We are currently setting new records for yearly rain fall and there are still two months left to add to the total. This has been the worst year ever for making hay. The neighbor and I both had hay on the ground for 7 days straight with 70 degree weather and sunshine. Still couldn't dry it enough to make good square bales. They are all getting musty.
Now that we are done with calving for the year I am looking at who to keep and who to sell to generate some income going into winter. I have already sold a heifer that I bought at auction earlier this year and took a $100 dollar loss before you figure in the feed she ate all year. I thought it was a one time auction thing and that I wouldn't get hit twice in one month with a bad sale price so I sold Jane. She was having some foot problems and she was part Holstein and her calves have been very nice but not beefy enough for what we do here. So I decided to let her go and use the money to benefit the others. I paid approximately $400 for her 3 years ago. I cared for her and raised her for since then. She gave me two calves. Again she was a good cow just not a good fit for here. I sent her to the auction expecting to be in the $800-$900 range. She brought me $500. Very depressing. She deserved better. I am going to trade Jane's little girl to my cousin for wrapping the hay, he needs a good beef heifer and she will do him well.
That being said that is why I do not like auctions. I may list the current cows I have for sale online first and see if I can sell them reasonably that way rather than give them away at the auction.
These are my little girls that I am definitely going to keep. On the left is Thing 1, center is Prairie Fire, and right is Thing 2.On to better things! While at the Farm Science Review this year I was able to purchase a pig waterer. I spent the last few weeks figuring out where to run the lines and gathering the parts. My boss allowed me to use one of our excavators from work to dig in the water lines. It took me a couple of hours to dig, install, and bury the lines from the house to the edge of the pasture. It then took me an entire day to dig the last 50 feet across the hog lot. I crossed the fence line and immediately hit a 12" thick concrete slab that used to be the floor to an old barn about 90 years ago. Apparently, when it burned down they just buried everything and left it. I had to dig around the concrete which meant digging up the entire barn foundation in the process. I ended up getting everything in and regrading the entire boars lot. I also now had another ten tons of barn stone to get rid of. I got off work early Friday due to the weather so I came home and finished hooking up the water lines and installed the waterer on the concrete slab Steven and I poured last weekend. It took the pigs a couple days to get used to but I think they like it.
All I have left to do is hook up the wiring in the house. This waterer has a small heater in it to keep it from freezing in the winter. It can support up to 60 pigs with this one waterer.
I had to stay home today to watch my daughter. She got the flu and was not able to go to preschool today so I stayed home to watch her. The good thing about this was I got to enjoy one of the most beautiful days we have had all year! Since she was feeling better after lunch we went out to feed the animals and check on everyone. Since it was a nice day and I was home we decided to put the sows in with the boar to get them rebred and wean the babies.
This is pig pig enjoying a meal without all the little ones bothering her.
I walked around the lot to check the fence and found this. The sows and piglets literally plowed the lot looking for bugs!This is a pic of the latest project I completed at work. We started with a run down 20 year old landscape and took it all out and started over again. The goal was to create an inviting landscape that can be used any time the weather is fit and install an outdoor seating area for Grinders Above and Beyond in the market place plaza in Alliance Ohio. We installed Forever Lawn artificial turf for the lawn areas. In the spring they are going to put Adirondack chairs in the lawn areas for people to sit and eat or do pottery etc. and because there is no need to mow they can stay there all summer without needing moved.
This is a pic at the west end of the project. Can you tell which grass is real and which is artificial?
Hint: We put irrigation in the lawn area to make sure it stays pretty all summer. We mark the heads with flags till the system is tested.
Anyway, my next project is a swimming pool and landscape in a residence in Lake Cable Ohio. Can't wait to get started. I also may be building a trout stream at the pond project I recently finished this summer as well!!
I will talk to everyone again soon!
Kenny
I will talk to everyone again soon!
Kenny
