Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[drstratton]

Wed morning.....It is cloudy, we had a sprinkle or two, road looks damp/darker but not really wet. Radar shows some green for the rain but it looks like we are going to be more on the fringes and it going around us, or just being lighter precip. Guess we will see.

Yesterday's preg check was FANTASTIC...... 100% preg. The 11 we weaned and sold the calves off of.. and then all the ones that still have calves on them, to be weaned/sold sometime in the future... are all preg... Think there were 30 total? All are in the 3 1/2 to 5 month bred range except one is just 65 days... She is an older cow, has always been a slower breeder... but with things like they are, she produces a calf every 16 months, and will stay. There were some that were shorter bred in the group last week.

DS had the 3 VT bulls/stags in... we had to just band the one bull calf, and put them in the pen that leads to the chute first when he got to the farm.
We got the 11 in that we sold the calves off, put them in the one side of the barn... brought the ones in with the calves, and put on the other side... it was a tight fit... but managed to work some of the calves into a smaller pen, then could sort the cows better, and got all the calves sorted off into that pen. Then went to Fred's with the trailer, and got his bull to have his feet worked on.
Vet got there, and we had banded the one bull calf first, then he cut the 2 stags... Seems that they had missed BOTH TESTICLES when they banded them... so BOTH stags had BOTH testicles up in the body cavity... NOW, this old guy that our friend bought these cattle from is 90, and so he just missed the nuts in the sacks, banded them so there was no sack, and the nuts were up in the body cavity. They were good sized but the vet said it was not too bad a deal... they should do okay... Antibiotic, tetanus, blackleg shots... they are where they come in the barn so will be easy enough to run back in the chute...

Put those 3 back out with the other steers, and vet got his sleeve and ultrasound, and we got the 11 put through the chute first... preg checked, Triangle 10 killed virus vacc.. all were in the 4-5 range but the one that was 65 days.... back up the alley to the "silo lot" behind the barn. Going to keep them around the barn area with the good fences for another couple of days... to make sure they are "over" their calves being taken and sold... plus there is some hay and such there that he wants them to clean up some of the mess they made pulling it out of the hay feeder...

Then did the other 19... 4- 4 1/2 - 5- 4 months right along... That was great.... I think we have had one other check a few years ago that they were 100% pregnant.

Did Fred's bull last... he was still groggy from the anesthesia that he used, but the bull never went down. Trimmed his horribly long back feet... and then got a shot to counter it... but vet said it would be best for him to stay there for a bit to get back to normal... so it worked out. Left him in the small pen behind the chute to come around.

DS was going with the vet to help with the next place, guy is a friend and they were going to be short handed... So DS and GF took his truck and vet followed and they went to Shelby's.... he had 35 - 40 to do.

Let the cows back with their calves in the barn lot where they could eat some silage left in the bunk, water and shade. Would be fine until he got back.

I left and came home. Had put the sample bottles in the car already, so got what else I needed and carried water and fed the chickens. Unfortunately, when I went in the NH pen, there was a pullet stretched out... thought at first she was sunning herself... you know how they stretch that wing out kinda thing... well,,,,, NOPE... she was stiff as a board.... Tea totally DEAD... No signs of a problem, just dead... Have no clue at all. The rest of the chickens looked, acted fine... Oh well, part of it...

Stopped at Chic-Filet and got a grilled chicken sandwich and lemonade, went to the bank with the cattle check from Friday and deposited it.. then headed down to test the farm...

Got a text from the guy about the eggs and said I would be there right around 3... he came and I got the eggs and we talked chickens and such for a bit. He has only had these Vorwerk Chickens for a year or so... but we talked about them and their dispositions and such... There is no standard of perfection recognition, and I asked if there was any sort of standard they were being raised to... he said not really, just a couple people on facebook... so I guess I am going to have to go on facebook, and get in with them... want to raise a group that have consistent shape/type, and color patterns... since they are considered pretty much the same as Lakenvelders, I am going to study that breed, and where the Lakenvelders are white, these are red... hoping to be able to get a standardized bird to that they could get admitted to the American Poultry Assoc and into the Standard of Perfection... don't want a hodgepodge of types and different color variations...

Then we started milking at 3:30 and got done about 6:30... Got splattered with manure a couple times, cows are eating some grass so are very loose..... did the computer work and I came on home... Got here about 8, carried samples in the house, brought the tea in and made it and got it in the fridge, then took a shower and washed my cow manure covered hair. It was a long day and I was beat.

