Happy New Years Eve

Thursday-Joe has been helping every milking lately.  I have appreciated being able to get out of the barn a bit early and taken the opportunity to get to town a bit earlier to work on year end details.  I am also finishing up the details here at home but they are much less time consuming than my other job.  Domenic did the normal feeding and then washed pipeline.  Bruce and Jim would let out a row, he would clean it and then Bruce and Jim would get the cows back in.  These 2 groups of cows have a lot of heifers in them so dealing with them takes a bit longer.  While Domenic was cleaning, Bruce and Jim managed to get the door frame replaced that Bruce damaged with the skid steer.  To do this they used a post and jack and jacked up the header.  They then replaced the side frame with a 3"x10" oak plank 8' tall.  They used a hammer drill and anchors to secure the plank in place against the stone wall.  The edges against the stone have to be filled in with mason cement and the door has to be built and hung.  It was a great day to be working on the south side of the building in the sun and mid 40's for temperatures.  Lumber has been purchased and in our basement for quite awhile so it is just a matter of taking the time to get it done.  Bruce has his weather guardian angel working over time with such nice (for December) temperatures. I talked to Bruce's sister the other day and she asked if there was still a cement project waiting.  Bruce has a reputation for testing the limits between the end of fall and the arrival of winter and many cement projects over the years have been covered with corn fodder so the concrete could cure before it froze.  I am glad to say there are no concrete projects on the list any time soon : )

Ed called to let Bruce know he found a dead steer in his yard.  Bruce went over to investigate and realized it was the animal that had the infected knees earlier this year we had treated and babied for a couple months.  Earlier this fall he had been treated for pneumonia.  We can't say we are surprised since he obviously had some issues.  It is still frustrating....but we tried.

Friday-We woke up this morning to ice.  I took my ice cleats along for feeding calves because the driveway was already packed and slippery yesterday.  By the time we got done milking it had started to snow so I really didn't need them.  Joe helped milk and Domenic fed again.  With the ice we decided to let the pipeline washing wait.  There was no point in letting the cows out and taking the chance that they would slip and get hurt.  Bruce had an appointment in town and by the time he got back Ed had started cleaning the yard we are renting from him.  He called when he was nearly done and Bruce got some stacks to bed the cattle with.  The evening finale was me milking with Joe until Bruce was done feeding, and then Bruce and Joe milking while I fed calves.  The two heifers that had been treated and milked last passed their drug tests so we could milk them along with everyone else.  It has been awhile since we have had no special needs cows.

We received the bill from the Harvestore people today.  The process, and rent of the auger, has cost us just under $1,000.   We were both a bit surprised it was that expensive but it didn't help that the first auger was too short and they had to install a second auger to get corn out.  Since Bruce replaced the motor already himself he is going to give them a call about the $250 in rent for the auger use.  

Saturday-Bruce and I milked together today.  It has been awhile!  Joe will be busy doing school things for the coming weeks so we won't be seeing much of him.  It was foggy today!  The temperatues were in the 40's and make no sense at all for this time of year.  Bruce and Ed decided to clean the lower barn here and bed it with corn fodder stacks.  That means all the outside yards have been cleaned and bedded this week.  With a forecast of 40+ mph winds the stacks that are still left in the field are causing concern. Ed offered to haul them to where the rest of the stacks are while we milked tonight.  We have no special needs cows and the heifers seem to be behaving.  Bruce explained to the one causing all the trouble that if she didn't learn to behave her attitude would be addressed at the local stockyards.  She has been well behaved the last 2 milkings!  Maybe he should have given her a talking to awhile ago! 

Bruce has found that the electrical box in our pole shed is corroded and has blown some fuses.  The caulking around the power line entrance has failed and water seems to have been following the line down into the box.  He called the electrician but in the meantime we will just keep the power turned off when we aren't in there.

We have completed our last farming day for 2011.  When I started these writings my intention was to do it for one complete year, covering the seasons as they came along.  I haven't decided where to go from here.  I do intend to post some pictures yet when I have time and computer cooperation.  I hope in the process of reading this you have learned something you didn't know before.  Every year, even after all this time, we learn something : )   Happy New Year!

Lots Of Help!

We have Jim home these days since he has the week off.  His primary reason to come back is a house project for me but of course there are many project options here.  Joe was back yesterday morning and has been helping milk.  He and I start and then Bruce takes over and I feed calves.  We are liking this option although school will start again next week.  Domenic is back and looking for things to do, and this morning Ed was also here offering to help.  The winter options are a bit more limited but as the days go on we think of more to do.  Yesterday Jim helped Bruce fix the manure spreader so today Ed cleaned the steer yard and also got some corn fodder stacks to bed them.  Being able to clean yards this late in December is unusual.  Another project for yesterday was fixing the motor on the auger the Harvestore people put in our silo.  The pulley on the motor was nearly worn out when it arrived and fell off. Since Ed no longer uses his Harvestore they fixed the problem by using the motor from the auger off his silo.  The good news in fixing it is we can now get corn out of the silo in half the time it was taking.  It is not as fast as we are used to but a big improvement over the original auger.

