Fixing Progress

It was a busy enough day but not the most eventful.  Bruce did an initial check of the fences around both the cow and heifer pastures to get an  idea of what needs to be done.  He didn't find anything major to fix but as always there are a few insulators that need replacing and a few posts to straighten up that are tipping. One section has a row of willow trees that are starting to grow too big next to the fence and dropping branches on it.  That will require some trimming with a chainsaw and he also has to splice the fence together where he cut it this winter when the snow was deep.  Cutting it makes it a simple fix compared to having and the weight of snow  tear it off and cause extra damage.  For the most part the cow pasture fence is about 3 years old.  The heifer fences are in the 5-10 year range so little by little they need a bit more attention.  I was gone today and came home to the tallest part of the lawn mowed.  I was pretty excited about that, not only because Bruce did it but because the fact that it was done meant that a spark plug fixed the mower and it started!   I am really pretty easy to entertain and we don't really need any more repair bills right now.  Yesterday we ran to town and picked up a water heater for the milk house.  We will have a plumber install it as early as we can next week.  As normal, we should have had it replaced awhile ago but now we have to get it in.  While we were traveling we checked on the tractor.  They are waiting for a couple more parts and it is possible that we can have it back by the end of next week.  Bruce is excited about having his 4 wheel drive tractor back.  We aren't as excited about the $6000-8000 bill that will be coming with it.  According to the weather reports this is the coolest and wettest spring since 1996.  Can't say we were surprised by that information.  The start of May is already tomorrow and we have not seen anyone in the field, even in the areas that are sandy and generally two weeks ahead of us.  With the help and equipment we have we can get all our crops in the ground in about a week with cooperative weather.  Hopefully spring will show up soon.  Tonight, for the first time in what seems like months, everyone was milked into the tank.  We are still sanitizing milkers after 4 cows until we get the culture results back but we have NO special needs cows.  Very Nice : )

SUNSHINE! Real Sunshine

It has been so long since we have had sunshine and blue sky that the day seemed perfect from the start.  We got word that the three cultures we sent in are fine.  Just as it has been all year, just as we get current on a few we are already 3 behind.  Those should be taken to the vet clinic on Monday.

The feed mixes here are constantly changing. Earlier Bruce added baled hay to our cow TMR  because the haylage and corn silage were both chopped a bit finer than is ideal.  Cattle, by natures design, are intended to eat forage.  When the forage particles get too fine the animal does not chew their cud as much as needed.  Cud chewing  produces saliva which is a natural stomach buffer.  The digestion of feed naturally causes acid which is buffered by the chewing process.  When the balance is compromised for a period of time a number of issues are created.  Some of these are as obvious as stomach upset to unexpected things like foot abcesses.  Those issues not only create medical costs for us, they also impact milk production, not only in the volume they are able to produce but also the milk components.  Lower fat, protein and solid tests along with volume directly lower our income.  The quality of feed also has a major impact on our profitability.  The recent change from first crop haylage in the silo to second crop haylage that is in the bag is just enough higher in quality that Bruce figures it will save us $500 per month in protein costs.  Our protein mix is partially made up of soybean meal, corn gluten, and roasted soybeans....all at record prices.  The latest change to how we feed animals comes with the new steers we just added to the barn.  Historically we put steers on their ration at about 500 pounds.  We would start them with a mix of 80 % haylage and 20% rolled corn the correct mineral mix for their needs.  Over about a month's time we would gradually change them over to 87.5% rolled corn and 12.5% haylage and they would stay on this mix until they were finished (approximately 1400-1500#, choice grade)  The value of corn is at record levels so, in an effort to grow steers and finish them as efficiently as possible, we are now letting them grow on a higher forage diet until they are heavier, approximately 850-900#.  At about this weight we will start a finishing ration that will consist of corn silage and haylage along with rolled corn and minerals.  We have plenty of corn silage on hand and using this will replace some of the rolled corn.

After our vet call and calf delivery yesterday Bruce was totally confused so he called Nate, the vet who had delivered the calf.  When Bruce checked the heifer at 8 a.m. there was no dilation of the cervex.  Given that information and the  fact that she was suspicious both yesterday morning and the night before, a vet call made sense.  As it turned out, Bruce checking her must have irritated the cervex enough to promote calving.  By 10 when Nate got here the nose and feet were already presented through the cervex so he just pulled a little and the calf was delivered!!!!!  Good grief, gotta love animals that don't read the manual!!

Two Days In One

While we milked yesterday morning Bruce gave our last DA cow a shot of heifer calm so we could remover her stitches.  The drug only lasts about 20 minutes but while it's working the animals are very calm and relaxed, almost tired looking.  We were able to remove all of her stitches and lance a spot in the bottom of the incision so the area could drain.  This worked extremely well but we suspect it will have to be opened once more so the area drains completely.  In any case she should heal much faster now with that drained.  After breakfast we managed to get the blood samples taken for pregnancy checks.  I sent in 20 samples, many from first breeding's but I also like to do a second confirmation later in a pregnancy before we dry the cows up.  If I get them in the mail on Monday or Tuesday I would have had the information this week, but since it was Wednesday I won't expect results via email until Tuesday next week at the earliest.  When we were done taking the samples from the heifers in the lower building we sorted out the 6 steers that need to be started on their fed steer ration.  Bruce was able to get them into the pen in the barn but, as always, there was a detour in his plans.  The gates in the back of our barn were built from oak boards probably 30 years ago.  Bruce decided to replace the bottom board on the gate which had rotted and the nails had rusted off. That simple project then turned into replacing a couple other parts in the process.  Eventually he gave up on totally finishing the project and chained a corral panel  gate in its place for the time being. The last couple cows that freshened passed drug tests yesterday so we were pleased to only have 1 special needs cow to deal with.  We still are bleaching milkers between some cows since, for some reason, our culture results are taking longer than normal.  We are at least able to milk them into the tank now which translates into income!  Last night when we were milking, one of the heifers that is due next week was pretty restless, kicking at her belly with her back feet and randomly seeming to strain.  We assumed she was just starting to have her calf at that point.  Bruce checked on her at midnight and she wasn't doing anything but eating.  I checked the camera at 2 and  there was nothing going on.  This morning when we were milking she was still doing these things so Bruce put on a breeding sleeve and checked her.  There was no dilation at all and he questioned a uterine torsion so we called  for a vet check.  We both had appointments in town and the vet arrived as we left.  We came home to find a note that said he pulled the heifer calf and all was well so we aren't exactly sure what her earlier symptoms were but we are glad they are both fine. "Pulling the calf" is basically assisting with the birth by holding tension on the front legs with obstetrical chains while the cow pushes.  This helps her make progress faster and not have to work so hard.  Tonight the heifer is eating and doing her thing as if nothing happened and we have a very small heifer calf with lots of spunk and personality!  Very entertaining
: )

