I wish there were more days like this! After helping Farmer Rick get a good start on milking, my first lesson pulled into the driveway. Off we went to the horse barn!
We saddled up and headed out down the road. We had several stops to make, so we scooted right along. It was a planned trip. I want my students to be able to handle their horses in many situations outside of an arena. A horse can be a completely different animal once removed from the confines of an enclosed space. Since I had several invitations to drop off to surrounding neighbors, it would be a good opportunity for my student to encounter barking, sniffing dogs, scary horse-eating items in yards, and curious kids. Although this particular student and I have ridden on the road before, it would be a good opportunity for her to experience mounting and dismounting on a horse that has one thing on its mind - green grass and buddies at home. But we survived the trip, horses acted up a couple of times, but we managed to keep things to a low roar. 3 hours.
Once home, Farmerette saddled up her gelding and we both headed out in the opposite direction from home and delivered invitations in that direction. We had a wonderful ride. 2 hours.
After loosening the cinch on my mare and putting her in an empty stall for a few minutes' rest, I headed to the house for a quick bite to eat. Once lunch was done, my mare and I let the cows out on the hayfield for a couple hours of grazing. What a beautiful day! The sun was warm on our back, the cows were rather content - most stayed away from the road. My mare was able to get in several mouthfuls of tasty green grass once the cows were settled down - all was good. After two hours of grass munching, the cows were ready to come back to the night pasture and rest in the sunshine before being brought in for milking. My mare was unsaddled and out to her own pasture in a quick five minutes. 2 hours.
So, after seven hours saddle time, I was ready for a little break from the action before evening milking, but as I headed down the driveway, Farmer Rick pointed to the tracted and cornpicker and asked for some help. So the dog and I jumped in the cab of the tractor and headed out to the field. Four loads later, it was time for evening milking. But as tired as I was, who could complain after spending the most enjoyable day in quite some time - in the saddle on a good horse, on a beautiful sunny day.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
That Darn Cow!!
Sunday Morning. Yep. One eye on the clock, one eye on the chores.
All of the cows came quietly into the barn. It was a nice calm morning, no wind, no rain. All the cows but one. For the purposes of this blog and being polite, let's call her "Red" rather than what we would have liked to call her by the end of the morning.
Once all of the herd had filed into their tie stalls, we started chores. Red didn't come in. But we rather expected that. She has developed quite a hatred for our new border collie puppy. Those two just do not see eye to eye, and I think our puppy likes to rub it in. One bark and off to the woods goes Red. We had left Sadie (puppy) in the milkhouse while cows came in, just to make sure that she would not upset Red. But even with Sadie safely tucked away, Red still stood at the gate furthest from the barn just staring at me as I walked out the door to bring her around. Well, do you remember the story from your Sunday School days about when Jesus cast the demons out of the man on the seashore? The demons went into the pigs and they went crashing over the bluff into the sea. So when Red saw me come out the door, she stared me down, then took off like a bullet, straight across the cow yard, crashed through four 2 x 6 x 16 boards on the fence, shattering each one, then proceded to rip across the recently harvest cornfield towards the woods. The old dog managed to head her off before she got there, but we spent the next 20 minutes weaving in and out of machinery that's lined up along the fenceline out back. I've never seen so much burdock, pigweek, buttoneweed, and all kinds of prickly weeds! I became a walking magnet, getting stuck and prickled with every kind of weed barb imaginable! There were so many weed seeds and pricklies stuck to me when we finally came out of there (without the cow, of course) that I think there should be enough dispersed around the farm to provide us with plenty of weeds throughout the fields next year.
Four wheelers are wonderful.
If it had not been for needing to get to church right away, I would've saddled up and gone after Red. But in the interest of time, I jumped on the four wheeler and headed out to the prickly weed patch once again. By the time I got there, the old border collie had rounded her up, (by way of passing through two 4-strand barb wire fences) and had her safely in the night pasture, munching hay with the bred heifers.
