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.