Today we had both Domenic and Joe here to help so we started a massive barn cleaning.  Generally in fall we have the barn walls whitewashed.  This includes blowing down all the lose cobwebs and dust and then the walls are sprayed with a lime powder mixed with water.  We didn't do that this fall so today Bruce let 2 rows (about 20) cows outside and then took the leaf blower from our shop vac and blew down the cobwebs and dirt and also used a broom on the walls.  Once the dust settled (they wore respirators and had the 3 big fans blowing) Joe and Domenic scrubbed the pipeline.  The pipeline was filthy!  By this time of year it gets pretty dusty and we have cows that make a huge mess with their tails.  I know there is a group of people that have a problem with tail docking but those people have never been hit with a manure and urine soaked tail or tried to keep working areas clean.  For the pasture the cows have their tails.  I personally miss having their tails docked.  By the time they got those sections done and the cows back in it was time to eat dinner.  The project will continue tomorrow.

Our latest culture results came back fine so tonight we could milk straight through without having to bleach any milkers.  We could get used to extra help and cooperative cows : )

Happy Holidays!

We have survived the holiday!  For the most part the farm cooperated enough that we could enjoy our company and attend two family events in two days.  There were basic complications, the first of which was Bruce announcing late last week that the diagnosis as to what was wrong with our harvestore unloader was it was constipated!  When I asked him what that meant he said "there is lots of grunting, groaning and squeeling and nothing coming out".  We believe that the upper chain is stuck in what is probably 2009 corn.  That year the corn was very wet with a lot of fines in it, and with all the weight of a full silo on it the unloader just can't handle it.  The harvestore people came and tried to put an auger in but the one they brought wasn't long enough.  In the process of putting it in and pulling it out they did get enough corn lose that Bruce could feed, and they came back the next day with a bigger auger that is now working.   This auger is geared slow so that the corn could go directly into the roller mill.  For our system that means it used to take 3 minutes to get the normal amount of corn out and now it will take 20 minutes.  The process of getting corn will have to stay this way until we get enough fed out that the chain will be able to move again.  The only other complication of the holidays was having 2 special needs heifers to milk.  Both had mastitis and one is mean to the point that her days may be numbered here if she doesn't improve her attitude.  Other than that, we were able to shorten our work days to 4 hours for me and 6-7 hours for Bruce.  The weather, cattle and equipment cooperated and it was all good but we are definitely tired!

Other events to note is we have received our property tax bill.  As the proud owner of 269 acres we get to pay $7,371, divided between the state, technical college, township, county, school district. (listed lowest to highest percentage).  We get to pay this in 2 payments, the first one due by 1/31 and the second one due 7/31.  Something to look forward to : (

We received the check for the steers we sold.  We received the highest price we have ever gotten, and this is nice on the receiving end.  On the other side of the check we worry about people who won't be able to afford to buy food. 

The neighboring machinist picked up the shaft for the manure spreader, fixed it and returned it the next day with a bill for $45.  Since the rest of the parts are standard bearings, etc the repair will be rather inexpensive, especially compared to some of our other repair adventures this year. Bruce is hoping to get it put back together soon.

time out

Life is crazy.  Not only do we have the normal farm stuff to do, we have company, and company for company, and more company coming.  The last heifer we expected to have her calf did so tonight so we will have a break with 1 heifer left to go.  These coming days will be chaotic.  Our harvestore has significant chain problems that were not able to be corrected today.  The shaft for the spreader is back so that can be fixed.  We have treated 2 calves for pneumonia this week.  It needs to be colder but temps in the 30's is certainly nice for holiday travel.  This will be my last post until after Christmas since my office will turn into a guest room.  All of our helpers will be gone from Friday to Tuesday.  I am tired but the next few days will be SO much fun!  Merry Christmas!

Fixing-Monday

Our morning started by taking a step backwards first.  We had discussed selling some steers today, and as I was walking out of the milk house to go sort them Dominic came in and said "do you know you have cows out?"  That was the end of the selling steers idea today.  The cow in the first stall must have been itching herself, or whatever she was doing and managed to open the row.  We had 10 of the 12 cows in that row out and in every alley in the barn. Mike was a bit timid about helping since this kind of chaos is absolutely not normal and it didn't help that a few of the cows are not in their regular stalls and had no idea where to go.  We managed to get everyone out of the alleys and back in their stalls, and then we could start milking.  Needless to say, the lever is now tied so she can't do that again.

Bruce had been having trouble with the harvestore and he assumed it was the motor.  When he was in town the other day he stopped in and talked to the repair people and they had a couple scenario's of what was wrong. When Bruce removed the belts to work on it he realized that they were frayed so he called the harvestore people to order belts.  As long as he was talking to them he mentioned the problem that he was having.  They didn't believe it was the motor, but actually a problem with the fine materials that are along with the corn kernels binding the top cutter chain.  They suggested ways for Bruce to fix the problem but when he tried them it didn't work like he expected, and instead of tearing the chain off he decided to have the harvestore people come and fix it.  In the meantime he has managed to get enough corn out to feed and they will come tomorrow.

