Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mini Horses]

I can tell you my smaller tractor isn't bad. But, all day -- I get a touch stiff and a LOT wet...you sweat in those seats . Maybe the larger ones are easier on you. Jan will tell us straight up!

 

[SageHill]

My little tractor is comfy all day. No ac or anything and I need to wear ear muffs -- it's loud. LOL my ears get sore but not my bum!
The big ones looks really nice and comfy - but of course it's not like you're driving on a road. Tractor envy

 

[farmerjan]

Couple long days, will fill you in tomorrow... I am beat and going to get shower and go to bed.

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday morning... 58 to start, about 65 now. Clouds and feeling a few sprinkles.

First, tractor seats... The big tractors usually have some sort of air ride, or some type of suspension. You still get somewhat stiff being in the same basic position. Cab tractors all have ac as the cabs will literally cook you. The closed in cabs are essential for the dust and dirt in round baling, and the dust and pollen in cutting.
Now for ours. My Ford 4600 that I tedd and rake with is open.... it is old enough that there is not even a canopy top so it is hotter than hot in the sun. Normally I rake in the mornings and am not out in the hottest part of the day... or rake late afternoons after the hay has set in the sun to dry during the hottest part of the day. But, then again, he usually does not lay down this much all at once either. So the marathon sessions of 6-7 hours during the hottest part of the day was essential to get it all raked and ready for him to bale.
Luckily, I finished the last 10 acre field yesterday afternoon... and with several breakdowns and major tractor problems... he finished baling that field this morning... It was touchy as they had been saying some showers possible early... then a lull, then more coming in this afternoon. But there was no dew and he managed to get it all done this morning. Now it looks like we will get a bit of rain this morning and then a small break and then more this afternoon. I would have been royally ticked off it had not gotten all baled after all the hours getting it raked... but we hit it right.
The 4600 has a padded seat and it does have some suspension... so not uncomfortable. Yes you do sweat but there is usually a bit of a breeze while going along raking... and we have had breezes every day so that pretty much takes care of that. When the air is still, with no wind/breeze, it can get rough. My biggest thing is the legs get stiff and especially my right knee and foot for some reason. Must be how I sit in the seat and am constantly looking over my shoulders to watch the rake and the hay as well as watching for any rocks to try to avoid raking overtop of them... you try to rake so the rock is exposed and not under the windrow of hay... so DS can avoid hitting it mid center of the baler pickup tines... managing to go over any rocks with the outside wheel and such keeps from bending up the pickup and everthing on the baler. The hay will get pulled into the baler if the windrow is raked fairly good, even when catching it from the side more instead of straight in the middle. In fact, you want to catch the hay from the sides some so that the bale will be even across the whole thing... if you only go down the middle of the windrow, it will not "spread out" across the bale while it is rolling in the chamber so you feed it in across the whole pickup... For those of you that sew and use a sewing machine... even those that do wool... you feed the thread/wool on the bobbin so it is evenly distributed from one end to the other or you have a big fat center and not much on the sides. Winding a bobbin on a sewing machine it pretty much does it automatically... but same principle...

Back to the tractor seat... they are not the greatest on the older ones... they just get "hard" after awhile. The 4600 Ford I can stand up easily, and do so often to stretch my legs. My OLD Farmall H tractor has a METAL seat... the old style that is like on one big "spring"... it actually isn't bad but I will use a cushion to sit on, like the kind you get for kitchen chairs and such, just simple ones, if I am going to be on it for more than a couple hours as it gets HARD... and I have lots of my own "padding"..

Even the best "air ride" seats like in a tractor trailer cab get tiresome after awhile. The thing is in the fields, there are dips and bumps and #@%$#@@## ground hog holes and stuff to get a major jolt from...
So yes, I get tired and sore and achey when spending more than 4-5 hours at a time... which I do not do often due to the nature of usually not having so many fields down at once. Part of the job. I cannot imagine working in an office and sitting for hours at a desk, or standing for hours at a factory job.... waitressing was tough, on your feet... but at least you were walking... your feet and back would start to really hurt after 5-6 hours.....

Good thing is there will be about a week break now... showers forecast for the next 5 days off and on so no hay making...

