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!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
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!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Sweet Corn Season is Here!
Wow, has the summer ever gone by fast! We've had hay to bale, corn to spray and cultivate, the county fair, and now - sweet corn to pick and sell! What started out fourteen years ago as a pocket change enterprise for our young boys, has grown into an 18 acre, hand-picked undertaking every August. When milk prices were so low, we needed a niche market to help to strengthen our cash flow. Once we got the business off of the ground, and God blessed it, there was no looking back. We have a great crew of pickers that helps us out. They show up every evening at milking time to head to the field to begin filling the three trucks. On nice evenings, the picking goes fast. There have been times, though, when we've really had to hurry up to beat an incoming storm, or when the boys were still in school - Friday night football games! Farmer Rick and I used to be able to do it all when they were still around the farm, but now that they're grown, we need the help. Farmerette is a big help too, but she is often helping me milk while the crew is picking.
The cows are quite happy too at this time of year because they get the sweet corn silage and leftovers from the day dumped in their feed wagon in the night pasture. Once they see Farmer Rick head out to the field to begin chopping, they begin to sing a chorus of moo's and sometimes get rather impatient as I try to finish up milking before he returns! If the sweet corn starts to ripen faster than we can use it, we will chop off an additional row or two to keep up with the younger corn. So, as the season progresses, we pick our way across the field, closely followed by the corn chopper for feed for the cows. We try not to waste anything on the farm.
I remember a saying from the oldtimer's: "We used everything from the pig but the squeal".
Boy, is that ever true. Even though milk prices have improved over the last couple of months, we know that they won't last long. Having an extra income for six short weeks of the year is a tremendous help in paying off planting expenses and catching up on other bills before the milk price takes a dive again. We are very, very thankful that God has blessed our efforts and continues to provide us with a means to continue this life that we love!
The cows are quite happy too at this time of year because they get the sweet corn silage and leftovers from the day dumped in their feed wagon in the night pasture. Once they see Farmer Rick head out to the field to begin chopping, they begin to sing a chorus of moo's and sometimes get rather impatient as I try to finish up milking before he returns! If the sweet corn starts to ripen faster than we can use it, we will chop off an additional row or two to keep up with the younger corn. So, as the season progresses, we pick our way across the field, closely followed by the corn chopper for feed for the cows. We try not to waste anything on the farm.
I remember a saying from the oldtimer's: "We used everything from the pig but the squeal".
Boy, is that ever true. Even though milk prices have improved over the last couple of months, we know that they won't last long. Having an extra income for six short weeks of the year is a tremendous help in paying off planting expenses and catching up on other bills before the milk price takes a dive again. We are very, very thankful that God has blessed our efforts and continues to provide us with a means to continue this life that we love!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
IT IS SO HOT!!
It's been a week now of very very hot weather. Keeping the cows cool and healthy is a daily (and nightly) challenge. When it's this hot, we keep the cows in during the day and run the funnel fans over them, just to try to keep them somewhat comfortable. If we put them outside, they just stand at the gate and don't go munch grass. They'll then come in the barn, just panting. Sounds like we're in for atleast a few more days of this.
Hay is down, trying to dry. With it this humid, it's rather hard to coax it along to dry. But second crop needs to be in the haymow already, so it gets cut, whether it's going to dry fast or not. There is a chance of rain today, so we'll see if the hay gets washed or not! Rain has been falling rather heavily all around us, but there's a little area in our southern part of the county and the neighboring county that has missed the rain every time. Although I hate to see the hay get rained on, we could use it! It's rather depressing to see the rain go north, the rain go south. Rain goes north, rain goes south. Every time.
But we continue to trust that God will bring us the rain when he's good and ready. He has carried us this far - what else can we do but trust?
Hay is down, trying to dry. With it this humid, it's rather hard to coax it along to dry. But second crop needs to be in the haymow already, so it gets cut, whether it's going to dry fast or not. There is a chance of rain today, so we'll see if the hay gets washed or not! Rain has been falling rather heavily all around us, but there's a little area in our southern part of the county and the neighboring county that has missed the rain every time. Although I hate to see the hay get rained on, we could use it! It's rather depressing to see the rain go north, the rain go south. Rain goes north, rain goes south. Every time.
But we continue to trust that God will bring us the rain when he's good and ready. He has carried us this far - what else can we do but trust?
Monday, July 4, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, June 13, 2011
It's Haying Time!
One of the appealing aromas around the farm (and there are plenty of unappealing!) is the smell of fresh-cut alfalfa. Watching the hay fold under the discbine, coming out the back in a nice neat windrow is a blessing to behold as you begin to calculate just how far up the silo will be filled after completing this field. After our cool wet spring, we knew that atleast we'd have a plentiful first crop to begin our haying season with. Believe it or not, we are now coming up short on rainfall and could use a healthy dose of it. We have one-half of a twelve acre hay field mowed down now, half for baling and half for chopping. The silo is nearing the top, so we top it off with one or two loads a day until completely full, because each day it settles a door or two.
The cows sure lick up this new cutting of hay! After eating the hay from the haymow all winter and spring, having a new taste of fresh hay in their mouths is something that brings them in from pasture in a hurry. They quickly step into their stalls and bury their noses in the sweet smelling alfalfa and forget all their worries of the day. By having dry hay on their bellies before we give them haylage and grain, we create a cushion that rests on the bottom of their stomach that lets the "wet" feed filter through it as it slowly digests. This system of having a filter allows the heavier and more dense feed to digest more slowly, releasing the nutrients into their system rather than "slugging" through heavy forage and grain right away. This also allows the cow to chew her cud much longer, giving her system a more continuous flow of digestive compounds, thereby raising our butterfat and protein.
