My View, All In A Days Work

No till corn.

Seeding windrow then corn field and then the strips left to chop

A favorite view...

Little alfalfa plants and some random peas.  This is the start our alfalfa crop for the next 3 years

It is easy to see how the seeding is planted in rows.  I love the patterns created in our fields as the seasons go on. One windrow to go.....nice : )

This is one of my favorite views from the back corner of our farm.

Bruce sharpened the chopper this morning and washed the tractor windows so we could finish chopping seeding.  Later in the day yesterday it was impossible to see what I was doing with the dirt on the windows and the suns glare.  I did plenty of chopping guaged by the sounds of the chopper and plain old experience, so today it was wonderful to actually see what I was doing and also enjoy my favorite views.  We did 45 acres in two days which is definitely more like what we are used to.  Today's chopping was a bit more stressful since there were more stones and more ditches.  Seeding ground is always tilled so its looser and more easily moved.  The excess heavy rains we had this spring, along with the fact that these fields were some of the steepest on our farm, set us up for ditches happening even with our best efforts.  On a few areas in these fields I am always in fear of tipping a chopper box over.  Bruce claims it won't happen, and I recite that to myself over and over as I go through the areas that make me nervous. Thankfully, so far, he has been right. I ran plenty of stones through the chopper today.  We do need to get them picked up now that the stubble is short enough to see them easily.  Normally they would have gotten picked up after planting, but of course there was nothing normal about this spring.  Stones rarely do much serious damage but they do break sections in the haybine that have to be replaced and make the knives in the chopper dull and make a lot of noise. In the process of cutting this area Ed had to fix sections 4 times.  I try as best I can to avoid the ones I can see but it is the ones under the windrows that cause the most problems.

Fixing

Thurs. - Joe was here this morning and started milking with Bruce and then he and I finished so Bruce could work on the silo unloader.  Overall it was a day of maintenance and fixing for him.  It was decided not to make a new shaft for the silo unloader blower as they could not get the old one pressed out of the rotor.As Ralph said "we don't wanna be blowin s**t up ". So instead he built it up with a welder and remachined it. The unloader didn't get entirely put together but the big piece is in place.  To fill the silo the unloader gets somewhat dismantled and rebalanced and then pulled to the top of the silo with a cable that is attatched to an electric winch. This way it is out of the way while we fill and can be let down on top of the silage again when we are ready to feed. The forage blower got it's old shaft put back in place and " tinkered" so it wouldn't move  and the chopper box had the bearing replaced on the main drive clutch that tightens the belts.  As long as he had it apart he replaced the belt and chains.  We sent Joe out today to cut thistles in the pasture.  Most of them have been mowed by Ed this year but there are some in the fence row where the mower isn't supposed to go.  Ed continued cutting seeding.  We will have to start chopping as early as we can tomorrow since it didn't get dry enough to start today.  We have everything ready to go, complete with a cooperative weather forecast.

Worn out silo unloader part

This is the silo unloader, slightly disassembled for repair

Bruce had the company of a young pigeon who didn't exactly appreciate his activities

Tinkering

Fri- This morning started with a heifer calf following the cows all the way home from the far end of the pasture.  Bruce caught her and put her in a fence.  She had obviously been born earlier in the evening because she was dry and had already made her plans for the day, and those plans did not include people.  It wasn't long and she had her fence tipped over and had gone into hiding, in the grass on the end of the calf hutches.  Calves can be like small children covering their eyes, just because they don't want you to see them and they hold really still they think you don't.  She had no interest in eating for me this morning but tonight I suggested that her mother said we should be friends and she drank 2 bottles for me.  LOL  We got the pregnancy test results back from the blood draws we sent in on Tues.  The last group we had 3 pregnant out of 5 samples.  This time we had 7 pregnant with 1 to recheck out of 8!  We chopped seeding today.  The weather was perfect.  The moisture levels started out ok enough and improved as we continued.  Ed finished cutting the rest of the seeding and then chopped for a couple hours so I could have a break.  As much as I like doing it, driving tractor and chopping wears on me.  I could chop today in 8th gear which translates into 5.1 mph!  It was fun to see the new alfalfa plants coming as I traveled around the fields.  We have a couple ditches ( washouts) in the fields from the rain earlier, one of which had started last year and is much worse this year.  On that field I chopped on one side of the water way and then chopped the other side as thought it was 2 separate fields, just so I didn't have to drive through the ditch.  When I am chopping I have to manuever 6 axels through and if you can't hit the ditch straight it puts a huge twist on the chopper box. This particular ditch is deep and there is no way to go through it straight. Twisting a chopper box, especially with a big load, lets just say we don't need anything else to fix.  By the end of the day we had chopped 29.9 acres!!!!  Three days of cutting and two days of chopping and we should be done.  This is much closer to normal....finally!!!  With the process of first crop hay getting extended so far out there is about 23 acres of 2nd crop that we could harvest so that will be the next project.  So much for Bruce having that period of time with nothing to do.  : )  

