Fall Is Here

It was another perfect fall day with highs in the upper 60's and sunshine.  Bruce got the slop spreader put back together and cleaned the barn.  Still no sign of that piece of gutter plate so its assumed that it went out into the pile already, surprisingly without damage to the spreader.  I mowed lawn today, potentially for the last time since we are so close to October.  Soon we will be chopping corn.  We have never had a corn head for our chopper so we rent a friends chopper to do corn.  It has a corn processor on it so it smashes the kernels and makes them more digestible.  Bruce went and got that today and then did some adjustments on it for our purposes. Theoretical length of cut is 3/4 inch, although it varies depending on how the plant goes through the chopper.  There is a small silo in the yard we rent from Ed so we will start filling that one first. I finally mailed out the blood pregnancy tests today.  I had hoped to get some taken on the heifers too but my ideas and Bruce's time schedule don't exactly match.  Since we had 8 done I sent them in.  Information probably next Tuesday on how those breeding's went.

Cow Antics

It was a pretty basic day on the farming front.  Bruce had an appointment in town so we stopped at the vet and dropped off the two milk cultures from the cows he just treated.  They seem to be responding to treatment but he took cultures just in case there is more information we need to consider.  When we arrived back home Bruce had to mix and feed everyone again.  Having 2 treated cows is getting old since it makes milkings so much longer.  I have one section of pipeline to wash.  I can't let the cows out from that section because one of the treated cows is in that row and would get pretty excited if everyone got to go out but her.  I started putting the cow numbers and information back on the areas I have done while I waited. 

More cow fun.  This morning I got kicked in the shin.  I had already dipped this cow and was drying the 2nd teat when she kicked out and hit me hard enough to get my attention but not enough to do serious damage.  As a general rule she has a habit of pawing when she is prepped but she hasn't actually kicked.  I smacked her on the side with my hand and told her exactly what I thought of what she did and what my expectations were.  The funny thing about cows is they look at you like "wow is she grumpy today", seemingly clueless that they did anything.  We are pretty sure that Speckles thinks she is now pregnant and has job security.  Since we bred her she has been poking the milker off with her foot routinely even with the kicking clamp.  This is basically a game of Bruce saying "don't you dare" and her thinking "watch me" as she hooks it off! This means Bruce has to stand and watch her and I keep the milkers moving in the mean time.  Other than a cow who sorts her feed and throws an abundance of it under her belly in the process, the cows are doing fine : )

Rain, Goats, Cows

When we woke up this morning it was raining.  When Bruce got cows it poured.  It continued to rain all through milking and feeding calves.  As a general rule Mike spends his time outside, usually napping but also watching goats or playing with his toys.  With the rain he was stuck inside and he wandered in and out by us, and every single time, with the "I'm SOOO bored" look.  He made us laugh!  With all the rain the cow yard gets pretty sloppy so one of Bruce's adventures today was to take the tire bucket and scrape all the manure into the corner of the yard for now. It was nice to see concrete again and having this done keeps the cows cleaner in their travels and letting the steers out of their pen easier.

Today was a work day in town for me.  Bruce wormed the goats.  As a general rule we have done it with two people but today he managed to set up fences and catch them easily himself.  He used an oral wormer so he had to catch them and then use a syringe to squirt the liquid into their mouths.  Another job off the list!

We have been frustrated with a SCC higher than it should be.  The first challenge in this is 60 cows x 4 teats = 240 potential causes.  We have held suspect cows out of the tank, milked quarters out of the tank and treated a cow.  This morning we figured out which cow and which quarter is probably causing the problem and Bruce treated her tonight.  She was never on our radar as being a problem.  That means we now have 2 special needs cows to deal with after milking everyone else.  We are certainly hoping that dealing with these cows will fix our problem.  We also realize that with the rain and dampness of fall we could have another one with a problem tomorrow. 

