Full blown crazy busy!!!!! Fall is a comin up fast!!!

So, I have always been told that if you take a week off for vacation you will have to work twice as hard for two weeks after to catch up.  So, what happens when you take two weeks off for vacation...total insanity!!!   

We were home for about a day and a litter of pigs were born out in the barn yard, in the rain.  Had to fight two very upset mothers to move them into the barn, but, after there, everyone was good to go!

I had several customer requests for project proposals at work that literally took me 6 weeks to get caught up and ahead of.  I told everyone at work we were in full blown beast mode, and we are not letting off the throttle till the snow flies!!!!

Lisa and I had intensive fair prep/training for the few weeks leading up to the fair.  While the boys were halter broke and such before we left, they were definitely not ready to show after the break.  

I learned a valuable lesson with Linus this year.   When applying bands for castration it is absolutely necessary to take your time no matter how little of it you have, and count to 2!  I didn't, and I only got one of two.  My daughter brought this to my attention during the detailed baths to get them ready for the fair and the vet confirmed that he was still not a steer.  SO, Linus didn't go this year.  Instead he will be going next year as a Dairy Steer.

Lets play a little game of "Find Lisa in the ring"!   Showing a full grown steer will be exciting next year.  Hopefully he will be tall enough for her to look under his head as she cannot see over their heads now!   If you are looking for her that is her head in the center of the picture visible over the back of the steer in front of her!

A clear sign that hard work pays off.   Lisa studied and worked to learn all the stuff she didn't know last year and scored a 98.5% on her skillathon and took first place out of everyone in the Junior division for her project!  She received a certificate and a brand new show halter with an award plate showing the year won on it!

While we were away my good friend who owns an excavation company was able to deliver all the concrete slabs and recycled concrete material I needed to complete the driveway to the other side of the farm.  This has been needed for years and was a major issue this spring during the very wet weather we had.  

I used concrete slabs that were removed during a new parking lot installation as a base in all of the old stream beds where the mud was the worst in the spring. 

Above was a very large hole.  The picture doesn't show it but from bottom of the hole to top of finished grad was about three feet.  This is where I used the big chunks up.  The balance of the wet areas were installed as shown below.  In a 3D real world version of "Tetris" I fit the pieces together to create a driveway and then used the recycled material to cover them and fill in all the cracks.  

Here is the finished product.  The cows walked around it first but have realized that it is a pretty nice pathway and have started using it exclusively when going across the creek to the pastures.  I am excited to see how it holds up during the wet season this fall and in the spring!  

Upon coming back from vacation I also had to address putting the new deck on the trailer.  It took about 4~5 hrs to complete but turned out excellent!!  Very sturdy and looks like new!

It was immediately put to use the next day to make a hay delivery that was requested while we were away on vacation.  

The field that I share crop on that was baled while I was on vacation really grew well and was ready to go two weeks ago, we finally had a solid break in the rain and I dropped it all plus all but one of my other fields....totally around 70 acres.  I didn't have time to mess around so I borrowed another friends large tedder to get it done quickly as we had to get it dry fast!

I am in the process of figuring out how to get one of these for myself now that we have so much hay ground.  I love my silage bales but dry hay is much easier to market at any time of the year.  This thing also did a phenomenal job and the hay was ready just in time to beat hurricane Harvey!

To be clear, this is the third cutting!  This field is producing at an amazing rate!!!   From this 40 acres we had 327 bales of first cutting, 148 bales of second cutting, and for third cutting we got 114 round bales and another 450 squares.  If all in rounds that totals around 615 rounds. 

This field produced more high quality hay this year than it has in the previous two years combined by more than 100 round bales!  We haven't decided if we will make 4th cutting or if he will just graze it off.  We are leaning toward selling some of the first cutting he would feed and let the cows eat it off!

So, with everything going on I decided one night to have a fire to relax by for a while as it was just my son and I and the dog while my wife and daughter were at town.  I had chair by the fire and the Zeus just wouldn't leave me alone and kept climbing on my lap.  At around 80 lbs he isn't a small puppy anymore so it wasn't easy.  I got up at one point to add some wood to the fire and he took the opportunity to have my seat and wouldn't give it back!

About this time my son comes out to join us and tries to share the chair with Zeus.  Zeus wasn't really having any of that and proceeded to sit on top of Alex!  All in all it was a fun evening with some great laughs!