Happy, healthy cows is what we strive for. We are constantly reading and watching for best practices that allow our girls to live long productive lives. Just watching the last cow fade out of sight as she follows the herd over the hill to pasture each day is satisfying enough. We know that they'll begin to meander back up to the barn when the afternoon sun begins to fade, waiting at the cowyard gate for us to open it up and let them come into the barn for evening milking, beginning the cycle once again.
The cows sure lick up this new cutting of hay! After eating the hay from the haymow all winter and spring, having a new taste of fresh hay in their mouths is something that brings them in from pasture in a hurry. They quickly step into their stalls and bury their noses in the sweet smelling alfalfa and forget all their worries of the day. By having dry hay on their bellies before we give them haylage and grain, we create a cushion that rests on the bottom of their stomach that lets the "wet" feed filter through it as it slowly digests. This system of having a filter allows the heavier and more dense feed to digest more slowly, releasing the nutrients into their system rather than "slugging" through heavy forage and grain right away. This also allows the cow to chew her cud much longer, giving her system a more continuous flow of digestive compounds, thereby raising our butterfat and protein.
Happy, healthy cows is what we strive for. We are constantly reading and watching for best practices that allow our girls to live long productive lives. Just watching the last cow fade out of sight as she follows the herd over the hill to pasture each day is satisfying enough. We know that they'll begin to meander back up to the barn when the afternoon sun begins to fade, waiting at the cowyard gate for us to open it up and let them come into the barn for evening milking, beginning the cycle once again.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
A Weekend Drive
Nothing beats a weekend spent camping with the daughter and a good horse. OK, maybe you have something that you really enjoy doing, but for this farmer, getting away for just a couple of days, no clock to live by, outdoor cooking and some good trails to follow are what fills my tank back up, giving me the outlook I need to go back to the farm and take up my place again.
Farmerette and I packed up our gear, horse and road cart and headed north. Each Memorial Day weekend, we travel north to meet up with our harness club for a fun weekend of driving, campfires and good food. We have friends that we look forward to seeing each year up there. The group of people that bring their horses and carts are very knowledgeable horse people who take very good care of their horses. They care deeply for their horses and all are well fed, well trained, and enjoy the atmosphere of being out for a new adventure. No drunken poker run trail riders here. Which is nice. We don't do those rides.
After arriving, we made sure our mare was settled in her outdoor corral, then unpacked the harness and cart. We set up our table with our camping gear and made the gooseneck of the trailer into our home away from home. A cooler well-stocked with food and a coleman stove are enough to get us through the weekend. After getting camp set up, we had time to get in a couple of games of badminton. We had wanted to harness up for a quick drive before dark, but it had started to rain lightly, so we decided to see what the weather held for the next day.
And what a beautiful day for driving it was! I saddled up and took an early ride just to settle my mare down while Farmerette made a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. Once we had finished up breakfast and tidied up the camp, we hitched up and headed out on the northbound trail with some friends and their horses. What a blast! Beautiful!
Farmerette and I packed up our gear, horse and road cart and headed north. Each Memorial Day weekend, we travel north to meet up with our harness club for a fun weekend of driving, campfires and good food. We have friends that we look forward to seeing each year up there. The group of people that bring their horses and carts are very knowledgeable horse people who take very good care of their horses. They care deeply for their horses and all are well fed, well trained, and enjoy the atmosphere of being out for a new adventure. No drunken poker run trail riders here. Which is nice. We don't do those rides.
After arriving, we made sure our mare was settled in her outdoor corral, then unpacked the harness and cart. We set up our table with our camping gear and made the gooseneck of the trailer into our home away from home. A cooler well-stocked with food and a coleman stove are enough to get us through the weekend. After getting camp set up, we had time to get in a couple of games of badminton. We had wanted to harness up for a quick drive before dark, but it had started to rain lightly, so we decided to see what the weather held for the next day.
And what a beautiful day for driving it was! I saddled up and took an early ride just to settle my mare down while Farmerette made a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. Once we had finished up breakfast and tidied up the camp, we hitched up and headed out on the northbound trail with some friends and their horses. What a blast! Beautiful!
The trails are nice and wide, accomodating the width of the wheels of our carts. Whenever we would slow down and give the horses a break at the walk, we'd get the camera out and snap some pictures of the scenery around us. The county maintains this area of 4,000 acres. Some of the old timers refer to it as the pine barrens or bird sanctuary. Back in the 40's to mid 70's, this used to be a bird dog trial and training area. The geography is different here than our usual pine and oak forest around home. This area is quite open with scrubby oak and an occaisional small pine. The habitat is a bit different from home here also, but the bear, coyote, deer and wolf are frequent visitors also - just like home.
The black horse above is ours, while our friends ahead of us are driving an arab mare with their spotted pony following behind. We call it "ponying". This is a good way to exercise more than one horse and for getting a young horse used to heading out away from camp, accomodating them to the rigors of what they will encounter on the trail. We had left our pony home, but would like to bring him along on a future trip.
After an enjoyable weekend of driving and just plain fun, we packed up and headed back down the road in the direction of home. It's so hard to leave such a beautiful place, but we are so thankful that the state and county maintain such a nice, clean place to camp and enjoy our horses. We hope that it will remain accessible for many years to come!
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