Dreary

It was dreary today with rain showers on and off all day.  Bruce had everyone on the farm to feed so he spent a good piece of his day mixing and delivering TMR to the appropriate groups.  He did manage to take a couple hours to go and watch a friend cut and press sorghum.  A couple years ago he had purchased our old chopper and has now rebuilt it so it will cut the plant along with crushing it and extracting the juice to be cooked down.  Previously the plant, similar to corn in size, was cut with a corn binder, which as the name implies binds it into bundles and drops the bundles on the ground. These were then picked up , loaded on a hay rack by hand, hauled home and then hand fed through a press.   Bruce had just a bit of entertainment getting cows tonight.  By the time Bruce goes out to get cows it is already dark so in addition to the headlights on the 4 wheeler he wears a headlamp so he could see the details he needs to.  Tonight he saw something move through the grass and turned to see a skunk about 10 feet from him and heading away.  The dog had followed the cows home as usual and we are super glad we didn't have to add a dog bath to our evening.

Busy

We had the distributors installed in both silos yesterday.  Distributors do exactly what the name says, they distribute the chopped feed so the silo fills more evenly.  We haven't had anything in the silos that have worked for quite a few years so the feed just filled in the center and was cone shaped at the top.  This will minimize the need to shovel when the silo is full and rumor has it the silo will hold more feed since it will place more feed around the outside which is the biggest area. The total, 2 men, 7 hours each, who knows how many trips up and down the silos, $750 and one more thing off Bruce's list!!!

Bruce had an interesting adventure in feeding yesterday.  He has to go through the steer yard to get to the goats so he fed the steers first, hoping that would keep them busy for a bit.  When he came to feed the goats the steers went into the goat yard and the goats proceeded to leave.  For awhile everyone was stirred.  Bruce was less than pleased and is still complaining about "those damned steers" yet tonight.  As usual the dog helped him get everyone straightened out.  Mike found it to be a much more enjoyable experience than Bruce, as usual.

Today Bruce worked on the manure spreaders.  The box spreader needed a couple of floor pieces put back in place that had been broken out when the supports underneath were rusted off.  Now that spreader is ready to go for the winter. 

Something you don't see every day, a clean manure spreader.  The slats in the bottom push the material towards the back.  The end lifts up and the beaters throw the maure out into the field

The beaters spin to throw manure out onto the field

Bruce's other project today continues to be a mystery.  When he was loading manure the other day he realized that a narrow piece of gutter plate was missing by the end cow.  Gutter plate is 1/4 inch steel plate and this piece was about 6" wide and 18" long.  He assumed it was in the last load so he left it sit on the spreader and today he took the rotor off the back of the slop spreader so if it was in there he hoped it would pass through without any damage.  When he was done unloading the spreader there was no sign of the missing iron.  He finds it hard to believe it was on a previous load and unloaded without any damages but he also has no idea where it is. 

Tonight I started washing the outside of the pipeline while Bruce milked the treated cow.  I managed to get 8 stalls done so its a start.  There is no end to the projects that need to be done this time of year.  I will continue to do a few stalls the next few milkings so I will eventually be able to cross that off my list.

As I type this the dog has managed to dribble 4 tennis balls in by my feet.  He holds one in his mouth and actually dribbles them with his front feet.  It is pretty obvious who got the nap while we milked tonight : )

Spoiled

After morning milking we had a farmer date : )  As usual we needed things in town so we ate lunch there before we came home. 

We once again have decided to contract some of our milk.  I know you are not supposed to make financial decisions based on fear but that is exactly why we contracted again.  We are heading into year 3 of the pricing cycle.  History says prices could drop significantly.  Rumor has it that the corn crops world wide are doing well which should drop the corn price.  If that price drops,dairy farmers will be more able to afford corn.  Cattle inventories are high so cheaper corn could create a large increase in milk production, which in turn would suppress the price we get.  In the end we know what a good percentage of our milk check will be through April 2012.  There is peace of mind knowing this.

Bruce worked on the silo unloader today.  Actually he repaired what he had temporarily fixed awhile ago, and while he was doing that he did basic maintenance stuff like greasing.  Hopefully the unloader will now be in good shape for winter.  The guy who will put the distributors in our silos stopped to check things out.  The good news is he is able to put them in tomorrow.  The bad news is his estimate is $700.  We think this is  high but of course we need it done now so we are ready when we want to do corn silage.  I guess that is the price paid to have something removed from Bruce's "to do" list.

We have been a bit spoiled lately.  I have weaned my calves.  I still have 3 in the hutches that are waiting for room in the barn, but they are no longer getting milk.  We have been milking straight through for awhile now with no special needs cows.  This morning we had a cow with a quarter that needed treating so once again we have a special needs cow.  Just a reminder of how simple things have gotten after the early part of the year.