The kids are finally getting old enough to start doing some work!  So, I am teaching them how to mow the lawn.  Normally I would do most of it before turning Alex loose on the mower but I didn't have the time this day, so I just let him mow and gave him some pointers.  He actually did a very nice job and was even better than some grown up do their first day at work!  He will pick this up quickly!

Following the chaos that has been going on lately I got a call from a manager at another branch on Thursday night requesting straw for a job on Friday morning.........an hour away!   I was happy to have my wife and daughter to help do chores and load up before it got too late. 

This is Sugar (right) and her daughter Sugar Pie (on the left) a couple weeks ago in the pasture.  I am happy to have both of them and even happier to report that after yesterday's herd check they are both confirmed pregnant.  We had 16 confirmed bred and 12 open that we will be performing AI on in 9 days.  

This brings me to my last topic for today.  Last weekend was a very sad one for us here on the farm. Anyone who has been following my blog for a while will recognize the name Legacy and knows that he is the little orphaned bull that we raised by hand from shortly after he was born.  

  

His momma died a few days after he was born and we had to take him in the barn and bottle feed him.  He is named after his mother who's name was Erica, she was from the Erica bloodline from Summitcrest Farms.  His name is Erica's Legacy. 

Both kids helped and he was a big baby his entire life.

This picture was taken just before vacation.  He was doing well in his third year as our bull and has many of his children to show for it.  The first weekend in July we synchronized all the cattle so they would be bred to calve at the same time around the first of May so they would be born in nice weather next year.  Some time in the couple of weeks following this he got an infection in his rear foot but didn't show it until it was so bad that he couldn't walk on it.  By this time the infection was into the bone and we were told he most likely wouldn't walk again.   

The vet treated him and we put him up in the barn and he had the entire shed to himself and one of his daughters who's mother (Sally Shorthorn) was sold a earlier this summer due to complications with her Udder.  He was doing well for a couple of weeks and we thought he would pull thru this, however, the infection moved to his lungs and his other hind foot instead.  Within days he went from almost 2000 lbs to around 1200 and couldn't get up any more.  We decided to let him go and be out of the enormous amount of pain he was in and had the vet put him down.  

Of the 16 bred cattle 13 of them are carrying the last of his legacy and we are excited to great them in the spring.  He will be missed. 

Have a good week everyone, winter is coming quickly this year so don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today, you may not have tomorrow to do it!

Kenny

Family vacation 2017!!

We decided to move our vacation time up this year to the last part of July to try to take advantage of some better fishing.  This however, coincided with the only dry week to make second cutting!   So, the day before we rolled out I mowed everything down and made a deal with my brother to get it all made while we were away.  He, his girlfriend, his friends, and the landowner all did an awesome job and got it all done without any problems!!!!!

What is even more fabulous is that we got another 148 bales of hay off of this field after getting 327 in first cutting.  We have already made more hay in two cutting this year overall that we have made the last two years combined!  An amazing year that we have seen coming and are looking to maintain moving forward.  Sam and I have been working toward getting the fields installed with the right plants and then have been working to balance the nutrition in the soil to properly feed them and it is paying off big!!  Now, to properly ride the wave as long as we can while prepping another right behind it!!

We decided as a family that we wanted to maximize our time on the beach as much as possible.  So, the deal was made that while I was busy mowing they would be busy packing and so we could leave early in the morning.  Everyone did their part and we left early Sunday morning and drove straight thru to the Frisco NC.  We hit the arrival time perfectly as they had very few people in the campgrounds so we were able to get a spot we have been trying to get for years!  This spot is on the hill with a view of the ocean as well as being protected from high winds by a knob and large shrubs.  

By 8pm, camp was set up and meat delivered to our newest customer and we were ready for the start of vacation!! 

We had some storms and rain the first two days on the beach, but, when you are there to fish and swim then you are already gonna be wet so it was a nice way to ease into the warmer temps without getting burned to start the trip!

The OBX is ever changing due to storms and this year is no different.  Our favorite crabbing area last year had very few crabs this year due to some big changes in the area from shifted sands.  We did however find a few on our first day there and My daughter was happy to eat them!

