Heat Day 2

We had decided that the cows would be in the barn today already earlier in the week when we heard the weather forecast.  Yesterday was an after thought so feeding and bedding cows got added later.  Knowing we were keeping them in, we bedded them as we milked and Bruce fed them extra right away.  We have 3 fans in the end of the barn that are 4 ft., 2 fans mounted on the ceiling that are 2 ft. and one fan that is 3ft and sits on the floor.  All the air for ventilation is drawn from the north, south and west in our situation, with some flooring removed in the haymow to access air from the west.  We have double 4 ft. flourescent lights in front of the cows that are spaced about 6 ft apart which mimic daylight.  In this weather, not having to use any energy walking around to eat or drink, along with the shade of the barn, is the best senario for cows.  According to the bulk tank total today, they were prefectly ok with staying inside yesterday.  We will see how they handle the rest of the week.  As in any situation, not all of the cows read the manual.  We have one that has decided the way to use the drinking cup is to put her top jaw in the cup and her bottom jaw over the edge on the bottom.  She has run gallons of water into the feed alley doing this.  Other cows lay with their tails in the gutter and then proceed to use them as paint brushes, splattering themselves and everything around them.  For the most part they just eat and drink and rest.

We were thrilled to see the fresh cow cleaned over night and is eating well this morning.  Bruce gave her calcium under the skin last night and gave her another bottle this morning.  She also got ketosis medicine just to be safe.  If she doesn't need it her body will excrete it through the urine so there is no harm at all in keeping ahead of any potential stresser in this weather.  Her calf is doing well.  After a few calf issues I am more than a little concerned about this one with the heat.  We know the last calf didn't get its roto coronavirus vaccine for many hours after it was born since it came during the night in the pasture.  This virus does kill a perfectly healthy calf in less than 24 hours, which is also the case with a pneumonia we have had this year.  We also know she ate when she was in the pasture but we don't know who fed her.  Yesterday's calf got her antivirus right away, before she ate.  She got her colostrum feeding, a newly pressure washed hutch and chopped corn stalk bedding.  According to the manual she should do fine.  Calves don't read the manual either.

With this hot weather I spent the day catching up on bookwork.  At the end of the year I print out a bunch of reports and make a book that is 1/2 inch thick when I get done.  I hadn't done the one for 2009 or 2010 yet so that was my project for yesterday.  It is always interesting to see the final numbers, and 2009 was again revisited in print.  The thing that I found the most interesting, frustrating, challenging was our milk sales from last year.  I had forgotten that we also had milk contracted for last year and this is how it played out.  We had contracts in  9 out of 12 months.  All of the months had the same amount of milk contracted as we have this year. Our lowest contract was at $14.77 and our highest was at $15.89.  Of the 9 months we only had loss of opportunity in 2 months, oddly enough with contracts that were in the upper end amounts.  We ended up with an overall contract gain of just under $7,500!  This month alone we have milk contracted at $16.42 and it looks like we will very likely have an opportunity loss of $3,000!  The volitility in prices in the last decade makes this business a challenge.

It ended up being 94 degrees with 82% humidity today.  Bruce had to feed calves and steers in the barn and add a hose to get water to the group at the other place.  After he got done he decided it was another perfect day to go berry picking.  He was able to pick a bunch last year and it is very unusual to have good crops 2 years in a row. The cows seemed to handle the heat ok today.  There were a few that were breathing  a little hard but none that were panting.  Cows pant like dogs in extreme heat stress.  Tonight they are outside again with a heat index that was still at 97 degrees at 10 p.m.  They won't have the sun pounding on them so that will help.

So It Begins

Breakfast got kind of late this morning.  We didn't start milking particularly early.  We have a special needs cow so she adds time at the end.  Bruce got the milker on her and the phone rang, we have heifers out on our yard.  I finished milking the cow while Bruce and the dog brought the group of steers and heifers to the end of the barn and put them in an empty pen.  Bruce is not impressed with the effectiveness of the fly control we are using so he retreated the cows..  Along with the regular feeding I did some extra cleaning while Bruce was treating the cows.  By the hutches there was very little breeze.  I came home to see what our weather gadget said and found 4 more stray animals wandering around by the end of the barn.  I checked the weather and called Bruce, 78 degrees, 99% humidity, winds only 7 mph and we have 4 animals out yet.  The dog is thinking this is a pretty entertaining morning, which for him makes up for the full bath he got last night and the brushing he got when he would have preferred getting cows out of the barn.  With the sun peeking out randomly and full sun in the forecast we decided to keep the cows in today.  That adds things, like bedding and feeding and anything we could think of to make them comfortable, to the day. In hind site they might have been OK outside but it totally depended on where the breeze was.  Other than a feed change I think not having to work so hard today was good.  This afternoon we got to the barn and found a heifer calf had been born. I did some extra stuff tonight since it was so nice and the cows are back out on pasture and should do fine. 