Rain

Bruce got to the barn this morning to find a feed alley full of water.  We had gotten 1/2 inch of rain over night and the original barn has a stone wall.  Historically water in the alley was normal but when we added the feed room we put in drain tile and a sump pump, along with an eves trough on the milkhouse.  As it turned out, the snow had broken the hangers on the eves trough so instead of dumping the rain away from the building it was being dumped against it.  Bruce reconnected the eve and then swept all the water out of the alley while he was trying to mix feed.  The belts on the elevator motors need tightening and the rain was just enough to make them slip.  When the elevator would stop the silage plugged in the tube it comes down in.  Twice this happened and Bruce got tired of getting wet while unplugging the tube so he decided to get the silage out of the bag and deal with the elevators on a dryer day. Needless to say, feeding took longer than usual and I did a bunch of milking again myself.  He had sent a feed sample in yesterday from the bag and already tonight Vicky has our ration redone.  Turns out the feed in the bag is better stuff than we have in the silo so the cows should be pretty pleased with the change.  The haylage silo is down to only a couple feet left.  That's great timing with grazing and making first crop hay being so close.

I am glad to say that so far the two fresh cows are making progress as would be expected.  Perhaps I should have explained the art of freshening to the earlier cows since these two seem to have understood....or at least I like to think they do. We need to take the stitches out of the last DA surgery cow but we will have to use heifer calm on her to do it.  Cows have personalities and are very much creatures of habit.  This particular cow tends to be a little more nervous than most so routine is vital.  She is used to having people come in and work with her on her left side.  Just trying to look at her stitches on her right side puts her in panic mode.  She seems to be developing an abscess there so Bruce checked with the vet on the best way to proceed.  They have recommended we remove the bottom couple stitches and allow the abscess to open there and drain.  The last thing she needs is to have it open inside so we were glad to hear that.  She is doing great otherwise so this is just an extra step in the healing process.  The fresh heifer that had blood in 1 quarter and then mastitis and then pneumonia will end up losing the affected quarter.  It really isn't responding to treatment so we will just dry that quarter up and milk the other 3.  Drying up the quarter allows us to keep her as a producing cow, we will just have to put the milker on her accordingly.  This morning I moved calves in.  The neat thing is one of them is the one that was so sick and tried to die a couple weeks ago.  She is growing like crazy and will now be weaned shortly.  Sometimes you win.

It rained pretty much all day.  The list of things I had hoped to get done pretty much disappeared with the dreary weather since we didn't get much accomplished.  Today was milk check day so I paid a few bills.  Our water heater needs to be moved up faster on the "to do" list so today Bruce contacted an electrician/plumber to see what our options are.  Not everyone deals with high temp/high output heaters like we need so the first trick is to figure out who can help us.  We need to maintain a temperature of 140 degrees in the pipeline & milker wash vat through the complete cycle.  Therefore the water coming out of the heater has to be about 180-185 degrees.  Most household heaters go to 150-160 degrees.  We always thought we would put in a tankless heater but that would include a water softener and more money than we care to invest at this point.  Prices are pending...we will see.  Bruce talked to the shop people yesterday and they think that all the parts have now arrived so our tractor should be going back together soon.  In the meantime Bruce is staying away from the fields since its way too easy to get stuck these days.  We had the pleasant surprise of a phone call today saying that Joe would be available to help milk tonight!  He and I did most of the milking and then while he and Bruce finished I started feeding calves.  We were both in early tonight, at least early for us!  Thanks Joe!

Monday

Today was my typical day of running but I did manage to get all the ear tags put in the heifer calves.  I had run out so I ordered them and until now I didn't manage to find time to get them put in.  Bruce had 2 feed boxes to fill today.  Ed's silo is getting empty enough that he will just fill them from the bag.  This time last year the cattle were out on pasture but it has been a much cooler spring so the grass isn't growing very fast.  Bruce thought he would try and haul manure on the field today and came VERY close to getting stuck with the 2 wheel drive tractor he is using. The fields are still really soft in places and tonight it is raining again. He will be back to piling manure tomorrow.  We had an insurance adjuster come and check our alfalfa fields that were seeded last spring.  We carry insurance on seeding and, from what we gather, we will have a loss and a claim filed.  Today I noticed that some lawns have been mowed which reminded me that our mower needed some new parts.  I picked up a spark plug and Bruce ordered another part it needs.  He also reordered some seed tubes for the corn planter.  As it turns out, when you measure the openings they measure outside to outside.  Bruce measured the inside opening.  They ship pretty quickly so the only dilemma is figuring out how to do returns.  I am excited to finally be past the tax bookkeeping season and getting ready for Easter.  Tomorrow I get to be home and I already have a farming list of "to do's" in my head.  I am not so sure Bruce will be as excited about the list as I am.  : )

Happy Easter : )

Today was actually what you would expect for having a holiday and a farm.  We woke up to a phone call letting us know that a new calf was on the way.  Between mixing feeds Bruce had a new heifer calf to deal with.  We did milking as usual and when I got done feeding calves I pressure washed a hutch for the new one since the others were full.  Before Bruce was done milking the fresh and sick cow another cow broke her stanchion and found it enjoyable to run all over the barn. We finally got her pointed in the right direction and were able to put her in an empty stall for the time being.  On Bruce's way home for breakfast he stopped to check on the goats and found a new kid.  Surprisingly enough, this mom had it inside the building where it was safe and dry.  Bruce moved them to the building with the other new kid families.  We hosted dinner here today with 14 attending.  It was nice that we didn't have to add travel time to the day.  After everyone left Bruce got the hutch bedded and the new calf situated in there.  While we were milking tonight another cow decided to start having her calf.  Bruce ended up waiting in the barn for awhile after milking so he could take care of the calf after it arrived.  Bull calf at 11:30.   Happy Easter!

