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!

The Polar Vortex Has Arrived...

The dreaded polar vortex arrived this week.  Oh how I dislike that term! Early yesterday morning the winds picked up and the temperature dropped. Brrrrr...  Cold weather has it's benefits, but I'm such a fair weather fan that I have a hard time seeing them.  Instead, I think of the headaches that come in the barn.

The box pens in the barn are full of young heifers, so we have a couple of them still at the hutches.  They have shelter, but no running water over winter.  Thus, we have to carry water for them several times a day.  Our trusty green wagon gets a lot of use these days...

Drink fast girls, before it freezes again...

My negligence in gathering eggs last evening resulted in this...

Jim had ordered a truckload of sawdust, but postponed the delivery yesterday because of the strong winds.  The barn doors are quite heavy, and if the winds catch them, there could be some pretty serious damage...both to the doors and to whoever might be in the vicinity.  The barn hill catches the brunt of the brutal north and west winds...

The winds died down over night, so the sawdust was delivered this morning...

All the animals keep the inside of the barn much warmer...although we often drain the water lines on the west side of the barn when it's really cold and windy.  Yesterday (and again this morning) we used a hose to fill a big water tub for the outside pen heifers.

In the calf pens, this young heifer and Jolyn enjoyed some playful moments this morning while I was feeding a newborn...

...and when I turned my back, Phoebe crawled into the pen and curled up in a feed tub.  It's not a good place for a dog to be, but I must say that once again, she was being resourceful!  She found a warm place and made the best of it...near her people...

And of course there's always the dilemma of the glasses steaming up, going from warm to cold and back again.  I wish I could just take them off, but...

Hopefully you're keeping warm where you are!

Friday's Hunt #7 (just a little behind schedule!)...

I know, it's not Friday...and I'm a day late for Friday's Hunt with Teresa at Eden Hills!

It's been a busy couple of days, and I wasn't sure if I'd get a post finished or not, but finally there's time to sit and relax, so here goes.  I'm also going to go a little out of order this week, which goes against my grain, but oh well.

First up is "in my kitchen".  There's been a lot of hot tea consumed lately around here, and the tea box just got refilled.  It sits on my kitchen counter right beside the stove.  What's your favorite flavor?

Next up is "week's favorite"...

Tonight was the county orchestra concert, and Jenna played in the Sinfonietta.  We were sitting in the balcony, which gave us a nice view of the whole group.  They're warming up here, waiting for the concert to begin...

Last but not least is "starts with G...

I'm tired, so I chose "good night" for this one.  This picture was taken last night, just as the sun was about to go down.  The last couple of days have been long and hard.  We've been blasted with some frigid air and strong winds, and finally we are in the warm house and ready to say good night!

Check out some of the other blogs with the link at the top of the post!

Bundle up...

Brrr...

I know, a lot of you have much colder temperatures for longer periods of time, but we've been spoiled so far this winter!

Not any more...

This morning it felt like it was below zero, with the wind.  Hearing the wind blow at night is an unsettling feeling.  We drained water lines, but still...you don't know exactly what might be frozen in the morning.  Thankfully the wind had died down some 'til morning, and there were no major problems. I had frozen water buckets at the hutches and in the chicken pen, but that's to be expected.

Last night we put the insulated coats on the hutch calves.  Doesn't she look toasty?

We are anticipating the first snow storm of the winter here this weekend. There are lots of mixed opinions on what might happen...and what folks are excited about happening....or not.

Me?  I'm ready for spring!

Cow Comfort, Milk Quality, and Snow...

How are cow comfort, milk quality and snow related?

Good question!

The snow has nothing at all to do with the other two, but I threw that in there because last night we had our first snow of the season!  It didn't amount to much, but it came all of a sudden and made the roads a little slick. This morning there's just a trace left, but the cold air is hanging around!  It "feels like" 5 degrees out there right now.  Brrr...thankfully there's not much wind...

