Adjusting...

It's been two weeks today since we sold the cows, and we've been gradually adjusting to our new normal.  We're still feeling good about our decision, but there have been adjustments.

I will say, it's been easier in some ways than we expected, and harder in others!  The hardest part for me has been giving up my time at home.  Although we were very tied down with the cows, we often had flexible time throughout the day for running errands, etc.  That has changed a bit and is an adjustment, but we'll figure it out!  I need to be more intentional about meal planning, cleaning, laundry etc.  Jim still has some manure to haul and projects that he would like to tackle, and will have to adjust to the same thing.

I headed off to a new job almost two weeks ago, working in the office at a feed mill. I'm enjoying being able to remain a part of the ag community and I'm also enjoying the work that I've been doing.  I have a LOT to learn, but thankfully the people there have been very patient with my many, many questions!

Jim has been trying out a few things and hasn't decided for sure which direction he would like to go.  He will find a good fit I'm sure, but it might take a little time.

The dogs and cats may have the hardest adjustment of all!  They were used to having us around all day and would enjoy many ear scratches or belly rubs, and sneak treats throughout the day. Snickers has, in the past few months, bedded down in a pile of straw and corn fodder in the cow stable.  When the barn was full of cows, it was nice and cozy even on the coldest of days. When Jim cleaned out the stalls, he left her little pile in place so that she would have a comfy bed.  She could easily sleep upstairs in the straw with Murphy and Phoebe, but she chooses this...  

I'm headed off for a half day today, and when I get home the dogs will be jumping (at least Phoebe will be!) with excitement.  It's good to be loved, especially in the midst of big life changes!  :)

Brrr...

It finally happened...winter arrived!

We knew it was coming, but still, when that wind picked up on Sunday afternoon...brrrrrr.

After milking, we shut the barn up tight, drained water lines and watched the AFC Championship game with my sister and brother in law. Since the Eagles lost last weekend, Jim and I gladly joined the KC fan club...

It got pretty exciting there at the end, but disappointment prevailed.  I have to keep reminding myself that "it's just a football game"!  Sorry if I offended any die hard fans, but it's true!

I stayed up and checked out the lunar eclipse.  It was soooooo cold, but I think it was worth seeing!

The winds howled all night long, and we saw single digits by morning. The cold and wind combination is one thing that I will not miss after the cows are gone.  Yes, it might still be cold and windy, but we won't be trying to keep water bowls open all day long or fixing a barn cleaner in the bitter cold, or fighting with frozen corn silage! Most of those headaches fall on Jim, and he deals with them much better than I do!

Meanwhile, on the south side of the house...

All three dogs CHOSE to lay in the ivy, in the sun and out of the wind. They could have gone inside the barn, but then they might have missed some activity.  For Phoebe especially, that would have been just too boring!

Tuesday morning brought single digits again...

...but the wind had died down almost completely.  Yay! What a difference a calm day makes, even in the cold!  We had more barn cleaner problems, which took most of the day for Jim to fix, but he got it done!  I am amazed at the amount of knowledge a farmer has to have, about so many different things!

Two days later, and guess what?  Temps are in the 40's and there's rain in the forecast.  Surprise, surprise!

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!

"Home" Improvements...

We've finally seen a few projects completed that we've been anticipating for a while!

One project was our side porch...

In the almost twenty five years that we've lived here, we've replaced the wooden floor boards on this heavily used porch at least twice...maybe three times.  The tongue and groove boards looked nice, until they began to rot from moisture over time.  We tried to keep them painted, but over time there wasn't much option but to replace them. Again.

This time we decided to go with a composite material, from a local Amish company that we've used before for PVC and hi-tensil fencing.  We lined things up in late April, but with the rainy summer we've had, things didn't get underway until last week.

They ripped off the old porch boards on Thursday afternoon,  and came back on Friday morning to install the new floor...

The dogs couldn't stay off the porch even while they were working in it.  I overheard one of the guys commenting that "it looks like she's reclaiming her porch!"

Yesterday the came back to finish up.  They put hinges in the door to the basement, and replaced the pump trough...

...and they finished the other part of the job.

This section of fence around the barnyard was begging to be replaced for a while, and it looks so much better now!  We opted to also put up a section of fence to block off the skid tanks that hold our diesel and gasoline.  I would say it was a great improvement!

You know what would make it even better? 

Some SUNSHINE!  I was just looking up rainfall totals for Lancaster County this year...
Lancaster County usually receives about 41" of rainfall per year.  We've already reached/surpassed that amount, with four months to go in 2018. 

SUNSHINE...please?

My Friday Afternoon Project...