The next project was taking the manure spreader apart so he could replace the bearing that was out.  As he took it apart he realized that not only the bearing was out, the shaft was worn and so was the bearing holder.  Given all the damages he is not quite sure how it worked as long as it did.  The local machinist goes by here on his way home so he stopped in and picked up the shaft on his way by and will work on it tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will also sell some steers.  At this point that is the plan.

Another heifer freshened tonight.  This heifer is a holstein/brown swiss cross and she had a heifer calf that is all black with the exceptions of the edges of her hooves.   Now we officially have 2 heifers left to freshen.  One has an udder that looks like she will deliver any day and the last one looks like she might be waiting for the new year.  Then we will be done calving.....until February anyway.

Pleasant Day

This morning Bruce offered to milk himself so I could try to catch up in the house.  Wow did I appreciate it!  Domenic was here to do the miscellaneous feeding.  I went out when Bruce was nearly done to feed calves since I am taking milk from the pipeline.  As long as he made room for me to get calves in I brought the 4 oldest beef calves in.  As usual I filled a bottle with milk, and as usual they followed me in.  What was surprising was how big these guys were already and how easily distracted they were.  It was a different experience bringing them in compared to bringing in dairy calves.  Domenic helped me get the last 3 in after the first one got lost in the barn and went through the gutter and under a cow.  Needless to say, the cow got a bit excited but no one got hurt!  Bruce spent the afternoon getting the Christmas tree in and decorating part of it.  That made feeding start late but I was glad he took on that project so I could do other things.  I am getting closer to ready for our company to arrive.  In the meantime, tomorrow everything will be on hold since its a work day in town.

Snow

We woke up to snow on the ground, just enough to make the grass white.  It stayed cold enough that the snow stayed all day but we have a weather forecast that predicts it will be gone tomorrow.  Once again Domenic didn't show up but Joe was here and helped milk  so I decided I was taking the milking off.  It is a complicated time of year for me with the addition of a holiday, company coming and the tax year ending so I took advantage of the rare chance to get some extra stuff done in the house.  Before Bruce and Joe were done milking another heifer had her calf.  Joe has helped us the last couple years, primarily during the summer, and we didn't realize he had never seen a calf born.  That was calf #13 and I have 12 calf hutches.  Today was moving day for 13 animals from the back of the barn over into Ed's yard.  We now have 25 over there that eat at the bunk.  Ed takes care of them and they do well.  Bruce cleaned the pens in the barn and bedded them, and then rearranged the calves so I have 2 empty pens!  He gave the 4 calves I want to bring in the same nasal vaccine that the cows got.  We are a bit nervous about the continuation of this bug so we are playing it safe.  I will be able to move these calves in tomorrow, but in the meantime, I have the 2 newest calves together in one hutch.  Bruce came out and helped me feed tonight.  Having them together isn't too bad if they are both pretty stupid or both pretty smart, but having a fairly smart one with a new one tends to get me beat up.  The new one was a very good drinker and will be moved into his own hutch tomorrow.  The heifer that freshened this morning has mastitis so Bruce treated her right away.  For some reason the heifer calm doesn't work as well on her as it should so Bruce had to keep his guard up so he didn't get hurt.  For Bruce's safety she needed to stand still but she wasn't exactly agreeable to that and tended to kick.  We certainly have been spoiled with the rest of the heifers behaving so well.  With all the moving, cleaning and bedding that went on this afternoon Bruce ended up with cattle to feed after chores tonight.  Hopefully Domenic will be here tomorrow.

Stack Moving

Yesterday and today have been much quieter than the first days of the week.  Yesterday Bruce and I both had things to do in town, both in different directions.  By the time the day was done we had been to most corners of the county.  Domenic was not back yet yesterday but was feeling good enough to come today.  It is really amazing what a difference it makes in Bruce's day having just a few extra hours of help.  We had another calf born yesterday, this time a heifer calf from one of our heifers. Like always, she will be switched to milk replacer in a couple days.

Today Ed stopped in while we were milking and offered to move stacks this afternoon.  He was envisioning the stacks that are still in the field burried in snow, and we all know that this is entirely possible.  This time last year we had a snow storm that burried everything in 15 inches of snow.  Bruce used the skid steer and cleaned up an area to park them.   Having them moved also allows them to haul manure where they need to and perhaps chisel plow yet if the weather and time both cooperate.  Ed spent most of the afternoon moving stacks.  It is a relatively slow process since you can only move one at a time so we are really glad to have him get that done for us.

Last 72 Hours By Department : )

Weather - Monday and Tuesday felt like we were in the first part of November.  I said it felt exactly like an opportunity to "do over" since we were able to get things done we hadn't gotten done earlier.    Today we had thick fog and mid 40's for temperatures and 6/10 inch of rain.  Tonight the fog has cleared and it is 50 degrees.  Too warm.  It has felt like spring, including the smell of skunk in huge waves in the damp air. 

Our Help - Joe is up to his eyeballs in good things in school.  Bruce's dad if feeling the effects of this damp and cool weather so he isn't able to do as much as he usually does.  For this reason we have had to carry all the milkers out which adds a bit of time to milking.  Given the fact he will be 81 soon he is still doing great.  Domenic called in sick Monday and has not come back so we assume he is still sick.  This put all the feeding and bedding we had hoped he could do back on Bruce's list.

