Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

Wherevhas this year gone?! Seems like you were just saying you were glad haying was over for 2024!

 

[farmerjan]

Tuesday night... heading to bed. Got up, got the turkeys moved out... hutch has sun on it in the morning so quite warm Opened the top vent so they did not get "cooked"...

Got bottles in the car, all the extra meters and hoses were loaded.
Left at 10:30 and went to Sharp Shopper since it was tuesday, to get bread and as usual checked for the New England brand iced coffee... they haven't had it in the Mocha flavor I like so much... nor the International delight kind either lately... So got bread, Provolone was their "cheese of the week" so got a couple packages of sliced... and by then it was getting on time. Went to the farm,. and got meters all carried in and they came by and helped get them set up as they always do.... Milking was 2 1/2 hrs... 195 cows.... went good.
Then I went to the house and did the computer work and got out of there before 7 which is real good.

I also talked to the farmer... he used a hereford bull on a group of cows that needed to get bred/caught up...... and had told me last time that he wanted me to take the heifer calves to raise for beef cows... they were too nice to just sell... and we could get things figured out to pay for the dairy heifers I took there back in late 2019, for when I had my ankle replaced.(2/2020).. I knew I wasn't going to be able to milk them like I had been planning... doing some milk shares and bottle feeding calves... back when I had first "retired" from full time work.... soooo anyway... we had talked a couple of times on sitting down and working out something on them since it was obvious that I wasn't going to bring them back after being on the dairy for a couple years... remember I had both knees replaced in 10/2021...20 months or so later.... so was pretty much unable to do alot for a several years. At that point, it just seemed that it was best they would stay there... They lost the one older cow that went there... which was not a big shock as she was getting some age.... then had to sell one of the heifers because she just started losing weight and not milking and the vet didn't know what was wrong and I said to ship her... and got paid for her and some bull calves they sold...the first year... but they were paying for all the expenses, semen to breed them,. vet work and all... and we both kept saying we needed to work something out but just never happened... I was not real upset about it... they aren't the kind to "screw me over"...

Of course, cattle are worth alot more now... but still what is fair is fair, and I did not want to take advantage of the increase in value now.....and so he thought that my getting some of these crossbred heifers would be a good deal... I was figuring 4-5 maybe that they had... and we could figure out if either of us owed the other...
BUT..... he said that there are maybe 10, heifers out there... all weaned off... maybe 350 lbs.... . They are over 4 months old.....I am SURE I will owe him some money...which is fine.... but like WOW..... plus he has gotten a few heifer calves out of a couple of my animals from AI breeding; I think there are 2 about ready to calve to come into the milking string... there is one in there now that is doing okay...none of these crossbreds are out of my cows.... which is fine....
Whatever I get out of this is going to be a good deal in my book... Much as I would have liked to gotten mine back, the following year, with the knees getting done there was another year plus gone by... and now... I could not afford to buy baby calves at $500-1,000 /head... to raise on them or on bottles... plus the milking logistics...

So the tentative plan is to get them next wed.... we are going to take those couple of open cows with no calves to the sale for "cull cows" and stay for the bred cow sale... so I am going to tell DS that we need to go a couple hours earlier... drop the cull cows and get them weighed in, then go to the farm and get the heifers... then come back to the sale and watch the bred cows... Won't be as much room for bought cows.. but if we don't buy any/ many.... it won't be a big deal. This farm is about 20-30 minutes north of the sale, so makes sense to get them, then , while in that area......... plus since they are weaned he would like to get them moved out real soon... Going to bring it up with DS tomorrow at the 500 cow herd testing.. not going to tell him how many there are ( I am not sure "exactly")... I had mentioned it back a couple months ago that farmer wanted me to get some of the hereford/hol heifers as part of the payment deal on my cows that were there, he said they were real nice chunky calves and were doing real good then....... I said I thought there were 4 or 5... which I did...so I will leave it at that... This will give me some room to "cull some" for disposition and such... granted it will be 2 years before they actually calve... but they can get bred NEXT June for calves in spring of 2026... they will be about 2yrs plus a little...when due to calve so just right......
Really increase my cow numbers in a hurry...
DS had texted me to please pick up a belt for the baler, they were going to leave it out since they would be closed... so I stopped and got that... then dropped it at the barn... and the guy came by to say he hoped to be pounding posts on Thursday... so MY PROPERTY perimeter will get posts at least... plus the posts across the road at the pasture with the "corner" piece and down the fence line that was cleared out...