The heifers/steers that were on the yard got treated with fly repellent and put on a new piece of pasture.  Bruce strung a poly wire fence along one side to keep them from going up the driveway and the dog kept them in line and got them where they needed to go pretty quickly.  Bruce had 2 other groups to move today also, along with really really wanting to pick berries again.  By the time he got everything done it was 4:00.  He was able to go and pick for a couple hours but these berries are pretty much getting to the end.

Since we have no field work to do we have officially entered the period of time Bruce referred to as "having nothing to do".   : )

Friday

First order of business today was to run to town and get a silo cover the right size so Bruce could cover the haylage when we were done milking.  He started milking and was half done when I got back so we both finished.  The first thing Bruce had to do was run the blower for awhile to put fresh air in the silo in case silo gas had started to develop.  There is only 40 ft. in a 60 ft. silo at this point so he let it run an hour while he did other things.  It didn't take long to cover the silage itself once he got to that point. Overall it was a pretty nice day.  It stayed overcast and breezy.  We could use rain but it disappeared before it got to us most of today.  Bruce took the day and picked black caps.  For him it is like going on vacation.  I met with an insurance agent to consider a new company for our property insurance.  At this point it looks like we can save a decent amount of money with potentially better coverage.  I will need to make a phone call on Monday with some questions before we decide.

We  are tired of heat issues.  Yesterday morning my newest heifer calf had signs of diarrhea.  I added the normal electrolyte powder to her milk and she was an aggressive eater, just like she has been so I assumed she just had a stomach upset. Last night I got to the barn and she was weak and dehydrated.  I gave her extra electrolytes, and although she was willing to drink from a bottle, I gave them to her via stomach tube so she didn't have to work so hard. Bruce treated her for pneumonia. This morning she was dead.  High temps and humidity and then cool and then hot again is hard on calves.  I prefer 20 degrees. Bruce and I are both glad we are nearly done calving, although that means 3 to go yet with deadly temps in the forecast for next week.

I paid bills the other day and called today to find out what our milk check will be on Monday.  This check will not be big enough, but on the bright side, this month included the fertilizer bill along with another 500 gallons of diesel fuel.  For some reason our cropping expenses have been spread out nicely and the fertilizer was the last big bill.  I also paid the vet bill.  The pneumonia antibiotic we use costs $229 for a 50cc bottle.  The last cow that freshened with twins and other issues cost us $280 but she is doing fine so at least that feels like a win : )   Just interesting pieces of our farming puzzle.

Randomness

With so many things going on this time of year I have basically been writing about the high points of the day.  Bruce did some routine maintenance on the chopper, including sharpening it, and in the process was lucky enough to see a chain that had a connector broken.  If the chain had not stopped at exactly that point he wouldn't have known about it until it broke, probably on the first load. Ed raked and then he hauled loads and I chopped and Bruce raked. With the chain fixed and the chopper sharp todays high point was chopping 2nd crop hay, even if it was only half of the crop.  The quality should be excellent, the moisture was great and the weather cooperated.  Thank Heavens!  Bruce leveled the silo, planning to cover it, only to find out the cover we had was the wrong size.  That means a trip to town tomorrow and then covering the silo after it has already started heating. 

This morning Bruce took the cows out to pasture and then checked on the black caps.  The cows headed out to where there should be new grass and it wasn't long before they were down by Bruce and complaining.  He wanted them to work a little harder on the paddock they had last night but they were not happy with that idea.  Bruce left them there a few hours and then gave them a new paddock.  The grass they are in now has all been mowed previously and has grown back to what is considered perfect at this point.  No wonder they like it : )

The goats are going through their pastures pretty quickly these days.  The kids are easily 2/3 the size of their mothers and can literally lift the doe off her feet when they bump her while they nurse.  It is beyond human understanding why the does put up with it but it doesn't seem to phase them.  They will continue to nurse until early fall.  Eventually the doe just won't stand still for them.

This week the cow that stepped on and removed an inch of her teat can be milked with a milker.  Her injury happened 6/8 and all this time we have just let it drain and heal.  Once cows are prepped they let their milk down, and in a case like this, that teat runs like a faucet.  Needless to say, she made a big mess in the process so we are glad the milker works again.  The trick with her will be to prep her just before the milker is put on or we will continue to have a mess.

