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!
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