Talked to DS on the way home... they had helped do Shelby's cows, all his were preg but 1 ? .... and then they came back to the farm... got the cows and calves across the driveway and up with the other ones that have calves... will stay there until he decides to pull calves... either wean or sell, or both... took Fred's bull back... and then found another calf in the calving field, that was scouring and not feeling good... Got cow and calf in pen in barn, treated for scours, and gave sulmet bolus, and a shot... said it really did not feel good. So, it will need watching and treating again... But it is in, to keep an eye on.
The one with the "slow" calf, is doing good out with the cow in the lot with Red .... DS said he saw it sucking the cow yesterday... so it finally "got it"...

So, got up to grey cloudy skies, a little sprinkle/showery type stuff. Going to make some breakfast and then get the samples packed.

Leghorn hen seems to be doing okay out with the cornish... She is not happy, but the NH rooster is not tearing her head up.

Meant to candle the eggs again last night but fell asleep after the long day... GOT to do it tonight... I did put new batteries in the flashlight and it is MUCH BRIGHTER...... They will need to be closed up with higher humidity to hatch this weekend... At least they will either be very fertile or duds at this point.

Time to get some things done...

Congratulations on all of the cows being bred.

Sorry about your pullet. Sometimes you just don't know what happens to them.

Excited to follow along on your Vorwerk breeding.

 

[fuzzi]

Agree with @drstratton regarding good pregnancy numbers. Sorry about the dead hen. I once found a dead hen under the roost, just had a heart attack and dropped, I guess.

 

[SageHill]

Those are pretty chickens!!! I may have to check into them when the current New Hampshires age out.

 

[farmerjan]

Thursday morning... still cloudy and barely damp... 52 on recording temp... and we had less than half a tenth in the 2 different rain gauges... I'd put it at .05..... We have been on the edges and it is mostly east of the Blue Ridge Mtns... and heading for most of the eastern coast members. Looks like we will be out of wet weather in a few hours. Not enough to barely get the grass wet..

Finally got the eggs candled last night and not as good as I thought it might be... about 50% are dark and can't see through them... many/most of the leghorn eggs are clear, some you can tell died early on with the red blood ring. Let's see what hatches. First batch in the new incubator.. plus had no idea what to expect in fertility.
Did not go out and bother the langshan. Figure as devoted as she is, I will give her a batch of chicks when they all hatch... hoping some of hers hatch too.. but I will make sure she has some chicks to raise since she is being so determined to hatch some chicks.

Vorwerk eggs will go in with some of the NH eggs from the single male in with the hens, and a few more of the leghorn eggs.

The leghorn hen is doing okay in the cornish pen, she picks on them a little...

DS has Dr appt today... noon... said we would leave at 10... Has a friend that wants to go to Rural King... so he might be riding along.. that's fine... want to make sure that there is room in the explorer... have some stuff to take out of the back seat. Got all the coffee cans out and dropped off at the barn for DS... cleaned out the back; have not shown him the heavy hinges and the chain ratchet that @fuzzi also brought from things her late husband had stashed in the shed she said she would never use.... Thank you again...
By the way, have either of you two tried any of the beef??? If it turns out to be tough as shoe leather please tell me that too...

Friend came yesterday that "grades the cattle"... He and DS sorted and put together the VT cattle to sell in groups/pairs... etc... thinking some will go this week (Sat)... maybe. Got about 8 that need to be preg checked...
Then we moved the 15 that we sold calves off to one pasture... only 1 of the 16 was open from last weeks preg check and she will go with a different group to get bred back.. she is a first calf heifer and will get a second chance. She raised a nice calf we just sold... She ought to gain back a little condition and be right ready to breed right back as soon as the bulls go in the end of the month.

The cow and calf they just brought in the barn the other afternoon..... the calf died overnight..... the cow had a very small calf last year and didn't do real good, small and never grew as fast as it should have... DS asked about maybe getting and putting a calf on her and I said no... calves cost too much, and she did not raise a very good one last time... just send her to the stockyard as a cull cow... he said that was fine. She went up in the back with the other open one, so is close to bring in the barn, to load on the trailer... I think that he is planning to go to the bred cow sale next WED, take her and a couple from Caleb (state grader friend) that he wants to ship... we will have room on the trailer and so that is a good excuse to go to the sale too... always keeping an eye out for a "deal".... don't have to have any but you never know... Maybe some people shipping some due to the dry conditions...

