...you're laying in bed, hitting the snooze repeatedly, trying to persuade yourself to climb out and face the day (can you tell I am NOT a morning person?)...and you hear heavy footsteps walking across the kitchen floor downstairs...the door to the steps opens and the light flicks on and off several times. "Alica, could you please come out...a water bowl valve stuck and ran all night, and we have a major flood in the barn. Plus, there's a broken stall, and there's a problem with the barn cleaner!"
So...you jump up and go downstairs and have to wait in line behind your daughter to get into the out-kitchen where the barn clothes are...she's already up getting ready for school. (I really am NOT a morning person!) Say goodbye to the kids and head out to face the day.
Jim was right, there was a major flood. One of the water bowl valves in the second row stuck all night, and there were about 3"-4" of water in this area you see here between the 2nd and 3rd rows. Here it is all cleaned up...it's one way to deep clean the barn!
I swept, and swept, and swept some more. All that water went into the gutters.
The gutters are probably 8"-10" inches deep, and soon after I started sweeping, they were completely full, almost running over. This is after the water has all been swept up and Jim's been scooping for awhile...
He scoops the water out of the gutter and into the barnyard...
What a mess...
That took about 45 minutes, but is now finished. The cows were
(the ironic thing is...last night I got home late after picking up Eric from an event, and I heard a water bowl running. I thought about poking my head in the barn to check it out, but figured it was just a cow having a drink. Had I looked, most of this mess could have been avoided! Always trust your instincts!!)
Here's problem number two...
Luckily, this cow stood still and stayed in her stall, just as if it wasn't broken. This is a primary reason that the feed carts are locked away whenever we aren't in the barn and the gates are all shut. Had she wandered around and gotten into some feed, it could have been very, very bad news for her health!
And here's problem number three...
The barn cleaner chain is supposed to go around the sprocket, but as the chain wears thin, it gets loose and sometimes slips off, out of place. This wasn't too hard of a fix...although Jim had to be pretty careful that he didn't get his fingers pinched while I worked the switch as he got it put back into place. He tightened the chain and it was good to go.
Looking back at the past five hours, it really wasn't as bad as it all looked at 6:00 this morning. Two of the three problems are fixed, and the stall will soon be too, as soon as I get off the computer and go help.
Never a dull moment!
I think those are two reasons why we don't have a barn! (or cows) :-}
ReplyDeleteWow I know just how that all felt and sounded. I could hear the cows lowing in that way when they want to be milked and fed. The cold of all of that water too. Oh, gosh I am glad it is cleaned up now but what a hard way to start the day. I think it is funny that your blog is named " Happily Married...To The Cows." Because on mornings like that you really are. Still, I think it would be nice to work with my husband every day in a barn rather than him driving off to work all day far away. I hope the rest of the day is really nice.
ReplyDeleteGetting up early is not for me either but my husband is at the farm by 5:00 AM. and sometimes earlier.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about "Never a dull moment at the farm" . On Sunday we had a cow die of a twisted stomach, she had calved about 3 weeks ago and her calf was very small but full term.
Yesterday we got a flat on a rear tire of our big JohnDeere tractor with a full load of liquid manure that weigh 20 tons.
The frame broke on the back hoe and also a hose busted. We do the farmer dance. One step forward and two steps back.
Hope that your weekend will go smoothly. Things seems to break in threes.
JB
WOW what a day and all I did was pick up the house and used my treadmill. Glad everything is back to normal.
ReplyDeleteOh the joys of farming ! Hope everything works out and gets back to normal for you guys . Well never really any normal on farm is there like there's never a dull moment either , I remember from my farm days growing up , quite the experience that's for sure ! Hope you have a good weekend and all goes smoothly !
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess but glad you guys got it all straightened out! It's always something when you are dealing with animals...
ReplyDeleteOh Alica I think a repeat button would be better than a snooze button BUT only push when you want to repeat the good days, it would be bad to repeat the day you just had:)
ReplyDeleteHope all is better tomorrow morning. B
About our cow with the twisted stomach, the vet diagnosed her with hardware disease and she had a fever and her heart was racing and he told my husband that she didn't had long to live so she was put out of her misery and the vet did an autopsy right at our farm. I don't know which side the twist was but there must have been a reason why her calf was so small since most of our calves are large. Have you come across this with any of your cows and if yes, what was the outcome?
ReplyDeleteJB
You have to love it to live it!!! What a day!
ReplyDeleteLife is always an adventure. Hope tomorrow is calmer.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the rough day. I think I would have just sat down and had a good cry after the first one. Good thing those cows do like routine and don't think about changing their pattern.
ReplyDeleteIf it's not one thing it's ten. There is never a dull moment on the farm.
ReplyDeleteWhat a day! You had your work cut out for you even before you stopped hitting "snooze." Makes my days seem so much easier!
ReplyDeletemakingroomwithus.blogspot.com
Sounds like a crappy day.
ReplyDeleteAt least there was no snow on the ground!
Hope your days get better and you have no more early starts to your day that involve chaos.
I'm not a morning person either so I'm very grateful my baby likes to sleep in!!!