Ever since I messed up my back a couple of years ago, I've tried to find ways to do things "smarter", and to make things less stressful on all of our aging ?!? bodies.

When we milk, we have two buckets that follow us around the cow stable. One has steaming hot water in it, and the other holds our biodegradable paper towels, a cow thermometer, a scissors, extra milk tubes, etc.  We also each use a sprayer filled with an iodine spray, used to spray the cows' teats after we take off the milkers.

The way we used to do it...carry the buckets over from the milk house...bend over each time we wet a paper towel...pick up the buckets and move them ten feet...repeat over and over until we're finished milking. Believe it or not, seemingly innocently bending over like that, time after time, day after day, year after year is hard on your back.  (Imagine bending something over and over in the same direction.  Eventually it weakens and can break) So...a simple solution was to put those buckets on a wagon, getting them up off the ground.

The wagon we had been using rusted out, so I found a replacement online.  It was delivered yesterday, and this was my project for this afternoon...

I enjoy projects like this...

My helpers slept through almost the whole process...

It took about 30-45 minutes, and it's all finished and ready to go!

The wagon came with removable sides, but the jury is still out on whether or not we use them.  I put them on for tonight, and we'll see how it goes.  You know...I had to take pictures of this, because it's the absolute cleanest that this wagon will ever be!

More likely than not, it'll be splattered with pazutski inside of five minutes!

Rye Grass 2016...

Oh my...the weather this spring has been a challenge!

We had a dry April...and now a wet and cool May.  It's time to be thinking seriously about planting corn, and soon after, soybeans.

The fields have been sprayed, and the weeds are dying.  That's a good thing.

The weather has been cool and rainy.  That's not such a good thing.  Not when it doesn't stop.

But first things first...

The rye grass was just beginning to mature, and to get the best nutritional value for the cows, it should be harvested before the heads form.  The weather wasn't looking too promising, but Jim thought he might get a window of sunshine, so he mowed on Thursday.  The rye grass was thick and beautiful...

On Friday it rained all day, but because the grass hadn't dried yet, it didn't do too much damage.

On Saturday the sun came out, and Jim used a tedder to spin the cut rye grass out and flip it over so it could dry more thoroughly.

Sunday was sunny and breezy.  Good news!

Yesterday was cloudy, and we hoped the rain would hold off, which it did. Jim raked the grass into windrows...

Last night over milking time, the round baler came and baled.  We got 43 round bales off of seven acres.  That's a good harvest!  No pictures of that, because I was milking and Jim was busy wrapping bales.  He finished around 1:00 am.

This morning when we got up, it was starting to rain.

Here's the line up of bales along the water way here at home.  (That's a roll of ag bag tape you're looking through)...

A couple of the bales had some damage, so my job was to find the holes and tape them up thoroughly.  The bags must be airtight, or the feed will mold and spoil...

The bags were wet, so I took a wad of paper towels along with the ag bag tape and taped them up...

Here's the empty field.  I'll have to ask Jim what will be planted here next...corn or beans?

My helpers eagerly ran along side of me on our way back to the barn.  Sorry girls...it's too wet for you to ride in the truck, and besides...it's good exercise!

Now we wait for a week or so before we start feeding the rye grass.

The cows should be happy!

Fall Grazing...

The cows have been getting a little antsy.

The nights have been too cold for them to go out...and the last couple of days were either rainy or muddy, so they stayed inside.

The grass in the waterway has also been growing.

Solution?

This morning Jim put in fence posts along the waterway and across the corner of one of the hay fields, and a rye grass field...

Here he's dragging the wire that is attached to the tractor up across the fields to the furthermost fence posts, under those far away trees...

My camera just snapped this picture for fun.  Three lonely round bales, along with about a half dozen corn stalks that were left by the chopper.  It was kind of him to not hit the bags as he went by!  :)

The cows were watching from the meadow, and they knew something was up...

I got closer, and I knew exactly who I'd see on the other side of the wire. #314 didn't take her eyes off of us the entire time we were working on the fence.  She just knew there was something greener on the other side...

I love watching the cows get so excited when they're left out into a new area to graze!  They kick up their heels and run like little kids!

( Please excuse the shaky video.  I wasn't doing a very good job of standing still!  It was also pretty windy, and there's a lot of noise in the back ground )

Standing guard at the top of the water way, just in case anyone gets unruly...

Meanwhile, Murphy and Snickers stole an ear of corn out of the truck and entertained themselves.  What is it about ears of corn that dogs find so appealing?

Grazing cows...

We just brought the cows back into the barn, and their bellies are full of grass.  They'll be contented tonight!

4th Cutting Begins...