Even places that have gotten some of this rain; this will not break the drought conditions... ANY rain will help... but we need some nice steady rain... especially here in the valley... I do hope that some of the areas east of here do get a decent soaking rain... some of that area was even one degree worse on the drought monitor...from severe to extreme.... That comes out again today after 8:30... new one published every week...

So, going to run down to the barn and get more feed from the bin... the cornish do eat alot, but I am glad to be using up more of this old feed... still need to find someone to kill them...
Gotta get things done.

 

[fuzzi]

I have not tried any of the beef. I was going to take the ground beef with me when I visit with my DGDs, hopefully in August. I've reserved a cabin again, and we can grill hamburgers. I noticed a filet mignon and I put it in my kitchen freezer, first up for consumption. That was Ron's favorite cut, we loved going to a steak house on our anniversary.

 

[Ridgetop]

Great news on the preg check! Excellent productivity. The new bulls must be working for you. Too bad about the dead calf but smart move to sell the cow while prices are high since she did not raise a good calf last year. You will be using more bought hay this year with the drought and not selling off any cows since they are 100% pregnant so no point keeping a poor producer on the payroll. I hope you get more rain once the corn and other crops are in so you will get a good return of sileage again.

 

[Baymule]

All are bred! Thats darn good. Yep, take that cow to the sale. I’m sorry about your chicken, it just happens. How about some pictures of vorwerk chickens? What color and pattern are they?

 

[farmerjan]

Great news on the preg check! Excellent productivity. The new bulls must be working for you. Too bad about the dead calf but smart move to sell the cow while prices are high since she did not raise a good calf last year. You will be using more bought hay this year with the drought and not selling off any cows since they are 100% pregnant so no point keeping a poor producer on the payroll. I hope you get more rain once the corn and other crops are in so you will get a good return of sileage again.

The preg check cows were from 3 different pastures, brought to doug's farm and put together in one group... and they were all with older mature bulls. We only used the one bought in Dec ... when we got him, he was put in with the 7 cows that were very late calving... and he caught 2 of them... and mostly I didn't think they had enough time to even start cycling...hadn't planned on his catching any of them, but if he did, that was okay. We did not want to put him in the bull lot by himself, as all the other bulls were out at pastures.
The bull we got in March, will not even be put with cows until this coming late fall... he is only 15 months now... we do not use a bull that young if at all possible... Once in awhile we put a young one in a pasture as the "clean up bull" after a mature bull was in for 60 days or so... They can breed, but put in with too many cows, can really drag their condition down, and somewhat stunt their growth too. Putting one in as a clean up bull, means hopefully he might only have a few to breed, if any...
There are alot of people that use these young bulls right away, but we just want some more maturity from them.

 

[farmerjan]

@Baymule .. I don't have any pictures of the Vorwerk chickens; and the pics he sent me in a text I have no idea how to post them, since I did not take them with my own phone...
If you google them, you will see the colors... They have a black neck(hackle) and tail, with a reddish brown body... White earlobes, lay white eggs... legs look like a slate color. That is why I want to find a group that is serious about them, to get a uniform shape and type and colors... so that they can get admitted to the Standard of Perfection ....
Following the type and coloring of the Lakenvelder, but where they are white, the Vorwerk is the reddish brown... both have black tails and hackles. It is a distinct difference in the body and neck and tail... no shading or anything... no striping or anything like that.

Will see how they do... might not like their disposition, but they can't be wilder than these Buff Leghorns... They are very striking, the male has a beautiful tail and overall carriage, but they are soo flighty. HOPING that some chicks, raised with the calmer NH's... will be easier to handle, work around.

 

[farmerjan]

Saturday morning... 48 overnight. Supposed to be partly cloudy most of the day, some clearing late and maybe some sun... CHANCE of a stray shower... Possible more Sunday night into Monday...
I put some clothes in to soak, and ran them through this morning... second load in now. Going to hang the 2 loads, maybe entice it to rain???? Should've done them and hung yesterday as it was real sunny and nice...

