Doing the Mundane...Among Other Things...

I've had folks ask already..."what needs to be done in the barn in the morning besides milking and feeding?"

Well...it used to be what I often did...but now the truth would be..."what does Jim (or Daniel) do in the barn in the morning and what do you sometimes help with?"

After milking (which I do help with) and feeding, the mundane morning work must be done.  Cows poop.  A lot.  Anywhere.  And everywhere.  So...the manure must be cleaned out of the gutters every morning,  Dry corn fodder or straw is then put into the gutters to help reduce splashing and to help provide bulk that carries the manure up the elevators and into the spreader.

You can also see the white barn dri that has been spread on the entryways behind the cows.  It makes a nice, non slip surface to walk on and helps to keep the barn clean...

Fresh sawdust is tossed under the cows to help keep them clean and dry. The sawdust is stored upstairs on the barn floor, and shoveled down through a hole in the floor into a cart, which is then pushed through the barn to wherever it is needed.

On a side note, a little fyi.  If you look closely, you'll see an orange tag above the cow on the right.  She came into the barn in heat this morning, and that sign indicates to the breeder which cow needs to be serviced...

We were hoping that the heat and humidity were about gone, but it's really sticky outside this morning.  So the cows are staying inside today with all the fans running.  We have five of these 48" fans, along with some smaller hanging fans that help to keep the cows comfortable...

After the routine morning work is finished, the heifers and dry cows at the other farm need to be fed.  Then after lunch, who knows what might need to be done?  There are a bunch of cows that are ready for their vaccinations. Maybe that's one thing we'll do today.  There's always something!

Looking back on the past couple of weeks, which have been super busy...

The silos are full...

Fifth cutting hay is finished...

Rye grass has been seeded in the fields where corn silage came off...

Some of the pens are cleaned out, now that there are some bare fields to spread the manure on...

The West Lampeter Fair has come and gone for another year...

Now we wait for the beans and the remainder of the standing corn to dry and be harvested...hopefully in another few short weeks.  Then there will be corn fodder to bale and more pens to be cleaned out.

I've always said that I think fall is the busiest time of year here...and I think I'll stick to my story!