Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Baymule]

Cow splatter in your hair…… must be a good conditioner, your hair is very thick.

Hair fertilizer anybody?

 

[farmerjan]

Cow splatter in your hair…… must be a good conditioner, your hair is very thick.

Hair fertilizer anybody?

Yeah, we top dress fertilizer on occasion.....

 

[farmerjan]

Down to 57 last night. Fog early, some cloudiness... supposed to be a little sunny then rain coming back in after 1-2 pm.

Got to get bottles in racks... DS wants some help at barn at 10:30... said I could give him an hour. Have a dr appt at 12:45.... think it might be an inner ear infection or something... not really bothering me, but balance has been off... and it feels like when you get water in your ear after swimming.... when I swallow, you know how you try to even the air pressure sometimes in higher elevations, or scrunch my eyes I hear a "crackling type noise" in the right ear... Went by the emergecare place on the way home from farm yesterday, but they only had 1 dr in there and had a 2 hr wait... set up appt for today on the way to test so not to waste a trip in to town at 9( had an opening, appt) then home to go back through town later...... have to be at farm at 3:30... so plenty of time even if I have to wait a bit...

So DS texted to see if I could help some at 10:30 and I told him I could give him an hour so I can come home to get cleaned up... I will make up a list of the cows that were preg... split into groups of # months bred... so he can move them where he wants with their calves for 2-3 months... or sell the older calves after we preg ck the other group next week and see how many he has. Personally, I would take the 5-6 with smaller calves, put them out for a couple months, put the ones with the bigger calves in the back field where the heifers used to be that are out on pasture... hold them for another week until we preg ck the last group next Monday... they will go in the field/lot where these are now... then make some decisions based on who is how far etc... how big the calves are... how many of steers and hfrs... and what the current market prices are... so I guess splitting this group into 2 bunches for now...

Sun is up over the trees, already near 70... eating a couple of english muffins... don't hardly ever get any, but these are "Thomas' " and are "buttermilk"... they are a little softer and pretty good. I treated myself to a pkg of them the other day to try.

Boxes in the house to put bottles in trays... have to load the long hoses for set up for the farm for tomorrow morning. Got clean barn clothes out to change into to go to dr then to test after I get donw at our barn in a little bit. Time to get at it...

 

[fuzzi]

Hope the doctor's visit is productive.

 

[farmerjan]

Allergies "adding" to some fluid in eustachian tube not draining properly...some swelling.. flonase for nose/tube swelling... some thing for the dizziness, and for "off balance"..... but it can cause drowsiness... 3x day... but can't drive... well, that isn't going to happen....I never said I was dizzy....just had some balance issues.... liked the lady NP but.... we'll see if I can take a pill at night and if it helps during the day (carryover effect).... could also have been triggered by the fall... anything traumatic... and I did hit the side of my nose and face and all when I fell Tues in the lot with the cows...told her I had fallen twice in the last couple weeks.... after that face plant when I fell into the boards on the trailer working on the chicken pen....

Not life and death... got to test in the morning... then might see what effect the pills have... cannot afford to oversleep so not starting anything tonight.

At least there is a reason for the "unsteadiness" I sometimes feel this past week or so... and the allergies triggering more response with the running/dripping nose etc... ...

 

[fuzzi]

Allergies "adding" to some fluid in eustachian tube not draining properly...some swelling.. flonase for nose/tube swelling... some thing for the dizziness, and for "off balance"..... but it can cause drowsiness... 3x day... but can't drive... well, that isn't going to happen....I never said I was dizzy....just had some balance issues.... liked the lady NP but.... we'll see if I can take a pill at night and if it helps during the day (carryover effect).... could also have been triggered by the fall... anything traumatic... and I did hit the side of my nose and face and all when I fell Tues in the lot with the cows...told her I had fallen twice in the last couple weeks.... after that face plant wehn I fell into the boards on the trailer working on the chicken pen....

Not life and death... got to test in the morning... then might see what effect the pills have... cannot afford to oversleep so not starting anything tonight.

At least there is a reason for the "unsteadiness" I sometimes feel this past week or so... and the allergies triggering more response with the running/dripping nose etc... ...

I use the spray Flonase when my allergies get bad, it's the only antihistamine that works for me. And it doesn't make me sleepy.

 

[Ridgetop]

and these knees do not catch me I am finding out....

Same here if I get off balance

Arnica gel, even now. It's one of those things that I always have on hand once I found out how good it worked.