So, I will openly admit, that I never was a huge fan of fishing.  I did some as a kid but quickly grew out of it and never had an interest to go back....till we found the OBX.  The first time my wife caught a fish out of the surf I was hooked.  However, I have never caught anything bigger than medium sized mullets.  Our second day out on the beach started with a rain storm and some really strong surf.  I had given up catching anything and sat down to chat with my wife and have a beer when I noticed the surf had took off with my line down the beach to where the next person was fishing.  

I went trotting down the beach reeling in my line hoping I wasn't messing up someone else's fishing when I saw a fish jump out of a wave.  As I got closer to the end of my line another wave washed this guy on the beach.....with my hook in his mouth!!!!

This is a Red Drum, commonly known as a Puppy Drum!  This is what everyone is trying to catch when they go surf fishing and I actually had one for the first time ever!!!  To keep them they need to be in "the Slot" which is between 18" and 25".  This guy was 20"!!!   Best part was my wife didn't see me reel him in and her first response was "who gave you that??"

My wife filleted this guy up and we ate very very good that night!!!  It is no wonder these fish are so highly sought after as they are extremely delicious and are quite meaty!

We had a couple of other days where the Mullet were biting a lot and we had several dinners that were from our daily catch!  

Once again, my wife is a phenomenal cook no matter where we are or what we have to work with.  We ended up inviting a fellow camper and his son over this night for a fish/clam/and pork fry!  Good beer, good food, and new friends, it was a great great time and will always be remembered!

We have a portable propane stove top that feeds right from the Propane tank.  Can set up in seconds and is light and easy to take with us in the truck. 

We are getting used to people checking out our setup when we are on the beach!   When at home, the truck is a work truck and is used as such...however, when it is time to relax the truck turns into a mobile party spot including a kitchen!!!   Here is my wife cooking lunch on Ocracoke Island near the ocracoke inlet.   

We got a fishing rod and cooler holder setup for the reese hitch on the back this year that was great to have.  We keep drinks in the cooler so it is easy to access for the kids and the fishing poles are right there the entire time for quick bating and casting!

My daughter was sure to let everyone know where we are from as well!!!   We left this little mark everywhere we went!   

As always, no matter how long we stay, it is never long enough.  Our last day on the beach was perfect.  Light breeze off of the water, small waves and crystal clear water, and wonderful sun!   The total power outage hit the morning of our last day on the beach and we ended up getting back to the campsite to be told we had to leave and couldn't stay our last night.  We were fortunate enough to have made some very good friends in Hatteras and I made a call and they were able to take us in for our last night!!  Our friends, Eddie and Gayle, own and operate A.S. Austin Company in downtown Hatteras.  

They also happen to be our newest customer and are part of our ever growing farm family!!   Even though most looked at the power outage as a bad thing it turned out to be a good thing cause it forced us to try something different this year.  Eddie also has apartments to rent at the store as well and we were able to try one out for our last night.   As much as we love camping we are considering staying with Eddie and Gayle next time we are in town.  

We left on Friday morning after purchasing some fresh fish and shrimp to bring home.  The evacuation for Hatteras was ordered later in the day after we were already off of the island.  We were happy to hear that the power is not back on and people are starting to come back!!  The residents down there rely on tourism for their lively hoods so hopefully they can make up for the forced week long vacation.  

As soon as we got home it was back to work!  We unpacked the truck Saturday night and Sunday I mowed third cutting here at the farm and started working on the driveway I am building through the pasture.  Another friend and customer of mine had a bunch of concrete slabs from a parking lot that was torn out and brought them to me to build through the wet areas.  The slabs go in first and then I am topdressing them with some processed material to fill the cracks and firm them up.  This will allow me and the cows access through the bottom without creating a mess and more pollution and erosion.  I am about 15% done at this time and have a long long way to go, but I will get there yet!!!

So, as I said I went to mow hay on Sunday and I didn't stop and pick up Zeus.  He was waiting on the back porch when I got done...exactly like this!  Arms crossed, with the "WHY DID YOU LEAVE WITHOUT ME" look on his face!  He was not pleased with my slip up!

With third cutting on the home fields completed here are the results,  1st cut - 38 bales, 2nd cut - 30 bales, 3rd cut - 28 bales.  These are unheard of numbers till this year.  I am happy to see all the conservation efforts finally paying us back and it should only get better as long as we keep working on it.  This is also why I am building the driveway across the creek.  I need to be able to apply the manure and waste milk over there on the pastures as well so I can have this kind of output from the pastures!!!

