Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mini Horses]

Whatever you have, it's being enhanced by the hay raking -- dust, seed, grass, allergies -- and I suspect it's got your sinuses in an inflamed condition. A mask while raking "might" help. So, a cold(?) plus sinusitis....headache for sure. Take cold & sinus meds, a HOT shower & go to bed!! Get some rest

 

[murphysranch]

Remember in the old days Moms put our heads over a simmer pot of water, with a towel over our heads? Maybe add some Vicks Vapor Rub in the water.

 

[drstratton]

Friday afternoon... I feel like crap... everytime I cough I hold my head because it hurts to cough... head is somewhat congested... runny nose... I have zero energy and strength...

DS called and needed a ride from his green barn to get his other truck. He was loading hay off a wagon at his barn, onto the truck and flat bed trailer, as he has to make a delivery in the next day or 2... he will add hay that he sq baled across the road.
Then he had an appt and asked me to meet a person that was going to get some of the hay across the road... I said I would, since they had never been to this field before... but I explained to her that with the cold I had, I could not help load the hay in her horse trailer... I have NO energy... she said that was fine...they usually come get the hay, DS doesn't deliver it to them... Then DS showed up after he got done with the appt and I left to go check the cows... Betsy is getting closer to calving... but nothing at 1 or so today. Hope she holds off a couple days since I have next to no energy to deal with getting her in and then going and getting another calf somewhere...

DS had to go to the local county fair, and "judge" the poultry showmanship stuff... so the afternoon was pretty much shot... I came home and have been doing basically nothing... headache and naturally the backache...
I am going to go out and get the laundry in, forgot about it after I put it out and have been doing some hay raking and the dr appts this week and all that. Figure that I could at least get it in the house.

I need to take more water out to the birds... only had 1 bucket the other day... the 2 waterers use 8 gal to fill them, between them....... so can add more... filled the feeders, they will need more maybe tomorrow...
The black langshan bantam hen is laying again after moulting.... lost one of the buff leghorn hens but she was the old one.. not terribly surprised by that...

Going to see if I can manage the laundry for now.

Give yourself some self care. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Baymule]

Sorry you are feeling so bad. You might have Covid. It’s still around and probably never going away. Add that to the seasonal flu misery.

 

[SageHill]

Hope you're feeling better soon.
Sounds so like the crud I had last month(?). The only thing that kicked it was coricidin and ivermectin.

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday morning... 59 overnight, sun is out across the road on the field we just baled. Supposed to be mostly sun today and tomorrow. THEN a CHANCE of some rain again... Tues-Wed...
PLEASE.....

Nice weather the past couple of days. I really felt it on Friday, with no energy and the coughing... but yesterday-Sat- was not bad.

I took a free covid test I had here, for sh!ts and giggles... NOPE... and that is the last time I am going to bother with that silliness since this is another typical type of bug that I get.
I am sure the dry dust and such on the tractor didn't help but these 24-48 hour bugs are pretty much what I get.

I didn't do much on Friday, and the coughing/head hurt was a pain. I was all congested Sat morning, but as soon as I got outside and moving, it cleared out. I wound up on the tractor raking the hay that he had cut... spent 5 hours on the tractor in the sun, out in the air. There wasn't as much dust... and I got all the rest that was down, raked and ready for him to bale. 5 different fields/sections in the subdivision here that once was another of the farms doug had and sold off. The biggest field had quite a bit of hay, the other places were not so much...

Betsy is getting close to calving... one other heifer is bagging up some, but the other 3 are probably a month behind. The one is an older, bigger heifer... mine, and she is a candidate to get sold if she stays "behind" ... the rest. Should have calved already with her age and all.... The other heifer is younger, smaller, and was shorter bred, and the one having her 2nd calf, will be about that time also. That's okay. If they calve by mid Oct they are still well within the time frame.
DS said there were 2 more calves at the farm yesterday... been splitting about half bulls and heifers so far. I have 5 and 5 at the nurse cow pasture... Be interesting to see if they wind up that way after starting with 3 bulls to 1 heifer.
DS said that there was a water problem at one pasture... the spring at the top of the hill went dry and the 2nd spring was just trickling. He had to get the well turned on and had something that needed fixing, but got it done and was filling the water troughs. There are only about 12-14 cows with calves there... it is split into 5 sections, but there is no lane so that have to be grazed in succession. He had to open gates to 3 sections so they could get water... but said he hopes it is fixed with the well filling the troughs now.