Used it on some bad bruises and it helped

Yes, they lose the ear tags.... catch them on something and can tear them out. Sometimes tear the ear, sometimes just breaks the back off or the back(button) stays in and the front of the eartag breaks.... The plastic sometimes get brittle and they break... We regularly retag cows ... one reason why we put 2 tags in ... so if they lose one, they still have another...

We put in a flock tag and a scrapie tag - one on each ear. When one gets lost we can cross check using the number on the other one.

all the western states have brand laws, cattle must have brand inspections once traveling across state lines

In California you have to fIll out a Transport Slip when transporting cattle or bringng them to the auction. You need to have transport slips from birth in order to move cattle. Before we left CA the auctions wanted transport slips for the sheep too. The Brand Inspector is at the auctions to check Transport Slips and Proof of Purchase.

 

[farmerjan]

46 CHILLY degrees to start this Sunday morning.. REALLY???? Sun is mostly out but we are being affected by the smoke from fires in Manitoba CANADA...unhealthy air quality for those that are sensitive...

Testing went okay, it was a rough morning, getting up at 2:15 to get dressed and leave and be there by 3:30... Do NOT miss all those early mornings.
Came home about 6a.m., and took one of the pills and a shot of the Flonase and went back to sleep for a bit...
But sleeping like that makes me lethargic all day... Oh well, nothing that I HAD to do...

I got up and feeling a little better this morning... Deb came out for the weekend, and called and we are going to get supper somewhere this eve when she leaves to go back. She had her MRI and it is not showing anything specific... not good for her to figure out what is going on with the sudden onset of the speech impediment and the pain/weakness in the arm... I still question a possible mini-stroke... they scheduled her with another dr but not until JULY.... and want her to do speech therapy...

Wanted to move these turkeys out to a bigger area with a heat lamp on them but these COLD night time temps just aren't good for that. Was going to put them in a calf hutch, with the heat lamp and give them room and all....stuff to pick at and all. One keeps flying up and out of the box...

1st day of June already.... WOW....

DS is mowing hay... going to put about 25-30 acres of the orchard grass hay and the wheat on the ground out behind doug's farm. The wheat ground will go into corn here in a couple weeks... the orchard grass will naturally grow back for more hay.
The weather is supposed to be nice, mostly sun, some breeze, right through Thurs... with possible showers coming in on Friday afternoon... So it should have some good drying days although the ground is a bit wet still. Temps are supposed to get up into the 80's by Wed-Thurs... so that will help.

He got the cows down in the pasture next to the alley so getting the cows in there shouldn't be a problem. He said to go to dinner with Deb and he can move them later... and might not need any help at all... They might just follow him with a bucket into the alley... it is several hundred feet long and quite wide so there is grass for them to go in to eat also... and then it is just close the gates, put the car/truck across one side, and across the driveway... into the shorter alley to the barn for the night.

Feel rather eh today... I don't do alot of these medicines very well... won't take a pill til tonight for the balance... feel okay now...
Will get the samples packed to go out tomorrow, sometime today so they are ready......

 

[farmerjan]

Monday evening.. Overall a pretty good day.

Chilly start again... 46, but it got up to 80 in the sun... 76 as soon as the tree leaves shielded the thermometer from the sun. Light breeze so pretty decent day.

DS came to the barn around 9:45... called and all but 2 cows came in the barn... locked the others in, and went down in the lot with the 4 wheeler and I was down in there along one side, and got them to come up and in the gate... when they saw me and he was hazing them up the hill, they decided that they couldn't go around him and take off back down the hill. So, we got them in... sorted off the calves to one side and the cows in the other side... then sorted the biggest calves off... then put the smaller ones into one pen off to the side...and took out the 4 older bigger heifers... and put them in the pen to go through the preg check... DS was concerned that they might have come in heat and be preg... also had 3 bull calves that had been left as bulls that we needed to work through... so got the 3 done and out with the bigger steer calves...
The 4 heifers were all open which was good... Then we ran the cows through... and there were several cows that had been moved into that field that he had never told me about... I had 26 listed and there were 35... so a whole bunch he had moved back there last fall after they calved and I did not have recorded...
All were preg but 2.... one is very old... and the other was a problem breeder. There were 3 heifers that did not get pregnant and he put them back with the bull last year and they got bred.... 2 are bred back but this one is open... again... DS is mad because he keeps saying she has her whole life ahead of her and we have a couple of other OLD cows that are pregnant...I said she should get sold... he is not happy so I finally said, you do what you want, she's your "heifer"... (young cow actually).... If she was mine, she would be gone as soon as her calf gets sold... but, he can do whatever...
The old cow and her calf went to pasture with the other 3 old cows and calves and the one steer that just isn't much... there are no bulls near that pasture so they will get the summer to eat and all, and when grass gets short, they will all get on the truck and get sold.