Fixing Continued

Joe came this morning and he and I started milking so Bruce could do some feeding and then Bruce took over so I could get things done.  Today was a town day for me.  Joe made sure the calves had water and did some string trimming.  Bruce focused on getting the blower housing on the unloader replaced.  In the process he had to take the rotor out so then new bearings were in order.  Once it was out he realized the worn bearings had worn the shaft so he went to a machinist that is only a few miles from here and ordered a new shaft. That should be ready to go in the morning. The final adjustment details may wait until the silo is filled.  The main thing was getting that houseing in there while the unloader was on the bottom and easy to get to.  Ed started cutting peas and triticale today.  It looks like there is plenty out there and our timing should be good.  The next few days will be busy.  The other adventure today was having someone come and fix the front tire on our big tractor that had gone flat.  Evidently the aging tire wore a hole in the tube so eventually we will need a replacement tire.  The cows are behaving...the calves are behaving...the goats are behaving...the machinery is not!

That Special Day

Today is that special day of the month, the day they announce the class III base price for our June milk.  The June price for 2009 was $9.97, 2010 was $13.62 and todays price is $19.11 or $1.65 per gallon.  Given the fact that we have milk contracted at $16.38 we have lost opportunity for just over $2000.  Only three times in the last 15 years has the price been higher than what we contracted for.  We are fully aware that the markets are better than our contract for the next few months.  In the big picture it is all good.  In the little picture : (     The historical 15 year high was $20.25 in 2008 and the low was $9.46 in 2000 with the 15 year average being $13.36.

It was another warm day with a bit more breeze than yesterday. I am glad to report my calf gets up and down when he wants to without my help.  He still has a sore leg but is functional and eating so he will do fine.  Bruce needed parts today for ongoing maintenance so we scheduled a couple appointments for him as long as he was going. Generally farmers don't volunteer to go to town any more often than they have to so we made good use of the outing. The haylage silo has an unloader that is 35 years old and still working well with the exception that the bottom of the blower has worn through after 11 years since its last replacement. It is easier to do those kinds of repairs on unloaders when they are at the bottom and we now have the parts here.  Bruce got a call this morning that the shaft for the blower is also ready.  The blower shaft tends to move and wear due to "poor engineering" according to Bruce.  He decided to have the shaft redone and use bearings that he feels they should have used in the original design. After he got home he moved a couple groups of heifers to new pasture.  Joe was here this afternoon and evening to mow lawn and do some cleaning along with helping me milk while Bruce works on repairs.  Vicky checked our seeding and feels it is ready to be cut so that will start tomorrow.  We got just over 3/10 inch of rain tonight about supper time. After having such a wet June, we really could use some rain again.  If we could order rain we would have 1 inch every Saturday night.  I highly doubt the vacationers and campers would agree!

July 4

Last night Bruce gave my calf with the sore leg some anti inflamatories.  This morning he was more cooperative when I helped him up and tonight he was standing in front of the hutch waiting for me when I went to feed.  Bruce called the vet this morning to check on dosages and they recommend a different drug than we have for a calf this size so we will have to pick those meds up tomorrow.  It was a warm day, mid 80's, humidity 49% so pretty comfortable that way but there was no breeze.  We live on a hill so not having a breeze is extremely rare.  It also made it seem much warmer than it normally would.  The cows seemed to congregate in a group more than we like. because of the warmth and the flies are starting to be pesty.

The rest of the day was quiet.  We actually worked on a house project today, something that rarely happens.  Today felt like Sunday, it will be a confusing week : )

Sat-Sun

For some reason my post for yesterday disappeared so I will try again.  I arrived at the barn and checked the calves and the one who wouldn't get up for me had magically gotten back into the hutch.  When I went to feed them he wouldn't get up.  Given the fact that he had been up during the night, I knew he could do it.  Generally when they are weak just a little extra help and they can stand but this guy wouldn't even try.  Bruce came out and lifted him, something I can't do, and he could stand just fine and drank the bottle in the holder as normal.  We did notice that he has a swollen joint in his leg so that explains why he has been slow the last few days.  He is eating very well so with a little therapy every day he will eventually heal.  We wonder if he had been playing and kicking and caught his leg in the pail holder in the hutch and twisted it.

