Tuesday, September 20, 2011

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.

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