Taken from inside the house where any sensible person would stay for as long as possible.  See the screen?

On to the other two...cow comfort and milk quality...

I would have have to do a lot of research...and no, I haven't done it...to find out just how closely the two are related, but we're wondering.  Here's our line of thinking...

First, the cow comfort part...

Back in May, we had a row of cow mattresses put in the barn.  At that time, we only did one row of stalls, because we weren't sure just how we (and the cows) would like them.  Were they worth the money?  Over the course of a few months, we were won over to the idea of replacing more mats with mattresses.  In November, we had two more rows of mats replaced.

Now for the milk quality part...

Each time the milk truck comes, the driver takes two samples of milk from our tank.  One of the samples is used to test the quality of the milk, which helps to determine the price we are paid for our milk.  We have always had good milk quality, but since the first row of mats went in, our somatic cell counts have been slowly dropping.  Since the second and third rows went in, our SSC have dropped dramatically, which translates to great milk quality!

Could the two be related?

We wonder!  Jim's always been very conscientious about cow cleanliness, but could the cows' comfort be playing a big role as well?

Either way, we're not complaining!

Best Seat In the House...

The cats on our farm have a great life.

It was pretty chilly this morning...somewhere around 20 degrees, I think...and I found Jolyn curled up in the sun in the heifers' feed trough...

Best seat in the house on a chilly morning!

Record Breaking Cold...

Yup...I'm still a wimp when it comes to the cold!

All last week we could look ahead and see what was coming, but there's nothing like laying in bed, listening to the wind howling outside, and wondering if it's really as cold as they said it was going to be.  And yes...it was.

Saturday morning, while it was blustery but still a balmy thirty-something degrees out, Jim and Eric covered the windows on the west side of the barn with sheets of insulation...and it's really, really good they did...

The west side of the barn has absolutely no protection from the north and west winds.  Being mostly windows, the cold wind finds it's way inside and freezes things up really quickly.

We turned the water off the to barn overnight, and that saved a lot of work on Sunday morning.

It was 4 degrees when we got up on Sunday morning, with a wind chill of -23 or so.

We had a few fourth row water bowl valves to thaw, but a calf bottle of hot water did the trick.  The box pen water lines were a little tougher to open, even though they had been drained.  One of them never did open up, so we used a five gallon bucket for those calves.  On Sunday evening, we just used buckets and water tubs for all of them.

Sunday night was bitter cold again, and still windy, although not quite as fierce as it had been.  We shut off the water again overnight, as a precaution.

The thermometer read -1 this morning (Monday), with wind chills in the-20's again. Thankfully, the winds quickly diminished as the morning went on. By evening milking, it was a balmy 12 degrees!  The barn was cozy inside from being closed up and from the cow's body heat, and the box pen water bowls opened right up!

This cold snap isn't over yet, and we might get some snow tonight, but hopefully the worst is over.  I'm glad we don't live in New England, where they're dealing with all that heavy snow of top of the cold!

Are you ready for spring yet?!

Brrrrr....Just Brrrrrr.....

I'm a wimp, I'll admit it!

When the temperature drops AND the wind starts to blow, my anxiety level sky rockets.  Like last night.  It's the wind that gets me. I start to worry about all the different scenarios that a combination of wind and cold could create.  Sigh...

It's beautiful this morning.  COLD...but beautiful.  I think it was 8 degrees when I got up, and hasn't warmed up much, but the winds are diminishing a little bit. Jim has the heater fired up in the barn so that we can keep water bowls open for the box pen heifers.  After breakfast I'll fill the water tub for the outside pen animals.

I've used this picture before, but it feels so appropriate to go along with this post.  My sister Peg snapped it last winter while on a walk around the golf course across the road from our farm.  It captures just what it feels like out there this morning.  Cold, but beautiful...

Now it's time to enjoy a delicious smelling coffee cake that Jenna is taking out of the oven as I type.  The kids have off school today, and she surprised me by getting up at her regular time and baking while we were in the barn!