He just called... said there is water standing in a muddy spot at the pasture... SOOOO,, there is a leak, broken pipe, something... and putting the switch on the well pump and getting it pumping, pushed the water and with the super dry ground, it finally is getting the ground soaked and he now marked where the spot is... he is going to turn off the well again, troughs are full, for now...but they are the small ones, with the balls they push down to drink, so only a couple cows will get a drink before they are empty and then he can take the backhoe tomorrow and see about digging up the area and find the leak. He will open the gate again, let the cows down to drink from that trough just above it, it is a big round concrete water trough that holds a couple hundred gallons... then he can dig up the area and find the line, and find the leak... get it fixed... and then turn the water back on and then call them, lead them back up the hill with a bucket... and close them back up above where there is some grass, not much, but some for them to pick through... We try to save the 2 lower sections for when we are getting them down close to pen and move out late in the fall... it's incentive to come down, eat the grass in the lower sections and then load them out, bring to the barn, preg check and wean calves off.
The ground being soo dry, and the spring not having the pressure, the leak was watering the ground around it but it was slow enough that he never saw anything on the surface.

This is ANOTHER REASON... TO PUT SHUT OFF VALVES , through out any and all water lines you put in... in fact... a water trough should have a smaller line feed OFF the main water line... with a shut off at each one... so that if there is a problem, the water can still feed any line before the leak/break... and the waterer can be shut off if there is a problem with it... instead of having to shut off the whole system to repair one spot... You ISOLATE each trough, and put a shut off in the main line in a couple places. Yes it costs initially, but the time and money and "digging up everything" that gets saved down the road is definitely worth it...

Grass is dried up, and not growing back. We desperately need water for the grass and ground. There is now a better chance for some on Tues/Wed.... DS was going to cut some more, but has decided not to... said he should have cut it Sat so it could get raked today and baled up... Want to get this second cutting stuff done since it is all headed out and short... would be good for the grass to be able to come back if we get some rain and go into the winter with some growth/cover protection for the ground... add back some organic matter to the soil. He was going to cut the sorghum-sudan he planted at the one field he is renovating that had horrible weeds, but is going to wait until after some rain, since it can get prussic acid if too stressed and short.. no sense in creating a problem. It might grow a bit more if we get some rain this week... at least green up and mitigate any possibilities of problems.

We are feeding hay to the cows calving at the farm. He is also took a bale to the place where there are only 6 pairs because that pasture is about done... No sense in moving them to the farm yet, if we get some rain, the fall/cool season grass will come back some. Got one roll in at snyder's nurse cow field but they have only eaten about half in over a week/10 days... picking at it but they are scrounging for grass down in the back section more... which is good. He is also going to take hay to the pasture down near her house... he said it is about done also.. Normally we wouldn't have to deal with feeding hay anywhere before Nov...
The 2 pastures here that we will put cows and fall calves in, has some grass, but it is dry and there are alot of weeds in them. Have had more weeds this summer/fall than in many years... Why do the weeds do sooo good in the drought conditions?????

Got to get out and get going...

 

[Mini Horses]

Glad you're feeling better!

Doing and a rain dance -- hope you get an all day, slow soaker this week.

 

[farmerjan]

Doing rain dances for the western side of VA for this week... and NOT for the eastern side so we have dry conditions for Saturday... Clouds will be fine... just no rain in Ashland area...

