Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Finnie]

Got a call a little bit ago.... DS took hay to grants behind me... and got the truck stuck... the ground is soft under the little bit of a hard crust... and he buried the back wheels... soooo... I went out and started my "big truck"... went over and put it in 4wd and it took 4 tries to get his truck out since it had dropped down into a low spot and I had to pull it up over the ridge to get it out... but we finally got it out...last time I did not start with the chain taut, but gave it a good jerk and managed to get it out... glad that I have the big truck here and it starts good... not the best tires for field pulling like this, but for now it worked. Going to have to see about winter mud/snow tires I think...

You made me think of this video that @greybeard posted once a long time ago.

 

[SageHill]

Ah - yeah - the downsizing w/o telling the consumer. It's happening all the time . LOL try buying a 50# bag of dog food --- nope not easy - 30#, 40#, but no 50# and it always used to be 50#-ers.
I'm sure if they could make an 11 egg carton they'd do it - but then they do sell eggs by the half dozen now as well.

 

[Ridgetop]

He did not "click" with our cows... it happens....

Unfortunately that happens with the best cows and bulls sometimes. Certain bloodlines just don't go together to produce good offspring. We have had that happen and had to sell the ram/buck.

that farm also has several in this bull test sale too... they are not going to be cheap. I expect this sale may be higher than the farm's own sale...

Getting a deal is nice, but you are right about the effort and labor, not to mention years of breeding, that goes into producing good genetics. I don't mind paying higher prices for a really good ram who will give me what I want. I have good females from previous good rams so I want improvement in certain areas. You are smart to look for what you need from known programs and producers.

I collect it for watering the plants and filling the couple of containers that are on the propane stove/heater in the LR, for moisture in the air,

We have been using our wod burning fireplace every night. It also has a stove insert and I keep a copper kettle of water on top of that for moisture. (Although in NE Texas the humidity in the air is pretty high now. LOL) I am going to put a couple of cinnamon sticks and cloves in that water to try to give the house a Christmas smell. I hope it works. LOL

 

[farmerjan]

@Ridgetop ... never thought about cinnamon sticks cloves for a nicer scent... Going to try that .....

Saturday evening... temps started at 24 but got up to nearly 50... mostly sunny and a nice "break"... because it is supposed to start dropping and continue dropping all day tomorrow and tomorrow night and be down in the SINGLE DIGITS.... OUCH and BRRRR
with wind chills in the minus temps....
Talk about swinging from one end of the pendulum to the other...

Yesterday I took the big ford to town and got a pallet of 4 protein/molasses tubs... went to the stockyard right next door and got a bit of the customer appreciation lunch they do... but was late and missed the shrimp on the "buffet" although the beef sandwiches were decent... DS got there not a 1/2 hour later and they said they were done with it and had picked most up...(and there had still been quite a bit when I was in there and most everyone else had eaten because they had started the sale...).... this is the stockyard we don't deal with as much anymore since the "originating family" sold out... the same family that I bought the truck from their estate sale back in the spring. DS actually bought 3 red steers that were over 600 lbs for a decent price... they aren't the "required black color"... but they ought to gain good and with the price of heavier animals actually bringing good prices, think we can make some money. He also bought an 1100 lb steer for a kill animal... it was red of course.... and will put the open heifer we pulled out, in with the bull tomorrow for a second chance... The bull will be in there for 6 more weeks... coming out by the 1st of Feb... she is worth 3-3500 as a bred heifer which is more than the 2,000 the big red steer cost... I think we can feed her for 6 months along with the others.... So, she will get a 2nd chance to get bred instead of being destined for freezer beef.... she was one of the 3 that were checked open and we put 2 back with the bull, DS liking her the least and needing a beef in Feb, decided to kill her... BUT... with finding this beef... already finished out pretty much... all we need to do is maintain his weight now, he is in good shape.... she is worth way more as a bred heifer... and if she doesn't breed again, no money lost.... she can be beef in July on the next kill date... or she can just get sold and because she is black, will bring near what the steer cost if not more at a lighter weight... black is worth more as beef in the package, don't you know.....

So, it was warmer and it was muddy, slick, from the thawing and melting snow... I said I was going to wait for this morning to put the tubs out at snyder's pasture so as to not be slipping in the soft top ground... my big truck does not have M&S type tires so does not do real good in the slippery stuff without 4 wheel drive... and why tear up the pasture...
I came on home after a bit, DS stayed to talk to a couple of guys and he had the trailer, so loaded out and brought them to the barn.
We decided it might be 8:30 or so to try to leave this morning... I wanted time to walk around and look at the bulls.

Well, he went to feed a roll of hay this morning, and blew a hydraulic hose on the bale bed truck... asked me to go feed the 6/6 cow/calf pairs their 3 sq bales since he had talked about trying to move them this morning before we went..... but wanted to take the hydraulic hose off and drop it off for our close local auto parts place to make a new one... which she said she would do... So, I went up, pulled the 4 tubs off the pallet on the truck at snyder's, got the 3 sq bales DS had put out at Deb's, and went and fed them... it was easy as he has been feeding them 3 sq bales daily for about a week. They come down, right into the pen and go right to eating... and should be a breeze to get them in and get them moved. That is in the plans for tomorrow so he does not have to go there and keep feeding... one less place/trip..... They will come to the barn, and as soon as he gets another group moved so that we have 15-25 to preg check, will get the vet and get them checked and the calves weaned off... then get the rest home... I think there are about 75 or so total, to bring to the barn and preg check and wean calves off... that should be bred back for spring calves starting in mid-March I think... 2 of those cows had the twins this past spring....
The steer calves out of these will get weaned for 60 days and most sold to the guy that took the last 20+.... Like mid Feb or so.... we will sort through the heifers and see who we want to keep, and sell the "culls"... anything we really don't like for the first go round... any IDIOTS.... then probably hold the rest for a bit...