DS got the rake all "gone over" , greased etc... and raked some of the orchard grass today... wants me to rake the wheat early while there is still some dew on it so the heads don't shatter too much, then rake the other piece of orchard grass and the 4 acre piece of "plain grass" also... at least get all the wheat done. He said that he is going to bale what he raked as it is dry... he has to put the belt on the baler... was greasing it and doing maintainance on it this evening... Guess I will get up and go down there pretty early.. plus once the sun comes up it gets hotter out there... and tomorrow is supposed to be hotter than today...
Was 50 overnight... hit 82 on the recording thermometer... It was sunny and light breeze today. Nice day.

My long extension cord has gone bad... it is the kind that had a light in the plug, so you can look at it and know that it is working.... I did not put the heat lamp out on the turkeys during the day... but would not work this evening... I was P.O.ed... got another that was not quite long enough... had another shorter heavy duty one for christmas lights... so together they reached to the calf hutch. Got it situated... but will get another long one. Might see if DS can cut off the plugs and put new ones on it... maybe I can do that... It was given to me years ago so not like it is the end of the world. Luckily it is not due to rain, so will get a "good one" for outdoor use, so the plugs are not out in the rain, with the 2, that I have put together, for now..... Can always use a good extension cord... and I really liked the little light at the female plug end... so when it was plugged into the socket, and you had it stretched out... you could look and see if it was working... They had the light/heat bulb, so looked fine... they had huddled into a corner somewhat... but not piled up ... still they need some heat for another couple weeks at night at least. They are feathering pretty quick. Laughed at them constantly stretching out their wings...
Will get the box and all cleaned up out of the house in the next day or so...

Past time to go to bed... Need to get these samples packed so we can swing by and drop off at UPS on the way through town to go to test tomorrow... a couple miles "detour" into town and then north.. kinda like the "bypass" roads around the town... we will "bypass" into town...

 

[Mini Horses]

Wow -- all heifers! Sounds like a good foundation group. I like a good chunky Hereford . I know, I know, in your part of the world black sells. But I've always liked a Hereford. Charlois, too. Old style basic beef breeds. So, I'll need a picture of these new girls oh, the turkeys, too....before thanksgiving

The traditional white bod/brown head Boer was always a better price at sales, too. Meat indicator.

 

[SageHill]

Love it! Good people good deals.

 

[Baymule]

Wow! Thats a great deal on those heifers! Things worked out real good on that deal.

 

[farmerjan]

The heifers are from his holsteins, he used a hereford bull to get some settled that they weren't catching heats on. He sold all the bull calves. Don't think any of them are out of my original cows.

I am pretty sure they are all black and white... , but breeding them to a black angus will continue to give all black white faced calves.. We'll see what they look like, how they grow... culling decisions will get made down the road if any do not do what I want or have any issues. It will be June 2026 before they would get bred anyway.... Long time between now and then.

So, It is Thursday night... It was 63 overnight and hit 86 today... hazy sun with continued smoke from the wildfires in Canada still affecting us.

I did go and test the 500+ cow herd yesterday afternoon/evening with DS.

He had mowed about 35 acres of wheat and hay, and had raked about 8-10 acres of the most recently planted orchard grass, on Tuesday. I went yesterday ... Wed.... and raked the wheat and then did the other section of just mixed grass on the one side of the fields against the woods... it is a little hilly so we don't put it into crop rotation... just leave it in a grass section.. about 4 acres.. It makes decent mixed grass hay... Put in about 4 1/2 hours plus helped him get a new belt into the baler and all that took about 1 1/2 hours. I went there at 7:30 since he said the wheat would be better if I could get it while there was some dew and the heads might not shatter and spread the wheat seed that was pretty developed. But I had some trouble with the 4600 Ford tractor... it was sputtering and missing some. I thought it was getting low on fuel and went back to the barn... DS was there loading up the JD tractor to get the exhaust pipe fixed... and so he heard the tractor and we wound up having to take the turn off valve off the bottom of the tractor.. what a mess... because it seems that with all this extra low sulfur diesel fuel, it causes some algae to grow, and it gets into the valves and filters. Can you believe that there is an algae that grows in diesel fuel??? Anyway, he had changed the filter and all, but this valve is between the tank and the filter... and there was some in the valve... so we got that cleaned out and then got all sorts of diesel fuel on us trying to get it back on...he had had his thumb stuck under the fuel tank in the "hole" for this filter... tank was half full... I hadn't put any more in it yet....then had to bleed the line... to get it to start..