I hope you're keeping warm today!

A Chilly Morning...

We've been having roller coaster weather here this week. Just a few days ago it was around forty degrees, and then yesterday the winds blew in, along with temps falling into the low twenties.  That wind sure makes it feel colder than it is!

This morning it was around 10 degrees, but with no wind.  It makes a huge difference, but it's still downright cold.

We're back to filling water tubs for the heifers.  That's one of the jobs that I can easily do, and Jolyn has found a comfortable place to hang out while I'm holding the hose...

It's also a nice way to help me keep warm!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

Brrr...

We've been spoiled this winter with mild weather.  It's the second week of January, and this is the first bitter cold that we've experienced...and it brings back memories of last winter.  Thankfully, it's not to continue for too many days!

Our barn sits on a rise, and has absolutely no protection from the west winds. When the wind blows, it gets really cold on the side of the barn where the heifer pens are.  There's no good way to insulate the water lines over there, so we have to be proactive to keep them open.

Yesterday afternoon the temperatures began dropping and the wind picked up.  We drained water lines on the west side of the barn after evening milking, and headed into the warm house.  We could hear the wind blowing when we went to bed, and we hoped that we wouldn't find trouble this morning when we got up...

This was the temperature at 7:00 this morning...

My main job right now in the barn consists of keeping those water lines open and/or making water available to the heifers.  I run a hose from the main water line in the cow stable to a tub in the outside pen several times a day. There's a tub at the end of the entry way, on the other side of that gate, and the heifers learned quickly where it is...

Jolyn hangs out with me, and often sits on my shoulder while the hose is running...

If water bowls have frozen, I fill calf bottles with steaming hot water...

...and pour the hot water over the water bowl valves to open them up...

The cows' body heat keeps the actual cow stable pretty warm.  It was 60 degrees out there last night at bedtime!  The outside pen water line will probably remain drained for a while yet.  The box pen water lines will stay drained over night, and be opened each morning for a while.  Even the youngest heifers learn quickly that they need to drink when the bowls are open and running!

Meanwhile at the calf hutches...

The youngest calves are kept warm and dry with fresh bedding and they each wear their insulated coats.  I had to bribe this little one to stand still by letting her suck on my fingers.  That was a cold choice...and it's also why she looks a bit goofy.  (The hutch is also a lot bigger than it looks here...)

This was what remained in their water buckets from over night...

We're just thankful that even though it reached the single digits overnight with a windchill in the minus teens, the wind has remained calm today, and that makes all the difference!

Stay warm, wherever you are!  There are only 72 days 'til spring...but who's counting?!

The Little Calf Book...

How important can one little notebook be?

It's just a little spiral bound book...about 3" x 5" or so.  You know...one of those notebooks that you'd write a grocery list in...or doodle in during Church...or something.  Jim's Dad started this book at the end of 1990 to keep track of when cows freshen, and we've kept it up ever since...

We filled it up just last week.  It was getting a little sloppy here at the end...trying to fit all the records in for the last few weeks in December.  We ended up adding another paper in the back so that we could start a new book in the new year...

We have other breeding records, of course, but this book is especially handy if we want to go back and see exactly when a cow freshened last year...or to see how many bulls vs heifers she's had, etc...

The back cover holds a record of how many calves were born each year since 1991.  It looks like the numbers have been pretty consistent, with the exception of 2000, when we had an abundance of calves...

And here we are...this morning's calf started the first book...

It's not nice to wish for bull calves, but our hutches are full, and so are the box pens!  Bulls would be welcomed about now.

We're headed for the deep freeze tomorrow again.  Temps are to drop to around 0 F. tonight, with wind chills close to -20 F by morning. I'm sure we'll be busy keeping water bowls open tomorrow.  Weather forecasts like this make my anxiety levels rise.  I'm definitely a fair weather fan.