Oh, and remember the guy that came and looked at the calves and then wanted to nit pick on weight and offered DS less... who paid like 3.95 at the sale that day???? GUESS WHAT... he paid $4.50 for some that weighed 560 lbs, this past friday (yesterday) at the sale... and he could have had ours , 577 lb average, for 3.90 3 weeks ago....Karma's a bi*%h..... DS keeps saying, I shouldn't have sold them then.... but we were not seeing any real positive signs that prices were going to get better.... and yes, they might have done better waiting a few weeks... I do NOT like selling anything in NOV... it has never been a good month.... but he wanted to... we just hit one of 2 weeks that it was lower... BUT... I told him... what if one had gotten sick and died... it was good they were gone for now... barn is empty, and ready to bering home more... and QUIT SECOND GUESSING ..... it was a good turn around on them as most were bought ones.... as bull calves, and he still made money on them.... a couple were ours too... they brought about 2200 a head average, I think he said... and that went a long way to prepaying on the fertilizer... which they pay 6% interest on the money until you start "using it" when you get fertilizer... so better than a bank... and he did go on and buy the new discbine.... with delivery not until March/April... and they will deliver it to us... bought it at the discounted price by the end of NOV.... got about $6K off of it by buying and paying for it.... so the calf money is all "spent" already... however, we never used to be able to take advantage of any deals like that in the past due to just not having the income that the latest calf prices have allowed us to do... I had one calf in there...

Anyway... just thought it was kinda funny that he didn't buy our calves, at a fair price... wanted to slide on the heavier ones, all that... and he bought calves for $.60 / LB... MORE yesterday.... That was like $300 +more PER CALF this week... and nearly 20 lbs lighter that he will have to "pay" to put that weight on them...

So, to today.... we got to the bull sale, got some of their lunch.. which was Cheese burgers/hot dogs/ BBQ, baked beans, scallop potatoes, coleslaw, desserts... good stuff.... then went out and looked at bulls. There were about 150+ people there; and some buyers on line, on the phone also...
We looked at them... went over the ones we had earmarked in the catalog.... the highest gaining bull that sold frist did not bring what we thought it would... maybe we should've bought him but didn't... he was on our list.... but I think his birthweight of 102 lbs might have scared a few people off... I think he brought 7500 or 8000.... then there were some that brought in the 8-11,000 range... DS was kicking himself for not buying another pick that brought 8,000.... and we ran one we liked to 11,000 and both said that was enough... we did buy one, from the farm there we like, he was one we had both said was good, not a first pick, but out of the bull family we had picked out and bid on a couple at their sale a few weeks ago. Paid 6500 and I think we did okay.... He has pretty good growth, decent weights and projections... not first choice but .... maybe there was a reason we bought him...
The other good thing to maybe come out of it... there was an older man sitting on the other side of me, that would get to 4500 and quit... and most were easy calving bulls.... I mentioned it to DS and he had me move over and he sat next to him and talked to him a bit.... about one of the 2, we have, that came from this same farm 2 years ago... that is a definitely easy calving bull.... and DS told him that we wanted a bull with a little more birthweight for more of the mature cows, that we had used this bull for 3 groups.... had his first set of calves on the ground now, a second set of heifers confirmed preg and he was with his 3rd set breeding now... and that we were thinking of selling him because we need some more size to use on the cows, and he would not be able to be used breeding his own heifers.... so they talked, exchanged phone numbers... and DS said we would take 4,000 for him... he was a Quaker Hill bull from their sale 2 years ago, he weighed about 15-1600, not huge.... so maybe he will call, maybe not. He is too good a bull to just sell for slaughter and is a little light for top "kill prices".... he throws small 50-60 lb calves ... and we have 2 other bulls throwing small calves too so don't need him anymore.... but he is still "small enough" to not hurt heifers when breeding them...Invited the guy to come look at him and could see some of his calves already on the ground....

So, maybe something will come out of it... maybe we can get him sold to someone that can use him.... he has an okay disposition, never been a problem... settled 13 out of 14... calved them out at snyder's this fall.... had 17 out of 20 settled from the last group...12 kept due in March/April (sold 3 to the neighbor and 2 are holstein heifers to be sold in March '26) and has 12 more in with him now (soon to be 13 with the one at the barn he is going to move back there tomorrow) so should have another group bred to him.... for next fall calves...
If we can sell him as a breeder, then we won't have much in the bull we bought... and we are talking that we really need another "cow bull" because next year we are going to use "#21 benner" bull and then he will get sold... he is getting around a little slower.... and we bought him in '16, so he will be 12 (born 2014)..... the 6 coming home tomorrow, were with him this past summer... so we will see how well he settled them... It's a smaller pasture, we put 6-8 cows with calves there to not destroy the grass... 6 c/cf pairs plus the bull was all it would hold this past year with the drought conditions... and they look really good.... years with more rain we can put 8 pairs there... so he is not being pushed real hard either... but he is starting to just look/act "older"....
We sold 2 this past year, and 2 the year before.... of course we do not have as many places anymore... so do not need as many bulls, but still need to keep a minimum of 5 or 6......