Goats - They are still here and in their winter fencing.  We have decided to sell the whole herd since our days aren't long enough to enjoy them.  In the meantime they thoroughly enjoyed their corn fodder bedding yesterday when Bruce bedded that barn.

Calves - We had a call announcing a new calf arrival at 5:30 a.m. yesterday and also had a camera discovery at1:20 a.m.  this morning.  I am now feeding 11 calves, all bulls or beef.  I have switched 2 more calves to pails.  The first 6 are doing great and they are eating their starter feed.  I have been adding some water (1 qt.) to their milk to increase their fluids to 4 qts. per feeding.  The last couple calves have been very good drinkers.

Cows - The heifers are freshening without issue.  We have freshened 13 so far with 5 left to go.  The heifer with all the issues, DA, ketosis, pneumonia etc, has died.  She had drainage from her incision the last day which makes us believe she had an internal infection we weren't aware of.  When a 1000 lb. cow decides she can't get up, she never will.  She just gave up.  Our investment $1,476 purchase, $312. in vet costs.

Fields - Bruce and Ed cleaned the lower building and brought new stacks home to bed everyone.  I bedded all the hutches after pressure washing the one I had been using when I had a single calf to feed. Bruce has been out in the yard poking around with a long screw driver.  He believes all the frost has again come out and he has visions of being able to chisel plow yet!

Equipment - The spreader had a bearing go out just as they were done cleaning the lower building.  The plan had been to have Ed continue hauling off the pile since the ground was firm.  Fixing this goes on the "to do" list.  Today I sidetracked Bruce from what he was going to do with a flat tire on the car.  Drywall screws and tires are not a good match.  Bruce fixed my tire and I am ready to travel tomorrow.

Cattle - Bruce spent Monday dehorning and banding (castrating) the group of cattle that is still in the barn here.  I have 1 empty hutch and 5 calves to come so this is way more than a mathematical problem in my eyes.  This barn group will be moved into the yard at Ed's and join the group there, and that will give me room to get some calves in. After the lower barn was cleaned we fed some corn and caught as many of the heifers as we could in the catch stanchions.  Given the fact they haven't been fed and caught before we considered it quite successful.  We identified who was already pregnant, who would go into Ed's yard and who is big enough to be bred.  The pregnant ones got wormed with a pour on product.  The open ones got wormed and also their V-9 shot.  The group is now ready to breed.

Mike - Bruce is working with Mike a bit every morning and evening in an effort to teach him to share his ball.  He spent the first 6 months of his life with a group of other dogs so he is a pro at keep away.  As smart as he is we can't seem to un-teach him that.  Mike absolutely loved helping clean the building yesterday.  He runs in and jumps in the feed alley when Bruce is in the building and when he backs out he runs out to be sure no one is in his way.  With everything thawing, Mike has found something disgusting to roll in.  He has gotten more baths the last few days than he likes.

Numbers -  We got the check for the cull cows we sold.  They weren't as big as the earlier ones we sold so the check wasn't as big as I would have liked : )      Matt stopped in to see if we needed to buy seed early for tax purposes "if we had any money left".  He then laughed because he reads this blog and knows how many pieces of equipment broke this year.  There are early discounts that we could take advantage of before next year.  We  will see.....   The recent milk cultures came back good yesterday so we can milk straight up through the barn with only 2 special needs heifers now.  Our recent culling has paid off with a significant drop in our somatic cell count.  Fantastic!  I paid our highest vet bill of the year, $1486.  Ugh   The pneumonia drugs were $599.

Us - Bruce has put in very long days.  Yesterday started with a 5:30 calf call and no Domenic.  Thankfully Ed was able to help but Bruce crawled into bed at 11:30 p.m., only to have the calf arrival at 1:20 this morning and the standard 5:30 alarm.  I personally don't know how he stays upright.   Monday was a town day for me and yesterday was a chance to get some things picked up and organized outside before winter really arrives. Bruce had gotten a stack home for Domenic to bed calves but with him gone I did it.   Last night was a 3 ibuprofen night for both of us!  It has been a very productive few days : ) The good news is I have made a batch of fudge.  For us that is the official start of the holiday season.  Time to start shopping..........

We are exhausted!  It is all good!

Calving #11...7 to go

The day started very early with a bathroom run and camera check at 1:50 this morning.  Sure enough, there was a new calf that needed to be tended to so I threw on some clothes and went out.  During the night the details are kept pretty simple, make sure the calf is in a safe place and that it has its roto coronavirus. I was crawling back into bed at 2:10 but unlike Bruce, who can be asleep in 10 min, I tend to toss and turn after getting chilled.  I have to say, it was a beautiful night for a walk.  Clear skies, full moon and cold, but not snowing or icing or anything else winter is capable of dishing out.

