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!

4th Cutting...Already...

The summer has just been flying by...but yet the horrible heat and humidity have made it feel like it's dragging on forever!  We don't remember long stretches of weather like this for a while.  The last two days, however, have been a little better, with a breeze and lower humidity.  :) :)

Jim finished up baling fourth cutting alfalfa yesterday afternoon, stopped to help milk, and then finished wrapping around 9 pm.  I never thought about the view from this field before, but it's the highest field on our farm,and you can see for miles in all directions. The moon was gorgeous...but of course the picture doesn't do it justice...

Jim's mode of transportation to and from the field...the trusty 100...

I got to do something new last evening.  It's been so horribly hot, and we like to get the cows out of the barn in the evening as soon as possible.  Jim or Eric have been taking round bales to the meadow for the cows to munch on in the late evening and overnight.  Neither one of them was available to do it last night, so I got the honors.  I've run the skid loader before, but never moved a round bale.  Piece of cake!  I dropped it in place and removed the plastic and netting.  When Jim came by with the wrapper to wrap the hay bales, he stopped and flipped the rack over the bale and it was ready to go...

The cows know just where the rack is when they head out of the barn for the night...

They can't all fit around the rack at once, so the stragglers have to find something else to eat for a while until it's their turn.  There's always plenty, as it lasts for several days.  They come into the barn so much more content in the mornings when they've had a bale put out for them...

We're ready for the fall like weather to come any day now...the heat and humidity have taken their toll...on us and on the cows.  The milk truck driver told us this morning that milk pounds are way down this week.  All the trucks are about 4000-5000 lb down from their normal loads.  The cows hung in there for so long, but finally said "enough".

How's the weather where you are?  Is the summer flying by or dragging on?

Nasty Birds...

I remember a few years ago...a local shopping mall was having issues with crows hanging out on the roof...making a mess of things.  The "powers that be" were trying to decide what to do about the dirty birds.  Someone suggested that they try to relocate the birds to some farms in the area, where they wouldn't be a nuisance.  Hmmmmm...

#1.  Did you ever hear of a bird being told where to go, or where to stay?

#2.  Do you know of any farmer who really wants a huge flock of crows hanging out on his farm?  Or even a small flock, for that matter?

They are a nuisance...not only are they dirty birds, but they can cause a lot of damage.

Most of our balage ag bags are close to the buildings, and appear to be fine, but we have a couple of groups of bales along the edge of a field that seem to have attracted some unwelcome visitors!

Take a look at these...they look fine from a distance, but if you look closely, you can see a black hole on the bottom right side of the bale closest to the camera...

We've been finding holes like this all over these round bales.  Some of them are at beak level (if the crow was sitting on the ground) and a lot are on the top edges of the bales, as if the birds were sitting on top and leaning down over the side.

This hay was baled wet, and needs to be completely air tight in order to be properly cured and preserved.  When air gets inside the plastic, the hay starts to get moldy, and can eventually be ruined.  Not only does it not taste good, it can be dangerous for the cows to eat.

Most of the holes are rather small, but here's a larger one on the top of the bale.  That plastic is really thick, so the crows had to be really determined to get at whatever they thought was inside.  They most likely were hoping to find some grain.  Too bad for them...

So...armed with my "tools", I headed out to try to repair the damage...

There were sixteen bales in this group, and I used almost all of the ag bag tape to cover the holes tightly, hopefully sealing them in time to prevent further damage.

The first bale that we found with holes in, has been opened up and doesn't appear to be moldy, so we are hoping that we caught them in time!

There's always something to keep us on our toes!

Tigger's Entertainment...

The ultimate kittlets are quickly turning into full grown cats...and we've been enjoying them so much!  Never before have we had cats with so much personality. 

Peanut (the tuxedo kitty) is sweet...she just loves to be held and drapes herself over your shoulder for as long as you allow her to stay there.

Smokey (the gray and white male) is the least social of the three.  He enjoys being held and purrs contentedly whenever you look at him, but he's a true cat...he's constantly primping, and is sometimes a bit aloof or standoffish.

And then there's Tigger.  Words can't quite describe him!  He adores people!  He meows until you acknowledge him, and purrs louder than any cat I've heard before.  He runs underneath the cows, and they don't seem to care.  In a nutshell...he's spoiled rotten!  His latest antics involve the balage cart.  I got balage down today for the cows, and when came downstairs to feed it, guess who was parked in the cart!


He thinks it's his throne...and he loves to go along for the ride while we feed...

Tonight Eric was feeding the cows, and Tigger was playing his usual game.  You see...he thinks that not only is the balage his throne, but he thinks we have no right to feed it to the cows!  He attacks each handful as it is pulled out of the cart.  If he gets buried, he doesn't care...he just comes back for more...

Now if only we could train him to do the feeding for us!
 

Ag Bag Row...

I call it Ag Bag Row...

The yard on the north side of our house is full of marshmallows...more than we've ever had before, and here's why...

This year has been challenging weather-wise to say the least!  We had an extremely wet spring...had a horrid stretch of hot, humid weather in July...had several weeks with no rain...then we battoned down the hatches for Hurricane Irene one weekend...and then amost drowned from Tropical Storm Lee the very next week...

   We prefer feeding good quality dry hay to the cows, but sometimes the weather just doesn't cooperate.  In the middle of the summer when the sun is hot, Jim listens for a forecast of three to four good drying days before he mows hay.  This summer was unusual!  We have one full hay mow of dry hay upstairs in the barn, and part of another, but a lot of the hay was baled wet, in round bales, and then wrapped.  After baling, the bales are left to cure for at least two weeks before being opened and fed.  This is what we call "Balage".

Jim marks them with spray paint, so he knows which field they came from, and sometimes the date they were baled...

E4...fourth cutting, from rental ground at "Esbenshades"
TS...this hay was from next to the "tobacco shed"
H5...fifth cutting from "home"
OFWP...from the "other farm" next to the well pump
OF5  9/19...fifth cutting from the "other farm"...baled on September 19th

We're almost finished with fifth cutting, and will possibly get a sixth off of some fields!  We'll see...

Ag Bag Row might not be quite done growing!

**Linking again to Farm Friend Friday...over at Verde Farm

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?