We put the new bull in with the cows in the calving field... There are 3 in there with late calves, another ready to pop any time, and 2 more due..... 2 other's will come out tomorrow... the one that is old and has a 250-300 lb calf that will go to snyder's with no bull for the winter...and one other that has not yet calved but gets around stiff and is not going to get bred back either when she does calve. He will be in there for about 6 weeks... If any get bred back, we will have a few to see what he produces... they are good sized cows, and if we pull him by Feb 1st... they will calve by Nov 1st... it will back them up at least a month.... if they don't settle... that's okay, they will go out in May on pasture to get bred back then. Decided it would be good for him to not go right in with the bulls now... have another 4-6 weeks and a few cows to get him "primed" for some breeding next June... and he has been "on feed" so will drop off some weight by going on just hay and some supplement... so will drop off some "conditioning"... this will "harden him up" a little and then go out with the bulls in the bull field the first of Feb....

Since he is going to take the heifer to the pasture to go back with the bull now, he is also going to take the one that lost her calf (at 10 days old) ; old cow, and was going to snyder's to raise her final calf .....instead will move her over with the calf that got caught in the hay ring with the tore up leg, so he has company, she won't bully him with her age like a younger cow would... as she won't get sold til after Christmas. By then hopefully his leg will be getting better and he can be with some of the weaned calves. Although we don't know if he will ever walk right on it... Turns out he is my calf... out of one of the cows that got sold back in Sept... with the group of old cows out to the one pasture that we pulled them off of and sold the 4 or 5 cows and weaned the calves... and they got sold with this last group.... except mine since he was smaller and the guy cut him out due to size... we figured he would go with some of the next ones to come home to get weaned... the twins will be smaller as will a couple of other later born calves....
I am going to call the vet tomorrow, see if he has any suggestions... it seems to be staying pretty clean, and DS has been spraying the wound stuff on it... but said he got a good look at the inside of the leg and he says he sees bone.... so don't know if it has any ligament damage or anything... not that they can do much for it... Thinking maybe some banamine for pain would help him to use it more... and maybe a long acting antibiotic to switch to.... don't know if wrapping it would be good or not... so want to see what the vet says...

So, that was our day.... He loaded the bull, we came home; unloaded the bull and walked him up into the "calving field" , with the few cows in there; he went to get the hydraulic hose and got it on the bale truck...I came home, got the forester and went up to check the cows at snyder's and make sure they figured out the protein tubs were there. Less tearing up of the wet surface with the "red car"... Tomorrow I will take the 3 tubs that are empty and move them out so they don't get pushed/rolled down the hill near the water trough.... Plus I will take feed up to them tomorrow since it is supposed to get pretty miserably cold Sun and into Monday... They will need hay tomorrow too,,,,
We will move those cows around there at the farm, get the 6 pairs out of the pasture.... and moved back... get some things situated for the real cold coming I guess.
At least it is supposed to be very short lived... I am going to cancel the farm I have scheduled for Monday because I have to set up meters and I do not want to be doing that in 20-25 degree weather... don't "have to"....

So that was our day.... pretty productive... I needed to be in bed an hour ago... Oh well....

 

[drstratton]

@Ridgetop ... never thought about cinnamon sticks cloves for a nicer scent... Going to try that .....

Saturday evening... temps started at 24 but got up to nearly 50... mostly sunny and a nice "break"... because it is supposed to start dropping and continue dropping all day tomorrow and tomorrow night and be down in the SINGLE DIGITS.... OUCH and BRRRR
with wind chills in the minus temps....
Talk about swinging from one end of the pendulum to the other...

Yesterday I took the big ford to town and got a pallet of 4 protein/molasses tubs... went to the stockyard right next door and got a bit of the customer appreciation lunch they do... but was late and missed the shrimp on the "buffet" although the beef sandwiches were decent... DS got there not a 1/2 hour later and they said they were done with it and had picked most up...(and there had still been quite a bit when I was in there and most everyone else had eaten because they had started the sale...).... this is the stockyard we don't deal with as much anymore since the "originating family" sold out... the same family that I bought the truck from their estate sale back in the spring. DS actually bought 3 red steers that were over 600 lbs for a decent price... they aren't the "required black color"... but they ought to gain good and with the price of heavier animals actually bringing good prices, think we can make some money. He also bought an 1100 lb steer for a kill animal... it was red of course.... and will put the open heifer we pulled out, in with the bull tomorrow for a second chance... The bull will be in there for 6 more weeks... coming out by the 1st of Feb... she is worth 3-3500 as a bred heifer which is more than the 2,000 the big red steer cost... I think we can feed her for 6 months along with the others.... So, she will get a 2nd chance to get bred instead of being destined for freezer beef.... she was one of the 3 that were checked open and we put 2 back with the bull, DS liking her the least and needing a beef in Feb, decided to kill her... BUT... with finding this beef... already finished out pretty much... all we need to do is maintain his weight now, he is in good shape.... she is worth way more as a bred heifer... and if she doesn't breed again, no money lost.... she can be beef in July on the next kill date... or she can just get sold and because she is black, will bring near what the steer cost if not more at a lighter weight... black is worth more as beef in the package, don't you know.....

So, it was warmer and it was muddy, slick, from the thawing and melting snow... I said I was going to wait for this morning to put the tubs out at snyder's pasture so as to not be slipping in the soft top ground... my big truck does not have M&S type tires so does not do real good in the slippery stuff without 4 wheel drive... and why tear up the pasture...
I came on home after a bit, DS stayed to talk to a couple of guys and he had the trailer, so loaded out and brought them to the barn.
We decided it might be 8:30 or so to try to leave this morning... I wanted time to walk around and look at the bulls.

