anyway, I had asked my son if he knew where we could get a tiller to use for the garden, just last week.... and he said that he'd asked around and thought maybe he could get the one guy to come do it if he trailered it down to the house, and I said forget it, that I was not going to have a garden here, that as soon as they get the road in for the tower and all that settled, that we were going to move my chickens up to his property near where I will have the meat birds, and that I was just going to mow the garden space and turn it back into a lawn because I will be out of here before this winter, one way or another.

I asked him to again ask that other farmer that we rent from if they have made any decisions about the house that his wife's parents left her when they died because they had said last year that it had been empty for several years and they really needed to do something with it. It would suit me better as far as having a drive right into the carport next to the house, fairly flat ground, and it could be fenced pretty easily because with the road right there, it would have to be or the chickens would be out in the road for sure. I also did talk to my other friend, and they have had to do some work on that other house, redid the floor in the kitchen , and some other stuff, and that it is still for sale. I am going to get together with her & her husband and go look at it again, and see where the property lines are as to if there could be a driveway put up to the house. I cannot walk it with this boot, and it would be next to impossible with the milk samples and all that, on a regular basis.
Sort of like what @Ridgetop showed in her pictures of how hilly they are, and they have stairs and stuff to at least be able to walk up and down..... and like she said, they were younger when they started there..... well, this is on quite a hill and I really just don't want to try to start out on this if there is a way I can avoid it. A driveway up to the house would make it more acceptable, but really it is not my first choice. It would still have to be mowed up and down that hilly lawn..... but it might be the best for a quick move by the winter, as I think that they would be very apt to work with me on the financing since it has also been sitting for several years.
Well, I am not going to be moving tomorrow, but I will be starting some serious cleaning out and getting rid of stuff, and all that so that I can just be out and gone when the time comes. I am a terrible "collector" and so things need to be gone through and some stuff gotten rid of.

And yes, the peach trees will get transplanted to my sons property this fall after they have gone dormant, if I don't have a permanent place for me. He has the backhoe, he can come dig them up and we can get them planted even along the "road" that goes up to the tower, if there isn't a better place. But I think that we can find a place along one of the fences where they will get good sun and all that. I'm not leaving them here.
 

farmerjan

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
10,194
Reaction score
38,741
Points
748
Location
Shenandoah Valley Virginia
@Mini Horses , no we don't add any cultures of any kind to the silage as we put it into the bag. There are some different things that farmers have added over the years. We did run a hose and added water the one year when the corn silage that we bought was too dry, we wanted to just finish filling the bag and had an opportunity to buy it real cheap. The water was just to help to get the moisture up so it would ensile better and it came out decent.

Most here do not even line their concrete "pits" with plastic. The trick with silage is to get it PACKED TIGHT, so that the air is excluded and it will ensile properly. Air is the biggest deterrent to good silage. That is why the concrete bunkers that so many use now, you will see the tractors running up and down on the silage as it is dumped and spread in them, so that it is packed down and there isn't any air pockets in it. Then they will cover it with plastic and then most lay bunches of tires over the whole top to keep the plastic on it tight. Also, most will put a couple scoops of dirt on the bottom edge so that it is sealed there too. We will fold over the bag at the end of the tube, and then put 2 or 3 round bales on the end to seal it tight so there is no air getting into it. The end that you start with, the bag is folded under, so that the first couple of loads of silage will hold it folded down under and there is no air that can get into it.
It is essential to use a certain amount daily, so that the silage that is exposed to the air will not start to mold. On the big bunkers, they figure that they have to use at least 2-3 ft deep, across the whole opened part, to keep it from getting spoiled. One year, when I was first in Va, I would clean up around the silage bags and take it home and put it in big plastic bags and "make my own silage" . Not very sophisticated, but I had about 10 that I actually did feed out that winter for my one milking cow. She liked it. I also often was able to bring home silage that had spilled out of the unloader, but I had to feed that out right away since it was already "silage" . Still, it was "extra" feed and I just spread it out and they ate what they wanted and the rest just got incorporated into the soil as organic matter.

Several dairy farmers used to add anhydrous ammonia to the silage as they bagged it or blew it up into the silos. It helped to break down the coarser corn stalks, made them more digestible, supposed to help prevent as much mold and spoilage, and increase the ph of the feed too. I think that it was often applied with a molasses base to help with the palatability. It could help to make a less than great crop of corn silage, actually a little better as a feed. I don't know of too many that use it any more. Not saying it is all bad..... again, it was a tool that had some positives for use.
 
Top