Wed morning... yep, he should've asked sooner. But things have changed already today...
BAD.... DS hit a mule (4 legged equine type) on the road on way to work this morning... BAD... seems these people have had animals out all summer, roaming the roads, numerous complaints... all that crap... Tea TOTALED the truck this time... up over the hood, smooshed, windshield shattered and glass everywhere even with it spidering, back glass broken, cab on pass side really bad crinkled.... DS wound up in emergency room... but CT scan shows no fractures/broken bones or spine damage..... badly bruised up and glass in eyes to they had to get it out. Killed the mule and there is fat/guts all over the front of the truck.... it is a mess... looks like the ones that you see that hit a bear or something like that....
He just got the NEW radiator in it maybe 2 weeks ago so he could drive it back and forth from her house to work or the farm, to save gas. It was one of the small GMC little pickups... like the small rangers or older small toyota pickups.
So, I took tomorrow off because now he is going to be hard pressed to do this... he is going to ask another guy to help that has helped in the past.... and I may be doing the hauling with the trailer... the farm was fine with it and I appreciate them for it. I will be able to go rake the hay earlier in mid-day... or tedd it or whatever....then go help with the cattle penning, moving later.... They said next week would suit just as well... so Tuesday is the plan. I am not going to cancel Friday... I will be able to haul cattle to town in the morning if need be...then go test. Don't know how this is going to work with him planning to make all these square bales... guess he will just have to see how he feels in a couple of days.... he is going to be sore. Don't think he ran off the road or anything.... just walloped the stupid animal. The people are going to have to do something now... the liability they face is going to be a real mess. Luckily this truck is covered under the farm and it actually has a license on it, not just farm use....
So, He asked if I could go do the chickens for him, before I go to work. Which I will leave to go do them here shortly.
There were 4 dead skunks on the road in less than a 5 mile stretch this morning too. And 2 dead deer and an opossum..... Talk about road kill alley....
Farmers do remember things like dead cows, but they don't always remember numbers.... Plus, there are over 500 with both his and his father's farm... the dry cows are run together... and then someone is always bringing cows back and forth to the dry cows... and the sale barn once a week..... they raise the heifers together... one farm has one color tags, the other farm has a different color, but there are 3 adult sons working there, and at least 3 other full time guys... there are 2 poultry houses... and it seems that people get switched around alot for jobs... according to what needs doing....
When we have a cow that turns up dead, it takes forever for DS to tell me who and GF doesn't think to look at the number in the ear half the time... or won't try to pull the head up to see if there is a number in the ear, on the side against the ground....so I get it... but dairy farmers are supposed to be able to keep up better with the records right there, and seeing the cows every day. But they also switch out milking and so who knows who is milking what shift/day....
Some are better about it than others... and some help is better than others.
So, I am going to change out of the good jeans, get work clothes on and go feed chickens and head to get the extra samples from the one farm I get my milk from; and head to the dairy to go test. Have to change the meter brackets for today's farm... would have been kept the same for tomorrow.. change back for Friday's farm...
Sun is peaking out a little. Wind is still cold.
Let's hope the rest of the day is uneventful.....
. Three jobs to juggle....VDOT, farm, GF. 
. I can see the dry off one. Don't they dry all off at sometimes to calf? That's got to be a LOT of record keeping with a couple hundred head. 
Geesh. Beef cattle, you wait, they calve, you have groups. Dairy milking daily....how's that worked? Not like a dairy cow or two at a private farm.
packaging is a whole nuther consideration, expensive, too. Yep, I had a few people this summer....a schedule nightmare as to volume and buy coordination, containers, etc. You can't just turn a faucet to start and stop. Not like those dairies where they fill a tank that's trucked out.