Well, he went to feed a roll of hay this morning, and blew a hydraulic hose on the bale bed truck... asked me to go feed the 6/6 cow/calf pairs their 3 sq bales since he had talked about trying to move them this morning before we went..... but wanted to take the hydraulic hose off and drop it off for our close local auto parts place to make a new one... which she said she would do... So, I went up, pulled the 4 tubs off the pallet on the truck at snyder's, got the 3 sq bales DS had put out at Deb's, and went and fed them... it was easy as he has been feeding them 3 sq bales daily for about a week. They come down, right into the pen and go right to eating... and should be a breeze to get them in and get them moved. That is in the plans for tomorrow so he does not have to go there and keep feeding... one less place/trip..... They will come to the barn, and as soon as he gets another group moved so that we have 15-25 to preg check, will get the vet and get them checked and the calves weaned off... then get the rest home... I think there are about 75 or so total, to bring to the barn and preg check and wean calves off... that should be bred back for spring calves starting in mid-March I think... 2 of those cows had the twins this past spring....
The steer calves out of these will get weaned for 60 days and most sold to the guy that took the last 20+.... Like mid Feb or so.... we will sort through the heifers and see who we want to keep, and sell the "culls"... anything we really don't like for the first go round... any IDIOTS.... then probably hold the rest for a bit...

Oh, and remember the guy that came and looked at the calves and then wanted to nit pick on weight and offered DS less... who paid like 3.95 at the sale that day???? GUESS WHAT... he paid $4.50 for some that weighed 560 lbs, this past friday (yesterday) at the sale... and he could have had ours , 577 lb average, for 3.90 3 weeks ago....Karma's a bi*%h..... DS keeps saying, I shouldn't have sold them then.... but we were not seeing any real positive signs that prices were going to get better.... and yes, they might have done better waiting a few weeks... I do NOT like selling anything in NOV... it has never been a good month.... but he wanted to... we just hit one of 2 weeks that it was lower... BUT... I told him... what if one had gotten sick and died... it was good they were gone for now... barn is empty, and ready to bering home more... and QUIT SECOND GUESSING ..... it was a good turn around on them as most were bought ones.... as bull calves, and he still made money on them.... a couple were ours too... they brought about 2200 a head average, I think he said... and that went a long way to prepaying on the fertilizer... which they pay 6% interest on the money until you start "using it" when you get fertilizer... so better than a bank... and he did go on and buy the new discbine.... with delivery not until March/April... and they will deliver it to us... bought it at the discounted price by the end of NOV.... got about $6K off of it by buying and paying for it.... so the calf money is all "spent" already... however, we never used to be able to take advantage of any deals like that in the past due to just not having the income that the latest calf prices have allowed us to do... I had one calf in there...

Anyway... just thought it was kinda funny that he didn't buy our calves, at a fair price... wanted to slide on the heavier ones, all that... and he bought calves for $.60 / LB... MORE yesterday.... That was like $300 +more PER CALF this week... and nearly 20 lbs lighter that he will have to "pay" to put that weight on them...

So, to today.... we got to the bull sale, got some of their lunch.. which was Cheese burgers/hot dogs/ BBQ, baked beans, scallop potatoes, coleslaw, desserts... good stuff.... then went out and looked at bulls. There were about 150+ people there; and some buyers on line, on the phone also...
We looked at them... went over the ones we had earmarked in the catalog.... the highest gaining bull that sold frist did not bring what we thought it would... maybe we should've bought him but didn't... he was on our list.... but I think his birthweight of 102 lbs might have scared a few people off... I think he brought 7500 or 8000.... then there were some that brought in the 8-11,000 range... DS was kicking himself for not buying another pick that brought 8,000.... and we ran one we liked to 11,000 and both said that was enough... we did buy one, from the farm there we like, he was one we had both said was good, not a first pick, but out of the bull family we had picked out and bid on a couple at their sale a few weeks ago. Paid 6500 and I think we did okay.... He has pretty good growth, decent weights and projections... not first choice but .... maybe there was a reason we bought him...
The other good thing to maybe come out of it... there was an older man sitting on the other side of me, that would get to 4500 and quit... and most were easy calving bulls.... I mentioned it to DS and he had me move over and he sat next to him and talked to him a bit.... about one of the 2, we have, that came from this same farm 2 years ago... that is a definitely easy calving bull.... and DS told him that we wanted a bull with a little more birthweight for more of the mature cows, that we had used this bull for 3 groups.... had his first set of calves on the ground now, a second set of heifers confirmed preg and he was with his 3rd set breeding now... and that we were thinking of selling him because we need some more size to use on the cows, and he would not be able to be used breeding his own heifers.... so they talked, exchanged phone numbers... and DS said we would take 4,000 for him... he was a Quaker Hill bull from their sale 2 years ago, he weighed about 15-1600, not huge.... so maybe he will call, maybe not. He is too good a bull to just sell for slaughter and is a little light for top "kill prices".... he throws small 50-60 lb calves ... and we have 2 other bulls throwing small calves too so don't need him anymore.... but he is still "small enough" to not hurt heifers when breeding them...Invited the guy to come look at him and could see some of his calves already on the ground....