See you after it's over!

Brrr...Time for the Barriers...

Brrr...I think winter's here....at least if cold and wind are any indication!

Over the weekend, we said goodbye to our mild fall, and began to batten down the hatches.  Jim cleaned out the outside pen and wooden pen one more time, and put up the plywood barriers between the outside pen and wooden pen.

The pen, which is on the cold west side of the barn, opens to the south and in the winter it acts like a channel for all the cold winds to blow right into the barn.  Water pipes can freeze...and it's a mess when that happens.

We usually wait as long as possible to put up the barriers, because the barn is better ventilated without them. When it's closed up too tightly, the heifers can pass around respiratory viruses (just like a room full of school kids!)   However...the cold weather won out this time...

The outside pen heifers can still get inside for shelter, but those barriers keep out the worst of the cold. There's also a door to the left that we pull shut to block off the entry way.  When it gets really cold, we drain the water line and fill water tubs several times a day for the outside pen heifers.  Luckily it's not nearly that cold yet!

It's just below freezing right now on this beautiful Thanksgiving day.  The sun is shining, and we'll be spending the next several days with family...eating way too much of course...but enjoying time together.  The gourmet potatoes are in the oven, and we're working up our appetites for a feast.

Wherever you are...and however cold...or warm...you are, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Linking to Alphabe-Thursday

Seeding Alfalfa...

April 1, 2013...

This is one way to remember exactly when the new spring seeded alfalfa went into the ground.

It was a C O L D and windy day on Monday.  The Amish had a holiday, (they take Easter Monday off as well as Good Friday) so the no-till drill was available for Jim to seed his alfalfa.

Of course, the almost ten acres that he wanted to seed were on the very top fields at the other farm, with nothing to stop the wind...

Mid afternoon, I ran for some more seed.  Refilling the drill...

The alfalfa seeds are tiny...

The kids had off school, so Jenna bundled up in her cold weather gear...complete with a scarf...and rode on the back of the drill, to keep the seed evenly distributed, and to tell Jim when it was empty.  That way, he didn't have to keep stopping and jumping off the tractor...

Looking behind the tractor at the rows made by the drill...

Some farmers still seed alfalfa the conventional way...working up the soil and using a packer seeder...but more and more are no-tilling.  We no-till almost everything else, but this is the first time that Jim has seeded his alfalfa this way, so it will be interesting to see how it grows, and if it makes a good stand.

If all goes well, the first cutting should be sometime in June!

After All, It IS February...

This morning we woke to a beautiful light blanket of snow covering the ground.  The temps were slightly above freezing, however, so along with the light flurries, we had dripping by mid morning.  

My rooster looked so proud, looking after his ladies...

A few brave chickens ventured out in the snow.  By mid morning, several of them had found their way outside of their pen and were scavenging in the garden.   I'm not sure how they got out...now that they know what's out there, they think they have the right to venture out whenever they can, and they're quickly outwearing their welcome in the yard.   I'm worried about some of my perennials!  Apparently I've got some strong willed chickens on my hands, and will have to keep them in line!  (I did get 18 eggs today, though...that's the most they've given me for months!)

At least they haven't scratched out or pecked the Lenten Roses to death...they looked beautiful this morning...

Things feel a little different out there tonight...

The temperature has dropped to the mid twenties, and it's to feel like zero tonight.  It's snowing again, and the winds have picked up, gusting in the 40 mph range.  Things will be a little chilly in the barn tomorrow morning!  The cows will keep the stable warm, but the cold will present a few challenges. 

Brrrr...but after all, it IS February!

(and it's to warm up into the 40's by Monday!)  :)

Winter Has Arrived...

It feels like winter's finally here...

10:00 pm

And this is warm compared to last night...and warm compared to many places that I'm glad I'm not!  This morning when we went to the barn it was only 11 degrees.   Temps inside the barn were just about perfect for milking, however, at a balmy 50 degrees...the cows keep it warm and cozy.   A few cups of steaming hot water poured over the water bowl valves opened things right up.


