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 : )
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| 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......
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