So, maybe something will come out of it... maybe we can get him sold to someone that can use him.... he has an okay disposition, never been a problem... settled 13 out of 14... calved them out at snyder's this fall.... had 17 out of 20 settled from the last group...12 kept due in March/April (sold 3 to the neighbor and 2 are holstein heifers to be sold in March '26) and has 12 more in with him now (soon to be 13 with the one at the barn he is going to move back there tomorrow) so should have another group bred to him.... for next fall calves...
If we can sell him as a breeder, then we won't have much in the bull we bought... and we are talking that we really need another "cow bull" because next year we are going to use "#21 benner" bull and then he will get sold... he is getting around a little slower.... and we bought him in '16, so he will be 12 (born 2014)..... the 6 coming home tomorrow, were with him this past summer... so we will see how well he settled them... It's a smaller pasture, we put 6-8 cows with calves there to not destroy the grass... 6 c/cf pairs plus the bull was all it would hold this past year with the drought conditions... and they look really good.... years with more rain we can put 8 pairs there... so he is not being pushed real hard either... but he is starting to just look/act "older"....
We sold 2 this past year, and 2 the year before.... of course we do not have as many places anymore... so do not need as many bulls, but still need to keep a minimum of 5 or 6......

We put the new bull in with the cows in the calving field... There are 3 in there with late calves, another ready to pop any time, and 2 more due..... 2 other's will come out tomorrow... the one that is old and has a 250-300 lb calf that will go to snyder's with no bull for the winter...and one other that has not yet calved but gets around stiff and is not going to get bred back either when she does calve. He will be in there for about 6 weeks... If any get bred back, we will have a few to see what he produces... they are good sized cows, and if we pull him by Feb 1st... they will calve by Nov 1st... it will back them up at least a month.... if they don't settle... that's okay, they will go out in May on pasture to get bred back then. Decided it would be good for him to not go right in with the bulls now... have another 4-6 weeks and a few cows to get him "primed" for some breeding next June... and he has been "on feed" so will drop off some weight by going on just hay and some supplement... so will drop off some "conditioning"... this will "harden him up" a little and then go out with the bulls in the bull field the first of Feb....

Since he is going to take the heifer to the pasture to go back with the bull now, he is also going to take the one that lost her calf (at 10 days old) ; old cow, and was going to snyder's to raise her final calf .....instead will move her over with the calf that got caught in the hay ring with the tore up leg, so he has company, she won't bully him with her age like a younger cow would... as she won't get sold til after Christmas. By then hopefully his leg will be getting better and he can be with some of the weaned calves. Although we don't know if he will ever walk right on it... Turns out he is my calf... out of one of the cows that got sold back in Sept... with the group of old cows out to the one pasture that we pulled them off of and sold the 4 or 5 cows and weaned the calves... and they got sold with this last group.... except mine since he was smaller and the guy cut him out due to size... we figured he would go with some of the next ones to come home to get weaned... the twins will be smaller as will a couple of other later born calves....
I am going to call the vet tomorrow, see if he has any suggestions... it seems to be staying pretty clean, and DS has been spraying the wound stuff on it... but said he got a good look at the inside of the leg and he says he sees bone.... so don't know if it has any ligament damage or anything... not that they can do much for it... Thinking maybe some banamine for pain would help him to use it more... and maybe a long acting antibiotic to switch to.... don't know if wrapping it would be good or not... so want to see what the vet says...

So, that was our day.... He loaded the bull, we came home; unloaded the bull and walked him up into the "calving field" , with the few cows in there; he went to get the hydraulic hose and got it on the bale truck...I came home, got the forester and went up to check the cows at snyder's and make sure they figured out the protein tubs were there. Less tearing up of the wet surface with the "red car"... Tomorrow I will take the 3 tubs that are empty and move them out so they don't get pushed/rolled down the hill near the water trough.... Plus I will take feed up to them tomorrow since it is supposed to get pretty miserably cold Sun and into Monday... They will need hay tomorrow too,,,,
We will move those cows around there at the farm, get the 6 pairs out of the pasture.... and moved back... get some things situated for the real cold coming I guess.
At least it is supposed to be very short lived... I am going to cancel the farm I have scheduled for Monday because I have to set up meters and I do not want to be doing that in 20-25 degree weather... don't "have to"....

So that was our day.... pretty productive... I needed to be in bed an hour ago... Oh well....

Sounds like you deserved to be in bed several hours ago! Hope that bull works out for you! I also hope the vet gives a good report on your calf's leg. Good call on canceling the testing. Stay warm!

 

[fuzzi]

@Ridgetop ... never thought about cinnamon sticks cloves for a nicer scent... Going to try that .....

Saturday evening... temps started at 24 but got up to nearly 50... mostly sunny and a nice "break"... because it is supposed to start dropping and continue dropping all day tomorrow and tomorrow night and be down in the SINGLE DIGITS.... OUCH and BRRRR
with wind chills in the minus temps....
Talk about swinging from one end of the pendulum to the other...