Domenic came and fed calves and steers this morning.  Feeding in general went much better this morning than it did yesterday.  I started milking and Bruce set the clean hutches in place, and when Domenic was done mixing he went and got some chopped corn  fodder and bedded them.  Of course a fresh heifer means we have a special needs cow again so Bruce milked her and her calf got fed and moved into a hutch.  This afternoon we had tickets to a Christmas show, ate supper and then returned home and caught the end of the packer game.  Milking went pretty smoothly tonight but we have udders that warn us that this quiet will not last long and we could easily have 5 calves at any time.

Done Feeding Eventually

We had a reality check on a couple things first thing this morning.  First, there is very little sleep time between 1:30 a.m. and a 5:30 a.m. alarm.  Following that was the reality that winter has definitely arrived with a temperature of 6 degrees. 

We had people all over the place this morning.  Joe came and helped me milk.  Domenic came with intention to do the feeding for us but he had to wait for Bruce.  Bruce had intentions to be done with the cow feeding in a short period of time but he also knew the silo unloader had run out of door last night.  He got the feed he needed, 150 lbs., out of the bag so we could get going last night but this morning he had to let the silo unloader door down, trip 1 up the silo.  The problems continued from there.  The second trip up the silo was because the unloader dug itself down.  Sometimes when you change it down a door it changes the balance and the unloader will hang up .  The third trip up the silo was to release a paddle that had wedged.  Bruce knew it would take about an hour to fix this problem, and he hasn't had time to do it.  He said he does believe that he has spent 3 hours releasing it all the time so this afternoon he did fix the problem, so that was trip #4. We have 35 feet of haylage in that silo so it could have been worse.  Full is 60 ft.   While we were milking Domenic was waiting so he did some sweeping, got bedding down, bedded some cows and basically spent time waiting.  Ed came and discussed how we needed to figure out what we owe him for combining corn.  For Mike, this was all good since he managed to get a good scratching out of everyone involved : )  Bruce managed to get done feeding just as Joe and I had everyone milked except the heifer that is still deciding if she likes us or not.  Bruce is still giving her heifer calm so he milked her.  I gave him a hard time that he couldn't really claim he milked cows this morning based on one cow.

Eventually Domenic was able to feed but first the roller mill wouldn't start because it had just a little bit of corn in it.  Then when he went to run the corn in the mixer he turned on the wrong switch,got distracted because the weight on the cart scale fell off and being new, didn't realize protein was going in instead of the corn.  Since the calves and steers don't get protein Bruce had to climb into the mixer with a pail and scoop out 240 lbs.  Eventually Domenic was able to get the feeding done.

Vicky came and got our goat buck when she came to get Joe.  Evidently she has purchased a buck that has no clue that he is to breed the does.  I did not think that was possible but she evidently has a dysfunctional goat buck!  I am sure our goat buck will be willing to help her out!

It was just darned cold out today.  Bruce had spent the last couple days working outside and was worn out so he spent part of the day in the house basically doing nothing.  Doing nothing is an extremely unusual event for Bruce but today it was a good thing.

Brrr

Today it has been cold.  We shouldn't complain that the first 24 hours of below freezing waited until 9 days into December to come.  Tonight it is 10 degrees and a nearly full moon and clear skies.  Brrrr

Domenic came and mixed feed again.  Bruce helped through most of milking with a couple short breaks to explain or demonstrate something.  After milking I had a work day in town and Bruce and Ed hauled manure.  They decided to try to spread the pile that they made during the summer when everywhere was under crops.  Bruce ran the skid steer and Bruce spread.  It was cold out so Bruce had the truck there so he could get in out of the cold.  The skid steer is supposed to have side windows to block the wind this time of year but Bruce hasn't gotten around to putting them in yet.  It seems every year he gets darned cold and then he gets it done.

We have card party tonight.  We also have 5 heifers with udders that look like they can have their calves any minute, but they are still waiting.  We have no special needs cows. Joe was able to come and help milk tonight.  We got an early start.  Bruce had to climb the silo once when he was feeding but the problem was an easy fix.  There is something very very unusual going on.  We have farm  cooperation and a place to go.  We will check the barn when we get home.......

So Much For Daily Posts

Tuesday-For a combination of reasons, bedtime Monday night was nearly midnight.  As a general rule Bruce sleeps all night but he happened to be up at 2:30 and I could hear him getting dressed to go out to the barn to take care of a new calf.  He returned to bed and, as usual the alarm went off in the blink of an eye.  Dominic was here bright and early so Bruce began teaching him how to mix feed.  As I was getting ready to head to the barn I saw a calf being born via camera.  I didn't see anyone in sight so I called Bruce.  He was in the milkhouse and pretty sure I was confused, and I was positive I could see a calf.  He went out to find that I was right, and was totally taken by surprise since they had been working around the barn and never saw she was calving.  That was a quick delivery!  Between training Domenic and dealing with 2 new fresh heifers, morning chores went late and it was after 10:30 before we managed to get breakfast.  Bruce decided to lie down for a bit, so I did too.  As a general rule we set a timer for 20-30 minutes but this time neither of us set a timer, and when we woke up it was  1:30!!!  Oh My Goodness, we had lost half a day in the blink of an eye!  Just as we were upright Ed came, ready to start the projects discussed earlier in the morning. Needless to say,  Bruce hadn't gotten anything ready so Ed had to come back in an hour.  It was nearly 3:00 before they got started hauling manure from the yard in the lower building here.  I started milking while Bruce was still feeding.  The good news is the heifer with mastitis and herpes had passed her drug test and has healed well so we can put the milker on her.  Milking ended with 4 special needs cows to deal with. 