I started about 7:30 and raked for an hour when it started to act up.....So I got back out in the field about 10 or so and raked it all and was done about 1:30.... at least it ran pretty good for the rest of the time I raked.

Then I came home, made some sandwiches, got things in the explorer and picked him up at the barn at 3-3:10. We went to the farm, set up their samplers, and they milked from about 4:15 to 9;30 or so. Did the computer work and got home about 11. Long day. I was tired.

Had a tremendous back ache again this morning... and got all the samples packed and chickens and all done... took them to UPS late this afternoon... and went to the nurse cow pasture... several of the calves were in and went to eating some at the bunk in the barn... Want to try to get some of the smaller calves caught and then get their momma's in, so he can move them to another pasture with a the bull... they will be out of the way then, when he brings home the bred heifers the end of July, to start calving here in August. The bull in with the ones here getting bred, will get pulled out the same time frame... as these will all have had at least 60 days to get bred. They will get checked when we move them out, and they will go somewhere for late summer/fall pasture, out of the way. Because we will be bringing back all the cows that are due for fall calving to have close here to watch.

Anyway... chiropractor appt got cancelled for tomorrow... and the guys came today and were driving posts and will be coming back tomorrow... so I will be right here as they did not do some of what they were supposed to the way I wanted it done... and DS paid no attention to what I had said back a couple weeks ago... he told them to put in a 14 ft gateway.... and all wood posts along the paved road and partway down the dirt road part til they quit... and it was supposed to be wood posts every 16 ft, so I could put in T-posts inbetween... less expensive plus not like there is going to be any "pressure" from big livestock pushing against the posts...
And the thing that totally set me off, is they broke off one of the 3 peach trees that were there...(one died last year) this one that was dead on one side.. totally broke it off at the ground level... the dead one I didn't care about... but if they had done wood/space for T-post/ wood post as I had said.... they would not have been in that spot to need to drive the tractor and driver in there... I was planning on trying to cut off the one side as it was split into 2 "main branches" near the ground... and see if I could salvage it... It had a bunch of medium egg sized peaches on it too... at least they didn't hurt/damage the one "full" peach tree..... but I am pretty bent out of shape. It was one of the 3 we moved from where I used to live... that I raised from peach pits... The one did not have a good root system when we moved it and it died last year, but the other 2 were pretty good shape... they need pruning. So the 2nd one, one side of it did not get any flowers or leaves so one side died off, but I planned to prune the dead side off and prune the other one back this fall. And since getting the rest that he cusses in the field, that he said he wanted to cut off or move.... are never important enough to get moved here...

Thank goodness all the rest of the fruits and berries are in pots for now...

So, tomorrow, I will tell them where I want what... and at least get that much done the way I want... I also will not have them go put in posts along the garden where the big pines are... because I am nurturing 2 holly trees there and I am not taking the chance they run them over now... they can get the posts in for the other gates in the spots I want them... and they will be 16 ft spaces... and start at the end of where the pines are along the garden and go from there towards the dirt road. There will maybe be 2 wood posts to be put in there... and I could just do T-Posts along there... the end and brace posts will be put in and the post for the gate to hang on ....

Past time to go to bed...

 

[fuzzi]

One of the reasons I don't hire help unless I can be there to supervise is THEY DON'T LISTEN. The guy with the chain saw that I hired to cut down trees cut down all my blueberry bushes. That was about 4 years ago.

 

[farmerjan]

One of the reasons I don't hire help unless I can be there to supervise is THEY DON'T LISTEN. The guy with the chain saw that I hired to cut down trees cut down all my blueberry bushes. That was about 4 years ago.