One More Quiet Day

It was a bit warmer today and didn't rain so that was a big improvement over the weather of the last few days.  Bruce has still been dealing with the heifer that has blood in her milk. There has been significant improvement with that situation but she has also added mastitis and today a fever of 105 (normal 101) to her dilema's.  Bruce called the vets for treatment suggestions.  Given the fact we have been treating pneumonia in the calves we are assuming that is the cause of the fever.  The recommended treatments that will cover both the mastitis and pneumonia.  Tonight she is looking a bit brighter and eating so we seem to be on the right track.

Bruce let the silo down a door at Ed's today and now that I have all the cows combed he treated them with Eprinex.  This is a pour on treatment for internal and external parasites.  It covers stomach worms, lung worms, lice, mange mites and horn flies.  This time of year it mainly covers mites and lice, making the cows much more comfortable and one step closer to being pasture ready.  Thats it for today!  Two quiet days in a row!

Spring! We Need Spring

As the snow is leaving we are seeing lots of green grass.  I could already mow parts of the lawn but the pastures are always a bit slower to come.  Bruce treated a pen of calves for pneumonia last night.  We NEED spring with sun and breeze and warmth.  Another day of cold and rain and snow flurries is not healthy for animals.  Can't say it really does us people much good either : )  

With all this rain and mud Bruce is really missing his big tractor.  The one he is using has half the power and half of the wheels driving (our big one is 4 wheel drive).  We haven't heard anything more this week on it so we are hoping the parts list hasn't gotten much longer than the last report and it will be put back together soon.  Bruce spent the afternoon filling the feedbox for the other place.  There is no end in sight as far as the wind goes so he just filled it out of the bag.  Otherwise the day was spent doing the routine feeding and milking.  This morning in the barn I explained the rules of freshening to the two cows that are due to have their calves since they don't read the manual.  Bruce laughed at me and the cows just stared at me like I was crazy and wondering why I was looking at them and talking.  It is the best I can do so now we just hope these next feshenings are routine.

More Spring

We woke up to a beautiful day this morning.  Sun, snow, blue sky and green grass peaking out here and there.  The cowyard bank where the goats graze is really growing.  They are the first to go out since this area has a south exposure and grows fastest.  It was nice to be "greeted" by the calves this morning.  They were all standing in front of their hutches complaining.  I talked to another farmer that was also having trouble with pneumonia in new calves so while this information didn't eliminate our personal frustration it did verify just another random spring dilema.  Everyone ate well today and it was nice to be back into what would be considered a normal routine with them.

As much as we try not to pile manure, this time of year tends to make doing so our only option.  It is nearly impossible to keep the cattle bedded and dry without the help of freezing and when you add spring rains and snows to the situation it just gets "ugly" as Bruce calls it.  We need to do pregnancy checks but in order to do that the barn needs to be cleaned to be more user friendly.  That was Bruce's mission today, to clean out everything he could and pile it.  He managed to get the lower building back under control so both the heifers and the goats are dry and bedded again.

A few weeks ago we bought a new dog comb that the neighbors had recommended to use on Mike.  Having a dog in the house is not my first option but the last 2 border collies we had both got arthritis as they aged so Bruce is hoping keeping him inside, warmer and dryer will keep him healthier.  Although he is considered a "short coat", it certainly doesn't seem like that in the house.  We really liked this new comb called a "furminator".  This time of year the cows start to shed and are full of dander and dirt from being in all winter so we decided to try this comb on them also.  We have tried a number of other types of combs and brushes but this works better than anything we have ever had so lately I have been on a mission to get all the cows combed.  The cows tend to get nervous when you start but it doesn't take long and they just stand and definitely like having it done.  I think I have about 12 left to do.  Not only do they feel better but the barn in general looks better with cleaner cows.

Anxiety

This weekend marks the 35th anniversary of my introduction to this thing called farming. By this point the "firsts" become more rare and the "rarely's" happen randomly.  It is 30 years ago that we had an odd form of pneumonia come into the herd in which we lost a few cows, salvaged a few and in the end had treated 22 cows (1/3 of the herd) with IVs twice daily for as long as 7 days each.  During those days we had 2 vets and Bruce all running IVs, dumped hundreds of pounds of milk and had our first vet bill over $1000 when $200 was considered high.  At the time we were on a monthly herd health program and all the animals were current on their vaccines.  Weird stuff happens sometimes.  We have enjoyed high milk prices and survived the lows, although the volatility the last few years along with ever increasing costs has changed this business and the outlook of farming.  We have seen amazing things and have been frustrated to tears.  After the events of the last couple weeks there is a level of anxiety each morning just walking into the barn.  We have endured worse and this farm has a 130 year history of existence.  Bruce has always been good at saying "next year will be different".  All I can say is I am hoping to have more days writing about doing just the routine stuff!!!  Enough already!!  : )

Today was one of those days.  We did the routine stuff.  Bruce had an appointment in town and was gone part of the day.  We ended up with about 6 inches of wet snow from yesterdays storm.  Today much of it has settled and there is plenty of water running down the driveway that takes you by surprise when you step through what looks like solid snow on top.  The cool weather continues to make the pastures and lawn grow slowly.  All this moisture will be good for them.  Tonight there is only 1 special needs cow.  There are no heifers that I would be afraid to milk myself.  It was a quiet day and we liked it!

If Only They Could Read The Manual

There is nothing more frustrating than working so hard and providing for these animals and having the opposite results of what should be expected.  The dry cows are fed according to their needs in an effort to have them in their best shape once they start milking again.  According to “the manual” our cows should be ready to go to work once they freshen so losing 2 cows and having 2 DA surgeries is expensive, not only from a vet bill standpoint, but cows produce ½ of their yearly production in their first 100 days.  Slow starts mean less milk and less milk means less income for us.  This round of freshening cattle has definitely had its challenges.  We now have 3 cows due this month and in each of the next 5 months.  I am looking forward to less intense months ahead.  We are pleased with the heifers so far.  They are settling in nicely and all but 1 will be milked into the tank tonight.  Sometimes with udder swelling they can have small blood vessels break which puts blood in the milk.  Eventually it clears up but sometimes Bruce has to milk them by hand.  This one is to the point he can use the milker but it just takes time for them to heal.