Feeding Everyone

This was one of those days that everyone on the farm needed feeding or moving.  Now that its cooler Bruce can feed the second group of steers and the goats every other day.  It just happened that the heifers on pasture also needed moving to new grass also.  We had a day of sun, then suddenly it was cloudy and rained and minutes later it would be sunny.  That repeated all afternoon but for the most part the day was nice.  Bruce did manage to get a couple hour nap today.  Its been a very long time since he has done that!

More Routine

Yesterday morning we woke to 1 inch of rain in the rain guage.  The cows were getting pretty dirty so an overnight bath was a good thing for them. It was my standard work day in town.  While I was gone Bruce spent the day hauling manure.  First order of business was to haul the load that had been sitting on the spreader a few days.  He was then able to run the gutters around and haul that load.  He also cleaned the calf pens in the back of the barn and bedded them with the chopped corn fodder out of the silo bag.  We have never stored bedding that way before and found the bottom had more moisture in it than we like. The back of the barn is time consuming since there are always pens of animals that have to be removed from where they are so he can clean and bed and then they have to go back and others have to move.  Milking got started late but the cattle were all where they belonged and fed.

Bruce started his day with a trip up the silo.  When the unloader is let down it takes a bit to get it adjusted, especially if the feed is still settling.  After milking we did the blood draws for cow pregnancy tests and then Bruce headed to town for some appointments.  We had hoped he would get back early enough to get the heifers home and do their blood draws in time to get them packaged and in the mail today but he was later than expected.  Once he got home he had to start mixing feed, especially since he has added the second group of steers, and now the misbehaving goats.  In my travels yesterday I saw lots of corn being chopped, being put in silo bags or bunkers.  Ours is too wet to go into a cement stave silo at this point.

Misty Day

After a few weeks of perfect weather we had a dreary day today.  We had rain, or more realistically it would be considered heavy mist, on and off all day.  Jim came home and helped Bruce remove the other distributor from the neighbors silo and they also managed to remove the filling pipes on one silo.  With the distributor removed at the top there is nothing really to hold the pipes so part of the purchase agreement was the removal of the pipes.  We plan to hire someone to install the distributors in our silo so Bruce is thrilled to have both of them out and ready to go.  Today included 5 trips up a 70 ft. tall silo. Not bad for a 56 year old since he can make it to the top without stopping!

In an effort to extend our pasture season Bruce is now feeding the cows a bit more haylage in the barn and we are leaving them in until after breakfast so they have more time to eat.  The 25 steers that were on pasture are now in a yard with a feed box.  Bruce has started them on their TMR.  The good news is they are started on their ration but since they have to have it mixed he has to deliver 3 feed carts full with the skid steer every other day until they are up to full feed like the cow yard group.  The group in the yard by the barn are starting to look more "finished" which basically means they are putting on a nice amount of weight.  At this point we are hoping they will be ready to sell right around the first of the year.  There are only 18 in that batch but it will be a nice check when it comes.

Tomato Abundance

We had a surprise this morning, finding that Speckles was in heat.  We had intended to put her on a couple hormone shots since she was the last one to breed but she cooperated before Bruce got around to giving her a shot.  Other than her bad habits she is a good cow and having her stay depends entirely on her having another calf. 

Bruce spent today climbing the neighbors silo!  He quit dairying a few years ago and still has a couple silo distributors that we have decided to purchase.  Bruce managed to get one taken apart today, piece by piece, tying them with a rope and letting it down to the ground.  I untied the rope each time so Bruce only made 1 trip up the silo but this silo is 70 ft tall.  While I waited I got to enjoy the view from another farm.

The tomatoes have been prolific this year.  As of late I have been working in town or doing tomatoes.  I have already canned  95 pints, 4 half pints and 5 quarts of tomato soup.  Next on the list is spaghetti sauce and probably juice.  As quickly as I get the baskets empty Bruce has them filled again.  It has been many years since we have had a good crop of tomatoes so we are taking full advantage of this opportunity while we can.