Wednesday-Domenic came again this morning and cleaned the feed alley and then mixed feed and fed the steers and calves.  It is our hope that he will take these things off of Bruce's "to do" list.  After milking Bruce had a therapy appointment in town so he was gone until early afternoon. Ed was here before he was back so Ed started cleaning the steer yard.  Vicky came just as Bruce got home so we met with her.  Discussions today included the heifers freshening and how they are adjusting, calf care and breeding information.  For some reason the pregnancies that I am reporting when we test milk are not showing up correctly in her information so she was pretty concerned that we had many more open animals than we actually do.  After therapy Bruce moves a bit slower than normal so he focused on feeding.  After milking we needed to close up the door that is still on the "to do" list so we braced the old door in place for the time being.  Winter is starting to move in.  It was 20 degrees when we got in.

Thursday-We woke to the phone ringing this morning.  We expected it to be the announcement of another new calf but instead it was Domenic, wondering if it would be OK if he didn't come this morning.  Hmmm.  Bruce still wasn't moving very fast so I started milking myself.  I had an appointment in town and then errands to run.  Bruce and Ed cleaned the rest of the lower yard here, which actually means he is caught up to a year ago when he pushed the manure in the yard up into a pile in hopes of hauling it before it froze!!!  The manure from these yards gets spread on the fields that will be corn again so we are basically applying spring fertilizer needs now.  Milking tonight started a bit earlier since we have our card party date tomorrow night and will need to adjust our milking time to get there at a reasonable hour.  We shipped the 2 high somatic cell count cows that we had been milking at the end, and all the heifers are now being milked into the line.  The only complication is we don't have cultures done yet so we are bleaching milkers between uncultured cows.  Bruce tells me he will do this soon.  I highly suggested it would be in his best interest to do it!  heheheh : )

Business Of The Day

The class III price for November has been announced as $19.07.  With a 2009 price of  $14.08 and a 2010 price of $15.44 one would think our contract of $17.71 would have been  pretty darned good.  As it stands we have again lost the opportunity of about $1000.  In the big picture $17.71 is pretty darned good.  The 15 year high was in 2007 at $19.22 with the low being in 2000 for $8.57.

Ed was going to the dealership that had our tractor parts today so that saved Bruce a trip. To identify what parts he needed for our tractor Bruce gave them the serial number.  For reasons no one knows the part we need doesn't match the part listed in their manual so in the end we ended up with the wrong one.  We were just about ready to head to the barn when someone knocked at the door.  It was the parts guy who works there but lives about 18 miles from us!  Nice : )  The parts will cost $235 but Bruce will install it himself.  Last week I was looking at the books and in the first 6 months has $23,000 in repairs, compared to $5,100 for the last half of the year. Thank heavens things have gotten back to normal!!!

This morning we had the tennant in the house next door come and see what we do.  He would like some hours if we have them available in addition to his full time job in town.  He is originally from Florida so at this point he thinks he is going to freeze to death, and Bruce spent some time explaining how to dress for winter in Wisconsin. It would be nice to have someone come about 3 hours a day to do odd jobs for us.  Time will tell how it all works out.  Earlier this fall I sent out an email to anyone I knew connected with agriculture asking if anyone knew of someone interested in part time farm work.  I did get one suggestion but more people just said "good luck".  Finding someone with an interest in working with cattle  is difficult but finding someone to work the odd hours that come with dairy cattle is becoming impossible.

Bruce cleaned pens in the barn today.  Ed hauled 8 old stacks and bedded the yard at his place along with the steers here, and eventually the pens that Bruce got cleaned.  Today the highs were in the 30's and it's feeling more like winter every day. 

Sunday Events

The final total for rain the last couple days is 1.2 inches.  Bruce and Ed are still celebrating the completion of stacking before our world turned to mud.  During milking this morning another heifer decided to have her calf.  I have to say that they must be confused, waiting until after our Saturday plans and delivering while we were in the barn is not exactly normal.  As milking progressed we realized that this calf was quite likely dead already since it never moved after she pushed.  Bruce used the obstetrical chains to help her deliver since she wasn't making much progress pushing against a limp calf.  I am checking the camera during the night and have always been glad to see nothing going on. 

We had plans to go to town today but first Bruce had a few things to get done.  He mixed a huge batch of steer feed and fed half of it right away.  The rest he left in the mixer with plans to feed it before evening mixing for the cows.  With all the steers together we have a huge group.  Feeding is still being fine tuned.   He climbed the harvestore and closed the hatch.  As long as he was up there he put new batteries in our weather gadget so we can see how darned cold we will be in the coming weeks! The harvestore is full within one ring, so it is basically about 5 feet from the top.  Chances are we could have fit all the corn in but I am just as happy fitting that one load in the check book!  When the gravel was delivered one load went on the driveway at the other place.  He had gotten the gravel on the driveway here all spread out a few days ago but needed to get that load done before it froze that way.  He also ran the chopper boxes out since there was some corn silage residue in them.  He is hoping to do some maintenance on them over winter and if he left them the way they were they may have been frozen.   According to the weather forecast everything will freeze up by the end of the week.