So, anyway... I didn't test Fri aft as the farmer had cancelled due to them also trying to finish up the hay they had down..... and I came back and did more raking here so put in about 7 hours total Friday... BUT... he asked if we could do Sat morning to get it done... I said okay... but I was pretty tired and bleary eyed at 3 a.m. when I got up to go up there... He wanted to start by 4:30 so that was fine... no set up so just walked in to test... BUT of course after it was all said and done... computer problems... won't let me do the close out due to some "animal errors" and normally I could figure them out and erase and reenter stuff... but this totally makes no sense... I go to call computer support... and the farmer said, will they answer today? and then I said oh sh!t... it's Saturday..... . So I will have to go back there Monday afternoon, get them on the team viewer on the computer, and see if they can figure it out because I have not encountered this before... I will go there on the way to the herd that is rescheduled from the cancellation last week, due to their feed cart/wagon breaking down...
It's like playing musical chairs all the time lately.

In between, after testing Sat morning, going by and dropping off the reports at the farm I did as a favor (now to be my herd) the other day , I got a call from DS... they had the parts at the John Deere place, where was I testing and I told him and he asked if I could swing by and get them... had all but one seal... and our friend here at the local little parts store was trying to find a corresponding number on that seal... so I said, I would go by and get the parts ad JD... and he called and they had the seal at the other parts warehouse, so I swung by there and got it "for our parts store" and came on home. Then that is when I got on the tractor and went to rake the last field. It was about 10 a.m. Deb called and asked about using the riding mower... hers is in the shop waiting on a specially molded hydraulic hose, she managed to get the mowing done when she got here and DS took the tractor mower for her on the trailer to the place last Tues.... and I told her she was welcome to use mine if she wanted and hers wasn't back... So after I got done with the raking, she was here at the house... I had told her about the scrub bush that was crowding out the poor dogwood tree, and she had said she would be glad to come over with her chain saw (battery powered dewalt one) and cut it if I wanted. She has been offering to help "do stuff", that I decided that it was only decent to let her... I think sometimes she gets tired of being just at her place... so we go out and eat and such... so she was here and got it cleaned up really nice... hopefully the tree will put out a few more branches and leaves on the one side that was being "choked" by the scrub shrub and vine... So, showed her about the mower, she drove it down to her house and I followed with the car so no one ran into her... then DS called about losing part of the pto shaft that is on the baler and it was in a certain area... we went and looked for it but could not see it... then had to go "steal" one off our other baler and bring it back... and he was working on the baling and I dropped her at her house so she could mow. I went out and soaked all the plants... they were looking pretty bad since it had been so hot and I hadn't gotten them watered.... and I was really not feeling all that great after the raking after testing early...
The nurse cow pasture that we baled that section that has the electric fence, they were having a 75th b'day party and so I asked Deb as their neighbor (they share a fence that the trees fall over from both sides) if she wanted to go with me... of course DS said 6 and turns out they ate at 5 but we did get some food... anyway, I said I would be at her house at 6... she had just gotten done mowing... so that was good. We went over for a bit, introduced her to some other people from the area... she and her husband had been over there several years ago and she knew the the husband better since she sees him when they have a tree down... but anyway... we left and she said it was till light did I want her to bring the mower so that worked ... she brought the mower, I followed... her car was still at my house and she went home. I went back to the field to see if I could find the part of the pto shaft... sometimes looking for something with the light different... no glaring sun etc... and I did find it... so that was another plus...
Came home from finding the shaft, got the mower in the carport in the back and put the tarp over it to keep it dry, brought the batteries in to get recharged... locked the hen in and got a shower and fell into bed.
So, hay got baled up this morning... all good. DS came by and got the shaft piece and will see about getting it welded back... it broke off and I think he said that it had been cracked....so hopefully it can be fixed to use again... I was going to go out to maybe try to do something in the garden but it was starting to sprinkle enough to get you wet. If it stops like the radar is showing for a bit in the middle of the day... maybe I will be able to go out and get started planting something in the garden. If I can go dig out the sledge hammer, I might try to get the cattle panel up and get the tomatoes in so they can have a chance to get "watered in"... but maybe just to get some green beans in a row or 2... Potatoes will be a marathon thing...in the next week or so.

Deb just called and is staying this evening and going back early tomorrow so wants to eat bratwurst... I have some canned saurkraut... so that is good... She won't be out next weekend so trying to get a few other things done she wants...