We had about 3 inches of sloppy wet snow this morning followed by sleet for a few hours, followed by a couple more inches of heavy wet snow.  A temporary situation this time of year but absolutely messy!  Bruce spent the morning getting the feed room ready for our feed delivery and then spent the afternoon in the house. He was pretty proud that he only nodded off twice while reading 40 pages in his chemical manual!   He got a phone call from the shop letting us know that the shaft that is broken in our tractor is about $2000!  The last time we had a tractor split like this it was for a $10. keeper that had fallen off.  As long as they have it all open (for the mechanical types) they will replace the broken shaft, the flex plate that is bolted to the back of the flywheel , and the short shaft and coupler that connect the flex plate to the shaft that broke.These are splined shafts and couplers so putting new and worn together is not a good idea. As long as they have the transmission apart they will also replace the friction and separator discs in the clutch packs. There were some lose metal filings found so its good to check and clean the powershift valve.They will also replace the rear engine seal as there was some leakage into the housing .Basically take a look at everything that is exposed and replace what is needed as it costs several thousand just to get it apart and back together so we don't want to do that again if we can avoid it.  I can still see $$$ but we are glad that it didn't break when we need to be in the field.  That is our main tractor so it will be digging soon and chopping hay soon after that.  

As Long As It Stays In The Barn And Doesn't Come Into The House....

It was another one of those mornings.  Got to the barn to find our c-section cow laying over on her side, bloated and dead and then checked on the calves to find one that was born Saturday night dead also.  It feels like the grim reaper has moved in here.  Depressing and frustrating but they always say it comes in 3's so hopefully we are through that phase.  I was looking at the records tonight and the cow that died yesterday was one that had twins. It has been a long time since we lost a cow to random issues like this.  Hopefully we are now done and  it will be a long time again.  Bruce and I are still upright so I guess that's the important part.  With all that going on it was a good day for me to go to town to work.

While we were milking Ed came over to report the silo unloader was making a really loud noise so first thing on the agenda was taking care of that.  Bruce expected the noise to be a bearing out but when he got in the silo he found a piece of tin shield had fallen off and the unloader was trying to digest it.  Good news is there were no real damages and a cheap fix. As long as he was there he let the unloader down a door and can now get the augers in whenever they have time to replace them.  Today was a day to fill both feed boxes.  Lately Ed has been doing that for us but he was gone today so Bruce filled them and delivered them to the heifer yards.

Tonight we are down to 2 heifers out of the tank yet. The others are pretty well behaved but we still have to be extra cautious with them so they are a bit more time consuming than the rest of the cows.  Tonight Bruce treated the last 2 calves with antibiotics.  We think they are picking up an extremely quick pneumonia bug when they are born.  We also think it might be better to think "prevent" instead of "treat" at this point. On the bright side of all the negatives of late, the bulk tank numbers continue to go up with freshening cows.  That means the milk checks should improve in the next couple months.  Being the expensive time of year this is a good thing.

Feels Like A Monday

Yesterday morning we managed to get feeding and milking done in a reasonable time.  The heifers cooperated and there were no new calves to start the day which was a surprise in itself.  We went to an early Easter dinner at our sons, 1 hr 40 min from here.  Had a very enjoyable afternoon, left an hour later than planned and milked last night.  Ed did the feeding for us but we came home to a new bull calf, a cow that was causing enough concern that Bruce called the vet to schedule a visit this morning and a calf that wasn't willing to eat.  The cow involved in the drug residue scare passed her drug test.  We will never know whether she would have passed earlier or not but it was nice to just add her back into the routine. We managed to get through it all but it was definitely an exhausting day!  Bruce arrived at the barn this morning to find another bull calf had arrived and the cow causing the concern last night was dead.  At least the calf was doing better.  Given the fact that the cow had a lower than normal temperature last night and her abdomen was bloated this morning we suspect she had an ulcer that perforated or some type of stomach issue which caused peritonitis and eventually death.  In any case, she saved us a vet call because there isn't anything you can do to prevent the same outcome. Just another frustration.  Today the newest calves got moved out into their hutches and the cow was taken out of the barn and composted.  Bruce does this by burying her under corn fodder stacks.  By fall there will be nothing left but a few of the biggest bones.  The pens got bedded again and the feeding got back on schedule. With the milk check coming tomorrow I spent part of the afternoon paying bills and writing our monthly paychecks.  By milking time tonight the last heifer due this month had delivered a bull calf.  Having 3 brand new heifers to milk tonight made for a long and late milking.  They all had cooperative calves which is very helpful from my perspective.  It is always interesting that these heifers were all bred within 30 minutes of each other but freshened over a span of 12 days.  We now have 3 cows left to freshen this month.  Today we had blue sky, sunshine and green grass so it was really a pretty spring day.  After traveling yesterday today felt like a Monday.  We will see what tomorrow brings.

Good Grief! Another First

We were busy this morning milking and talking.  This mornings discussion involved what needed to be done today in order to travel to our son's house tomorrow for an early Easter dinner. The conversation continued on into what needed to be purchased yet this spring for crops and how long it will take to get the planter updated now that all the parts have arrived.  Suddenly Bruce realized he had a milker on the treated cow!  He removed it, ran to the milkhouse and removed the electrodes on the jar so the milk wouldn't pump into the tank.  He took the pipe out of the tank and pumped the milk that was in the pipes and jar down the drain.  Then came the dilema, we had no idea if any treated milk got into our tank.  We called our milk hauler who called our plant fieldman.  While we waited for him to arrive we were on hold.  I fed calves and Bruce mixed the mineral for the dry cows for the week.  Dave came out and took a milk sample from the tank and also from the milk that had come into the jar after we dumped what we had hoped was anything from that cow.  We still had 1/3 of the cows to milk but they had to wait until we had a clean drug test.  We took advantage of the down time and came home for breakfast.  The call was good news, no drugs in either sample so we could continue to milk the rest of the cows and didn't need to dump our milk.  With a HUGE sigh of relief we finished milking at 11:30!  This is a first for us, one of those firsts we could have done without.