We did have a bit of excitement within our dreary day.  Bruce noticed the coolant light on the tractor would come on when the tractor would lean sometimes.  He knew it was close to needing coolant so that didn't surprise him.  When he turned the work lights on the amp gauge went low so he got out of the tractor to see if there was a loose belt.  He could smell smoke and when he went around the tractor he saw smoke.  As it turns out the fuel shut off solenoid burned out so he couldn't shut the tractor off.  He ended up unplugging the solenoid when he got parked in the spreader shed, and after a trip to the shed for wrenches, and the tractor shut off.  We will have to get a new part within the next couple days but in the meantime he can use it.  He just has to shut the fuel off with the lever on the back side of the injector pump.

Of course the heifer that freshened was standing where the pulsator wouldn't work.  Bruce checked the parts for the stall cock (pulsator plug in on the pipeline) and decided it would be just as fast to move the heifer as fix it.  Moving heifers around isn't exactly a non event but it certainly could have taken longer than it did. Tonight while we were milking, the heifer on the end of the row managed to open the row of stanchions.  The heifers were locked in but there were 5 cows who weren't.  They took the stanchion opening as their chance to leave.  In trying to get them in the stanchions to shut them one went around the west end and thankfully down in front of the row instead of outside.  Three of them went running and kicking up their heels to the east, past all the cows with milkers on.  Of course, the gate on the east end was open so 2 of them went into the alley in front of the cows.  The dog was so excited but had no idea what to do first.  Bruce managed to get the cow on the west end turned around and out so she could go into her stall.  He then got the next one back into her stall and headed over to stand in the way so the 2 cows in the feed alley had no choice but to turn and head back to where they belong.  Between all the chaos we took the milkers off that were done and left them hang until everyone was back where they belonged.  Tonight the stanchion levers are tied.  In the past we have had random cows that would spend all their free time trying to figure out how to get the lever open so this is not a first.  I do believe it is a first while we were trying to milk though.  Bruce had great hopes of getting in the house a bit earlier tonight since he got feeding done early.  With all the tractor and cattle commotion he walked in again at 10:40.  The good news is we will sell the 2 cull cows tomorrow that he is milking last.  We will still have 3 special needs cows but at least it is progress!

Rainy Day

It was raining before we got up and continued to rain on and off all day.  Joe came to help milk this morning so he and I milked while Bruce fed, and then Bruce was planning on hauling the load of manure from yesterday.  He went out to start the tractor and it wouldn't start.  He decided it must be out of fuel, assuming it happened just as he parked it previously.  He put 10 gallons of diesel in and bled the lines.  It started and ran so he shut it off for a few minutes.  The next time he tried to start it he couldn't get it to work again.  He bled the lines out again and was able to haul manure.  He is beginning to think that perhaps there is a fuel leak that lets air in the lines.  We had late Thanksgiving plans for today so other than a 6 hour work day for Bruce and a 4 hour work day for me we had the day "off".  Hmmmm  In any case it was a good day and the farmers, both Bruce and Ed, are smiling because we have all the stacking done.  Ed stopped in this morning and said his final count was 128 stacks!

Harvest Complete

Thursday-We had decided to sell a cull cow and also a couple of finished steers so the first event (after feeding) was to sort out 2 steers and put them in the holding pen.  Mike was excited we were doing something but not really happy that he had to stay in the feed bunk and watch.  When we were done Bruce mentioned that Ed had already been over and offered to stack whenever Bruce was ready.  The tractor window was here but Bruce hadn't had a chance to put it in, and there was no way anyone would be comfortable stacking without a back window.  I suggested I start milking myself and Bruce should go and put the window in so Ed could get going.  Bruce returned when I was about half done milking and Ed had driven out with a tractor that had a new window, a full tank of diesel, oil checked and the stacker completely greased.  Milking feels like it takes forever these days with the 2 special needs cows, and added to that, we have finally figured out who was making our somatic cell count go up.  Since we were unable to sell them until next week we decided to milk them last and dump their milk.  Before Bruce got the last 2 milked the trucker was here so he stopped and loaded the animals and then continued milking.  By the time we managed to eat breakfast at 11, Bruce had already put in a 4 hour work day.  He went out to rake  and by mid afternoon it started to snow or rain.  He came in at 3 to check the forecast and realized that the rest of the stacking could wait a day.  Dinner time came at 3, after which it was time to start feeding again.  Bruce arrived at the barn to find a heifer had freshened.  We have 3 heifers that look like they will calve any day, and although they are all due soon, this one wasn't even on our watch list.  Bruce had gotten a call from Keith that he would be coming early Friday so the steer yard not only had to be cleaned, the corral panels had to be removed and the posts had to be relocated and a fence attached so we could keep the steers away from their equipment. He also bedded that area with a new stack so the steers would spend their time in the new area. We tested milk so milking started at a reasonable time.  By the time Bruce got done milking  3 special needs cows plus the 2 we are waiting to sell, along with putting the new calf in the hutch, supper was at 11 p.m.!  Currently life is beyond ridiculous with cropping, calving and winter about to collide!