It's cool enough I am in a long sleeved t-shirt this morning... back down to 60 with the showers. Deck is wet. Good for the plants to get soft rain.

Guess I need to get some dishes done up and then see if it stops out there... Ate a big cheese omelet this morning so won't eat again until supper this evening...

Nose, cheeks, and chin are rather red and lips are very sore... sunburnt... at least the arms don't feel like they are on fire today. Really feel like curling up with a book but too much to get caught up on. Oh well... showers stopped, garden here I come... didn't get much more than enough to get road a little wet... Radar shows more later... that's all good...

 

[farmerjan]

In for a few minutes as it was HOT out there... After the threat and little bit of rain that did not even cover the bottom of the rain gauge, it went to just mostly cloudy. I was comfortable in a long sleeve t-shirt at 60 or so. Went out and put in 2 very short rows of some corn that I picked up for $.10 each... they had gotten wet here from some onion sets I had that were in the bag waiting to get planted and got smushy... so the couple packages got wet... and corn was starting to sprout. So, got them in... like 25 seeds to a package... put in 2 short rows of some top crop green beans... like 5 ft long... 2 together usually will pollinate better than one long one.
Replanted the one lone dill plant I dug before they plowed... and then had some sunflower seed packages that also got wet so went through and put in those seeds, along the one shorter side. Sadly, there were mole/vole tunnels that I kept stepping on so don't know how many of the seeds will come up...
The sun came out... where was that in the forecast...???? and it shot up to 75 degrees and I was dying in the long sleeve t-shirt. Blue sky to the east and just as hot as on the tractor yesterday.... Just came back in to get a short sleeve shirt... and get a cool drink on my very sore lips. Keeping them plastered with lip balm so they will stay soft and not crack.
Going to go back out for another half hour and see what else I can get going. Got my long "string" out to lay out a row straight across the garden... OOPS... my couple of short rows were not very straight.... angled away from the straight across the garden one... Oh well, will put in some odd stuff in the somewhat pie shaped section. I have to find the v-hoe to make the furrows for the potatoes and then I cover them with a little soil and then MULCH thickly so don't need to dig to china to harvest them...
Need to get the electric netting up too so the hen stays out of the garden.... Got to try to find her some company too....

 

[farmerjan]

Home, in and done for the night. Went back out and got some lettuce seed spread over a small square area over near the pine tree side. It gets some shade from mid day on so ought to be a little cooler for it, since it is a "cool weather" type plant. Also took some old packages of dill seed and heavily seeded 2 short rows of 3-5 ft I guess... Will see what comes up if any... it is really old seed. I will transplant if there are many plants that come up. Also got all the pepper plants in... about 20-25 I guess... That was a plus... I haven't gotten the cattle panels up yet so that is next for the tomato plants to get put in.
I also put in a short row of some summer squash seeds that were old and some butternut squash seeds that are also old. They should be up within a week as the soil is warmed up quite a bit...

There are about 10 small spindly purple asparagus plants that have come up... not as many as I had hoped, but the crowns were getting dried out. Going to go back by the nursery on Tuesday, and see if they turn the unsold packages back to the company, and if not, will they sell them to me cheap... but at least there are a few to plant. I think that I will work this soil up more and maybe plant them this fall after they have died back.... have to look up as to the best time to plant them. Usually crowns are available here only in the spring, so I will have to check it out. The other ones are developing good, lots of feathering of the tops and even some with some of the yellowish pods that develop into the red berries.

I need to make up my "master garden plot" on paper, so I know what is where until it comes up.... and to know what potatoes are planted where. I am not going to cut potatoes since there are way more than I need to plant as it is... but I am going to try to plant them in rows and keep track of them again...see what yields are this year... And have named varieties to sell so more public appeal... going to see about that closeby little farmers market for a couple fall sales since I never got around to it this past year.

Had supper at Deb's and it was good... talked about what I am still considering doing in the kitchen about the sink I hate, and such. Then came home, locked hen in and I am done.
Meters and hoses are in the car for testing tomorrow eve, just have to get the bottles in a tray. And pack Sat's samples to go out on the way to test in the afternoon. Got a couple of errands to run, including stopping at that farm to get the computer stuff figured out and uploaded... so will be leaving early for the herd.
Maybe I can plant a little in the morning if it doesn't rain too much tonight. Right now it is a very light gentle rain out there... PERFECT for watering what I did manage to get planted, and to settle in the plants I got in the ground. Looks like this week is going to be pretty good overall for the garden.