WELL..... DRUMROLL... Betsy has a calf... it is black of course, she was bred to the angus bull... and I do not know what it is yet... She was down on the old RR track bed that is abandoned.... and some brush and stuff down there... and she thought she was hiding from me... I could see her watching me as I drove around that part of the pasture looking... since I did not want her to get all bent out of shape and maybe move the calf up into the thick brush, I just drove slow and pretended that I didn't see her... Calf was laying with it's head up, so looked good... Later this afternoon/eve... DS will come up and we will go get her and bring her and the calf to the barn... at least bring the calf up... and she will come... so that tomorrow I can see about getting another calf or 2 to put on her... Not going to bother anyone on Sunday (remember a couple of my farmers are Mennonites, so Sunday's are NOT a day you talk business...) they only do what HAS to be done like milking and feeding... and the one where the hereford x heifers came from, they are mennonites.... will probably get a calf or 2 from them and I will pay them generously since they said that the heifers were a trade for the cows etc... and I thought that was too generous... so I can make it up by paying them good for a bull calf or 2 to put on her... I will have a better idea of how things are with her once we get her up to the barn... but she has quite an udder... I am more convinced than ever that when I bought her with that jersey bull calf, that she was at the end of her lactation, and that is why she didn't have enough for the holstein that I put on her and supplemented with the bottle... that was one of the 2 that I sold for over 1500 each a couple weeks ago... so she did good considering... This time I will see how good she can do starting with calves right from the beginning... I'd like to have 3 on her to raise... if her milk production is enough... We will see....
I will try to milk some colostrum out of her to have also.... freeze some if she has a good amount... any calf I get will not be brand new but at least 1-2 days old... so will get the "2nd milking" colostrum which is fine...

Hoping she will take another calf or 2 without too much fuss... I think she will...

It is sunny, quite warm... It is 87 already... supposed to flirt with 90 today...

DS went and finished baling all the hay I had raked. He said the lower big field made 31 rolls.... really good considering... This field is at the bottom of an area and seems to be a little wetter at times... so it must've had the advantage of some extra moisture, filtering down and being trapped down there... There is a section that usually is too wet to mow and he has always mowed around it... last time he mowed across it very high to take down the weed heads... and I did not rake it... they died down good and he mowed it right off and it was very thick... and totally dry... so got an extra roll or 2 out of it... even if it has weeds, the cows will eat around them... he got all the other small sections done also. Later this afternoon, he is going to put the baler in the barn and move some other stuff around. Then see about loading the backhoe on the trailer to take to the pasture with the water leak so he can get it dug up while it is dry so maybe be able to find the break/leak in the pipe easier... before we get rain...
There is a birthday party for the sisters daughter... I was invited also,,, but with the problems with DS and GF father, and he will probably be there since it is right next door to GF house at the " camper trailer" they have on this property... I told DS I was not going to go due to this cold... DS said he gets it... he knows I despise GF father.... and although I have come to accept that DS is with her... and he seems to have his eyes open to the situation now... and she has been helping out alot at the farm lately.... it is just better that I stay away. All he would have to do is make one comment that set wrong, and I would light into her father for the way he accused DS of the problems with the last breakup...that DS was messing with the sister...... when it was all GF for screwing around again..... and she admitted it to DS... that is their fish to fry... but the father threatened to kill DS if he caught him around them.... He is a male chauvinist PIG and a total control freak A HOLE.... I never liked him....he thinks women are good for 2 things, f****ing and cooking and cleaning house... they don't have brains or worth... and he treats his wife like a low life and she enables him....
I have told DS he got with the wrong sister, and he jokes that I am probably right, but she is like a sister to him and he said he has NO "feelings" for her in any other way... so it is a moot point. He likes to get the kids and do things with them... so it is what it is.. He will come back to the farm after the birthday party, and move the baler in and whatever he needs to do... and help me get Betsy and her calf to the barn later this aft/eve...

So, right now, I am home and taking it a little easy...

 

[fuzzi]

You enjoy your "easy" time, help your body recover from your cold.

Forecast here is also for rain midweek. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[drstratton]

Doing rain dances for the western side of VA for this week... and NOT for the eastern side so we have dry conditions for Saturday... Clouds will be fine... just no rain in Ashland area...