So, all in all, we managed to clean up, head up to church, only arriving 10 minutes late. Only one bad thing - when you get there late, the only seats are guess where? Way up front! Oh No! What happens to an exhausted farmer when you plunk them down in a soft comfortable chair with nothing to do but sit in one place for 45 to 60 minutes after putting in a full day's work before 9 am? You guessed it! Lights out!
All of the cows came quietly into the barn. It was a nice calm morning, no wind, no rain. All the cows but one. For the purposes of this blog and being polite, let's call her "Red" rather than what we would have liked to call her by the end of the morning.
Once all of the herd had filed into their tie stalls, we started chores. Red didn't come in. But we rather expected that. She has developed quite a hatred for our new border collie puppy. Those two just do not see eye to eye, and I think our puppy likes to rub it in. One bark and off to the woods goes Red. We had left Sadie (puppy) in the milkhouse while cows came in, just to make sure that she would not upset Red. But even with Sadie safely tucked away, Red still stood at the gate furthest from the barn just staring at me as I walked out the door to bring her around. Well, do you remember the story from your Sunday School days about when Jesus cast the demons out of the man on the seashore? The demons went into the pigs and they went crashing over the bluff into the sea. So when Red saw me come out the door, she stared me down, then took off like a bullet, straight across the cow yard, crashed through four 2 x 6 x 16 boards on the fence, shattering each one, then proceded to rip across the recently harvest cornfield towards the woods. The old dog managed to head her off before she got there, but we spent the next 20 minutes weaving in and out of machinery that's lined up along the fenceline out back. I've never seen so much burdock, pigweek, buttoneweed, and all kinds of prickly weeds! I became a walking magnet, getting stuck and prickled with every kind of weed barb imaginable! There were so many weed seeds and pricklies stuck to me when we finally came out of there (without the cow, of course) that I think there should be enough dispersed around the farm to provide us with plenty of weeds throughout the fields next year.
Four wheelers are wonderful.
If it had not been for needing to get to church right away, I would've saddled up and gone after Red. But in the interest of time, I jumped on the four wheeler and headed out to the prickly weed patch once again. By the time I got there, the old border collie had rounded her up, (by way of passing through two 4-strand barb wire fences) and had her safely in the night pasture, munching hay with the bred heifers.
So, all in all, we managed to clean up, head up to church, only arriving 10 minutes late. Only one bad thing - when you get there late, the only seats are guess where? Way up front! Oh No! What happens to an exhausted farmer when you plunk them down in a soft comfortable chair with nothing to do but sit in one place for 45 to 60 minutes after putting in a full day's work before 9 am? You guessed it! Lights out!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Heifers are Home for the Winter
The trailer backed up to the barn door for the last time yesterday. We've been busy bringing a load or two of heifers home from across the road each day. Summer pasture has dwindled, so it's time to bring them home so they can keep growing on silage and hay.
For the fifth straight year now, we've been averaging 80% heifers! Sure, it can be a blessing, but when your land can only support so many cows, it can be a challenge making sure that we have enough feed. We are very thankful that we have them though, because this has been a hard year on our older cows. We just shipped two yesterday that we didn't want to try to baby through another winter. One had a broken bone in her foot. She limped quite bit during the summer, but the limp was undistinguishable by early Fall. We were afraid she'd have a hard time getting up and down when they spend more time in the barn this winter. I hate having to make the decision to ship any cow, but we have to make room for the next generation to take over.
One of the heifers that we brought home is actually due in a week. She sure doesn't look like it -and boy is she ever touchy! We have her in the barn now, trying to get her used to the daily routine of hearing the milkers run, stepping in beside her to milk her neighbor, and so on. She sure likes the silage - that's a big help!
Time to head to the barn - then head out to the hayfield to graze the herd by horseback two hours before getting ready for work. One more week of grazing the old hayfield and it'll be done. The horses always look forward to taking the herd out. Once the cows are contendly munching, my horse gets to graze the grass along the edges of the field. He sure enjoys that!