Silo Unloader

Bruce's plan for the day was to get the haylage silo going.  All he had to do was pull the electrical cord up (75 lbs) and plug the unloader in and pull the tube up (15 lbs) and connect it to the hood in the door. That was the story after he got done yesterday.  The hood that the tube is connected to was worn out last spring and we had gotten another one.  He climbed up the inside of the chute with it (10 lbs) but he couldn't get it through the door to install it. He had to climb back down and take it up the outside of the silo and pull it up with a rope, and then put it through the bigger door in the roof.  He did some final adjustments and lost a wrench so he climbed down the silo and got a magnet. The silo is full so it is 60 ft. straight up each trip.  It took 7 trips up the silo to get everything adjusted and working correctly.  No need for an additional exercise program in his world!  We are happy to report that Bruce's back is back to being that of a 56 year old.  Bruce corrected me in the barn tonight that he was feeling so good that he thought it would pass for a 55 year old : )  At his worst he maneuvered like an 80 year old.

With the magic of YouTube I found a video of how a silo unloader works.  Ours isn't exactly like this but the principal is the same.  Augers grind the feed loose and work it towards a blower.  The blower blows it to the hood in the door where it falls down a plastic tube to the elevator at the bottom.  There are doors all the way up the silo and as the silage is fed down the hood has to be "let down a door" so the spout can reach. 

We spent the afternoon today at a pasture walk.  We enjoy these events and have hosted 3 of them here in the past.  The nice thing about getting together with others interested in rotational grazing is people are willing to share information whether something worked well or failed miserably.  We all learn from each other and every year is a different event for all of us.  There is always a specialist and specific topic covered.  Todays topic covered grass types, reseeding and combinations of seed that create good pasture along with native species.

SO Far Behind- Monday to Thursday

Monday - In an effort to get the cows bred that we haven't managed to catch in heat we started a hormone therapy.  I had written 9 on the list last week and we managed to breed 3 of them before Bruce had time to deal with the list. Those remaining 6 got a shot of prostoglandin and 5 have all shown signs of being in heat and were bred.  As of this morning we have one cow that we still haven't seen anything on yet.  She is a nonconformist by nature.  She has unusual markings for a Holstein cow.  She generally walks up the alley farther than she should and then has to travel back to her stall when she comes in. She is the last cow to back out of her row when it is opened and often waits until the dog suggests she does so.  She is the only cow we use a kicking clamp on because she thinks she should be allowed to use her foot to remove the milker when she wants to.  When Bruce announced this morning she was the last one we weren't exactly surprised.  Because of this she will get a GNRH shot which will get rid of any cysts and then a prostoglandin shot that will hopefully bring her into heat.

Speckles...wonder why she gets called that : )
A kicking clamp puts pressure ahead of a cows leg so its uncomfortable to move it forward.  If she stands still there is nothing uncomfortable about it and it allows us to continue working and not stand guard so she behaves.

Bruce climbed the silo today to figure out what he needs to get the unloader working.  Earlier this spring he replaced the blower housing but chose to do the final adjustments when he let it down to feed.  Since he put heavier bearings in the spacing is slightly different and he will have to have new bushings made tomorrow.  We are lucky enough to have a machine shop within a couple miles.  As long as he is going there he can bring our manure spreader home.  They called last week but Bruce hasn't had time to go get it.

Tuesday - The day started out with a visit from our electrician to check the motor on the mixer.  Lately it has not started like it should, and since it is a critical part of our daily function, Bruce decided to have it checked.  The diagnosis was that the contactor was sticking and needed replacing.  The electrician didn't have it in stock but we do have another motor in the shed as an insurance policy.  This motor fits the mixer and the shell corn harvestore (silo) so they removed the contactor off the spare motor and will replace it when they get it. 

The goats continue to cause trouble.  They go through belly high grass, a new alfalfa field and proceed to the corn field where they are eating our corn.  We have never had a group of goats bother the corn fields in the 10 years we have had these creatures around.  The only good news is they do eat what they knock down, unlike raccoon or cattle that just make a huge wasteful mess.  As always, the dog does not see a problem with this.

Bruce got the new bushings for the silo unloader and also brought our manure spreader home.  It still needs the floor boards screwed down and then it should be ready to go to work.

We have been experiencing absolutely perfect weather with highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's.  The cows are enjoying these cooler temperatures along with near perfect pasture conditions.  All this means our tank numbers have increased.

