Winter

I can't believe we're naming them now, but winter storm Cleon brought us lots of ice and cold.  Two days later and I only have one truck operable (the 2-wheel drive one, and slid off the highway in it before I made it to the pasture gate).  The tractor door might as well be welded shut, the ice is so thick and covers it so thoroughly.  We get above freezing for 2 hours tomorrow, then back to cold again.

Here I'm breaking the ice on the trough so the calves and horses can drink.  There are 7 calves left--3 heifers we're keeping, 3 that didn't sell in the November Pacesetter shipment, and one who hurt his foot and is being doctored until he doesn't limp.  Notice the hen behind me, also looking for some water.  Their waterers freeze, along with all the puddles and cat water bowls they normally drink from.  They're also a little disoriented by the heat lamp I put in their coop.  They think it's daylight all the time, and we have to go pick them up at dark and put them in for the night.  They'll be glad when warmer weather returns.

Those last 3 Pacesetter calves actually sold yesterday for delivery between Dec 16 and Dec 20.  They were 3 that were too light for their target weights in November, but they got the hang of eating soon after and have gained nicely.  Here's the way they're advertised for the Superior Livestock video auction.  It's interesting (to me, anyway) to watch the auction for lots of similar calves, and see if we're getting any premium for the value-added things we do. You can see the symbols along the bottom for VAC 45 (Value Added Calf, which describes the 45-day weaning and vaccination protocol we follow), All Natural (no growth hormones or antibiotics), and PI Tested (tested and free of calves persistently infected with a highly contagious bovine viral diarrhea).  I was very pleased with the prices this year.  Made me wish we had more to sell.

Here's how you get to be the biggest cow in the herd, I guess.  Holly and I drove to the pasture this morning to feed cubes (and made it almost all the way before sliding into the ditch.  The truck is just out of sight behind those trees by the gate.).  The cows must have been at the top of the hill to tell me they were out of hay, because we called and called before pouring out the cubes and going on over to the trough to break the ice there.  While we were working we heard the strangest sound, which turned out to be old 318 trotting across the ice to get the first shot at the cubes.  The others showed up eventually to eat, and Kathy and Lawrence came in the van to rescue us.  Holly and Lawrence were able to push the truck out of the ditch and I limped on home with it.  I hope the ice melts soon.  Doesn't feel very manly feeding cows from a minivan.

We wake up in the morning and start a fire with the embers left from the previous night (Jeff and Lawrence cut lots of wood at Thanksgiving), go out when it's light to feed and chop ice, come back in to hunker down in front of the fire and watch football until afternoon when it's time to go out and do it again.  Life is good.  Come help us decorate for Christmas.

Rockabye Sweet Baby James

Happy birthday Dad, and thanks for the rain.  We love you and miss you.

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.

Gator Maintenance

 Funny thing about that Gator.  I distinctly remember getting it for Christmas a few years ago, but I'm third in line to be able to use it behind Kathy and Lawrence who both think it's theirs.  It gets her out to the fields or wherever I'm working to visit, and it taught him to drive, so I guess I shouldn't complain.  It's pretty handy, actually...maybe we need more.  You can see Ethan's little one in the background.

It needed an oil change, grease job, filters and new seats so Shade Tree Mechanics sent out a couple of technicians to make it good as new.  Lawrence was happy, took it for a test drive and pronounced it good.  Come see us and we'll take you for a ride.

Dustin' Them In

 ...the phrase used for the act of faith of planting oats when the ground is so dry it makes dust.  Lawrence and I planted 15 acres in the field above the house.  I borrowed a plow that plows a little deeper than mine and I'm glad I did, but I should have gone over it a second time with something finer to smooth it out.  Some of the seeds will be buried under a little soil and some will be under a 3-inch clod.  The really faithful guys spread fertilizer after plowing, and cultivate it in, then plant.  I'll fertilize after I've seen some rain.

That's our old grain drill (a 1963 model, I think) rather than the one I've borrowed from Larry the last 2 years.  His is newer and wider (requiring fewer trips around the field) but I wanted to be sure ours stays in good condition so I cleaned it, greased it and used it this year.  It worked fine.  Lawrence and I loaded it by buckets dipped out of a grain buggy I brought the seed home in.  We weighed some buckets to get an estimate of how much oats we were loading per bucket, and counted the buckets we put in the drill.  Our estimate was 1560 pounds.  Out of curiosity I weighed the buggy when we finished and our actual use was 1540 pounds!  Pretty close.