Today it was cold and rainy and very windy.  Bruce needed to fill a feedbox but his only option was filling it out of the bag.  When he went down to the other place he found a door had blown off the barn.  We got lucky, it was leaned up against the building and no animals had any injuries.  For now he put the door outside the fence and eventually he will have to get it reattached.  It is eight feet wide and twelve feet high and came off the 2nd story so doing that will be a bit of a project. He adjusted the normal routine so all the extra batches of feed got mixed today in hopes of getting out of here early tomorrow.  Ed will feed for us but we will be doing both the morning and evening milkings.  We have 3 heifers still undecided when they will have their calves.  Us having plans for tomorrow pretty much guarantees someone will deliver tomorrow.

A Tractor Visit

Wow, the statistics say this is post 101!  Hard to believe we are that far into the year already.  We had a new arrival when we got to the barn this morning.  One of the heifers in the pen finally figured out what she was in there for and delivered a cute little bull calf.   That makes 4 heifers done with 3 left to go.  I have already been able to milk a couple of the new heifers myself so they are settling in nicely.

We went to town to visit our latest "patient" in the hospital.  The output shaft on the speed transmission that drives the power take off and the main hydraulic pump has broken. Diagnosis: metal fatigue.  This tractor has 10,060 hours on it so it isn't exactly new.  On a car that would be comparable to 500,000 to 600,000 miles!  All I can see is $$$.  A large financial hit like this so early in spring can make for a pretty precarious financial situation given the fact that this is our most expensive time of year.  We do have the majority of our seed purchased already but there will be a fertilizer bill along with corn planting.  One day at a time.....

metal fatigue on a shaft that is only 1.5 inches wide.

The patient... seems to be missing something?

Bruce is down to 1 special needs cow and of course the new heifer to milk.  We have decided to let the c-section heifer dry up.  She doesn't need any more stress in the short term so her long term prospect is to heal and eat well and fill out.  Eventually she will be culled. Our cultures came back today with 1 new staph aureus.  Given the fact that it's one of the new heifers the diagnosis is particularly frustrating.  The new theory is if you treat them early and aggressively they can, in theory, be cured.  Doing this treatment will put her in the special needs group for possibly weeks. Other than the aggravation of that we really have nothing to lose.

We were pleasantly surprised to get a check for $405 today for #55.  Given her strange history we were wondering what they would do with her.  We get paid on yield so she was obviously thin but of decent quality.  The cull market prices seem to be really good right now.  With feed costs extremely high there is a greater value in culling marginal animals these days.  There is no point in milking cows just for the exercise : )

Quiet Wednesday

It was a rather quiet day.  The heifers continue to lounge in their pen.  Milking went fine.  Nothing broke!  This afternoon I pressure washed 4 hutches so we will be ready whenever the heifers decide to have their calves.  We have plans for an early Easter dinner on Saturday so the bets are they are waiting until then.  We tested milk tonight.  I think honorable mention should go to the cow that was dry for 4 days, had a complete feed change and then aborted twins.  She is only giving 62# but given the fact that absolutely nothing worked out as it should I think she gets an A+.

Reports on Everything

The morning started a bit late with both of us over sleeping. Needless to say, milking ran just a bit late.  Bruce took milk cultures and I ran them to the vet clinic after they were frozen.  Freezing breaks the cell walls so we get a more accurate culture.  Within a few days we will have results and milking in general will be more streamlined.  The new heifers will continue to need extra watching for awhile.  So far we don't have anyone that is particularly mean but they do need to learn to stand still.  It's all just part of learning to be a milk cow.

There was lots of pounding going on for awhile today.  Bruce wanted to try to straighten the hump out in the roof steel for the chopper box.  He was quite successful so we will only need to buy 1 additional sheet of steel for the back of the box.  Considering how bad the box looked laying on its side we have gotten very lucky.

We got a call that our tractor is already in the shop.  If it had to break, this is good timing.  No one is in the field so the local shops are pretty caught up.  Nothing is getting fixed unless it breaks with a farm economy that is still struggling even with higher current prices.  If this had happened when we were making our first hay crop we may have lost feed quality with whatever delay it created or we would have had to rent a replacement.  There is always a bright side...I guess.

We got to the barn this morning to find the heifers in the pen looking at us as if to say "what did we do to end up in here?"  No new calves.  The new calf from yesterday is eating well.  She is smaller than I am used to which is typical of a heifers calf compared to the calf of a mature cow.  If the c-section heifer had carried a calf this size she could have delivered it without a problem.  Not an unfamiliar problem in the people world but it is much more uncommon in cattle. Bruce did manage to get the dry cows treated.  Cows with higher somatic cell counts are treated in each quarter with a longer term antibiotic.  With dry periods of 6-8 weeks the drugs have plenty of time to work and are generally cleared by the time the cows have their calves.  This is why we run a drug test on every cow, just in case they need a little extra time for a negative test.

Bruce's day was a little more in control.  He had 2 silo's that he needed to let down a door.  Ed filled the feedboxes for the yard here and the one at the other place.While he did that Bruce cleaned up around the bunk and hauled a load of manure from Ed's yard. It sometimes seems that the heifers' sole purpose in life is to convert feed into manure. The guys from the county were here to remark the contour strips on 40 acres so they are now ready to work when the weather cooperates.  It was sunny and beautiful with the grass turning pretty evenly green.  The pasture's are a little slower than our yard grass but it won't be too long.

Feels Like An Expensive Day

Bruce did have an original plan for the day.  First we sold a cow that was no longer milking enough to pay for her feed and was not pregnant.  The next plans were to haul 2 loads of manure, bed the pen and put the heifers that seem closest to having their calves in there. Bruce went to haul the load from yesterday and the tractor would start but wouldn't move.  He called the mechanic who suggested a number of things that could cause the problem.  Unfortunately all of them involved splitting the tractor which was a bigger project than Bruce wanted to tackle.  They offered to come and get it today but it was covered with mud and manure from the winter.  There is no way we would pay shop rate so someone could pressure wash it so Bruce called Ed to come and pull the tractor in front of the milkhouse so Bruce could pressure wash it.  That took a couple hours to do and then he took all the tools, electric controls etc out of the cab so it would be ready to leave when they came to get it.  When he got that done he got another tractor and proceeded to haul the load of manure that had been sitting.  When he got back he went into the barn intending to clean the gutters and haul a second load but when he arrived he found that one of the new heifers that was supposed to go into the pen had delivered a heifer calf in the gutter.  Needless to say, it was filthy so Bruce's next project was giving the new calf a bath and getting her settled in a pen in the barn to dry.  It was after 4 before he got the 2nd load of manure hauled and after that it was time to start feeding again. The heifers did eventually end up in the pen, tonight after we got done milking.

