We woke up this morning to sunshine (that has gotten to be a suprise in itself this spring) dry air and wind so that was all concerning but good. Bruce went to pasture to find a cow having a calf. The problem with that was we have no record of her ever being bred. All breedings are recorded in the breeding chart and I also record breeding information when I pay that bill. With no record that means not only did it not get written in, we never got billed because I don't have it in my books either. That basically translates into a free calf and a cow with no dry period.
Joe came this morning and he and I milked so Bruce could get things done. This is a new concept here, for Bruce to be off doing other things, other than feeding, while I milk. When it's Bruce and I, I predip cows with a peroxide based dip and then clean and dry their teats with a paper towel. Bruce takes care of moving the milkers and post dipping cows with an iodine dip to seal their teats and protect from dirt and infections after they are milked. With Joe here, he did my normal job and I did what Bruce usually does. What an odd process! I was still involved in milking the cows but it felt very foreign because I had to remember to ignore everything I usually do and concentrate on the stuff I generally ignore. I mentioned to Joe that it made milking feel like trying to write with my left hand. He just looked at me funny since he is left handed and didn't see any problem with that at all. While we were milking Bruce got the hay rake home in case the hay got dry and cleaned the cow yard. The steers live in this yard and the cows travel through it to pasture. It really needed cleaning so now it is more user friendly for all!
The weather this morning was concerning because our hay that has been cut and rained on would get dry today, too fast since we had a funeral we had to attend. Rained on hay, if put in the silo when it doesn't have enough moisture, can catch fire. Sometimes we have ended up drying it completely and baling it but we didn't want to do that so the timing of getting it off was rather important. We went to the funeral and came home immediately and chopped. The moisture levels were still very good but with the wind I wouldn't have wanted to wait a couple extra hours. Thankfully the family also farms and currently has hay cut themselves that they intend to bale dry. As long as it was so nice today Ed cut more hay, hoping it will get dry enough to chop it tomorrow. There is rain in the forecast for Wednesday so we aren't very optimistic about getting the rest of the crop done very quickly. Frustrating. Last year we had perfect weather for cropping and poorer milk prices. There is always something to challenge our sanity going on!
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