I finally used my trailer hitch to load bales straight from the field for delivery.  I didn't have time to hook up the truck so I just grabbed the trailer with the tractor!  Worked great and I will be doing this again!

The hay mix we are using is Orchard Grass, Fescue, Clover, and Alfalfa.  When made correctly it is the highest quality mix I have ever seen.  It is from Byron Seeds and has done well for us.  It is so soft and smells so good at each cutting that I literally want to just sleep on it instead of my bed!

Last order of business is getting ready for fair time!!!  After my daughter's one fair calf died I traded her a steer for the one and only dairy beef feeder to ever be born here on the farm.  I borrowed a dairy bull to breed heifers last year and I had one bull calf born to one of my milking shorthorns.  He is gonna be on the smaller end of the weight limit but looks really nice and hopefully will do well.   

He was born about two months later than most calves are for this project so we left him on the mother till we got back from vacation.  Now we are knee deep in the process of halter training and getting him trained to lead.  He has been coming into the barn for a grain snack, washing, and his own hay as well each day for a couple months so he is already tamed down, just doesn't lead well yet. 

It is kind of inspiring to know that we are on the right track with our thoughts on Grass Fed Beef.  The bigger calf on the left is Luigi and he came straight from a dairy farm where the main diet is processed feeds and Total Mixed Rations.  Linus who is on the right was born in the pasture and didn't see grain until we had to pen them up for training for the fair.  When we feed them each night Linus heads straight for the hay and will snack on the grain and Luigi goes straight for the Grain and will snack on the hay!  Such a difference in their appearance as well with Linus being thicker and shorter and being more even all around where as Luigi has the typical dairy belly and frame.   The judges will have to sort that all out at the fair!!

I hope everyone is having a great summer and I will be sure to update everyone once we make it to the fair!

Talk to ya'll soon,

Kenny

It is with a heavy heart we say goodbye to Sally Shorthorn

Sally Shorthorn came to our farm shortly after we got Fifty.  She was about six months old when we got her and she has been here through all the growth and changes here on the farm.  She has produce some very awesome calves.  Most went on to other farm but her first and her last heifer are here.  During her lactation cycle last year her udder began to break down, meaning the support structure that holds it all up began to come apart.  This spring, when she had her calf this spring and her udder filled up, her support structure completely broke down.  This kept her calf from eating properly because her udder was so low to the ground and isn't working properly either.   We almost lost her calf, Lilac, due to this, but, we were able to bring her to the barn and bottle feed her and she is now doing well.  

In the last month or so we have watched Sally struggling to walk due to the pain in her udder and how it obstructs her legs when she walks.  So, we decided it was time to let her go rather than watch her struggle and possibly become ill from complications with her issues.  

In her absence her daughters will continue what she has started.  She has given us some great girls along the way and they will do very well for us and for those who have gotten her heifers from us in the past.  

 She will be missed.

Much needed updates from the Farm!!!

So this spring has been the craziest one yet.  With the extremely mild winter everything hit the ground growing at light speed the second week of march and hasn't stopped yet!  This pushed all the spring work at work to full bore earlier than we ever have.  This caused me to fall behind on everything here on the farm due to the extra work hours so early in the year.  On top of the extra heavy workload we had a wet hot spring that added to the rapid plant growth which is good, but with very little windows to make hay it caused getting first cutting done to be a challenge.

My wife also started a new job this spring!!!  She got an opportunity to try a totally different career that she is enjoying and is doing very well at!  It is great to see her taking on a new challenge and enjoying it. I know she will do very well!

So, as I said, the weather has proved perfect for growing hay!!!!  Here are a few pics of what it looked like this year.

This first picture was taken at eye level looking back at the tractor on the first pass in the field.



The rear view.  As you can see the hay was up to the top of the tractor hood which is about 5" tall.



The thicker part of the field wasn't as tall because it was so thick and big that it actually fell over and kept growing.  If it wouldn't have fallen over most of it would have been close to 6' tall.   My wife and daughter were standing in one of the thick spots for reference.



Here is what it looked like once it was cut.  laying down full swath the hay was 14"-18" thick.



After raking the rows were so thick that the typical left to right and back again swerving needed to make even round bales was not possible nor needed.  This field made an average of 8.2 bales per acre on 45 acres to total 327 full size bales for first cutting.  This is more hay in one cutting than we have gotten off of this field in two years combined.