For the fifth straight year now, we've been averaging 80% heifers! Sure, it can be a blessing, but when your land can only support so many cows, it can be a challenge making sure that we have enough feed. We are very thankful that we have them though, because this has been a hard year on our older cows. We just shipped two yesterday that we didn't want to try to baby through another winter. One had a broken bone in her foot. She limped quite bit during the summer, but the limp was undistinguishable by early Fall. We were afraid she'd have a hard time getting up and down when they spend more time in the barn this winter. I hate having to make the decision to ship any cow, but we have to make room for the next generation to take over.
One of the heifers that we brought home is actually due in a week. She sure doesn't look like it -and boy is she ever touchy! We have her in the barn now, trying to get her used to the daily routine of hearing the milkers run, stepping in beside her to milk her neighbor, and so on. She sure likes the silage - that's a big help!
Time to head to the barn - then head out to the hayfield to graze the herd by horseback two hours before getting ready for work. One more week of grazing the old hayfield and it'll be done. The horses always look forward to taking the herd out. Once the cows are contendly munching, my horse gets to graze the grass along the edges of the field. He sure enjoys that!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Weather's turning Colder!
The first mention of snow is in the forecast. Brrrr! We have stocked the woodpile and filled the barn with hay. Farmer Rick mentioned that he would like to cut one more field of hay and try to get it in before the snow flies. We'll be stuffing it in the rafters!
The horses are putting on their winter coats. Thick and fluffy. I've noticed that the wooly bear caterpillars are more brown than black - I believe that signals a cold winter. We also made note of the corn husks. They are wrapped rather tight this year. That usually indicates a cold winter also. We'll see!
The corn picker will soon be coming out of the shed and get greased up. In the meantime, we're busily working on the north end of the dairy barn to seal it up, replace a door and two upright beams so it'll be ready for winter. Anybody who's had cattle knows how hard they are on barns. Just take three large cows that are in a hurry to get out the door to their pasture, or a couple of heifers using the doorposts as scratching posts - and you know what I mean. There's always something to fix or repair on a farm. Seems like there's always more projects that there is time or money! The Greenhand farmer is finding that out really quick. Things don't stay nice and pretty for very long. It takes constant upkeep to have things looking neat as a pin. Take general home repairs and multiply by the number of cattle in your barn and that will just about bring you to a running total of how many repairs there are to do around a farm at any given time. Pigs are also very hard on barns, gates, and any dirt floor. There's a very good reason why many hog farms have concrete floors - pigs are notorious for rooting up gates and fences. Every once in awhile one of the big sows gets out and gets into my flower beds. Time to call the dogs and put her back in her pen!
Stay warm. Take the time to smell that crisp fall air and find one more decent apple on the tree before the cold winds blow!
The horses are putting on their winter coats. Thick and fluffy. I've noticed that the wooly bear caterpillars are more brown than black - I believe that signals a cold winter. We also made note of the corn husks. They are wrapped rather tight this year. That usually indicates a cold winter also. We'll see!
The corn picker will soon be coming out of the shed and get greased up. In the meantime, we're busily working on the north end of the dairy barn to seal it up, replace a door and two upright beams so it'll be ready for winter. Anybody who's had cattle knows how hard they are on barns. Just take three large cows that are in a hurry to get out the door to their pasture, or a couple of heifers using the doorposts as scratching posts - and you know what I mean. There's always something to fix or repair on a farm. Seems like there's always more projects that there is time or money! The Greenhand farmer is finding that out really quick. Things don't stay nice and pretty for very long. It takes constant upkeep to have things looking neat as a pin. Take general home repairs and multiply by the number of cattle in your barn and that will just about bring you to a running total of how many repairs there are to do around a farm at any given time. Pigs are also very hard on barns, gates, and any dirt floor. There's a very good reason why many hog farms have concrete floors - pigs are notorious for rooting up gates and fences. Every once in awhile one of the big sows gets out and gets into my flower beds. Time to call the dogs and put her back in her pen!
Stay warm. Take the time to smell that crisp fall air and find one more decent apple on the tree before the cold winds blow!
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