The discussion this morning in the barn was that today could finally be a day that we could do whatever we wanted since nothing is pushing us that had to be done, other than basic chores. Of course for me thats about 4 1/2 hrs. for milking and for Bruce that ends up it being about 7 1/2 hours when you add up feeding, milking, feeding goats, fixing Ed's silo. I enjoyed a nap. Bruce reports he fell asleep at the table for an hour. Sometimes naps have to sneak up on him it seems. This afternoon I was in the mood to work on getting our books out of here so the accountant can do our taxes. I mentioned our income stuff earlier. Our expenses break down as follows: purchased feed 17%, rent of equipment and property 12%, payroll, employee benefits and cropping expenses each at 11%, utilities (elec. & phone), machine repairs and interest expense are each 4%, property taxes and property insurance are 3% each and our vet and general herd health costs and custom hired equipment/people are 2%. The primary feed we purchase is a protein mix that in Feb. 2010 was $346 ton. This month the same mix is $522. While the corporation shows an operating loss, it was a good year here after hearing stories of how other farms are surviving.
Just when we get everyone milking in the tank and the milking process streamlined one of our March cows had her calf tonight while Bruce was feeding. Welcome to another bull calf. We are FULL with calves and having to get creative as to where to put them. Hopefully we can get some animals into the other barn and free up space here this week.
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