Farmerjan's journal - Weather

Ridgetop

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When you unpack your cabinets, it helps to already know which new cabinet they will go into. That way you can just set everything into the box without wrapping them, drive to the new house and unload right into the cabinets. This is a good trick to save you work packing. If you have kitchen drawers, just pull out the entire drawer and set it in your vehicle. Drive to the new house, unload the drawer into the hew drawers, and return the old drawer to the old cabinets. No need for boxes for contents of drawers. You can sort and dispose of trash or items to toss when unloading contents into new drawer. Makes everything so much easier and faster.

Waiting for you to be able to load pix of the new place!!!
 

farmerjan

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I suspect that the more you can strengthen the muscles around your knees ahead of time the easier the post surgery recovery will be.
That is what I have been told.... that there are "pre-surgery" exercises that are suggested for all who do knee surgery. I will try to get some more info on that too.... but using this "pedaler" machine that I had put away, has made me realize that they are weaker than I realized. Maybe it will help with the general walking too.

Heading down the hill for the evening. We have a cow that is actually walking across the cattle guard.... owners watched her... her leg went inbetween the metal pipes, then she pulled it up and kept on going... No respect for the cattle guard there so will have to be moved I guess....PITA....they put her back through the gate 3 times today and she keeps doing it....

Farm texted me back for monday afternoon. Have a PT appt @ 9:30 a.m. Hope to tedd out some hay Sun aft late as I won't be able to do it Monday... not enough time inbetween for more than maybe an hour.... I will get all the stuff loaded tomorrow and get the bottles ready in trays too.... Won't hear anything from the other one until late Monday or Tues I don't think as she is away til Monday I think.

Been chilly today, sun but always a little breeze. I wonder why more people don't dry their laundry outside with these kind of breezes. The towels I brought in are softer than some I have taken out of the dryer over the years... and they smell so much better... One BIG plus for living up here. They feel SOO soft. Yes I use softener...but never have had stuff feel so soft and fluffy like this without a good breeze to blow them around. And it might be the water too... not all the lime and all.

Another reason to look into a wind system for here....there is a guy near one of my dairies that has a windmill...the modern 3 blade type not the old fashioned "windmill of the west" type. I need to ask the farmer for his name and see what all he has to say about it. This is a good area for the breeze. It would sure be nice to reduce the electric bill if I could generate my own that way. The old ones had a system that would disengage them if the wind was too strong....so as to not destroy the blades ...I imagine the new ones have something too... The wind blows alot here... more than the sun shines.
 

Baymule

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I would love to hang clothes out to dry, but the breeze blows the sand around. No point in dusty clothes. LOL LOL I can't use fabric softener or dryer sheets, so I use wool balls in the dryer to reduce static cling and as a softener.
 

Bruce

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I think there are governors on the windmills but they will still shut down above a certain MPH. And they need a certain MPH to start up as well, maybe 8 or 12 MPH?? When my solar arrays were put in 5 years ago the guy said he used to do wind but they tended to be unreliable so he stopped. I would hope that the reliability is much better now though there is still a maintenance requirement. You either need to climb the tower or have one that can pivot down for maintenance ..... unless things have changed.
 

farmerjan

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Sunday night. Had a decent day. DS texted and we went and got the obnoxious cow.... she was back in the yard this morning.... she is due to calve soon. She is a bought cow so maybe that is why they sold her. We have had her for at least one calf though so not a "newcomer". Brought 5 more home with her since we had the trailer there. Had to call them down the hill, across the driveway, into the catch pen. Had about 6-8 that wouldn't cross the driveway, silly cuz they had crossed it to go from the one side to the other when they were rotated into the "hayfield" part where they are now. One has already calved but the rest are just big as butterball turkeys!!!!:lol:

Then took a couple of the portable panels to another pasture right up the road where there are 5 old cows and 5 calves. They look good and although we hate to, these 5 cows are all going to the stockyards. They are old and have NO TEETH. They went to this pasture so they had no chance to get bred back.... no bull in with them, and no cattle against the fences so no temptations for a bull to come visiting. There are some cattle down the road a bit, but not right up against the fence. Called them down and 4 cows and 2 of the calves came..... will start calling and feeding them in the pen so that the calves get used to it and in a week or 2 they will go. There are 2 heifers in the bunch that will probably be retained as future replacements.


Tomorrow he is finally getting those heifers off the cows, as they guy is wanting them....I cancelled my PT appt and I will go with him. Gonna take my truck to the farm where I am going to test, leave it, go with him further north to the farm, and then he will drop me off and I will test that herd. There are 3 or 5 heifers that we are probably bringing back that were raised up. We have 1st refusal and there were a couple ds said he wanted back. We will pay whatever he got for the ones he sold. Instead of paying him to feed them, what we do is sell them to him, with first choice back..... then if we don't want any or don't need them, or whatever reason, we don't have to take any and he can just sell them. If we take any back, it is like just buying them, but they are out of our cows so know the background. I have never been to his place, so wanted to go.