All Is Well

It was a good day on the farm.  No surgeries, no more sickness and both farmers are upright and doing good.  Bruce and Jim spent the day working on the chopper box and managed to get all the broken wood uprights
 replaced. Next we need to get some of the steel pieces that are bent and we should be back in business.  The place where we can get what we need is about an hour away so some day there will have to be a road trip.  We started milking a  bit late tonight due to a nasty storm front that was going through.  We only had wind and a bit of rain and hail.  Lots of reports of tornado's in these storms so we consider ourselves lucky.  We had 82 degrees today.  A bit too warm for April.

Mostly A Normal Day

We managed milking this morning without incident.  I started myself but it wasn't long before Bruce joined in.    We were able to put the DA cow from 2 weeks ago into the tank last night but ended up treating another one for a swollen quarter.  She hadn't liked having that one prepped for a couple days so I was glad he treated her.  Every once in awhile a cow will take you by surprise, and that happened last night to me.  A normally quiet cow kicked her milker off.  I didn't see what happened but I went in to put it back on and she kicked me.  I fell backwards, luckily not in the gutter, but the cow behind me got kind of excited.  I managed to get back on my feet without getting kicked or acquiring any more damages.  Sometimes you just get lucky.

The ceserean heifer seems to be a calm soul, which was good for both her and Bruce.  Neither of them need any more trauma in their lives right now.  The DA cow was eating almost immediately so she will do fine.  The DA from 2 weeks ago is back in the tank and I removed her stitches today.  It took an unusually long time for her to recover to this point.  Bruce managed to lie down a few times today to give his back a rest and mid afternoon, when he went to get up something popped.  He seems to think whatever was wrong is now right and his back now is just tired.  Hopefully a good nights sleep will get him back on track.

Jim came home today and he and Bruce worked on fixing a chopper box.  I do all the chopping and last September, after running this equipment for nearly 30 years, I turned just right and the chopper box caught a steep edge of the driveway and tipped over on it's side.  I saw it starting to tip so I stopped.  We think that is why there aren't more damages.  When they get it going again they will have replaced 5 of the side 2" x 4"s and a couple sections of the roof and back of the box.  Bruce really didn't need the extra work so I am just glad there wasn't more damage.

Wayyyy Beyond Rediculous

We had a good day yesterday.  Bruce got feeding done early enough that he actually was in the house at 9:30 and in bed by 11 for the first time in weeks.  The heifer was in a big pen.  We had complete faith in mother nature delivering a calf as designed.  Bruce got up early in an effort to shift the craziness of our day some, and arrived in the barn to find the heifer had not had her calf.  She was laying down so he ended up laying in the pen to check her.  His diagnosis was a small pelvic opening, leg back and a larger than normal calf.  He called the vet and she not only agreed with his findings but the size of her pelvis made a cesarean the only option. The nice thing about the clinic we work with is they have 8 vets, and since this would take much longer than she had planned, she called to see if someone else could do the surgery.  Nate arrived before she left so Jill  was able to attend something at school with her child and our heifer was still in good hands. Much to Bruce's frustration, I again started milking myself while he went back to feeding.  Thankfully by the time he was able to help I had only gotten 1/4 of the cows done.  He milked the heifers and we continued as the vet got the heifer ready for surgery.    To explain how rare this is, I have been here 35 years and we have had 2 cesareans, both for calvings that involved deformed (water belly) calves.  Both cows died of toxemia.  She was prepped just like our DA surgery cow, except she preferred laying down. By the time we got to the end of milking the vet was ready for Bruce to help lift the calf out so I took care of the last few cows.  Of course I didn't have a camera in the barn this morning but what surprised me the most is that she laid there up on her chest and head up like nothing was going on, seemingly indifferent to what they were doing. They delivered a very large dead heifer calf.  As long as we had a vet here we asked his opinion about the calf with the infected joints.  He pretty much confirmed what we suspected.  The infection is in the joint itself.  No amount of medication will fix it or undo the damages.  She is bright and growing and eating well  in spite of her issue but will have to be put down.  We also had him check  #12 and sure enough, she has a DA that has been twisting and untwisting.  Surgery #2 before 10 a.m.  By 11:30 the heifer was up walking around and the DA cow was already eating. The thing that always makes me smile is you can tell by the stitches which vet does stitchery.  The end result is the same but not as pretty LOL.  Bruce had a final appointment in town involving a medical issue that started in January 2010.  In the process of wrestling with the heifer he managed to injure his back so he added an additional appointment to his day with a therapist that has been working on a shoulder injury (new heifer) from 3 years ago.

This afternoon our nutritionist Vicky came and checked out everyone. Bruce has added some baled hay to the TMR because the corn silage was chopped too fine last fall.  We suspect that is also a contributor to the DA surgeries of late.  As usual we have animals that should be pregnant that aren't, it's starting to warm up so we need to get the other fans going and we need to be watchful of the heifers due to have calves since a couple of them are smaller than we would like, but for the most part the news was good.  She also suggested that her son Joe could maybe help milk tonight to give Bruce a break.  He has been super busy in school so we haven't seen much of him this winter.  The help was definitely appreciated!

I had planned on mentioning that we got the vet bill from last month.  The call for the appetite drench on the last DA cow was $136 which of course was followed a few days later by the surgery itself which cost $336. Since today is only the 8th and we have a long month to go, last months bill will be looking much better when we get this months bill.

Tonight we have an evening out with friends at our monthly card party.  We will get home too late, the alarm will go off too early, and hopefully tomorrow will be a non event.  We are beginning to wonder if the animals here are vying for honorable mention in my evenings writings, since when I started this I expected many of the days would be "did the routine stuff".  Hopefully that will be the case tomorrow.

