Conser Run Report: Wedding photo of my grandparents and some updates.

I wanted to post my grandparents wedding picture. Hard to believe he is gone knowing he has always been there my entire life. Grandma is doing ok and she is getting out more than before. They were together for over 60 years so it will take some time for her to adjust to living alone.

Delmar and Sara Smith

I had started mowing hay the day before grandpa passed away. Most of it was second cutting and the two fields here at home were third cutting. Since I was off and wanted time alone I tried to get it all done this past week. It is just me in the tractor with my dog daisy and a cooler and it gives me time to think and I still have company while doing so! Plus with the heat she didn't want to leave the tractor because I had the AC on!

I had one round bale that got the net wrap torn so I just fed it straight to the cows.

Orchard grass Fescue mix hay second cutting

Here is a close up of it. This was off one of my rental fields. The field is a mix of different grasses with the majority being tall fescue. The tall fescue is a thinner leaved grass than orchard grass and not as green. It is still good hay though and once the cows get done eating off the new pasture grass they will devour this pretty quick.

Here on the farm I am not big enough yet to pay my help money. So I use alternative pay methods. The most common is food and drink! A couple of cases of Cold Coors Original got all my third cutting baled and stacked in the barn yesterday. Now granted it was only a little over two wagon loads, but it was very hot so it took a lot of beer!!!

The beer of choice here at the farm! Coors Banquet Beer

I didn't get a picture of the rows from the bottom of the pasture looking up yet but I thought this was a good picture. The sun was setting and the rain had moved south and everything had a pinkish hue. I already have about 20 more round bales than I had last year total and I still have a couple more cuttings to make! Lets hope hay prices stay up so I can pay for all the fertilizer I bought this year. With the extension on the area I wrap in I am now able to get 40 bales per row instead of 25. Two years ago I had 160 bales of hay and had to put some on the neighbors place because I was out of room.

Another note about the hay. I wrap all my dry hay as well as my silage hay. By wrapping the hay it is just like storing it in a building. It looks the same the day I unwrap it as it did the day I wrapped it. Also, if the dry hay is borderline for storage, meaning the moisture content is 18%-22%, by wrapping it up and taking away any fresh air all the hay will keep without spoiling. If I left the same hay sitting out it would either mold or heat enough to caramelize the hay meaning it turns all the sugars to caramelized sugar. If that happens the animals will eat it like crazy but it has little to no nutritional value. When wrapped and sealed in plastic the natural cell processes in the still live cells of the plants will only continue with oxygen. Once you take away the oxygen the cells stop living and creating heat which cures them quicker and stops any mold or bacteria from growing as well!

Looking south east across the tubes of hay at sunset.

Due to a malfunction in the baler we have a large number of these tiny little bales. They are actually very nice for someone needing rabbit or guinea pig hay because they are small and easy to store. We are going to market them as such and see what happens. If nothing else they are much easier to handle vs. the 100# bales we have been making this year! Due to the weather I am having a hard time getting really dry hay. I can only seem to get four days of no rain and even though it has been in the 90's for two weeks the hay is not drying. We had approx 6-8 inches of rain here in the end of June into the beginning of July so the ground is moist. The humidity has been hovering in the 90% or higher range for three weeks as well so the hay drys but not completely. So when I bale, even though the hay is dry and in full sun and baled at 4pm with a breeze it still baled tough. So the bales packed like crazy and are very heavy. The 400-500 bales I have in the barn right now should actually be about 700-800 if they were the normal 50# bales I usually make.

Our midget bales of orchard grass hay

Next I have an update on my heifer Pearl who is living in Montana. Here is her new boyfriend. I do not know his name but he is a long horn bull. I am really excited to see what the calves look like from this cross.