Wednesday - Bruce chopped the rest of the hay that he had left out in the field to feed cows.  It was very dry so he added 150# of water to their mix.  Today Bruce commented that he didn't get anything accomplished with a neighbor stopping in, a mineral  delivery, milkhouse supplier here and having to pull another neighbor and his tractor home because, as it turned out, the fuel line was plugged from the tank to the filters so it died on the road.  He did bring the steers home and put them in the lower yard since the pasture is pretty much gone for them.  They will be eating out of a feed box until we have a place to start them on their final feed ration. We covered the tomatoes and dahlias for the night with a freeze warning in the forecast.  With the plants over 8 ft tall this was no small project.  Thank heavens for big tarps!

Thursday - With all of the hay chopped, Bruce spent the afternoon getting the silo unloader back together and adjusted. All he needs to do  now is pull the cord and plastic tubing up and it is ready to go.  Our milk hauler, who is building a house, wanted to borrow the post hole auger that goes on the skidsteer so he got that out and ready for him to pick up.  Other than that and goat antics, Bruce was able to do what he needed to do and by this evening the silo unloader is ready to go.

New To Us Mower

We had made the decision last week to buy a different mower since the grass will not quit growing and I am not getting any younger.  Our old mower is 20 years old and seems to be extra hard on my back the last couple years.  I had asked to have it delivered to Jim's home where we had planned to pick it up today but Bruce's back didn't need another ride in the truck.  With the help of a friends van and a little creativity Jim was able to deliver it (2004 john deere) here last last night.  He unloaded it early and mowed a bit of lawn as a test, then parked it next to the 4 wheeler by the barn. As long as he was here I asked if he would help me milk to give Bruce a little less to do.  With all 3 of us in the barn Bruce was able to sit a bit and still visit.  Jim hasn't been home for awhile, and probably won't come back after we put him to work! After milking I went to move the mower so I could mow later.  The dog circled it once and then jumped on!  I am sure he is wondering why in the world we bought "that" since he had no place to sit and fell off pretty quickly.  He never rode on the old mower but we are pretty sure it was just a new 4 wheeler.  I mowed lawn this afternoon and Bruce did the necessary feeding but not more than he had to.  Tonight he is feeling a bit better, hopefully that continues.

The corn is starting to mature with the husks and silks turning brown

The kernels are starting to dent

Our new mower being unloaded.  It was a very tight fit

Gotta Love Milk Pricing

I see that my Thursday writings didn't post correctly so I will just add....
Thursday- Once again the class III milk price has been announced for August, $21.67, and once again we have lost opportunity of just over $4000.  With an August 2009 price of $11.20, and 2010 of $15.18 contracts of $16.58 and $19.86 for this year seemed good. So it goes....  The 15 year high was $19.83 in 2007 with the low being in 2002 at $9.54.  The average price over the last 10 years is $14.53

This weather has been perfect with daytime highs of 75.  Bruce chopped what Ed raked yesterday and when Ed got home he raked what he had cut yesterday.  That gave me a day off to make tomato soup.  The tomato's are really nice this year.  It has been a few years since we have had a garden that has done this well.  We have already had 4 cantaloupe so Bruce is now happy! 

We took the truck to have it fixed this afternoon and on the way back we made what will be routine stops, for the near future anyway, at the corn field.  The corn that Bruce planted specifically for chopping is denting but the milk line is still high.  Corn dries from the outside in so as the kernel matures a line is created between the mature end and the immature tip.

Friday- When I arrived home I was glad I spent my day working in town.  The dog was limping.  He had gotten his foot stepped on putting cows out on pasture in the morning.  He walks on all 4's but holds the front one up when he runs.  Ed had been raking hay and a bolt had come loose and wore a hole in the metal that will need to be patched.  Bruce was chopping and had a bearing seize up on the chopper wheel which broke the spindle off.  In the process of handling the tire he once again injured his back and is walking much like his 80 year old father again.  We got a call that our truck was fixed so Bruce's mom took Ed down to get it before they closed.  We now have a replaced catalytic converter and a quieter truck with normal power again.  One of the signs of fall is the start of our card party group so we managed to get milking done early and arrived at a respectable time of 9 p.m.  Four of the 8 couples in involved still milk cows and 2 used to milk.

