My last posts included very low temperatures and broken drinking cups and water pipes. From that point the winter warmed up. We only had a couple snows that Bruce even had to do anything, and with those he only had to push the snow around with the skid steer. I don't believe the snow blower even got put on a tractor last winter! With more cooperative weather he had more "free time" to do other farm projects. By March the weather included record warm temperatures and we slept with the windows open for 2 weeks straight! March is usually rain, sleet, snow, and mud in Wisconsin. April brought rain, which in hind sight was much more of a blessing than we realized at the time. With the warm March weather the pastures started to grow. We could have had the cows out eating grass by the end of March but we took a week off to go and meet our new grandson in Utah. As soon as we got back the cows went out on pasture, the first week in April, a record. The weather was nice and the cows did well. All better!
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| Earlier in spring the temperature fluctuations created frost lines on the silo that show how full they were. Haylage is on the right and corn silage is on the left. |
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| In this case the frost line shows where the wet 2009 corn is. |
We got crops planted within a week in mid May. Official totals are 80 acres of corn, 12 acres of barley/alfalfa seeding and 83 acres of hay. After 45 acres of hay last year 83 seemed like an awful lot going into the season. With the help of Ed, Dominic, Kristine, Joe and a friend we managed to get the stones picked up on all of the seeding from last year and this year. For a change we felt like we were back on top of things. By this point last spring we were mentally, physically and emotionally worn out! Better!
As spring has moved into summer the rains stopped. The weather has gotten consistantly hot and the pasture has dried up. The cows have been back in the barn for a few weeks already and back on TMR like it was winter. Our costs doing this have gone up. We are most thankful now for rains in April and a very good first crop. Our feed inventories were the lowest they have been in years so the timing of a drought is ironic. Different ; (
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| This pasture was clipped weeks ago in anticipation of regrowth. Last week we had 1.5" of rain so we are hoping the pasture starts growing soon. |
To catch up on other differences: The cows have been freshinging, for the most part, without incident. We have had only 1 cow die. Last week right after the heat one was having her calf when she suddenly struggled to breath. We called the vet and she arrived about 20 minutes later but too late for our cow. What we know is she was totally dilated except for her cervex. We know the calf was breach and dead. What the vet suspects by our description of events is while she was laboring a piece of hardware punctured her stomach, quite possibly doing immediate damage to her heart area. We have had only 2 sets of twins, one set stillborn and early and one set of heifer twins. One cow did end up with a DA surgery (one of 2 surgeries this year) but both managed to continue on and are doing well. We have only recently have a couple cows volunteer to leave, both older cows that had sore feet. The dry weather allows rocks in the pasture to cause more injuries with no cushioning, which in turn causes the cows to move around and eat less. This causes digestive imbalances, which cause more foot problems. Add the diet changes from lack of pasture, and heat and you have challenges some cows just can't handle. Cows, overall better!
The calves have done well also. It stayed just cold enough earlier that the hutches stayed dry. Like people, the calves had a better appetite than when its warm and they have grown well. We have had a couple new adventures. A couple months ago we had a calf born that very quickly had severe pneumonia. The vet was called and he treated it with a diagnosis that it either inhaled milk or fluid when it was born. With the treatment it would either live or not. It did live and was doing very well for a couple weeks. One morning when I got to the barn he was really struggling to breath, and before I had a chance to even tell Bruce, he died. Another recent adventure was a calf that also suddenly struggled to breath after she was fed so we called the vet. As it turns out, we figure this calf swallowed a bee that must have been floating in her milk pail when I fed her. Her throat was swollen but her lungs sounded clear so she got a shot of dexamethazone in the trachea and by evening was back to drinking but still struggling to breath. Within a few days she was breathing normally but the long term effect is she has no voice! Bruce checked all of the hutches and found the start of 4 bees nests in the top of the. In hind site I am positive that is what killed the bull calf mentioned earlier, given the fact that he was fine when Bruce got to the barn and in severe stress when I arrived a bit later. Calves, better! (bees not so much!)
The goats kidded as they should have, in April and May. With the nice weather we only had the heat lamp for the first two sets of twins. We did have a very few die that were born outside over night during the cold & rain. The goats continue to challenge us in the fact that this group continues to cross 25 acres of pasture to eat corn. Corn is off limits and they were put in their winter fence long before the drought. The current plan (again) is to sell them in fall to lighten both our work and frustration load! : ) Goats, just being goats. They can't help it!
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| These were the last kids born. The black makes them extra cute ; ) |
We have enjoyed a year of "normal" breakdowns! To date our repair costs are about $6,600. By this time last year we had spent $23,652!!!!! Better! Thank God!
The milk price January thru June last year averaged $17.07. This year those same months have averaged $15.91. The added challenge to the drop in milk price is the drop in milk production due to continuous record warm temperatures and our protein costs recently at a record high of $590 per ton. (last year at this point it was $507) With the current drought comes the concern that we will have a smaller corn crop, or worse yet, no crop at all. With 1.5" of rain last week our fears have gone from severe concern to guarded based on future rains. The corn is tastling already with the heat creating enough growing degree days to this point. The plants are short but there is still potential of them producing a full sized ear with moisture so we are hoping and praying...... Corn silage will be expensive to harvest and it will take many more acres to get the amounts we got last year. That senario has yet to play out so we will see what September brings. Concerning and challenging!
Currently we are making 2nd crop hay. It is late by the calendar to be doing it but with no rain there wasn't much out there to harvest. The quality isn't what we would like for cows so we are putting it in a silo bag. Depending on how the year plays out we will be getting feed for cows from our silo, Ed's or a couple different silo bag options. While we managed to get 4 loads off 5 acres of first crop, 2nd crop has given us 2.5 loads off 20 acres! We purchased a new lawn mower late in the season last year and have only had to use it a few times this year. We are afraid to mow. There have been grass fires caused by mowers hitting rocks and equipment hitting rocks and starting fields on fire. There are some very pretty weeds that thrive in this weather. They make us smile ; )
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