Summer on a Farm

Blog or pull a calf.  Blog or try to get 2000 bales of hay in the barn before the rain hits.  Blog or cultivate corn.  Blog or fertilize hayfields.

Summer hits with all of its many seasonal duties that consume the day before the beginning until way beyond the end.  Everytime I would try to sit down to write a quick note on the page, there would always be something looming over my shoulder that needed doing, and the keyboard would get left for days on end.

But here's a quick snapshot of how things have been going:  Cows are enjoying their daily trek to the woods and swamp for their pasture.  Farmerette and I love taking a walk through the woods, calling the cows up for evening milking.  Usually they are already at the gate, but occaisionally they straggle in, wanting to get that last bit of grass before heading to the barn.  Evenings find them outside now, too.  The weather has been rather hot, so since we have some leftover hay bales that didn't make it into the haymow, we put several on a wagon at night for them to munch on.  As much as I love walking to the woods to bring cows up at night, it's no fun looking for them early in the morning in the dark! So by feeding them the hay on a wagon at night, they stay close and don't wander off to the woods.

First crop of hay is up.  Silo is filled and haymow is half full to the peak of the roof.  Second and third crop should fill the remaining section of the barn to the roofpeak if we get enough rain.  Spent most of the day after church yesterday cultivating corn.  There is much to learn from cultivating.  Patience, diligence, staying awake!  One thing that I'm often reminded of, is that when cultivating with a four row implement, when you get off by one row, it just doesn't affect that one row, but it affects all four rows!  I hate turning corn under by mistake!  Not many farmers cultivate anymore with the price of diesel and the time it takes, but we have found that it works very well for us.  Since we use a very limited amount of spray on our land, going through and cultivating reduces our weed populations and gives the corn an extra boost.  It's almost like applying another application of fertilizer!  Many times, just looking at the field the day after it's been cultivated and it looks like it's jumped six inches!

We will soon be broadcasting nitrogen on the corn - should have been done already, but we're running behind due to a knee injury of Farmer Rick.  He may need surgery, but we'll know more soon.  That will slow us down even more.  When he's laid up, I have the full load of chores.  Getting up for morning milking at 4:30 am, trying to be to work at 8 am on the days I work, coming home and organizing neighborhood kids to help me unload hay, milk again, clean stalls, do all of the other feeding and cleaning barn, getting in the house by 11:30 pm, showering and getting back up at 4:30 takes its toll.  June has been a very long month and it's really drawing my energy level down.  Hope to get caught up on things eventually.

Cows are waiting at the gate for morning milking, two are due to calve this week, hay to bale and three more fields to cultivate today - even though it's a holiday for most - the work still goes on on a farm.  Maybe we'll get in town tonight for the fireworks - atleast they're after dark and most of our work (for the day) is done by then!