Tonight Joe came again and mowed our lawn and pressure washed the walls and floor in the milkhouse along with helping milk.  We are looking better around here little by little.

I haven't done very well carrying a camera lately so I end up adding pictures after the fact.  That is the case today.

Any guess why Bruce gets excited when we have black caps

We have wild lillies that grow in the woods.

Wednesday Again

The day started out at 59 degrees!  Brrr.  The cows and I loved it but the corn likes heat and humidity so this can only be temporary.  After milking Bruce took a milk sample  to culture of a cow recently fresh that has a high somatic cell count.  I ran the sample to the vet this afternoon in hopes of having results back before the weekend.  After milking I had to go to town to report our acreage at the Farm Service Agency.  This is the agency that runs any federal ag programs, and in order to participate you have to operate by their rules.  The acreage reports are due by 7/15 even though commodity prices are currently high enough that the programs aren't really paying anything.  It is easier to just report yearly to keep records current.  In order to participate in any programs we also have to work with the land conservation department.  They are the ones that supervise our cropping rotations, strips and erosion control.  The other reason to report is we have crop insurance on our alfalfa seeding and they require an official crop report.  Bruce did a really good job of keeping track of the details which is why I did the report this year instead of him.  While I was gone Bruce ran over to the neighbors to look at his blower.  He has one identical to ours and Bruce wanted to make sure he had replaced the belt on ours correctly.  In the process he realized he had the pulley backwards so he had to turn that around.  Oops : )  Bruce raked the hay this afternoon but even with low humidities and a breeze it didn't get dry enough to chop today.  We started the breeding process again today by putting cidr's in a group of heifers.  The fear is it will get really hot again when they are due to be bred.  We have had this problem in the past during the summer and heat stress has a pretty negative impact on fertility.

As a general rule Bruce goes out with the dog and the 4 wheeler to get the cows but tonight he insisted I ride along.  While the dog supervised the cows going home, he had to show me all the wild black caps that are growing in our woods again this year.  I really think, second to border collies, nothing makes him happier!  Picking berries in the heat and the bugs and getting all scratched up is a fun vacation day for him.  Needless to say, I don't entirely share his enthusiasm but I am more than willing to make batches of jelly for him with whatever he picks

Tis The Season

Storms passed through here Sunday night and Monday morning.  All total we got .7 of rain.  It had gotten pretty dry so we were glad for what we got, especially since some areas got nasty storms along with their rain.  It was good timing for the crops, especially the seeding that has just been harvested.

The flies are here.  They become a nusance for the cows and make their life miserable.  In an effort to combat the aggravation the cows tend to huddle and rest in a small area, which with the rain, becomes a mud hole.  They get the mud on their feet and udders which makes prepping them for milking take twice as long. The moisture and mud attracts flies so the viscous cycle continues.  Yesterday Bruce put fly repellent on all but one group of animals that are on pasture.  We use a product that you pour down their backs.  It doesn't take much but already today there are very few flies on them and they are more content.

Joe was here last night and milked with me while Bruce set a new fence for the heifers below here.  They are now back to the first piece of pasture they were on.  Bruce finished milking with Joe so I could get the calves fed. 

Today Bruce checked into getting some help to pick the stones on our seeding fields.  We will see if we can make that work.  The rest of the day was spent replacing the shaft, hub and belt on the blower while Ed started cutting our 2nd crop alfalfa.  It was a cloudy day with less humidity.  The hay isn't drying very fast at this point.  There is less tonage in the 2nd crop so the plan is to rake 2 windrows together.  This makes chopping more efficient and helps hold the moisture.  Joe did some weed trimming tonight and then he and Bruce milked. I was able to do few things in the house before I fed calves and helped let cows out. I enjoyed the break from milking even if it was to clean house : )

Still Here

Life has been so consumed with field work that I thought maybe I should mention we still have cattle and goats.  For the most part they are all doing their thing without much trouble.  The last cow that freshened is moving along exactly as the manual would expect.  We do have a cow that Bruce has had to treat for mastitis.  She is one of our staph aureus cows which is her first problem but the wet and heat contribute to her problems.  I am feeding 6 calves currently.  They are slow to start on feed with the warm weather, which is why I really like 20 degrees better.  Today it was in the mid 80's and humid again.  The corn is loving it and finally looking pretty good.  With our clay soils, the excess moisture earlier stunted some of the plants in wetter areas and until this week they were shorter more yellowish than green.  We do need some rain and hopefully we will get some over night and won't have storm damage in the morning.