Problem with this is that DS told them to put in a 14 ft gate, when we had discussed it and I said 16 ft gates... and when DS said 12 ft on center for the wood posts, I said why can't you do 16 ft and then put a T-post in the middle, it would be less work and less expensive and that I was not containing big cattle and stuff in here... and he said okay. There is no excuse for the peach tree getting broken off at the ground like it was. Might not have been a "good tree" but it was producing some peaches. DS just doesn't listen when I want something done but he can sure do what she wants done. We are back to that...on top of him not remembering things like he used to....but he will make sure things get done the way he wants them done....or what she wants done..... and she is being so helpful around the farm that he just caters more now. She has been riding the 4 wheeler and spraying thistles... except it is easier if he drives and she only has to use the sprayer... one reason I don't do it, my shoulder cannot handle manhandling it and spraying. But, I am just so aggravated right now.

Going out to make sure some of the electric netting is out of the way for them to come back to do down the side where the christmas tree property borders mine... Won't let them go all the way up along the big pine trees where I want it because I refuse to let them damage the 2 holly trees that are hard to manuever around and there is some brush. I get them to get the couple posts in at the line where I want a gate to go through there... brace posts and then they can just skip that section... I can use T-posts down through there... They were supposed to do the posts during the winter when it was easier to get in and see things... I am just so P.O. right now.

 

[farmerjan]

Hit 89 on the recording thermometer, ALREADY, and it is not in the sun yet.
Heavy dew to start, it will dry off as soon as the sun hits it. Took water and feed out to the turkeys... one narragansett missing.. took some scraps to the chicken pen. Then as I walk towards the shed, I keep hearing some birds and what sounds like peeping... walked all around and finally see movement in the tall grass around behind the chicken run... there it is... had to catch it and put it back in the calf hutch... there is about a foot clearance from the top of the window in front of the calf hutch doorway... they are flying up on top of it already. Mostly they sit there for a minute, turn around and fly back in the hutch... Not this one. I think it is the same one that kept flying out of the box in the house.

So, I will weed eat down some of the tall grass inside the 2nd pen we put together the other day... have to do a few screws on the top... guess I will try to reach them off the step ladder. DS is too busy with his father's situation... and then her on top of it... not going to ask when he hasn't got the time for things. Need to get the other one put together too...
The big buff Leghorn rooster is chasing the smaller black Langshan rooster all of a sudden.... time for them to have their own pen and the turkeys to be in a closed in pen they can't fly out of. With nights in the 60's and them having mostly feathered in, guess I can get away with them not having the heat lamp. They were not huddled last night when I finally turned it on after coming home from the nurse cow pasture and dropping off a couple of the buckets that belonged at the farm... they were in the back of the truck... probably from a couple weeks ago when the cows had gotten out...it was about dark when I went out there and they were all along one side of the hutch but not huddled, just in a strung out group. So I assume they are okay without the extra heat now.

Was going to weed eat along the electric netting that I haven't gotten all taken down yet, but it is in the sun and not going to get overheated. I am not sure if they are coming back to do more posts today or not... originally DS had said they were coming Thursday and then next Tues to finish. This guy has other things he does and this fencing is very sporadic with him.... more so lately it seems. I did talk to the neighbor that has the christmas trees, who owned this house, to see if it would be okay to drive on the grass on his side to put in these posts... so won't have to get into the netting along the garden and up in the corner where I need the posts for the gate and the brace posts... he said it was not a problem. They just mowed it Tuesday, and they are out of town... just to make sure it is not too wet through there. Told him that there were 2 holly trees there that I didn't want them to break, that I was hoping they (neighbors) could maybe move to their place... the holly tree here is like 50-75 ft tall that her parents planted.. and they had tried to move one a couple years ago but it died... she would like to have one I know at her house... so I have been watching these 2 and think that they might be able to move one maybe in the late winter while dormant... and if they take down these tall pines (couple are dead) these 2 holly trees would be able to grow more if left here..... Might try to move another fairly small one into a big pot, and see if I can get it to grow in the pot for them... then, they could plant that one instead... I know it is sentimental to have one at their house since I have her parents house now.

Need to get some of the meters out of the car that I only use at the farm I was at the other day... they use 24 and I only use 16 max at other farms... don't need them all in the car....plus on several, the valve at the bottom turns hard so I only use them here at this farm when I have to... and get things ready for testing this afternoon late. Already have the bottles in the rack...

Guess I will go out and do that now.

 

[SageHill]

OUCH 89 and no sun yet? Going to be a scorcher for you. Cool and even drizzling here too wet to weed whack for me.