In Early

Today wasn't exactly noteworthy but there were a few things going on.  We finally shipped #55.  She is thin and still a mystery as to what her issues are.  We are not expecting to get rich when the check comes but at least, at this point anyway, we will get something out of her.  Today was again a travel day with errands to run and weather that wasn't quite cooperative for many things being the season of mud.  Bruce had spent the earlier part of the day doing extra feeding so tonight wouldn't be so busy.  By the time I got to the barn he was nearly done feeding and I started milking.  Just as he was ready to help his phone rang.  The steers had gotten a gate open at Ed's and 3 were out.  I continued milking and Bruce and the dog went to get everyone back in.  While the people involved find animals out annoying, the dog thinks it's just a great time.  Bruce got back and milked a new heifer since they are still a bit jumpy.  When he got her done he realized another one seemed to be working on having her calf.  He decided to put her in the pen so she would be more comfortable.  While his intentions were trying to be nice, she didn't exactly like the idea and went part way up the alley and stopped.  When a 1200# animal decides to stop...they stop.  It took Bruce awhile to convince her that she would like the pen.  In the meantime I continued to milk.  Bruce went back to milking the 2nd new heifer.  By the time he got done I was nearly finished milking again!!!  He still has 2 special needs cows to deal with but in the end we were both in the house by 9:30.

Nice Day

Bruce was actually done feeding when I got to the barn this morning so we started milking together.  I offered to help him figure out who was who since it had been awhile since he had milked on the starting end.  He just laughed.  Today he had appointments in town and needed to make a trip to the feed mill.  I kicked him out of the barn as soon as milking was done and did the final clean up so he could be on time.  He asked if I would get the feed box and deliver it to the heifers, which I did.  It was interesting driving that particular tractor for me (2950 John Deere) because of all the tractors we have, I have driven that one the least.  I managed to get the feed delivered without incident and the heifers were glad to see it arrive.  Today was a beautiful sunny day.  I had some windows open in the house for awhile.  Bruce got home from town and went straight into feeding mode.  We were both in the house by 10!

Just A Bit More Painful

The class III price for March was posted today.  The price for March 2009 was $10.44, in 2010 it was $12.78 so contracting milk at $16.71 seemed like a good idea.  With the posted price of $19.40 we have lost opportunity to the tune of over $2000. for the month.  Hmmmm.  On the bright side, we get the higher price for what we don't have contracted and will survive with what we do.  Historically the March price in 1996 was $12.70 with the 15 year high of $18.00 in 2008 and low of $9.11 in 2003.  So it goes.....

I moved 2 heifer calves out into the clean hutches and pressure washed a few more.  Another heifer calf arrived around noon so tonight we had another new heifer to milk.  New heifers don't shorten the day but they are part of the process of making more milk so in the long run it's all OK.  Tonight I have 5 hutches lined up and 4 heifer calves in them.

Bruce had a pretty simple day planned.  He would check the goats and then  move some steers up and fill 2 feed boxes.  He found a goat that had kidded, one alive and one deformed and dead.  He moved the family to the other building and couldn't find the other kids.  After looking he found them sleeping inside the heat box he made.  It's not on anymore but they must like it in there. Every day the cow feed alleys get cleaned and the uneaten feed is generally taken to the back alley  to be eaten by the younger steers there.  Since we took all those animals out a few days ago the feed has just been dumped in the gutter.  With the price of corn and protein, that's expensive feed wasted so the plan was simple.  Put the gate in and divide the pen so the heifers can have their calves on one end and we would get up a few steers to eat in the other end.  Bruce got the gate and pushed it into place. The two long pens are divided by a plank wall that was nailed to the support posts. When he pushed the gate into place, the planks which were marginally fastened (due to rusty nails and bored and destructive heifers) all fell off.   While Bruce doesn't work on electric motors or vehicles, he has no problem jacking up buildings and remodeling.  The post that the planks were on had also rotted on the bottom and was short.  He got the jack and a post and jacked up the end of the beam that the post held up.  He then had to cut a new support post, let the beam down, reattach both the planks and the supports that hold the gate.  This pretty much took up his whole afternoon.  Thankfully Ed was able to fill the feed boxes, one of which will be delivered to the heifers in the morning  Tonight just got too darned late.   I am getting good at milking by myself : )

from the south, all jacked up

from the north, measuring for the post

from the south, post in place and divider reattached

from then north, everything in place as originally planned

Monday-short and sweet

Today was another one of my crazy Mondays.  Bruce spent his day moving the hutches, scraping all the old bedding away, and resetting the 2 that are pressure washed.  I will move calves out into them tomorrow.  I would call the sick calf cured.  She seems to like being inside and I have to say, a rain water bath sure makes them white and fluffy!

Bruce still needs more parts before he can redo the corn planter so today he finally managed to get over to where it's stored and measure what he needed to.  He has to make a list and get them ordered soon.

One more cow with a passing drug test and is now able to be milked in the line.  Two left to go!

Another Version of Sunday

I was wrong.  No calf this morning and we were perfectly OK with that since we aren't quite ready for more anyway.  By the time we got done milking though, we had a new heifer calf.  It's pretty surprising sometimes how quickly calves can be born.  I guess within the basics of nature you need to get it done and move on or potentially be eaten.

This morning Bruce was talking to Jim, who asked what broke on the unloader.  This was the conversation-
B--set screw that holds the weight bracket to the tube that pulls out worked lose allowing the tube to slide into the frame . then the weight bracket tipped sideways and the weight fell off.  and then................. the unloader ate it   Jim says "is that bad???"  B--torch, hammer ,welder, back in buisness.  I will not even pretend to know exactly what they are talking about since I have only been in the silo a few times.  I am just glad Bruce is talented and he managed to fix it with only some labor involved.

It was windy and dreary today so after breakfast I made the choice to take a nap.  Bruce was going to study his chemical book for his spraying certification but a nap managed to sneak up on him on page 6!  : )  The rest of the day he spent feeding everything. He managed to get 2 loads of manure out on the fields after first taking the tractor alone out to see if it would work.  Checking the fields first is much better than just going out and getting a tractor and full spreader stuck.

Tonight in addition to the 3 special needs cows we had a new heifer to milk.  Bruce usually gives them a shot of what they call heifer calm.  This is a combination of a sedative and oxytocin.  This not only helps the heifer relax but promotes her letting her milk down and making the whole experience more comfortable.  The less stress the first few milking's, the faster they settle in to the routine.  This heifer spent the whole time eating while she was milked.  It's easy to get hurt milking heifers when they are excited so its a win for both heifer and farmer.

