Go Sox

Farmer's Holiday

Monday 10/14:
With a little over an inch in the rain gauge from yesterday and last night, light drizzle in progress and reasonable chances for some more, it's time for a day inside to catch up on desk work and honey-dos.

The hay and oats have responded well to the moisture we've gotten.  We should be able to get a second cutting on all 3 Sudan fields as soon as they dry out.  The Coastal at the Gamblin Place is beautiful--I want to move the bulls over there for the winter but it looks so nice I want to cut it for some square bales first.  The oats look good, and may provide some grazing pretty soon.  I'll bring the cows up for a while--until they graze it off pretty short, or it's forecast to rain and make the field muddy--and then take them back off for it to grow in late winter/early spring for either more grazing or hay.  The grass in the pasture is green but short, and I'll start feeding hay this week.  We have almost 200 bales in the hay lot, so we're in pretty good shape.  The native grass mix we planted in Nettie's pasture is doing great.  I can see Side Oats Grama (the state grass of Texas) and Bluestem that I'm sure weren't there before--they have to be from our planting--and they've seeded out, so those seeds will drop to the ground and plant themselves to grow in the spring.  There's a place in the pasture near Zane's where field termites have eaten all the grass.  It's hard to get rid of them, but I'm going to try.  I'll plow it to break up their tunnels and expose their underground nests, spray with Malathion, and plant ryegrass to hold the soil over the winter.  In the spring we'll need to plant something else.  I've been hard on that pasture through the drouth, keeping livestock on it almost constantly.  I'll try to baby it a little when we can start using Nettie's.

The 12 marketing alliance calves sold on Superior Livestock Auctions on Friday.  Demand is high and feed and fertilizer prices have come down a little from last year, so our prices were good.  They're eating hay and creep feed here at the house until we deliver them in early November.  I sold 6 heifers as breeding stock in September, and we're keeping 3.  I'm also keeping 3 Polled Hereford bulls to sell.  Before you know it we'll be getting new baby calves, our last crop from the good old Angus bull and the first from Lambert, the Kansas-born Polled Hereford.  Lambert looks great, growing and gaining weight, and I'm anxious to see his calves.  We'll have to start shopping for a new Angus bull, and I hope we find one as good as the one we had.

Tuesday 10/15:
Yesterday's total was 1.2 inches.  I went to a Texas Beef Quality Producers program today in Llano, leaving at 5:30 to drop Austin off for Cross Country practice (my version of an accountability partner to make me go to the gym in the morning).  I planned to see some new country but it was so dark and gloomy, I had to stop for breakfast in Goldthwaite to let the sun come up.  That's getting into the hill country and they seem to have more oaks and fewer cedars, but they really have the mesquites.  I came home deciding I like our country just fine.  I went through San Saba and hoped Tommy Lee Jones would be at the program, but he wasn't.  It started raining as I left Llano and I drove home in steady rain.  There was .6" in the gauge when I got home, about 1.75" at 9:00 pm and it's still coming down.  The TBQP programs are always good.  I expected them to nominate Amy to the Beef Producers' Hall of Fame for vaccinating herself for so many calfhood diseases, but that wasn't on the agenda.

Wednesday 10/16:
We finished the rain with a total of 4.2".  Very nice, and it all went into the ground.  The tank hasn't come up a bit, so we can use some more.  Some cool fall weather coming up--brisk mornings and 70-degree afternoons.  Life's good.  Come see us and help me cut some firewood.

Prodigious Poultry Production

The new hens have started laying eggs.  They're small but we're getting 6-7 a day and they'll get bigger as the hens continue growing.  They were laying them all over the place--4 a day in one favorite spot in the barn, one or 2 in the old garage, and one in the nest box Lawrence put in the coop for them.  So it was time to encourage them to use the nest boxes.

Lawrence and I started framing an addition to the coop to hold 3 nest boxes.  We spent 2 pleasant days cutting and drilling and measuring and re-cutting.  One day we actually had to take a break to allow the one hen who was using the nest boxes to lay her egg.  She fretted and squawked and complained so loud, we didn't feel like penalizing her for doing the right thing.  We also raised the roost to discourage sleeping in the nests--they seem to like to sleep in the highest possible spot.

It came out rather well, although we didn't get it caulked and painted before we had to leave for Manhattan and now it's raining.  The back is hinged and drops down to allow us to retrieve the eggs from outside.  I think I'll add some roofing metal to the top, to ensure the rain runs off and to keep them from trying to stand on top of it when they're outside (it's flat right where Lawrence has his left hand).  Next we have to leave them locked in for a day or two to get them laying in the nest boxes instead of the other locations.

Come down and see us, and we'll have steak and eggs.