One Step Closer To Organized

It certainly felt like spring going to the barn this morning.  It was nearly 50 but cloudy and dreary and brown with the mud and most of the snow gone.  I guess you can't have everything at once. The fresh cow still hasn't expelled her placenta as of this morning but is otherwise looking good all things considered.  This cow has a huge udder and is awkward to milk.  I suspect this will be her last lactation because of that, otherwise she is a good milker.  We have decided that #55, the one who had twins and seems to have the "will to die", needs to leave.  She is again not eating as she should and what her situation is remains a mystery.  The list of things to do today was too long already so she will have to go next week. It seems that if you ship an animal on Friday the buyers all figure you have to get rid of her before the weekend so they don't usually pay very much.  Today was the first day in some time that both Bruce and I were home and, while I had a list of things we could get done here together, he preferred that I cook LOL.

Today was again milk check day for the balance of our February milk.  The class III price this month was $17.00. In the last 15 years the highest price for February was $17.03 in 2008 with the lowest being $9.31 in 2009.  The price in 1996 was $12.59.  Our milk components are priced individually, each broken down into pounds.  This month butterfat was 2.2967 per pound, protein was 2.5586 per pound, other solids was .2310 per pound.  We have always taken a paycheck once a month, so today was also payday.  Being a corporation we are technically an employee.  One thing taking a paycheck once a month does is teach us to budget.

Bruce spent the day building a fence to divide the yard and pen inside where the goats usually are.  Compared to cattle, goats are very easy on fences so it didn't have to be terribly strong.  By doing this we can still keep the moms with kids separate from the rest of the group and feed them TMR and the rest can have plain haylage.  Now both sides can be kept separate, each with their own feeder and sharing a water tank.  This plan would have been perfect in January but with it being so cold, getting everyone warm and safe was the highest priority. The best part of this new plan is both feeding and eventually cleaning can be done with a skid steer.  The building they were in before has to be forked out....eventually.  We laughed watching them in their new area.  While everyone else was busy checking everything out, the brown kid from inside was jumping and running for joy!  We missed our entertainment in the barn tonight but with them moving out we can now continue getting ready for the heifers to come up.