Yesterday I took the big ford to town and got a pallet of 4 protein/molasses tubs... went to the stockyard right next door and got a bit of the customer appreciation lunch they do... but was late and missed the shrimp on the "buffet" although the beef sandwiches were decent... DS got there not a 1/2 hour later and they said they were done with it and had picked most up...(and there had still been quite a bit when I was in there and most everyone else had eaten because they had started the sale...).... this is the stockyard we don't deal with as much anymore since the "originating family" sold out... the same family that I bought the truck from their estate sale back in the spring. DS actually bought 3 red steers that were over 600 lbs for a decent price... they aren't the "required black color"... but they ought to gain good and with the price of heavier animals actually bringing good prices, think we can make some money. He also bought an 1100 lb steer for a kill animal... it was red of course.... and will put the open heifer we pulled out, in with the bull tomorrow for a second chance... The bull will be in there for 6 more weeks... coming out by the 1st of Feb... she is worth 3-3500 as a bred heifer which is more than the 2,000 the big red steer cost... I think we can feed her for 6 months along with the others.... So, she will get a 2nd chance to get bred instead of being destined for freezer beef.... she was one of the 3 that were checked open and we put 2 back with the bull, DS liking her the least and needing a beef in Feb, decided to kill her... BUT... with finding this beef... already finished out pretty much... all we need to do is maintain his weight now, he is in good shape.... she is worth way more as a bred heifer... and if she doesn't breed again, no money lost.... she can be beef in July on the next kill date... or she can just get sold and because she is black, will bring near what the steer cost if not more at a lighter weight... black is worth more as beef in the package, don't you know.....

So, it was warmer and it was muddy, slick, from the thawing and melting snow... I said I was going to wait for this morning to put the tubs out at snyder's pasture so as to not be slipping in the soft top ground... my big truck does not have M&S type tires so does not do real good in the slippery stuff without 4 wheel drive... and why tear up the pasture...
I came on home after a bit, DS stayed to talk to a couple of guys and he had the trailer, so loaded out and brought them to the barn.
We decided it might be 8:30 or so to try to leave this morning... I wanted time to walk around and look at the bulls.

Well, he went to feed a roll of hay this morning, and blew a hydraulic hose on the bale bed truck... asked me to go feed the 6/6 cow/calf pairs their 3 sq bales since he had talked about trying to move them this morning before we went..... but wanted to take the hydraulic hose off and drop it off for our close local auto parts place to make a new one... which she said she would do... So, I went up, pulled the 4 tubs off the pallet on the truck at snyder's, got the 3 sq bales DS had put out at Deb's, and went and fed them... it was easy as he has been feeding them 3 sq bales daily for about a week. They come down, right into the pen and go right to eating... and should be a breeze to get them in and get them moved. That is in the plans for tomorrow so he does not have to go there and keep feeding... one less place/trip..... They will come to the barn, and as soon as he gets another group moved so that we have 15-25 to preg check, will get the vet and get them checked and the calves weaned off... then get the rest home... I think there are about 75 or so total, to bring to the barn and preg check and wean calves off... that should be bred back for spring calves starting in mid-March I think... 2 of those cows had the twins this past spring....
The steer calves out of these will get weaned for 60 days and most sold to the guy that took the last 20+.... Like mid Feb or so.... we will sort through the heifers and see who we want to keep, and sell the "culls"... anything we really don't like for the first go round... any IDIOTS.... then probably hold the rest for a bit...

Oh, and remember the guy that came and looked at the calves and then wanted to nit pick on weight and offered DS less... who paid like 3.95 at the sale that day???? GUESS WHAT... he paid $4.50 for some that weighed 560 lbs, this past friday (yesterday) at the sale... and he could have had ours , 577 lb average, for 3.90 3 weeks ago....Karma's a bi*%h..... DS keeps saying, I shouldn't have sold them then.... but we were not seeing any real positive signs that prices were going to get better.... and yes, they might have done better waiting a few weeks... I do NOT like selling anything in NOV... it has never been a good month.... but he wanted to... we just hit one of 2 weeks that it was lower... BUT... I told him... what if one had gotten sick and died... it was good they were gone for now... barn is empty, and ready to bering home more... and QUIT SECOND GUESSING ..... it was a good turn around on them as most were bought ones.... as bull calves, and he still made money on them.... a couple were ours too... they brought about 2200 a head average, I think he said... and that went a long way to prepaying on the fertilizer... which they pay 6% interest on the money until you start "using it" when you get fertilizer... so better than a bank... and he did go on and buy the new discbine.... with delivery not until March/April... and they will deliver it to us... bought it at the discounted price by the end of NOV.... got about $6K off of it by buying and paying for it.... so the calf money is all "spent" already... however, we never used to be able to take advantage of any deals like that in the past due to just not having the income that the latest calf prices have allowed us to do... I had one calf in there...

Anyway... just thought it was kinda funny that he didn't buy our calves, at a fair price... wanted to slide on the heavier ones, all that... and he bought calves for $.60 / LB... MORE yesterday.... That was like $300 +more PER CALF this week... and nearly 20 lbs lighter that he will have to "pay" to put that weight on them...