Nothing broke today.  Given recent history that feels unusual.  Bruce did fix a stanchion that had been broken for a couple days.  An old cow stands there, and had been doing so on the honor system.  Guess she was content where she was at since she never did go checking anything else out.  Tonight, just before Bruce started milking the heifer it started to rain, and then pour, and then hail like crazy.  The hutch calf panicked and ran out into the rain and hail in front of her hutch.  Luckily Bruce saw her and grabbed his coat to go rescue her.  He pushed her back into the hutch and put the storm fence back on but by then she was totally soaked.  We decided to bring her in the barn for the night so she could dry off since its warmer in there.  She didn't really need a cold bath given her history.  Either did Bruce!  Tonight she is upright on all 4 legs and eating her bottle with it just hung in the hutch.  We will consider this all a win!

Super Busy!

While we were milking yesterday it snowed!!!  Big wet flakes and about 3 inches in a little over an hour.  This time of year snow doesn't stick around long, and today its all gone.

First thing yesterday morning Ed stopped in with his yellow piece of paper : )  We pay him once a month and gave him a hard time how quickly he arrived in the new month.  He reminded us that exactly 3 years ago he had sold his cows as a result of falling on the ice in February and injuring his shoulder.  There was much discussion about what has gone on for all of us in the last 3 years, and how much less stressful his life is without cows, and how much less stressful ours is with all his help.  For everyone involved, as strange as it sounds, his fall was a win/win for all of us.

Yesterday Bruce was on a mission to get all of the pens in the back of the barn cleaned now that the animals that had been in there are moved.  He found having 2/3 of the barn empty rather eerie since from the time he can remember there have always been cattle in there.  We cannot have it this empty in winter because we need the larger animals body heat to keep the pipes from freezing.  Removing 24 animals that are 500# and replacing them with 9 animals that are only 150# is quite a change.  Once again I have to figure out where everyone is so I can feed.

In order for Bruce to clean pens he had to switch tractors on the box spreader  so he could take advantage of the horsepower and the 4 wheel drive.  Where he is hauling right now he has to go up a fairly steep grade on a woods road and then make a right angle uphill turn and go uphill for another 100 yards to get to where he needs to be.  This time of year, all of this is through mud.  Luckily the contour strips he is going across will all be tilled this spring because they will need a bit of repair since doing this is creating big ruts. We hate to do this but this time of year the manure has to go someplace.  He got the pens all cleaned and bedded by supper time so when he went out to feed I went out and moved calves in.  Once that was done I figured I would start milking and maybe we could get in the house earlier.  As it turned out, something broke on the silo unloader and then the impellers proceeded to get all bent by it.  I ended up milking all but 5 cows myself which is a first and not in my best physical interest to do it very often.  Needless to say, early didn't happen for either of us.

This morning Bruce had his work cut out for him.  Both Ed's silo and the corn silage silo here needed to be let down a door.  He had to feed some of the heifers that he didn't last night, getting that haylage out of the bag.  This time of year thats not the preferred option since everything is pretty muddy and hard to get to, but for today it was the only option.  On his way home for dinner he checked in on the goats and was very disappointed to find that 2 had kidded....both twins and all four kids were dead.  Animals don't read the manual nor do they think much.  Had they chosen to have them in the building instead of outside in the snow the outcome might have been different.  Of course Bruce is beating himself up because he didn't check, but plain and simple he didn't have time.  It was a VERY busy day yesterday.

Tonight I did most of the milking again while Bruce fed.  His day was extended with having to play blacksmith and heat and pound and bend the paddles for the silo unloader straight again.  Tonight the unloader is working fine.  While he was working on that I pressure washed only the 2 hutches Bruce managed to wrestle over where the washer would reach and also the walls and floor in the milkhouse.  Normally we move the hutches with pallet forks and the skid steer but Ed was using it today to clean his cow yard for us.  It is now too muddy to spread on the fields so today he piled everything.  When the weather is right we will have to load it again and spread it where it should go.

On the animal front, the cow that was given the magnet seems interested in feed again. We give magnets (or pills) with a balling gun.  This is a tool that is metal and long enough to get past a cows teeth to the back of her throat so she can swallow whatever we are giving her.  It has a plunger that pushes the magnet out when you are ready.  Cows have teeth only on the bottom jaw but that jaw is about 16 inches long. If you look closely you can see all the dig marks in the metal from their teeth.  For this reason its best to keep your fingers out of the way : )

balling gun and magnet

Cow #11, the one who aborted twins, passed her drug test and was milked into the tank tonight.  Ahhh, progress!  My hutch calf continues to make progress.  Most noticeable now is a tendon problem from laying so long.  Hopefully time and walking will stretch it back out how it should be.  As of tonight Bruce is down to 3 special needs cows....with a heifer that was working on having her calf when we left the barn.  So it begins......

News From Sick Bay

Today has been incredibly exhausting but also very productive.  I will write more tomorrow but here is the update from our animal craziness.
--13-surgery cow.  Eating again.  Vet recommends another round of antibiotics.
--12-on and off feed for unexplained reasons.  She had been treated for mastitis after calving and is waiting for a passing drug test.
--11-aborted twins.  Was put on antibiotics given her situation guarantees an infection.  She is eating well and is also waiting for a passing drug test.
--57-mastitis cow now waiting for a passing drug test.
--21-off feed today.  Perhaps pneumonia or hardware.  She gets a magnet just in case its the latter.
--hutch calf-is off antibiotics.  Stands when she wants to on her own.  Drank everything from a bottle today.  Seems to be on the mend.
--55-still hanging around here since we didn't have time to deal with a trucking schedule this week.  Off feed yesterday, eating like crazy tonight.  (she seemed to want to die on us after she had the twins that later had infected joints
--heifer twin with joint infection is back on antibiotics.  Jury is still out whether she is salvageable
--Since there is a huge pen open after taking the animals to the other place the heifers that seem to be close to calving have been put in there.  Hopefully they won't do anything stupid with that much space.


The silo unloader broke tonight so Bruce is still feeding.  I am hoping he gets to bed yet today.  What a crazy life : )           The End.........