Bobolink

This winter has been so much milder than last winter.  Its been white since late November, but we did see the ground for a few days this winter after a week long warming spell, and we're not moving snow everyday like last year.  Even so, I have to admit I'm thinking about spring.  Equipment maintenance has started in full swing which always has me thinking about how the equipment can be adjusted to better run during the spring and summer, but I have also been thinking about the birds of summer lately too.  One bird in particular that I really enjoy seeing is the bobolink.  We see the bobolink starting in late spring and as late summer comes in we see less and less of them.  The male bobolink is so showy with what is described as a reverse tuxedo, and so noisy with its loud bubbly call, its hard not to notice this little bird once it has arrived.  I don't really notice seeing the bobolink in large numbers outside of our farm, so I thought I'd do a little research on it.  Turns out the bobolink likes pastures and hayfields.  Since our farm is mostly hay and pasture that would partly explain why the bobolink likes our farm.  Bobolinks also like hayfields and pastures that are cut and grazed late.  Because we rotational graze and because we have both grass hay and alfalfa hay, we have fields being harvested at different times and we usually have some deep grass well into the late summer for nesting and raising their young.  So I guess that is why they congregate here.  It also turns out that the bobolink may still be on the farm into fall but I didn't notice the bird.  The bobolink actually changes its coloring after breeding season and loses its contrasting black and white color scheme for a more subdued look.  This year I'll have to watch for this little bird in both its color schemes to see if the bird moves off the farm as the year progresses or if they really do stay, but have a changed color pattern.  The next bird on my list to research is the meadowlark.

Hay Delivery

A neighbor called a couple of weeks ago and said that he wanted to buy some hay.  I have a large hoop building that I store my hay in, and it works great, but I when I load the hay I enter on the east side and load it west to east. Then I sell the hay from east to west with my last cutting going out first until I reach my first cutting which is the last cutting to go out the door.  For those with experience in inventory/production, I follow the last in first out (LIFO) method, not because of any financial inventory valuation planning, but rather when you are filling a tube from one side and have to empty the tube from the same side, it just ends up that way.  The reason I say all of that is because when my neighbor called for hay I was into a cutting that was put up with a little too much moisture and it was dusty and could have mold spots in it.  Since he has bred cows and I've heard that cows can abort from hay mold, I suggested he wait until the following week when I had moved into hay that I know would have no mold dust in it.   He said no problem so I delivered him hay this week.  He said he'd take all of the hay that I had which was great!  I cut him a good deal and he would be getting some of my best hay at a really good price.  I weighed up the first load and delivered it and went for the second.  The second load was mostly third cutting and a couple of the first.  When I got down to his place to have him unload, I warned him that the bales on the top of the load were really heavy, and wouldn't you know that his tractor wouldn't pick them off.  Those bales are all my Bobcat can handle so I know that they are up near a ton per bale.  So back down the road I went to put the top bales back into the hoop building.  After getting my truck and trailer stuck in the snow on our farm and pulling it out with the tractor, I finished up the delivery.  I have about 20 bales of hay left to sell.  They should be super high protein and very leafy.  The last load of hay should be a good seller, but the buyer will need to be careful to have a large tractor/loader or a big skidloader to be able to move them around.

The Blizzard Took Its Toll

Sara lost a buck goat that she was renting to breed her milk goats during the recent blizzard.  Sara had become very attached to this little buck and since Sara is definitely the kid who is most into animals, she takes the brunt of the loss when one is lost.  We had a blizzard last week and the goats had gone into one of the huts that is in their pen to get out of the wind and snow.  The wind was blowing 40+mph and the temperature was in the single digits.  We could barely see 20yrds and the weather was brutal.  When Sara went out for late-afternoon chores she noticed that the buck didn't get up when she looked in on them.  She and George brought the buck into the house and started the process of drying him out.  He was a young Nubian buck goat.  Compared to Sara's mature Nubian female, the buck was more like a kid.  Its fur was soft and it was half the size of the female.  All this is to say that it was probably much more susceptible to the weather due to its age.  Sara and George used a hair dryer and towels to dry the buck which took quite a long time.  As a side note, if you've ever been around a buck goat you know that they smell ghastly.  This buck was no exception and as the wet hair was warmed and dried that ghastly smell filled the house.  By drying him out and keeping him warm in the house he really came around and by morning looked great, but he wouldn't get on his feet.  When Sara tried to get him to his feet his status totally collapsed.  It was like the act of moving him threw his body into shock and he expired within minutes.  It was another tough learning experience for George and Sara.  To add to the pain of the loss, Sara had to call the owner of the goat and explain what happened and discuss fulfilling the contract that was agreed to regarding the loss of the goat that she was renting.  Tears were shed but Sara did a great job, both dealing with the animal emergency and the responsibility that comes with informing someone of a broken contract. 

Tractor

My Oliver 1850 had a transmission problem about a month ago when I was trying to bale corn stalks.  It turns out that a fork in the transmission was broken and would have taken a lot of $$ in labor to get to the fork to repair the tractor.  Since I've started using the tractor a lot more than I used to and the tractor is as old as I am, this was leading to more age and stress related failure.  Of the tractor that is!  I did put some money into an overhaul over the winter, but the tractor broke twice when doing hay this year.  Tractor breakdown during haying is a big problem and it for sure cost me some hay.  As much as I liked the old Oliver for haying, I had to trade it in on a newer tractor.  It's also a different shade of green.  John Deere green.  I'm hoping for the best with this tractor...

Cattle Move

The cattle were moved from the back of the farm to their winter paddock next to the house.  It worked pretty much as planned without any issue.  The plan was to setup string fencing that kept them from moving out across each of the sections of the pasture.  Once they were in the top part of the pasture the gate was closed on them and they were allowed to wait for a while.  Next George went down with a large round bale on the skidloader to entice them up to the paddock.  The bale was dropped and the cows moved in.  With the gate closed behind them they were safely in their winter home.  That left the calves at the back of the farm.  The way the string fences are setup, the calves are able to slip under the strings and move to where ever they want inside of the pasture or enclosed field.  Since they have been ranging out during the day it allowed us to move the cows without having them together.  We wanted to separate the cows because we needed to wean the calves.  George had the idea that if we moved the cows the calves will run to the cows, which is what they did.  Now the cows and calves are divided by panel and we're waiting for everyone to calm down.  It usually takes a few days for the bawling to stop!

SKUNK! Update

Sharon made the decision to get a batch of new chicks.  I'm not sure of the exact number but Dan said he thinks it's 40 which would be just about the number killed by the skunk.  An interesting note regarding our adult chickens.  We have a large turnip field that has kept its greens even through the cold and the latest snow.  We picked some of the greens and the chickens seem to love them.  Who knew that chickens would like turnip greens?

SKUNK!

Not too long ago a skunk made its way into the young chickens area of the barn.  Sharon heard the chickens in the middle of the night (windows closed and sound asleep - mother hearing...) making a racket.  The thing with a skunk, at least in our experience with chickens, is that they kill first and then come back to eat what they've killed. When Sharon woke me I thought she said there's smoke in the barn!  After saying huh a couple of times I figured out that it was SKUNK!  We ran outside to dispatched the skunk and save what chickens were left.  When we got the skunk cornered in the barn I had a quick thought - when I dispatch this cornered skunk I'm going to end up smelling like skunk, but to save the rest of the chickens I just hoped for the best.  Luck was with me and the skunk never sprayed.  Luck was not with us as far as the chickens were concerned.  Sharon lost 41 of her young chickens to the skunk.  Next was the management decision.  More chicks this late in the year, or smaller flock with new chicks in the spring?