So, to today.... we got to the bull sale, got some of their lunch.. which was Cheese burgers/hot dogs/ BBQ, baked beans, scallop potatoes, coleslaw, desserts... good stuff.... then went out and looked at bulls. There were about 150+ people there; and some buyers on line, on the phone also...
We looked at them... went over the ones we had earmarked in the catalog.... the highest gaining bull that sold frist did not bring what we thought it would... maybe we should've bought him but didn't... he was on our list.... but I think his birthweight of 102 lbs might have scared a few people off... I think he brought 7500 or 8000.... then there were some that brought in the 8-11,000 range... DS was kicking himself for not buying another pick that brought 8,000.... and we ran one we liked to 11,000 and both said that was enough... we did buy one, from the farm there we like, he was one we had both said was good, not a first pick, but out of the bull family we had picked out and bid on a couple at their sale a few weeks ago. Paid 6500 and I think we did okay.... He has pretty good growth, decent weights and projections... not first choice but .... maybe there was a reason we bought him...
The other good thing to maybe come out of it... there was an older man sitting on the other side of me, that would get to 4500 and quit... and most were easy calving bulls.... I mentioned it to DS and he had me move over and he sat next to him and talked to him a bit.... about one of the 2, we have, that came from this same farm 2 years ago... that is a definitely easy calving bull.... and DS told him that we wanted a bull with a little more birthweight for more of the mature cows, that we had used this bull for 3 groups.... had his first set of calves on the ground now, a second set of heifers confirmed preg and he was with his 3rd set breeding now... and that we were thinking of selling him because we need some more size to use on the cows, and he would not be able to be used breeding his own heifers.... so they talked, exchanged phone numbers... and DS said we would take 4,000 for him... he was a Quaker Hill bull from their sale 2 years ago, he weighed about 15-1600, not huge.... so maybe he will call, maybe not. He is too good a bull to just sell for slaughter and is a little light for top "kill prices".... he throws small 50-60 lb calves ... and we have 2 other bulls throwing small calves too so don't need him anymore.... but he is still "small enough" to not hurt heifers when breeding them...Invited the guy to come look at him and could see some of his calves already on the ground....

So, maybe something will come out of it... maybe we can get him sold to someone that can use him.... he has an okay disposition, never been a problem... settled 13 out of 14... calved them out at snyder's this fall.... had 17 out of 20 settled from the last group...12 kept due in March/April (sold 3 to the neighbor and 2 are holstein heifers to be sold in March '26) and has 12 more in with him now (soon to be 13 with the one at the barn he is going to move back there tomorrow) so should have another group bred to him.... for next fall calves...
If we can sell him as a breeder, then we won't have much in the bull we bought... and we are talking that we really need another "cow bull" because next year we are going to use "#21 benner" bull and then he will get sold... he is getting around a little slower.... and we bought him in '16, so he will be 12 (born 2014)..... the 6 coming home tomorrow, were with him this past summer... so we will see how well he settled them... It's a smaller pasture, we put 6-8 cows with calves there to not destroy the grass... 6 c/cf pairs plus the bull was all it would hold this past year with the drought conditions... and they look really good.... years with more rain we can put 8 pairs there... so he is not being pushed real hard either... but he is starting to just look/act "older"....
We sold 2 this past year, and 2 the year before.... of course we do not have as many places anymore... so do not need as many bulls, but still need to keep a minimum of 5 or 6......

We put the new bull in with the cows in the calving field... There are 3 in there with late calves, another ready to pop any time, and 2 more due..... 2 other's will come out tomorrow... the one that is old and has a 250-300 lb calf that will go to snyder's with no bull for the winter...and one other that has not yet calved but gets around stiff and is not going to get bred back either when she does calve. He will be in there for about 6 weeks... If any get bred back, we will have a few to see what he produces... they are good sized cows, and if we pull him by Feb 1st... they will calve by Nov 1st... it will back them up at least a month.... if they don't settle... that's okay, they will go out in May on pasture to get bred back then. Decided it would be good for him to not go right in with the bulls now... have another 4-6 weeks and a few cows to get him "primed" for some breeding next June... and he has been "on feed" so will drop off some weight by going on just hay and some supplement... so will drop off some "conditioning"... this will "harden him up" a little and then go out with the bulls in the bull field the first of Feb....

Since he is going to take the heifer to the pasture to go back with the bull now, he is also going to take the one that lost her calf (at 10 days old) ; old cow, and was going to snyder's to raise her final calf .....instead will move her over with the calf that got caught in the hay ring with the tore up leg, so he has company, she won't bully him with her age like a younger cow would... as she won't get sold til after Christmas. By then hopefully his leg will be getting better and he can be with some of the weaned calves. Although we don't know if he will ever walk right on it... Turns out he is my calf... out of one of the cows that got sold back in Sept... with the group of old cows out to the one pasture that we pulled them off of and sold the 4 or 5 cows and weaned the calves... and they got sold with this last group.... except mine since he was smaller and the guy cut him out due to size... we figured he would go with some of the next ones to come home to get weaned... the twins will be smaller as will a couple of other later born calves....
I am going to call the vet tomorrow, see if he has any suggestions... it seems to be staying pretty clean, and DS has been spraying the wound stuff on it... but said he got a good look at the inside of the leg and he says he sees bone.... so don't know if it has any ligament damage or anything... not that they can do much for it... Thinking maybe some banamine for pain would help him to use it more... and maybe a long acting antibiotic to switch to.... don't know if wrapping it would be good or not... so want to see what the vet says...

So, that was our day.... He loaded the bull, we came home; unloaded the bull and walked him up into the "calving field" , with the few cows in there; he went to get the hydraulic hose and got it on the bale truck...I came home, got the forester and went up to check the cows at snyder's and make sure they figured out the protein tubs were there. Less tearing up of the wet surface with the "red car"... Tomorrow I will take the 3 tubs that are empty and move them out so they don't get pushed/rolled down the hill near the water trough.... Plus I will take feed up to them tomorrow since it is supposed to get pretty miserably cold Sun and into Monday... They will need hay tomorrow too,,,,
We will move those cows around there at the farm, get the 6 pairs out of the pasture.... and moved back... get some things situated for the real cold coming I guess.
At least it is supposed to be very short lived... I am going to cancel the farm I have scheduled for Monday because I have to set up meters and I do not want to be doing that in 20-25 degree weather... don't "have to"....