Saturday- It was fun seeing everyone again but getting home at 1:30 and having the alarm go off at 6 is a bit of an adjustment!  Bruce was able to get a therapy appointment early this morning so he helped milk 3/4 of the cows and I finished.  Ed came over just before Bruce was ready to leave so he asked Ed if he would stay and keep track of me while I finished.  His big concern was a cow with a sore quarter and he wanted someone around in case I had trouble with her.  I finished milking without incident and Ed offered to help with the details.  He and Mike got the cows out of the barn while I finished up in the the milk house.  Mike came back faster than I would have expected so I walked down the driveway to see if the cows were already on pasture.  Ed was just shutting the gate and the last of the cows were crossing the road.  Mike is so used to helping us and had come to see where I was.  I told him it was OK and he should take the cows out to pasture and off he went : )  He rarely questions getting a ride on the 4 wheeler with others but having someone else do what we usually do seems to concern him.  Bruce came home, rested his back for a bit and then went out with Ed to replace the spindle and tire on the chopper.  He chopped most of what was left, leaving some to chop fresh until he is able to get the silo unloader let down and adjusted.  The silo is now full so he had to climb up and level the haylage off with a fork, today of all days!  I worry, he walks like he is 80 and tells me he is feeling better (not fixed).  He managed to get it done without doing any more harm.  It is in the low 80's which feels like quite a change from the lower 70's we have been having.  We managed to get through milking.  Thankfully we don't have any special needs cows to lengthen our day.

a broken spindle means the wheel suddenly falls off

Wednesday Stuff

Today was a busy day.  Ed was back with the hose for the tractor about the time we were done milking.  This hose is approximately 2 ft long and $159! By the time Bruce was ready to put it back on the tractor he realized the O ring had disappeared.  This meant that I made a parts run, 35 miles, for a 96 cent part!  By feeding time Bruce had everything back together and was able to chop.  Ed cut the rest of our third crop hay down.  Within a couple days we should be able to top off the silo and let the unloader down.  We have SO much to do yet this fall, it will be nice to be done with hay.

We had 2 more cows to breed today.  We are finally seeing heats on some cows that we need to get pregnant soon.With the cooler weather their fertility improves because when it's hot that affects the quality of their eggs.  As soon as Bruce has time we need to do 10 blood draws for pregnancy checks.  Vicky was here today and was super glad to see we had bred so many cows.  She was getting kind of nervous since the breeding reports on our milk testing sheets weren't showing any breedings  or pregnancies.  As it turned out, I hadn't reported them when we tested milk for longer than I realized. Once we updated our records our reports looked much better!  Vicky was concerned as to how our cows were doing after the recent hot weather so she and Bruce walked out to the pasture to check on them.  She was quite pleased to see that their body condition was good,  not too thin as cows in some other herds that had lost a lot of weight due to the heat stress. She said those cows actually lost muscle mass instead of fat so that really puts them in a hole healthwise.  Tonight Bruce started a hormone therapy on the last of the cows that we are really struggling with to get  pregnant.  Thankfully the list isn't very long.

Today was another absolutely spectacular weather day in Wisconsin : )

Just Farming

I got in from the barn relatively early last night.  Bruce had a couple batches of feed to mix after milking and then he should have been able to get home.  I could hear the 4 wheeler coming and going long after I thought he should be home so I wondered what was going on.  He didn't answer his cell phone so I just waited for him to call if he needed help.  It turned out that the heifers had gone through a fence and were around the silo bags.  The last thing we need is them doing damage to the bags so he had to make sure they were secure in another pasture.  Mike likes this change of routine.  Bruce just had an unnecessarily late night.  This morning we realized we had 2 heifers in heat so they were probably riding around and went through.

Bruce managed to get some haylage chopped yesterday but in the process found another hose leaking on the tractor.  He is wondering if taking the tractor apart earlier and then putting it back together may have cracked the older hoses.  The tractor has 10,000 hours on it so miscelleneous repairs aren't a surprise.  He found a hose at a dealership about an hour from here.  We are lucky in the fact that one of their employees lives about 15 minutes from here so he brought it home with him tonight and Ed will go get it for us in the morning.  Ed cut hay today.  Perhaps there is hopes of us getting done with 3rd crop yet!

Holiday Weekend.