Friday-Bruce mixed feed and then went to get the steel he had in the shed to repair our barn roof.  He has had all the materials he needed for quite some time but hadn't managed to create spare time to work on it.  Keith (the contractor) was here when he got back.  Mike was excited to move the steers into their new holding pen, and Keith was pretty impressed to be able to just stand and watch.  By the looks of things the steers had thoroughly enjoyed their new bedding over night which kept them away from the area the roofers would use, which of course kept that area clean. By the time we got the milking done Keith was loading up his equipment and ready to move on!  One more thing off Bruce's list!!!  Ed finished stacking what had been shredded and raked.  There are a couple more strips that could be done but at this point we will see what the weather does.  At this point Bruce is pretty sure we have 120 stacks so we will have plenty to bed everyone with.  As of tonight our 2011 cropping/harvesting season is complete! Bruce put the wheel bearings in the dump trailer and removed the temporary ramp by the harvestore.  Already there is frost in the pile so it is certainly time.  Tonight Bruce had the choice to feed the steers in their current groups or move them together.  They are all on full ration now so we decided it wouldn't take any longer to move them than feed them.  Mike was excited about moving something!!!!  The most complicated group was in the lower building so Mike had to bring them up the driveway and then make sure they turned into the yard.  As usual, a few went the wrong way.  This always makes the whole process more fun for Mike.  Tonight our DA heifer seems to be picking at her feed better.  She looks bright but tends to be one of the "poor me" animals.  When they feel sorry for themselves you can only do so much so we are glad to see she is making an effort tonight.  I asked Bruce today if he was excited to have the roof repairs off his list.  He said "YES" followed by "now, instead of being 3 weeks and 3 days behind I am only 3 weeks behind"!  He has been putting in ridiculously long days. Hopefully we can settle into a more normal (whatever that is) routine soon : )

screenings, delivered so Bruce could make a temporary ramp

This is how it works when its in place

Today the ramp left.  There is about 4 inches of frost in it already!

Corn Is Done!

(Tuesday) Yesterday Bruce started to feed after breakfast and got a call that the truck would be ready.  We had decided to sell one load of corn and put the rest in the harvestore.  The complication of doing that is Keith would bring his truck and park it and Ed would combine when he had time.  I was working in town again so Bruce had to stop and run him home.  Ed combined the last 7 acres of corn, and after the truck was full Bruce had a half full gravity box to unload.  Bruce then had to go and get Keith so he could take his truck home. Since it was late in the day Keith said he would deliver it to the co-op   today.  When Bruce got back it was time to feed. I was going to be gone and Joe came to help milk.  Feeding took longer than Bruce had planned since he ended up climbing the silo twice to figure out why the unloader wouldn't work.  It seems that one of the paddles in the blower is a bit long and if it stops in the wrong place it wedges. I had planned on feeding calves when I got home, knowing that Bruce would probably have a late day.  We also have 2 special needs cows which add to milking time.  One is the DA heifer that is still struggling.  Bruce decided to switch drugs, thinking that what he was using wasn't as effective as he would like but that means she will have a milk withhold until she passes a drug test.  The other is also a heifer that had mastitis in one quarter and, as it turns out, herpes virus on another teat.  This virus causes basically the same problems on a teat as a cold sore does on people.  The teat can blister and peel and become very sore.  In worst case senarios the animal has so much scaring that she loses that quarter.  The odd thing with this virus is it only shows up in cold weather and it only happens once in a heifers first lactation.  It is relatively rare and we can go for a few years without seeing it at all.  In the meantime Bruce has to treat the mastitis and milk the teat by hand.  It will take some time and gentle care before we can use a milker on that quarter. 

(Wednesday) Ed had given up on fixing his stalk shredder after being told the manufacturer was back ordering the part again.  They put the old parts back together enough to make it work and Ed started shredding stalks this morning.  Bruce did the normal barn chores, along with dealing with a vet call for our DA heifer.  She has had such a struggle.  First calving, then the DA and then the bug we have been fighting with.  She is eating but is slow so they gave her an appetite drench, hoping to perk her up and get her going.  My morning was spent running for parts, bearings for the dump trailer and large bolts for the manure spreader. Two bolts had rusted off in the manure spreader on the guide for the door on the back.  Thankfully nothing else broke so Bruce replaced the bolts pretty quickly after welding the bushing in place.  We had dinner and then Bruce went out to rake. He was on an open tractor today, and with a high of 40 degrees he had many layers of clothes on.  By the time he came home it was dark and he was cold! He ate an early supper and went out to feed.   I started milking myself early in hopes of getting him home at a relatively early time tonight.  I wasn't successful at getting him home as early as I had hoped but I was excited that I was able to milk all the fresh heifers without any trouble.  Bruce managed to get to bed in the same day as he had gotten up, just barely : (