Team work was greatly needed to get this done as well.  As I was baling the landowner and his boys were hauling and wrapping the hay as fast as I was baling it.  Even my brother was down a couple of times to help with keeping the wrapper going and helping the guys start new rows as needed.



A quick pic of the kids out in the pasture helping with checked for calves!



My daughter got two bulls calves to take as dairy beef feeders.  One of them became very ill and didn't make it.  The day after he passed I was feeding the cows and remembered that I had used a dairy bull to breed heifers last year.  He was quite diligent in getting the job done and actually bred a couple of cows that were supposed to be bred by Legacy.  After doing some checking I realized that out of my two milking shorthorn mothers, one of them got bred by the dairy bull and had a bull calf.  The mother is milking shorthorn and the father is a Lineback.  The combination is very pretty and because it is a cross breed there is great heterosis!!  After talking to Lisa we decided to go ahead and tag him for her second calf.  He is about three months younger than her other calf but since he is still eating off of his momma he should still make weight.  All we need to do is figure out how to get him broke so a halter to show him!!!  That will be coming soon as we want to get him tamed down and ready to go for the fair! 



We had another very successful farm party this year as well!!!  We had some where around 90 people this year and other than a little mac and cheese and some cake we were cleaned out of food!!!  It was also a pleasure to have a very dear friend of mine out to visit the farm with his children.  We haven't seen each other since shortly after he got married which was close to 10 years ago.  We will have to make a trip out to see his place and see what all he is doing with his milking goats!!!




Due to this crazy busy spring we made it a point to take a break and meet up with two very dear friends of mine for a fishing trip.  Richard and Ryan were up for our customer party and we hunt mushrooms together in the spring as well.  He loves to fish and the kids and wife have been asking to go so we took a day and went!

After a day of bickering and whining the kids finally settled in and started actually fishing late in the afternoon.  This turned out to be a great thing as they both caught their first fish entirely on their own!!!

Of course, Zeus was along for the fun...this was one of the few times he was just relaxing.  The rest of the time he was all over the boat trying to be involved and begging for treats!!!

Even the captain of the boat needs a break to fish once in a while!

Moving from one cove to another hoping for better fishing.

Zeus knows who to go to when he wants some good hugs and kisses!!  Ryan and him are best buddies!!!

This was one of the times we were changing coves and trolling for some bigger fish.  We only got bluegill, one Croppie, and a couple of small bass but it was worth the trip just to relax for a day!!

If you ever get a chance to visit Leesville lake in Bowerston Ohio please do!!  It is a beautiful lake and given the right time of year it produces some awesome fishing opportunities.

Ryan had the first fish of the day, a small bluegill.  We ended up with 18 bluegill and one Croppie.  Was just enough to have a small dinner but was very good eating.  We will be doing this again soon!

I want to wrap up with a quick pic of Zeus from a couple of days ago.  I don't think we could've picked a better dog to take over Daisy's roll here on the farm.  He is very well tempered and loves everyone.  He is loud when he needs to be and calm when needed as well.  It is also great to come home to a pup who cannot wait to spend time with me.  The other night just as I got home my wife called to say she wasn't able to get the milk replacer for a baby calf we are bottle feeding.  Since I was already home I decided to see if Zeus wanted to ride along.  He didn't even hesitate.  The best part is he typically will sit in the passenger seat just like one of us and watch out the windows or he will lay down with his head on my lap!  

He also doesn't miss a chance to go with me in the tractor either which has made this busy spring much more enjoyable in the tractor knowing someone is there to keep me company!  We can't wait to take him to the ocean again now that he is grown up and knows what it is all about!!!

Have a great day everyone and sorry for the long span between posts.  Hopefully I can find time to post a little more frequently throughout the rest of the year since first cutting is finally done and things are slowing down to a more reasonable pace!!

Kenny

New to the cows pasture!

A deer went through the fences overnight and took out three of the fences.   Bull got in with the cows because of this.   So, I fixed the fence and then opened the bull lot up to the cows.   We will let them eat for a few days and then shut the bull in and shut the cows out!   I know it is tricky but it works!!

Quick update

Just a quick update.   I will try to put up a proper post this weekend.   Been crazy busy with work and with farm.   Party was phenomenal, first cutting is done, calves and piglets doing well, and hay is growing.   I can't wait to share all the updates this weekend!!

Kenny