So, he kept the biggest steers and their momma's at the barn, and is going to sell the steers right off the cows, not wean and background them like we usually do. They are worth too much money right now... and with the summer, if they were weaned now... they will not gain as good on grass unless they are grained... as they do on the silage and grain feeding in the barn in the winter... Silage is fed out, so time for them to go. He wants to take the 3 bull calves with the rest of the steers, so it will probably be 2 weeks... they will be "drying up" and we can cut the sacks off. There are some nice steers in this group... most of the calves on the cows in this bunch were steers.. 2/3 I guess... There are some smaller calves in this group... there was a group that were born early fall, then some that were late fall, but they are all nice calves. No real "dinks" or so-so calves. The heifers are pretty nice too.
So DS took the cows with the "smaller" calves to pasture... they are 3 1/2 to 5 months preg... so the cows will be on grass for another 2 months... 1st of Sept they will come back to the barn, calves weaned off, and the cows can have 2 months and then calve mid Oct and on... most are in the 4-5 month range...
The ones with the bigger steers, he will move somewhere after he pulls the steers to sell... they are all in the same time frame... most of them are 4-5 months bred...
All the cows got vacc for Lepto so hopefully no abortion problems popping up.

I only have 2 cows in this group since I have whittled down some over the last 2 years that were old... but that's okay... I have several heifers that are coming on as replacements. And I am going to watch and maybe pick up a couple "old cows"... with calves or confirmed preg... to "fill in the edges" when I can find a few deals.. I have one of the old cows out with their calves for the summer... she was supposed to be a one and done... but has had 3 calves for me since.... Not the greatest cow, but "okay"... now she is not getting around as good and her udder has broken down... time to go.... Should've bought a couple that went through the sale a couple weeks ago at the cow sale... but there is another cow sale at the other stockyard we frequent on wed the 11th of June... so DS said he might take the couple of open cows that don't have calves... 1 is mine... and go to the sale. They sell cull cows and baby calves on Wed at this stockyard... and have special sales for bred cows, the 2nd Wed, and a monthly dairy replacement the 4th wed... and special holstein feeder cattle the 3rd wed.... Then their regular sale is on Saturday's... They also have an "exotic sale" on the last Thursday of the month and it is ALWAYS packed... horses, "mini " breeds of cattle... odd stuff like longhorns, Brahmas, linebacks, seen some GYR cattle...exotic sheep like our Texas Dall sheep"... chickens and turkeys and such... some goats sometimes.. especially nigerians and "cute" ones....

Anyway, we will be going next Wed to the sale and see what is there... and take the couple of open cull cows that do not have calves...

So, after we got done with the vet and sorting/moving the ones around at the barn, I came on home... and DS moved cows/calves to pastures... and I took the samples down to UPS and went to the bank for him.... stopped at that Walmart as I wanted a couple more planters for some flowers.... wanted a few more of the plastic ones that look like cut off whiskey barrels but smaller size...

After I got home, I got all the rest of the needed meters in the car and all the hoses for tomorrow. Brought in the boxes of bottles to put in trays for tomorrow's testing. Got the reports for the Sat herd to drop off... all those things that need doing on the way.
Then I got things ready with the calf hutch.... so I can move them out there... might do it tomorrow for the day.... it is supposed to be pretty warm... I will be gone a good part of the day, but they are trying to fly out inside, so out there might be better for them... They have alot of feathers so I think they would be okay with a heat lamp in there... it is pretty big so wouldn't get too overheated..they can get "away" from the heat or stay under it.... it is not completey closed in or anything.. Going to use a used window to cover the doorway.. goes almost to the top so they won't be flying out of there... plus they would be able to have enough feed and water for the day since I can only use qt jars in the house and fill 2-3 times a day at least. And the temps are supposed to keep warming up the next few days...

Got another farm that needs to test this week, so Friday eve... Got to keep Wed until 2 and then Thursday to do more hay raking...DS will be baling to get it all up before the showers that they are saying will come in late Friday... It's always all or nothing...

So, I am going to get a shower, get the rest of the bottles in the trays/racks for tomorrow... and get some sleep.

 

[Baymule]

I hope the medicine is doing you some good. Too bad that it makes you dysfunctional. You have too much to do for you to sit around feeling worse for taking medicine that’s supposed to make you feel better.