This year has been pretty quiet so far, especially compared to last year. We have no snow but we do have ice where the sun doesn't hit. The worst area happens to be between the milk house and my calf hutches so I travel cautiously when I feed calves. I am down to 7 calves in hutches now since I have moved another 4 inside. I will have 4 weaned very shortly and will start that process with the 4 I just brought in. We are still waiting for the last heifer to freshen. She doesn't seem to be in any big hurry. Another huge change from last year is we have no goat kids. That is exactly how it is supposed to be : ) Early this week we had a high in the low teens with a low of about 5 degrees. Two days later we had a record high of 52! This is not normal January weather. The cattle seem to be doing well despite the warmer temps. It does help that the sun is out and it's not damp. The challenging part of this warm weather is keeping the animals bedded since nothing is freezing.
The routine of feeding and milking continues. We have no special needs cows but we do have one heifer that insists on kicking her milker off. She doesn't give us any trouble when we prep her but she does think she can remove the milker at her own discretion. Milkers are expensive and removing them with a flying foot, especially before she is done milking, can't continue. At this point she will behave when someone stands and watches her. That keeps us from moving along with the rest of the cows like we would normally do so she is extremely frustrating! There is always someone who doesn't read the manual and we are thankful that the rest of the heifers are blending into the herd nicely. Added to the routine this week was a visit from Vicky. Concerns covered on this visit were the need to worm and delouse the cows, addressing moisture level changes in the feed (Bruce had already made changes), and our current breeding list. We also discussed the goats leaving and what our goals were for 2012. She highly suggests we "simplify". We like the concept but aren't exactly sure what we can eliminate to do that. Bills continue and prices fluctuate and things break. Domenic finished washing the rest of the pipeline and we now have it all labeled with current information. We tested milk this week and found that a couple more cows on the cull list can leave. This list is getting pretty small! We also found the heifers are doing ok, and the heifer kicking off her milker does not have job security based on her production. This week we also had a visit from our dairy plant representative, we believe the official title is "field rep". I will try to be nice here and just say that we aren't exactly sure what is required to hold this position and receive a paycheck. The information he delivered this time was involving the somatic cell count. Our plant will be dropping the allowed standards to coincide with international market demands and also to meet the public "perception" of what these numbers are. It seems ironic to us that they consider these numbers important but it takes as long as 5 days to get sample results back, not to mention they charge us to have them done. He also brought us information about a program to consider that ensures our milk plant that we are being kind to our animals, again dealing with the "perception" that farmers can abuse the animals that create their income. Bruce has compared this business to living in a pinball machine. That explanation will require its own post! : )
We have a couple events from 2011 I missed in my posts. Our seed corn order has already been created, although not paid for yet. Depending on what discount deadline we meet we will be spending $8,000-$10,000. The December 2011 class III price has been announced as $18.77. Once again we have lost opportunity with our contracted amount $17.36. Historically, the class III for 2009 was $14.98 and in 2010 it was $13.83 with a 15 year high of $20.60 in 2007 and a low of $9.37 in 2000. A recent news story told that the highest investment gains in 2011were recognized by those investing in milk futures. Unfortunately these investors create the volatility in the price we are paid for our milk, and its their short term gain that is undermining dairy's ability to survive.
Overall it has been a quiet week. Bruce has made repairs to a hydraulic hose on the tractor and a hydraulic cylinder on the manure spreader. Total parts $100 and all things Bruce can fix himself. Mike has perhaps enjoyed the most excitement in weeks with opportunities to move cattle for various reasons. He also had a visit from the neighboring 4 year old. As long as there are 2 balls involved, Mikes game of "keep away" works. A 4 year old doesn't mind running after the ball that is dropped and throwing it. It was particularly funny for us watching because eventually the 4 year old started making a "keep away" game of his own and Mike was really trying to figure out what was going on. In the end, as we are told, the 4 year old went to bed early....and so did the dog.
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