 

[Mini Horses]

I need to get CPs up, too. But plants are in & settled. Maybe tomorrow morn. Posts & panels just waiting for me to do. We're supposed to get light rains each day for next 4 days -- 1/4" type thing, late day. Perfect for newly seeded.

 

[farmerjan]

Up to a partly cloudy sky out there... Saw a little blue in the sky but now cloudy again. Going to be like that most of the day and then chances of afternoon/eve showers increase. Like @Mini Horses said, perfect for the plants.
Plan to see about getting the CP's up for the tomatoes at least... they are down in the tall grass where I had dragged them off the garden early this year before brush burning and all... think I will take the weed eater out and whack the grass down to get them up. Have not gone out to see where in the shed I put the sledge hammer yet. Plus get the electric netting started around the garden too.
Going to probably just include the dogwood tree within the fence since it would be a big zig zag to go around it with the tilled section that I am going to make into the eventual asparagus bed. The dogwood is not going to get moved but the other shrub that is maybe a crepe myrtle or a rose-a-sharon is going to get moved this fall/winter... eventually the asparagus bed will not be fenced once it gets well established...won't hurt if the chickens scratch in it some, but it could be fenced off pretty easily if needed. I will mulch it though.

Got to get the sample bottles for this afternoon's herd, get the others packed. Go by the herd from Sat morning to get the computer stuff straightened out. Figure I am going to leave about noon or so, and have time to do the errands and not rush and get to the farm around 4 or so to set up. They said they want to start milking at 5... we'll see.... not the most "prompt" of my farms. They are still milking around 80... the last guy that was supposed to come look at them, after all the testing for the A2A2 milk and all, never followed through... they were not pleased... They were talking selling 40+ so it is really stretching them to milk this many... usually milk 50-60.....

Need to take another bale of hay up to the calves as I am weaning them now. They are eating grain good and time to quit with the bottles.

Tomorrow looks to not be quite as much chance of showers, then 70% chance on Wed... Would be nice to get more in the garden to get "watered in"...

Lips are sore and have peeled some from the sunburn on them. Keep slathering on the lip balm so they don't hurt so much. I will be soooooo glad to be done with the antibiotics so that the sun isn't such a problem with haying. Don't know how long they will keep me on them after the extraction.

Couple more ticks... 22 so far off the cats, me, and just found crawling... found 2 in the bathroom sink area...different days..... just read an article how they are more and more prevalent....talked to a friend that has a pest control co and they said that spraying is not as effective as some think, and the best thing is just using pyrethrins as a deterrent... and as long as you get them off within 12 hours of attachment the chance of getting even Lyme disease (most common of the diseases you can get from them) is less than 1/10th percent... so real real low.... yes, my son got Lyme disease and has had recurring bouts of it... so it is real and terrible... my mom had it in CT/NH where they lived.... so, just deal with them. Plus, they like taller weeds/grasses etc... along the edges of the woods... so naturally I am more likely to be exposed with the cattle and animals in general...
One thing, they seldom go on wooled sheep... the lanolin makes the skin less inviting... funny as you would think the thicker wool would make hiding on them and attaching more likely. Thought that was interesting... not saying they never do... we found that one on the bull when doing the BSE.... will find them around the eyes or ears on cows once in awhile but they don't get them much... yet the cats and dogs get them alot and of course some of us seem to be tick magnets...

Sun peeked out and gone again. Might be nice for awhile so I'm headed out to see what I can get done in the garden... grass is wet from the showers. Have to check the rain gauge. Don't think we got alot though.

 

[SageHill]

I was chatting with someone out here and she mentioned it was a bad year for ticks. I'd agree with finding ONE on Obi -- but for us here where we're at ONE is a lot - but we're up high and not many trees. The gal I was talking with is at a lower elevation and has a lot of trees and over growth. HATE TICKS (but then who doesn't).

 

[Baymule]

I hate ticks too. For this place previously being part of a cattle ranch, I never find ticks. I do hate those things!