My son and I got to spend the first part of the last day of 2014 together doing something that makes us both act the same age.......buying new equipment!!!! We were also blessed with our last day of the year being beautiful and sunny. That would make the 5th day in December that it was sunny all day.
I went to pick up a new hay rake today. I told my son he could go along and purchase a piece of new equipment also. The owner of the dealership, Steve Minor, gave my son his first complimentary hat to go with his first piece of equipment.
I purchased him a tractor and baler a couple of years ago when I bought my baler. This time he decided he needed a chisel plow! He had it out and started plowing up the carpet in the house as soon as we got home! Needless to say he was very happy.
I purchased my first disk mower and v-rake the summer of 2007. I have gotten to the size of operation that allowed and required me to upgrade/up-size my hay making equipment. I upgraded the mower in the middle of the summer. I went and picked up my new rake today. This one is able to rake an additional 5 feet wider than my first one. It is also built much stronger to hold up better doing the many acres of hay that I cover in a year. This one also has many options that my first one did not have and hadn't even been thought of yet back then. I will park them side by side for a detailed comparison tomorrow and post pictures and such then.
I want to give a big thank you to Steve Minor and say thank you for two great pieces of equipment and thank you for making my son's day!
I know some of you are awaiting the results of our herd check. Out of 20 potential pregnancies we have 17 confirmed pregnant. There are three open, or currently open, females. One is Frosty, she was open at last years herd check because she had a late calf and was bred late. She was checked a couple months later and was bred. The next one is Black Eye's daughter and she is still a heifer and is apparently not ready to settle yet.
The last one is a disappointment for me. It is Black Eye herself. I mentioned in the summer that she had a small premature calf who eventually didn't make it. Had I known then what I know now I would have had the vet check her after a month or so went by as she was actually carrying twins. The second was never born. In cattle and pigs when this happens the small baby will either eventually be ejected or, as in our current case, Mummified by the body and contained indefinitely. When this happens the only hope is to force them to cycle with a shot similar to birth control for humans. It is the same hormone the cows body naturally produces to regulate heat cycles. We just give her a shot of it to cause her to cycle every two weeks to try to get her body to eject the mummified calf and cycle normally again. If this works she will be fine in a month or so and will continue to have calves again. If not, there is nothing else we can do for her and we will have to sell her. Hopefully this works out and I can see many more beautiful calves out of her yet.
Otherwise we are expecting 17 new calves here on the farm this year. Of those 17, 12 are due to arrive before the end of march!!!! All but three are due to arrive before the end of May. I am finally having calves when I want to have calves instead of in the middle of summer and late fall. Beef cattle seem to have stronger calves and better results when the calves are born in mid to late winter. By the time the weather gets hot and sticky the calves are already big enough that any illness brought by bugs will not affect them.
As I wrap up the end of another year here on the farm I am thinking back to how the year progressed and how things have evolved and changed from what I thought they would be to what they are. We had a very good calf crop this year, the hay was decent, and I was able to finish a huge project here on the farm. All of this occurred while also losing our beloved Mario, three of my best pigs and two very nice calves, and breaking a finger and having to learn to rely on others to get things done for me.
I read a quote once that said "everything changes, if things are going good the good times are temporary and will give way to bad times, and likewise, bad times are temporary and will give way to good times".
This is advise that I think everyone should take to heart and always keep in the back of their mind. When things are going great and you are really happy remember that that moment is temporary and will pass. You should always be thinking ahead to the next step and how you can prepare today for the next time when things are bad so those times do not last long and are easier to get through. As well, when things are at what you perceive to be the worst remember, that moment also temporary and will also pass. Things are not always as bad as they may seem. At one point late this summer I started to question whether or not that moment would ever pass. What I thought were good times were just multiple small little bad things starting to pile up. I wasn't looking far enough ahead and realizing that it would all pass and how much progress we were still making.
What was the turning point for me and when I almost gave up hope was when I thought that Baby Girl wasn't going to make it. At that point I had already lost so many animals this summer that I was really frustrated and upset and my wife and I had tried so hard to save her just like the last two and I was thinking I was going to lose her as well. I had just fed her and she was unresponsive and barely breathing. I thought she was slipping away so I went back to the house very upset. I went back down three hours later to get something I had left in the barn and she was sitting up on her own for the first time in two weeks. I still didn't hold out much hope over night and went down the next morning before leaving for work expecting the worst and she was standing up on her own. It was then when I realized I almost made a horrible mistake and gave up. Every day I go to the barn and she meets me at the door or gate I am reminded not to give up because there is always a chance to make a difference.
My wife helped me feed and bed the animals last night and I was thinking how different it was to do chores this new years compared to last year. My wife has also gotten more involved in the farm as we have grown and is starting to understand it much more now than she did before which helps a lot. There are many changes coming this year not only with my farm but people around me that will allow much greater opportunities for everyone involved and the potential of what is to come is so exciting I can hardly wait. We all just need to push through the hard stuff so we can get on to enjoying the fun stuff again.
So, as I look out into my pasture this year's end and next year's new beginning I see a lot more than I did last year. I now see the things I didn't see last year. I now see where my weaknesses are, and hopefully, how to plan better for unforeseen things. I also see those around me that are struggling and need help. I also see another road that needs to be taken to see where it goes. I believe it will lead to the same destination just with a much different and more enjoyable and scenic route and will give me a chance to take those who want to ride along with me for the ride!
Have a Happy and Safe New Year everyone. I already have my first sign that it will be a great one, The sun is brilliantly shining today and it is beautiful out!
Kenny
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