Merry Christmas 2018...

This morning while we were milking, this newborn bull calf demonstrated a real life illustration of what it  means to be laying in a manger...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

The Farm Sale...

Today was the auction of "the other farm"...the farm that has been in Jim's family for many many years.  It's the place where Jim's dad and his siblings were born...it's where Jim was brought home as a baby...it's where the cousins spent countless hours of fun together at Grandma D's house...it's where Jim and I lived when we were first married twenty five years ago...and where we've worked ground and housed our bred heifers and dry cows for just as long.

It was a beautiful day today...temps somewhere around the 40's perhaps...I didn't look, but it was pleasant to be outside visiting with family, friends and neighbors at an auction.

I took some pictures to capture the events of the day...

People came via various modes of transportation...

Looking out the kitchen window from what used to be our upstairs apartment when we were first married!  The auctioneer set up his truck in front of the barn...

There were a lot of family members, friends and neighbors who came to the auction.  Some were there for moral support, some for curiosity, and several who came to bid...

A bunch of the cousins were there...

The heifers were non the wiser, but were content to munch away on the feed.  They have no idea that in a few months, they'll have a new home.

It was a little bittersweet today.  It was time...but there are a lot of memories of "the other farm"...many more for Jim than for me, of course, but still, memories.  Memories of playing scrabble with Grandma D on winter evenings when we lived in the upstairs apartment.  Memories of the kids helping to pick up rocks in the fields before Jim would seed alfalfa...riding on the back of the grain drill...taking lunch and cold drinks (or coffee!) to him when he was baling hay or cleaning out pens.  We all helped on occasion to feed the animals or bed up the heifer pens...we pulled hay wagons back and forth between the farms...took dry cows over and brought springers back home...and the list goes on.

Now there are new owners, and it will take some getting used to, not making the daily dog-leg turn across Rt 896 and in the driveway!

Crow Damage...

Was it crows?  Or was it the eagles Jim saw flying around recently?  Was it both?

Either way, I spent part of the afternoon taping up bird damage to the ag bags.  The balage (hay that was baled before it was dry) inside needs to remain completely sealed to the air in order to ferment and not mold.  Even the tiniest holes can cause damage...

You might have to enlarge the picture (just click on it) to see, but all around the top edge of this bale, there are small holes that have been pecked through to the balage. There are a lot of layers of plastic around the bales, so you know it takes persistence to make these holes. We're pretty sure it's the pesky crows!

This was one of the medium sized holes...only about 1/4" in diameter, but the birds had begun to pull the balage out, and there will probably be some mold inside when we open this bale up for feeding.  That part will have to go in the gutter.  Thankfully most of the holes were tiny, and only a couple were larger...

THIS...it's hard to see, (here again, enlarge it to see it more clearly) but I see muddy paw prints and claw marks on the side of this bale.  A raccoon perhaps?

This bale was damaged at perfect head height for a crow as it sat on the ground...

Through the eyes of the ag bag tape...

My helpers may be old in dog years, but they still like to go out in the fields with me.  As soon as I head out behind the barn they're right beside me!  Phoebe had been out with us earlier, but decided that lounging in the barn was too hard to resist...

Just another adventure on a beautiful December day!  Several days straight without any rain!  Unheard of here lately!