WELL..... DRUMROLL... Betsy has a calf... it is black of course, she was bred to the angus bull... and I do not know what it is yet... She was down on the old RR track bed that is abandoned.... and some brush and stuff down there... and she thought she was hiding from me... I could see her watching me as I drove around that part of the pasture looking... since I did not want her to get all bent out of shape and maybe move the calf up into the thick brush, I just drove slow and pretended that I didn't see her... Calf was laying with it's head up, so looked good... Later this afternoon/eve... DS will come up and we will go get her and bring her and the calf to the barn... at least bring the calf up... and she will come... so that tomorrow I can see about getting another calf or 2 to put on her... Not going to bother anyone on Sunday (remember a couple of my farmers are Mennonites, so Sunday's are NOT a day you talk business...) they only do what HAS to be done like milking and feeding... and the one where the hereford x heifers came from, they are mennonites.... will probably get a calf or 2 from them and I will pay them generously since they said that the heifers were a trade for the cows etc... and I thought that was too generous... so I can make it up by paying them good for a bull calf or 2 to put on her... I will have a better idea of how things are with her once we get her up to the barn... but she has quite an udder... I am more convinced than ever that when I bought her with that jersey bull calf, that she was at the end of her lactation, and that is why she didn't have enough for the holstein that I put on her and supplemented with the bottle... that was one of the 2 that I sold for over 1500 each a couple weeks ago... so she did good considering... This time I will see how good she can do starting with calves right from the beginning... I'd like to have 3 on her to raise... if her milk production is enough... We will see....
I will try to milk some colostrum out of her to have also.... freeze some if she has a good amount... any calf I get will not be brand new but at least 1-2 days old... so will get the "2nd milking" colostrum which is fine...

Hoping she will take another calf or 2 without too much fuss... I think she will...

It is sunny, quite warm... It is 87 already... supposed to flirt with 90 today...

DS went and finished baling all the hay I had raked. He said the lower big field made 31 rolls.... really good considering... This field is at the bottom of an area and seems to be a little wetter at times... so it must've had the advantage of some extra moisture, filtering down and being trapped down there... There is a section that usually is too wet to mow and he has always mowed around it... last time he mowed across it very high to take down the weed heads... and I did not rake it... they died down good and he mowed it right off and it was very thick... and totally dry... so got an extra roll or 2 out of it... even if it has weeds, the cows will eat around them... he got all the other small sections done also. Later this afternoon, he is going to put the baler in the barn and move some other stuff around. Then see about loading the backhoe on the trailer to take to the pasture with the water leak so he can get it dug up while it is dry so maybe be able to find the break/leak in the pipe easier... before we get rain...
There is a birthday party for the sisters daughter... I was invited also,,, but with the problems with DS and GF father, and he will probably be there since it is right next door to GF house at the " camper trailer" they have on this property... I told DS I was not going to go due to this cold... DS said he gets it... he knows I despise GF father.... and although I have come to accept that DS is with her... and he seems to have his eyes open to the situation now... and she has been helping out alot at the farm lately.... it is just better that I stay away. All he would have to do is make one comment that set wrong, and I would light into her father for the way he accused DS of the problems with the last breakup...that DS was messing with the sister...... when it was all GF for screwing around again..... and she admitted it to DS... that is their fish to fry... but the father threatened to kill DS if he caught him around them.... He is a male chauvinist PIG and a total control freak A HOLE.... I never liked him....he thinks women are good for 2 things, f****ing and cooking and cleaning house... they don't have brains or worth... and he treats his wife like a low life and she enables him....
I have told DS he got with the wrong sister, and he jokes that I am probably right, but she is like a sister to him and he said he has NO "feelings" for her in any other way... so it is a moot point. He likes to get the kids and do things with them... so it is what it is.. He will come back to the farm after the birthday party, and move the baler in and whatever he needs to do... and help me get Betsy and her calf to the barn later this aft/eve...

So, right now, I am home and taking it a little easy...

Well, you could go and give him your cold...lol JK

I think staying home was the right choice. You need to keep building your strength back up and part of that, is plenty of rest.

Hope that girl can support the 3 calves, like you want her to.