Farmerjan's journal - Weather

farmerjan

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Just a quick note. I was getting ready to leave and ds stopped to get some papers out of the truck of his, that is here, from when they all came to do the tank and then left to go do the hay baling and all on Sat. Got the check for the cattle that got shipped on Fri. Prices on the cull cows is off by $.10-.30 a pound and the steer was about $.35 less. He did not go back to watch them being sold.... he would have brought back home a couple of them if he had been there; but it is done. One of the members on the one cattle forum I go on, one of the guys that is in western Tx said that the ranchers are culling herds because there has been no appreciative rain since July. Sale numbers of cows is doubled, and they look for this to last for weeks as ranchers cull down to try to manage their hay supplies with no fall grass growing. Said it is happening in TX, AZ, NM. OK..... so beware to all those out that way. Hamburger will be cheaper....EXCEPT .... for the fact that some plants have reduced their operating capacity and rumors here that our JBS plant has closed again....
So it is a blessing that we have the silage as we will be feeding alot of animals for awhile. And I don't know if we get a window, once we get this next round of hay made, if maybe he will try to make the hay he was talking about bush hogging.
One thing about this, if they are thinning herds and culling heavy on cows, in the next 2 years, bred heifers and cows may get very expensive again. The price of the 2 smaller heifer calves, on 2 of those cows, brought nearly as much as the steer calf. He was a pretty nice steer calf too. I told ds this past spring that I thought that prices on "breds", would be up in another year or 2 and that was before they started to deal with lack of rainfall out west.... I know that I am going to push to hold back heifers and get the older ones bred for calves in 2022......

So this is just an indication of some of what we deal with. Granted most of you are not affected much by this, and most everyone doesn't have cattle or not the numbers that we have. But this is an indication of the way we are affected by the markets way down west of where @Baymule is..... and there was the drought up in the New England states that @rachels.haven has had to deal with. If you still have a way to get hay and store it, be smart and do so. If it is available next year, it might be very expensive. Remember, if kept dry, 2 yr old hay is like gold in the bank and much more edible for the livestock. You can always rotate it out and feed the older hay and keep your barn full; much like you should rotate out your home canned and store bought goods.... keeping a supply for the lean times....
 

Mini Horses

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get it so it will sprout well with good ground contact. This is getting drilled in,


I'd love to have drilled it -- extension has a drill you can rent but, too big for my tractor. It's huge! :( But there was enough got to the ground..it will work. The burned & cut stuff is coming back in, so some protection for the new stuff.

Wanted wheat but, couldn't find a source. So this Abruzzi Rye was next on list. It's reportedly good for the abuse of grazing.
If it shows promise, I'll do it earlier next year.

Question -- see a lot of the marshmallows set up for the forage and I can see dropping one and cutting open. Now, with those long rows you all have in one tube, how do you handle it to feed? What do you use to remove it, etc? Curious. I'm not sure the size of the tube....not the length.
 

farmerjan

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OH.... @Baymule where are you when I need you ????? Just went up to the close neighbors.... the "catchers" came and got the broilers from the one house..... I have over 200......yes 200 !!!!, in the back of my truck and we didn't get them all. That's not counting all the cripples that he wrung their necks as we were catching them.... There are at least 50+ more that we didn't catch ..... and the other house goes out tomorrow.....this house was only 42 days... they averaged about 5 lbs.....on the truck so these are at least 4 lbs average.... Gonna have to figure out what I am going to do with them. It was killing me for him to just wring the necks of the cripples.... all I could think of was your dog food..... You would never have to buy chicken parts again to cook down. It would pay to just skin them.... or we could buy a plucker and do them up fairly quick.... have a party a couple days a month and have all the chicken and parts and dog food and broth we could use. I mean, they are 3/4 to the size you raise them up to. A couple weeks out on grass and they will taste like they were raised out there, their whole life.
The company came and got them a couple days early... usually they are 46-48 days he said.... and the last ones weighed almost 7 lbs live..... it was an exceptional bunch of birds for gain and feed conversion.

Got a friend here that I will take 20-30 to tomorrow..... but I suspect there will be another 100-200 to get tomorrow afternoon. He is going to catch them up and stick them in his cattle trailer because they are going to till the houses tomorrow.

HOLY COW !!!!!!
Got a text from him this morning so not much notice.....but I could not turn them down.... just what am I going to do with this many all at once? The guy at the chicken killing place doesn't do any for the next 6 weeks due to hogs and I thinke that he does some deer......Time to put up a greenhouse to run them in, in the fall/winter.....
Sometimes there aren't more than a half dozen... like his last time he said they took them all.....they were really nice. But a couple flocks ago he had over 250 left like this time.
Yes it seems a waste.... but the houses he has.... 625 ft long and I am not sure how wide but probably 70-100 ft;.... holds 48,000 birds and he has 2 houses.
It is all in percentages.
 

Ridgetop

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CAN YOU SELL THEM LIVE? LIKE IN BATCHES TO PEOPLE WILLING TO BUTCHER THEM?

About beef prices - I think you might want to hold onto your heifers and cows another year or so since you have the silage If bred cow prices are going up in another year or so, you will be able to cash in. Probably a good thing that guy did not get your silage and extra hay. And if hay is going to be scarce you will be sitting pretty with your hay bank!

Yee Haw Farmer Jan!!! :yesss: :highfive:
 

Mini Horses

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My first thought was to drive to your house with an empty horse trailer! My second thought was of guts & feathers! :lol: once over that mess, my freezer is currently full. So canning would be a must....I have jars & lids....but, wow!! What a job. Yeah, can you sell some up there??? Of course, might not set well considering how you get them, with that friend.

You have a problem gift...:oops:...especially considering the age as they can't be held another couple months. What a predicament. I mean 50 is a lot but 5 times that and more to come?:thyou can tell I'm feeling the anxiety for you.
 

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