So, after getting the cows this morning, ds went to mow some more. I went to the new house, got all the stuff ready for taking to the farm tomorrow, finished packing the samples from Fri's herd and got that all set to go out. Got all the meters in the truck, and the hoses for tomorrow's herd, plus all the sample bottles on the seat. Then took the 4x4 and went by the cardboard dumpster by Wendy's to see if there were any boxes. SCORED..... got a dozen or so, broken down so all I need to do is retape them; they are clean and decent. Took them down to the other house.

Went by the regular dumpster with a bunch of stuff from both houses to get rid of. Then I got on the tractor with the tedder and spent 45 min tedding out the first piece he cut of the good orchard grass hay. I wasn't watching my time earlier, and didn't get any more done.... will have to get right on it Tuesday morning.... and the orchard grass will be ready to rake too. I see he finished the field of mixed grass next door - he had done 6 rounds around the outside when he did the og....and got the rest done (total about 6 acres there) and took the tractor up to the hill to the long 4 acre field and then will do the adjoining 10+ acres on top of the hill. We used to only cut these 2, first cutting then let them grow for the cows for winter grazing when we moved the cattle in this place for the winter.... but we no longer run cattle there, because owner needs to "encourage the deer" OMG... but it isn't our land. Thing is, they aren't keeping it mowed, we used to bush hog once a year to keep down the multiflora roses and blackberries and briars and weeds... and in another year or 2 it will be getting all grown up. They do have 4 cows and raise a few for beef now....but he is lazy and you can see the crap growing up already. And we are moving all our hay out because he gets a few for his cows, in the agreement... but last year took about twice what he is supposed to get. So we are moving it out as we come up the hill. We pay rent so trade off some of the hay for rent.... but.... there is a limit. He also got over 50 sq bales which was agreed on... but he doesn't need to get 15 or 20 rolls when he is supposed to get 5 or 10....Not my agreement, but it irks me to no end....DS allows people to take advantage of him all the time.... and then he wonders why I have the attitude I have about things getting done and paid for and not all this "trade off" that gets dragged out.

So, I am going to get going down the hill, maybe get a few boxes "made" and ready for when I get in the mood to pack.
@Ridgetop , I get the idea of knowing where things will go in the new cabinets....except that I have no cabinets in the stone house.... all the storage is the 3 cupboards that I put in that house. The one that was made for my spices/baking supplies is going into the new kitchen here.....the other 2 are nice cupboards so don't know what I am going to do with them yet. So there is no real method to where I want stuff here yet. I am going to just box it... and then after I get it up here, kinda make a decision where I want stuff. Wanting to see what sorta "flows" as far as like putting dishes away etc..... The thing I don't like is that the top shelves in all the top cabinets are so high I will need a ladder so it is almost useless space.... will have to put stuff up there that I don't use much because it's useless for food storage. I do have counter space here that I didn't have there so that is a plus.
With taking out the tall pullout pantry thing, with the current smaller fridge, I gained a 9 inch wide space there. I have been tossing around a narrow waste receptacle for recyclables for now.....Eventually it will accommodate a wider fridge. I have a recycle cabinet that is a pull out rather than separate doors, and holds 3 cat food bags of 30 lb size that I use now. Don't know if that will fit anywhere or not.... I had that and the spice/baking cupboard made to match years ago. I really like them.
 

farmerjan

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@Bruce, I think someone told me that the 3 bladed kind have a govenor or some sort. The old type used to have something that would disengage the tail so that the windmill part could still spin,but that the tail being disengaged, it wouldn't want to face into the wind so would not really spin properly... Kinda the idea of a tail on a kite as to it needs it to fly.... well the tail part keeps it headed into the wind stream. I believe they also had a manual brake of some sort. I would like to talk to the guy who has the one near the dairy I test..... just to get some info. Don't know if anyone here in the area installs them. Would be interesting to see if it would be a practical addition.... perhaps along with solar that the elec company is promoting.
Food for thought for down the road....
 

Bruce

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Certainly is, especially if you have reasonably steady wind, bonus if it is at night when solar doesn't happen. We can go days with low winds and some days with "steady" in the mid 20's gusting to high 30's. I don't know how suitable my property is wind wise. This site shows height and distance from objects to have clear air.

Part of it reads "The quick-and-dirty rule of thumb for turbine height is a minimum of 10 meters (30 feet) plus the length of a turbine blade above the tallest obstacle (trees, house etc.) in a 150 meter (500 feet) radius, with a tower height of at least 19 meters (60 feet)."
which suggests my place would work only for north and south winds.
 

farmerjan

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Thanks, @Bruce ... interesting reading. I do know from the clothes on the clothesline, that the wind is most prevalent from the south.... I was getting clothes in my face trying to hang the next line over.... and I have noticed it several times now that I have hung the clothes. Nothing to impede the wind from that direction because that is where the Christmas Tree farm is and they are all shorter, and there is open space and parking area between me and them.... several hundred feet or more. Some large/tall white pines in a line to the east... the property line....some semi tall trees to the western direction along the dirt road but several hundred feet at least. I will have to do some measuring just to get some distances..... Again something to consider.... it's just that I really noticed how much the wind was blowing.... a breeze really, but it might be enough to get and keep it turning regularly/comsistently.....
 

farmerjan

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Okay, Mon eve. Got home to the new house about 8 or so. Had a good day except that my knees are aching alot this evening. Fast milking on the farm this afternoon...she is fast but pretty good.