We went to the dr appt and DS's friend went along . The dr was nearly an hour late with getting DS in, common with him as he does not rush his patients... but it is aggravating. One reason why DS always would get an early morning appt... how far behind can you get when you are the first or second patient. Anyway, went from there and grabbed some lunch at a little hole in the wall spot that has good food, and then went to Rural King. Spent 2 hours there... I didn't get alot, and knowing we were going again on Monday, waited for feed. The other guy drove, and his Subaru is ALOT smaller inside... They got hydraulic fluid in 5 gal buckets, and fly control blocks for the cattle, other farm stuff/grease and all... There is no way I could have otten more than 1 or 2 bags of feed.. It can wait. Not feeding as much feed to the cows with all the grass at snyder's..... Got home about 6:30 or so...
Unfortunately, something I ate triggered the alpha gal and wound up with the coughing, runny nose, chest tightening breathing... I had a real good grilled chicken patty, and deep fried mushrooms... it could have been the breading on the mushrooms or the bun the chicken patty was on... but about 4-5 hours later it started. I could not stop coughing and got to wheezing and all... finally settled down some and went to bed, but woke up around 3 and could not breathe... took about an hour and then was able to "get past it" and go back to bed. I was really worn out when I did get up..
DS was wanting to take a load of the VT cattle but we had the 500+ cow herd scheduled to test...
After the night I had, I texted farm and said I could not test due to an allergic reaction... rescheduled it for Tuesday... Between now and then I will NOT eat anything I am not sure of ...

SO, DS decided to take a load of the VT cattle yesterday... may as well since we weren't going to test... Yeah, it was convenient for him too... one reason I decided to cancel... but I knew I would be really pushing myself to test... 4+ hours in the barn..
So I went to the barn to help him sort the calves as they were already split up some from when Caleb was there on Wed. Basically all I did was open and shut a couple gates as he brought them to me and wanted them in one or 2 different sections. He wound up taking 17... the one that we banded when the vet was there was too soon to cut the sack off... so instead of 3 groups of 6 he took 6-6-5...
This stockyard is the closest local one... but the ones that took it over a couple years ago, the "manager" will do things the way he wants... He singled out a calf out of the group of 5 and another one out of one of the groups of 6... DS was not happy... there was no reason for it... and so after all that, DS wound up bringing back one of the 2 calves... They do this, and then the buyers "steal" the single calf... that brings down the average overall of the groups of cattle that they buy. There are about 2-6 regular buyers in there... and yesterday there were only 3 of them there. Cattle prices were off about $.25-.75 a lb... NOW, don't get me wrong, the prices are still good... but several calves comprable to the ones we sold last week, like my char x that brought such good money, were down in the 5.25-5.50 range.. not the 6.00 like I got.
The ones he got 5.10-5.30 for were in the 4.85-5.10 range...
Still alot of money, but off a bit. Partly it was because not as much competition from more buyers.

But that is 16 off the feed/hay bill... Should have taken some today, but he has to go to Colt's practice/game at 11 and then a thing at the school for the sister's daughter at 1..... like REALLY????? Every Sat there is something... and this is supposed to be his living now...
Not getting into it.

Don't know when he plans to get those heifers preg checked.....

Next Sat he plans to take 2 trailer loads to the Sat sale so will be most of them gone I guess. Not going to take anymore to the closer stockyards here... I mentioned that I wanted to take the 4 bwf heifers that I don't like as much out of the 12 I got off the dairy last year... we'll see if there is room for my stuff...

Stockyards are all closed on Memorial Day weekend... never used to be, but everyone wants all the holidays off nowadays. So they should have been going today, and then next week... now they will go next week and anything else will wait until the first of June...

They have shed off a little, and some of the muck has dried up and come off so they look better... which was part of the plan... Not my deal... aside from helping sort and stuff at the barn... I am not getting into it, or getting anything out of it..

Well, just got a text, and he got Buck to come work a bit today, so wants to get me to go up with him and put in some T-posts at snyders to section off part of the field.. cuz DS will be busy for a few hours... save some grass for later... they have more than they can eat so are picking and choosing... this will concentrate them to eat more in one section, then can open up this section if it continues to be dry and it doesn't come back fast... The ground has been so hard I cannot get the posts in the ground... Get some T-posts in for stability, and then I will get the small posts inbetween and string the wire in a day or 2... was hoping for a little rain to soften the ground a bit to make it easier...
Guess I had better get some breakfast and ready for when he texts me back...