"All We Have To Do Is...."

As I was heading to the barn this morning the 3rd load of breaker rock arrived so Bruce pointed the driver in the right direction as to where to unload.  With all the piles around here it looks like a major project going on. While we were milking we discussed what needed to be done to get the new heifers in the barn.  They were supposed to be delivered sometime this morning and we knew we weren't ready so Bruce bedded the steers holding pen so we have a clean place to put them while they waited for us.  The project seemed pretty straight forward, "all we had to do" was finish the mattresses.  Since they were already in place that meant drilling three 1/4inch holes and pounding in cement nails, and then using a sawzall to cut out an area that needed to go around the pipes.  Seemed simple enough.  When the heifers arrived we found that he had brought an extra one in this group.  This added the soaking, scrubbing and bleaching of another cow mattress, which involved moving a cow to a different stall.  Bruce then decided to tighten the stanchions since heifers heads are smaller and if we resized them they wouldn't be able to pull their heads out and get into trouble.  Of course that meant he needed to take the side of the stanchion off, unbolt the bottom, drill a new hole in the steel, bolt the stanchion in the new hole and then bolt it back in place.  We were then ready to move the heifers in but we had to put in gutter grates, bed the stalls and lime the alley so no one would slip and get scared.  By 5 p.m. we were ready to get heifers in!  We brought them in one at a time, and although it seemed like a slow process, we only had one that caused extra problems and we had all 6 in stalls in 1 hour.  We have the heifers in 2 groups so they are easier to feed since they will be eating a transition ration before they start eating cow TMR.  Joe had come later this afternoon and used the skid steer to move hutches and pressure wash them.  He then helped clean up the old feed in front of the cows and got more bedding down and bedded the rest of the cows.  Bruce started to mix feed and realized that the wheel hub he identified as starting to break the other day was completely breaking tonight.  The good news is the parts arrived today so he took the drive wheel off and fixed it.  He walked in the barn with the fixed wheel just as Joe and I were milking the last cows.  Everyone on the place needed feeding tonight but some will have to wait til morning.  The good news is Joe is coming to help milk so he and I can milk again while Bruce continues trying to catch up to where he should have been this afternoon.  Ed stopped in this afternoon to let us know he is able to start harvesting our corn as soon as we are ready.  The weather is fantastic.  We need to figure out how to run faster but overall it was a very productive day : )