The rest of the day we pretended we had nothing to do and actually went on a farmer date.  As usual, that included grocery and farm shopping but it was a day out so that was OK.  It was a very warm day but the humidity was a little more tolerable. 

Sun-My calf will get up with help and eats well.  The weather is a little more enjoyable which is also helpful if they are already having problems.  Bruce moved all the heifers into new paddocks and then we spent the afternoon at a family campsite.  It was a pretty laid back day. 

My Bad Attitude : ) or Thurs to Sat

Thurs- Bruce set up the bagger after milking so we could actually cut and chop the overgrown pasture.  This isn't really a project as simple as it sounds since the bagger has to be put in place and then the bag has to be mounted on it and tied off.  It is heavy and awkward.  The end gets folded over and double tied so it looks like it has a big belly button "outie".  The backstop is then put in place to support the end and hold pressure on the bag while it is filling.  There are cables that run from the backstop to the bagger that hold tension so the silage will pack the entire 250ft length of the bag if we would fill it all.  Then we are ready to start chopping!

Vicky, our nutritionist, came today.  We had all the normal discussions of how the fresh cows are doing, feed inventories, feed mix results in relation to production, fat test and MUN's.  Feed samples were taken to be sent in and analyzed so we know what we are working with.  We also verified who had been bred, who was on the list, and why we are behind.  The days don't expand to fill all the requirements, nor are we getting faster.  That doesn't include animal cooperation...or lack of it.  LOL

We started chopping pasture by mid afternoon.  These areas are set up for pasture and not cropping so they can be awkward to get around, especially the first round which is chopped counter clockwise.  Added to that is trying to stay off the fence but getting everything that was  cut off the field so it can regrow, and the fact that the pasture is rough compared to our fields.  The grass is mature and there was a lot of feed out there so I could only chop in 4th gear, 2.7 mph!  Lets just say I took a physical and mental pounding.  Feeding started late, milking started later. Yesterday it was hot.  The cows spent the day in the pasture with plenty of breeze and only one seemed to show signs of stress.  By the time we started milking the humidity was building into what I have always referred to as "murder and divorce" weather.  High temps, humidity and body heat from 1500# cows...lets just say that there were no romantic illusions  about the business we are in. By the time we walked into the house it was after 11 again and I had had enough!

Fri-After a short night of sleep in the air conditioning!!!!  we are back at it.  When Bruce left the house this morning it was sunny and our weather station said it was 79 degrees with 99% humidity and wind at 17 mph.  The cows stayed in the barn today.  This kind of heat and humidity can be deadly so keeping the cows in the barn minimized the work they had to do.  The temperature topped out at 97. The cows seemed to handle the day very well, at least as far as we can tell.  We will see what the bulk tank says.  I had 2 calves with heat stress issues.  By evening one was back drinking for me but the other one had been under special care a couple days before the heat and didn't want to stand.  I drug him out in front of the hutch where he was content to drink what I wanted him to but didn't want to stand, even with my help.  I left him in front of the hutch for the night since there was a nice breeze and it really was fairly pleasant.  We FINISHED chopping today!  A full month later than would be considered normal but we are finally done.  Chopping was easier today because the heifer pastures are longer strips and lighter animals cause less damage when its wet.  I could only chop in 3rd gear since there was a mix of clover in this stuff and there was a lot of feed out there.  I was extremely grateful that our equipment worked well.  Most years we don't even think about it but this year has us just a bit guarded.  Because the cows were already in the barn, I could start milking myself while Bruce fed.  It was just plain miserable in the barn but we managed to get done at a reasonable hour.

In hot weather I prop the back of the hutches up so they create shade but allow for ventilation.  Even with the hot weather yesterday there was a nice breeze blowing through. 

This is the inside of the bagger.  The "fingers" pack the haylage upward until it is packed tight.  The tractor is left in neutral and as the silage packs the pressure moves the tractor forward.

The bagger set up and in use.  You can see the end tied off towards the bottom of the backstop.  This is 7 loads done.  The bags we use have a 9 ft. diameter.

Bruce drives the load up and unloads into the elevator.  The fingers pack the silage as the cables hold tension.