DS texted that he had the cows in about 9:30 or so. I was at new house... so 10 minutes I was at barn. He was getting the bag off the bagger and getting that all "closed/sealed " up. I went in the barn, got all the calves sorted out of the pen except one by the time he got over there, helped get to one calf out, then sorted 3 of the 4 cows still in there and they all got moved back out to pasture to calve. Got the one that he accidentaly put up at that pasture, that was not bred, cut out and she will be going with a bull to get bred now. She is a bought heifer last year.... he bought 2, they were small and are still small... one bred back, one didn't. But they aren't worth much to sell, and this one might do a little better because she has had a little more time to grow a bit. They will always be smaller though.... they were bred too young in my opinion.... but he didn't pay alot for them soooo.... they did a fairly decent job of raising their first calves.... and are pretty quiet to work around so deserve at least a second calf.
Took 14 heifers up to the guy who has bought some several times now. Got back 4 bigger ones out of the group he got last year....2 weighing 710 and 2 weighing 910. One of the 4 is mine, the other 3 were my son's. We don't really like one of his and so-so about another one so he might sell them. Mine is out of a bought cow that died this past winter.... she was in good flesh, but was old and was a "possible sell" cow .... but had this nice heifer calf. One day he was out feeding hay and she was just laid out dead.... probably her heart, didn't look like she struggled he said.... price you pay.... she was a nice friendly cow so, oh well, she didn't have to get on a truck and go to slaughter. Calf would have paid for her if I sold it so a wash.... keeping the calf will mean about 3 years before even payback.... but if she turns out as nice as the cow, then I'm not out. Was planning to keep the cow for another calf if she was bred because she was in very good condition for her age (no teeth) so was eating and getting enough out of her feed to keep her condition up.
Part of it.
So there are 6 possible keeps out of this group we took.... and going to see if he wants anymore as we have another 6-10 that we could take up there that are at another pasture.... 2 that we took are rather small so he might not want to keep them although ds said he would cut him a deal since he has been very fair to us..... one the cow died, the other the cow didn't milk very good and got sold. DS will talk to him....He was at work, but ds had talked to him and since he knew where to go and where to put them it wasn't a problem to go there on our own.
And we are taking the dairy heifers this Sat by the looks of it. I am going to feed them in the pen the next few days so that I can get them in to take. Still leaning towards taking the 2 jersey cows too.... get them off my "shoulders" of responsibility for the year and get the house done, and get the knees done.... then get them back when I am a little better prepared to do things like graft calves on them as nurse cows. I can't milk them when I am recovering from knee surgery either.... so rather than ruin their udders, let them go on the dairy, get milked, get some records on them, and then get them back after they are bred and ready to go dry, so they aren't feeding them during their dry period either.... and when I am able to do right by them. I still have one that has the 3 calves on her that will stay.... she might be bred back to the angus bull now... got another3/4 dairy cow, that is totally blind in one eye that I can probably force to take a couple more calves.... she is really getting huge so will calve soon.... raised 3 her first time and was a total B$#@H the second time so I don't know what her udder will be this time. I wouldn't grain her the second time so as not to promote more milk since she wouldn't let anyone on her but her own calf..... sometimes they take a notion.... we'll see this time. Got one jer/hol heifer that didn't get bred that should have been that I will let the angus bull breed and she will be due next fall so that will work....and a couple of other heifers that need to be bred and maybe sold as bred heifers or with new calves on them next year. I think that the prices of "springers" and just fresh heifers and cows will be up next fall....so we will see. Gambling on my gut feeling.....

Tomorrow I will pack these samples in the morning..... get on the tractor and rake the field I tedded sun eve, tedd out the 6 acre piece across the creek. They unloaded about 250 bales off the wagons this eve.... so he will have at least 2 wagons to sq bale into. I imagine the orchard grass piece will make that much.... I think he is going to round bale the other... it is mixed grass and has some weeds.... beef calves/yearlings will eat it good.
Wed I have PT, then tedding out the 2 fields in the top section.... then rake them late on Thurs or Fri morning for him to roll. Can't do sq bales up there if we wanted.... too treacherous to try to bring a 1/2 filled wagon down off that hill. He only brings one roll on the truck at a time due to the steepness.... not so awful going up to tedd or rake.... but I come down in 1st gear.... and won't drive a tractor that does not have good brakes......and hold the shift lever so that it can't possibly jump out of gear into neutral.... he// of a view from up there but he// of a ride down too !!!!!!
Time to get headed down the hill....
 
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