We woke up Saturday morning to find we had gotten an inch of rain over night.  The forecast was for showers randomly all day so we took the opportunity to go shopping.  We have come to the realization that the grass will not quit growing and I am not getting any younger.  That being said, it is time to replace our 20 year old mower with something that will allow me to sit straighter and receive less pounding on my body.  It was a long day with all the routine chores on both ends but we did find a mower that we think will work well.  It currently takes 2.5 hrs with a 48" deck to mow everything and farm yards are not like golf courses.

Yesterday was a full day with the morning and evening chores, along with moving heifer and steer groups  to new pasture.  We were invited to a picnic which meant Bruce did chores until 3 and we returned at 7 to start the evening stuff.  The weather this weekend has been cool with random showers so we again weren't able to chop.

Today, Monday, was a beautiful day.  We knew we had to chop something so we could feed cows tonight so the first order of business was putting the new hose back on the tractor and making sure it was working before we did anything else. Every Labor Day weekend the Wisconsin Working Stock Dog Association has its annual stock dog trial.  We always try to go.  Today we saw lots of pups around, more than last year.  Border collies, unlike most purebred dogs, come in a variety of color combinations, sizes and hair length.  Today was the finals with the best dogs from the prior 2 days competing with their owners.  We saw a dog compete that was missing a back leg.  If I hadn't seen it walking earlier, and the announcer hadn't mentioned it, we wouldn't have known watching him run.  One dog worked so hard and got so tired that he went and crawled into the cooling tank in the middle of his competition. We have tried to spend an afternoon at this dog trial every year we can.  This years judge was from England and there were dogs that competed from all over the country with highly skilled owners.  At these trials we have learned that 1.  even good dogs can have bad days.  2.  good trainers can also have bad days.  3.  sometimes you just get a selection of extra stupid sheep 4. border collies consider the command "lie down" merely a suggestion.  Stopping is considered close enough.  We grabbed supper in town and then came home.  Bruce chopped enough to feed the cows tonight and tomorrow morning.  All things considered milking wasn't even too late. 

I struggled last week, first thinking Wednesday was Friday.  Then on Thursday it also felt like Friday to me.  Friday felt like Saturday.  Today, a Monday feels like Sunday.  Tomorrow will be a Tuesday Monday since Monday is generally my day to work in town.  Perhaps I will get caught up before the week ends. Gotta love holidays : )  Tonight it is 52 degrees and feels like fall.  This is perfect weather for cows!

Once Again, Plan B

Yesterday Bruce cut 3 acres of hay with plans to chop it today and freshen the top of the silo.  We woke up to clouds, and after looking at the radar, Bruce decided to feed and get the cows home and then go and chop.  By the time he got the cows home it rained a quick shower, not enough to prevent him from chopping, but the radar said there was more coming.  He headed out with the tractor and chopper and I was going to start milking.  It wasn't long and he was home again.  When he started he had black smoke coming out from under the hood.  Given the fact we had a tractor fire this was a bit unnerving.  As it turned out, a hydraulic hose on the power steering was leaking and spraying oil on the hot exhaust pipe.  Needless to say, that was the end of chopping for today.  It rained short showers on and off today, not enough to really measure but enough to keep everything wet.  Bruce wanted to take the offending hose with him to the dealership to ensure he got the right one.  To do this he had to take the floor out in the cab of the tractor and figure out which hose was the right one.  He went to a dealership where they made a new hose for him but as he put the old and new hose in the back of the truck he realized both ends of the hose matched and one should have been different.  Back into the dealership he went and waited for them to make the hose correctly.  With it being a holiday weekend he was glad that he noticed the error before he left the parking lot since the dealership is about 35 miles away.   When he got home he had to feed everyone so the evening is late once again.  

The other event of the day was getting the steers that have been following the cows home.  They are caught up with their pasture so they will spend a couple days here in the yard by the building.  Bruce brought the steers home through the lane with the help of Mike.  The cows got all excited about animals coming and started to run and kick and act generally goofy.  With the cows running, the steers started to run also.  In the end everyone stayed in the fence where they belonged but for a few minutes we wondered which group we would have to chase, or how we would separate them if they got together.  The steers spent today eating an area  around the buildings that the goats were supposed to eat.  The goats couldn't figure out why cattle were using their water tank and eating their mineral.