So that was our day.... pretty productive... I needed to be in bed an hour ago... Oh well....

I will never have cows/cattle, but I've learned a bit about them just by reading your posts.

 

[farmerjan]

Good evening from the ARCTIC state called Virginia.... The current temperature is presently 9 DEGREES, with a wind chill of 0 or -1 degrees. This is a slight deviation from the normal temperatures of 28 for a low and 45-48 for a high.... We have also been experiencing some higher than normal wind conditions of 10 to 35 mph gusts....

In other words... it is FROST YOUR BALLS, temperatures out there...

It got miserable late this afternoon.... It was 37 at midnight or whenever my recording thermometer resets... down to 27 at noon. The sun was out and it wasn't bad early in the sun... just a breeze. BUT, it had gotten windier and colder and just kept dropping all afternoon.

Of course, DS didn't get going early today, so he gets here from her place, by around 12-1... does some feeding, and then when I ask what his plans are, he says he has to load some hay for a lady at 2:15. He was going to plug in the truck (with the trailer) (diesel) , then he will bring hay to snyder's ... I was up there feeding some grain to them... and the wind was getting up.... THEN... he's going to go move the cows from the pasture... I mean., let's just wait for frost your a$$ and darkness.... so I take a sq bale of hay, get them in the pen, and then wait for him to go get the truck and trailer and he gets them at nearly 4.... I am NOT very happy... I had them in and waiting for him since 3:15..... yeah, I was in the car with the heater running... but it wasn't near this BITTER COLD at noon.....
He went to his house and did the dogs and watered the chickens so at least they got to drink and eat.... then came and got the 6 cow/calf pairs. Then he was going to the barn with them... have no idea where he was putting them for the night... and then said (volunteered) he would come by and get the heater in the "cellar" plugged in to a cord since he has not had time to get a plug put in...

I made sure my chickens had water earlier... and the one pen managed to get the feeder apart so there was chicken feed all over the ground... so they did not get it refilled... they are going to clean it up and I will refill it tomorrow... made sure the plastic and vinyl were "weighted down on the bottom" so they wouldn't blow around.... and the chickens were actually out scratching around and seemed fairly okay with the situation. Vinyl and plastic on the other side blocked the worst of the wind off them.... The leghorns, on the other hand, spend nearly 3/4 of their time in the small attached coop on that chicken pen... especially the hens... you never see them out in the run section... sad to say but they are probably not going to be here by next fall... I'm still going to see about hatching a big batch and keeping the chicks and getting rid of the parents and see if I can't get them raised up with the quieter New Hampshires... I still love to look at them... but geeze louise... they are totally antisocial, anti people, anti everything..... my light browns, years ago were not like that.... Leghorns are known for being more flightly... but these are tea-totally wildly nut cases....

The other cows he never got out of the field and I didn't ask because I did not want to be doing them in the dark.....
Just tell me that you don't feel up to it, something .....

So, he has never showed up to do the heater in the cellar. I am not too worried about it freezing overnight.... as it took 3 days and nights of 0 to 20 degree temps before I had problems last winter... and it is not going to be that cold, that long, here. It would help with the floors, too, not being so awful cold though if the heater was down there and keeping it 40-45 or so..... But it is the principle...and I do not dare go down there, tonight. Going to get those knee pads I got; I was able to kneel on the floor when I tried them, for a minute or so without excruciating pain...... so I can at least tolerate it, and will go do it myself for temporary hook up to the heavy duty commercial grade extension cord that I used for the heat lamp on the turkeys earlier this year. On a day that is not bitter cold, and not have to climb on my knees but step up and then wiggle back out the opening. I am going to take a step type ladder down so I can step up on it to get out easier... I know he has problems remembering things... but he said to me after the cows were loaded, that he was going to take them to the farm then come to my house... and I will betcha dollars to donuts, that she called him for something and everything else just goes out of his mind and he jumps for her every time...

Maybe something happened.. I shouldn't judge ,....yet.....

OOOPS... it just dropped another degree to 8.... ouch.....

I need @Weldman for a DAY....or 2 MR CONSCIENTIOUS, show up and, FIX EVERYTHING GUY.........
Too bad he wasn't single and had wanderlust for a year... I think we could all find enough for him to do to keep him busy traveling around the country for awhile !!!!!!!!

So I am sitting here and need to get back to doing some more paper shredding and sorting... but I am being rather lax with it this evening... Have emptied the shredder twice... it's not a huge one, but been working on it. Stuff I do not need and junk mail that gets piled... getting a bunch in the burn bag too... don't put the cellophane stuff in the shredder if I can help it or heavy cardboardy type stuff or the glossy stuff.

Let's hope it doesn't get too much colder, the wind has been whipping around things out there... Don't know what I will find strewn all over from it.

 

[Mini Horses]

The winds are Bad!!! We're getting 18-20mph here & it's frigid single digits, like there

 

[rachels.haven]

We sit at 14 degrees. That's cold enough. Sympathy in your direction.

 

[Baymule]

I sit here at a balmy 26 degrees and the winds have died down. I've got my propane heater going and it is toasty inside but I'll have to bundle up and go outside to feed after it gets daylight. I may wait until the sheep are "up" as they like to lay around awhile. They might be awake but they don't get up. Temperatures will soar to 52 degrees and that's it for freezing temperatures for at least a couple of weeks. That's fine with me, I don't like temps down in the 20's or below that. I'm sorry that so many are having freak cold weather this early in winter.