Look!  It's a new style of lawn ornament...

This used to be a regular occurrence, but this year we haven't had much luck with baling dry hay because of the weather.

Finally this week, we got a forecast (that actually held true!) for a long stretch of dry weather which just so happened to coincide with when the spring seeded alfalfa was ready to be mowed.  Jim mowed on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and last night was able to get it baled dry.  They finished unloading around 10:30 last night.

You can easily tell which is the newly baled hay, by the color difference.  The brown hay has been cured for about a month, maybe longer...

More empty wagons sitting around this morning...

Jenna and I took the truck (with the dogs, of course) up to the fields and she picked up the bales that missed the wagon last night.  Then she threw them into the hay racks for the cows' bedtime snack tonight...

Of course the dogs found the best possible spot for "helping".  Any time Jenna takes the truck anywhere, the dogs hop in the back for a ride, and as soon as they stop and the door opens...in they jump.  Murphy called shotgun.

What a life.  Follow their girl anywhere and they're happy!

Jim is now mowing 4th cutting at the other farm, hoping for more dry hay at the beginning of the week.  It sure is nice to see the mow getting filled up.

Everyone around our house likes to feed dry hay better than balage, and there's nothing quite like it for keeping a cow's rumen in good working order!

Please...Come Play!

Look closely at this picture...

Do you see something other than snow and our neighbors' barns peeking over the hill?

I know it's hard to see, but if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you might be able to see our neighbors' dog, sitting in front of the tree on the far left of the fence line.

Every. Single. Morning...he sits just over the property line and barks... and barks...and barks.  It's far away enough that it's not annoying...but rather amusing!

I guess he's looking for "someone" to play with!

Snickers and Murphy ignore him most of the day...but at night we hear the "Twilight Barking" begin around bed time, and I'm sure they run through the fields to meet their neighbor while we're sleeping.

Photo gallery from the past year...

It's that time of year...we're in our slow mode...and if I don't keep myself motivated, I can waste a lot of time! 

I'd like to think, though, that blogging is NOT a waste of time...so I've compiled a collection of pictures from the past year that I found interesting. 

 Some of them are directly related to farming, some of them are of family, and some of them are just beautiful scenery.  (Some may be repeats from earlier blog posts, but if you see them twice, you know I really like them!)

Enjoy!


2010 began with a bang!  In February we had two major snow storms a week apart, resulting in 40+ inches of snow...

Our neighbor's farm to the west always makes a great photo, no matter the weather...

Several years ago Jim bought a Honda 50 dirtbike like he rode when he was a kid.  Last winter he found a Honda 100, so now the kids each have a dirt bike to ride.  They use them for fun and for work...

Spring arrived, like always, and I was thrilled...

These particular chickens loved to sit on top of the fence around their pen...



Of course there was also work to do...my nephew from Chicago loved gathering eggs...



And Murphy blessed us with nine adorable puppies...but they wore her out!  They were born in June, during one of the hottest weeks of the year...



Our neighbor Joe came over every day to see them...

The laundry never ended...

Some beautiful scenes shot by Jenna...

And then of course there was some more work...baling round bales...Jim drove the tractor while the Amishman who owns the baler rode behind and operated the mechanism that released the bale into the field...

Fun...it doesn't take alot to be entertained...

We just can't seem to get away from those cows!   (photo by Jenna)

More "real" work...Eric unloading hay...



The east hay mow is almost full...



Jim's dad on his old (1950 something) Ferguson 30, just before he sold it...he used to use it for cleaning out pens...

After a dry summer, we had a LONG day of rain...over 8 inches of rain...(I forgot to empty the rain gauge before bed, so we aren't sure just how much we had, but it was a lot!)

We chopped corn the next day, and left no tracks in the field or mud on the driveway!  The ground was thirsty...

And there's our neighbors' farm again...taken out the west barn windows...



We found a little time to play...we spent an afternoon picnicking with friends at a park...

Fall work was upon us...combining corn, and loads of corn fodder waiting to be unloaded...

My dad repaired our cow trailer...he doesn't look 81, does he?!

This is where the dogs hang out while we're milking...right under our feet...

And this is where Slinky the cat hangs out...high above the dogs...

Self-service balage...or so they think!

Me and my next-oldest sister...Look behind us...I just can't get away from those cows!

And I couldn't let this one out.  We all gathered after Christmas to watch my brother in law start his old 1936 John Deere D that he, with some help from my Dad, restored.  It started up, he whooped and hollered, we cheered, and he's still grinning!  This one's for you, Marty!

And to round out the year, here's another picture of the sunrise on New Year's Day 2011...

Thanks for humoring me...do you have any favorites?