We've been so spoiled by our mild winter so far, that this seemed like bitter cold to me.  At least it wasn't windy like yesterday.


On another note...I was given an award by a fellow blogger the other day...

 

 

The Liebster is awarded to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. 

 Bees, Birds, Berries and Blooms was kind to give me this award.  I don't remember how I found her blog, but I thoroughly enjoy reading it.  I've tried to find bloggers from different parts of the country and beyond, and enjoy reading about how life is in their corner of the world.  She is from South Dakota, one of those places that is certainly colder than it was here today!  She shares a variety of posts...gorgeous scenery, gift ideas, gorgeous scenery, recipes, and did I mention gorgeous scenery?  Just click on the link above to visit her blog.


Now...I don't do well at passing on awards, but I will highlight a couple of other blogs that I especially enjoy...


Easy Living the Hard Way is one of them.  Holly is from Wyoming...another place where it's much colder than it is here...I can't imagine taking care of animals in that kind of weather!  She and her husband have quite a variety of animals, she gardens frugally, can make just about anything and some of her posts remind me of Little House on the Prairie. 


Another one that I enjoy reading is Window On the Prairie.  Suzanne and her husband live in Kansas.  I'm not sure how cold it is there right now, but I suspect the wind is blowing!  If you stop and visit her, you will likely read about their cattle, savory recipes ( I love her molasses oatmeal bread ), the adventures of Kitty, and you won't be disappointed by her beautiful photography.

Teresa, from  Eden Hills   lives on a farm in Iowa.   (and I knew it was going to be cold here this week, because we get her leftover weather, almost always!)   She teaches full time as well as running her farm...caring for her herd of goats and many other animals...and gardening...and making goats milk soap and much more.   I feel very lazy after reading her posts!  :)




So...grab a cup of hot chocolate and check out these blogs for some interesting reading.  And keep warm...I hope it's warm enough for you wherever you are.


It's to be in the 40's here tomorrow, and this fair weather fan is looking forward to it!

"Pazutski"...

One of the daily jobs that needs to be done, regardless of the weather, is cleaning out the cow gutters and spreading "pazutski".

Have you ever heard of "Pazutski"? 

Pazutski is another name for cow manure, cow poop, or anything else you might want to call it!  I have no idea where the word came from, how to spell it for sure, or if it's even a word...it's just what my family has called it ever since I was a little girl...

We don't have a manure pit, so each morning, Jim backs the manure spreader under the elevators and turns on the barn cleaner.  Behind each row of cows is a gutter about ten inches deep.  Laying in the gutter is a heavy chain which makes a complete circle...through the barn, up the elevator and back down again.  Paddles are attached to the chain about fifteen inches apart.  When the chain moves, the manure moves through the barn, up the elevator, and falls into the manure spreader.  Jim stands on the edge of the spreader and scrapes the paddles clean.  Then we spread corn fodder or straw in the empty gutters.  This makes more bulk and helps the manure to move up the elevators more easily.  It's also great for the soil...



The trusty old Farmall M is the work horse for this job.  Jim's dad bought the tractor many years ago, and it's still going strong!  (It's a 1950 something)  It has no power steering, so it's a bear to steer, and it's the only tractor we own that  I don't know how to start or drive.  I'm happy to keep it that way...that way I can avoid doing this job!  :)

Regardless of the weather, this job needs to be done.  So, you can imagine that in the winter time, this can be a challenge.  Sometimes Jim has to plow a path under the elevators and through the field to get the tractor and spreader through.  In the single digits this morning, he said it was FREEZING on the tractor!  Right now he's spreading on some rental ground about a mile away, so has a cold ride!  On his way home, he's usually heading into the wind, and is glad for the cold weather gear!



So...as long as cows keep making pazutski, we'll have something to do!  It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it!