This "1999 Farm Update" news bought to you by Kool-Aide "Grape Berry Splash" and the music of Pat Donohue and Peter Ostroushko.
The theme for this newsletter which I have been meaning to do since spring is:
"Never put off until tomorrow that which can be put off until the day after tomorrow."
Well, Spring started off pretty well, alot of farmers got a real jump on field work starting the last week of March. Around here I got started about the middle of April as usual. The weather was sort of playing havoc with everyone's plans, though. You'd get a few good days, then get rain for a few. I finished planting oats the end of April, after some more rain, started on corn May 5th, rain, planted May 10th, rain, planted some more May 15th, rain for two weeks this time, finally finished corn on May26. Planted soybeans on May 28th. A little later than I would like, but, hey... No major machinery breakdowns around planting time this year, just the usual minor problems, i.e.: pins on the fertilizer shaft drive on the corn planter and a "clutch" mechanism for the seed drum on the planter that needed to be replaced. Another big annoyance was a pair of hydraulic couplers on my Deutz tractor. I kept blowing out an "O"-ring inside them and consequently losing oil. Finally spent $120 and replaced the entire unit. And I did have to replace the A/C compressor on the Deutz... Hey you can't expect me to sweat out there do you?!? ( Had to replace the radio too. :-) ) This isn't your fathers tractor...
The first crop of hay was a challenge to get up. Because of all the rain I had some potholes in the cowyard that didn't seem to have any bottom to them. Therefore I couldn't get around the silo's with any machinery so I wasn't able to chop hay to fill the silo like I usually do. Baled about half of first crop, filled 2/3 of the diary barn and put as much in the granary as I wanted. Finally got enough rock called 4"-6" breaker rock ( big chunks of rock 4"-6" in size) into the holes so I could drive over them and was able to chop the rest of first crop hay. Hired a neighbor to make "round bales" ( you know... those round bales you see sitting all over) of some hay since I didn't need anymore small square bales and didn't want to chop this particular field. He was having trouble with his baler, so only got three bales made. The rest of the hay got rained on too much and got rotten. I finally ended up chopping it back onto the field just to get rid of it. ( If left in the field it will smother the hay coming up underneath ) I was a little stressed about -- OK, I was ALOT stressed--about how long it was taking to finish first crop hay & was greatly relieved to finally be done ... had a beer that night.
I had a different neighbor with a different round baler make 33 round bales of second crop hay. Then I had yet another neighbor with yet another round baler make some from third crop hay so could try some bales "Net Wrapped".
As we got deeper into summer it came complete with heat and humidity which made the crops grow, me ornery, and the cattle stupid. I truly believe their brains melt and someday I am going to fund a study to prove it. One night while putting the cows in the barn to milk, one of my newer heifers, Aimee, was racing me to the end of the barn. I wanted her to go into a stanchion in the middle of the barn, however she had other ideas. When we reached the end of the barn I stopped. She made an attempt at jumping 5 feet over the half-door. She only cleared 4 feet... Broke one hinge, ripped the other hinge off the door frame. I was annoyed ... Eventually Aimee and the other new heifer, Cora picked stanchions next to each other and when I went between them to lock them up, they squeezed together and wouldn't let me back out! I finally had to let them both back out so I could get out. And then would you believe the nerve of those two cows to keep trying to get back in the barn to eat?! MAN!!!! Some days....
The highlight of the summer had to be when Preston's class from daycare came out for a tour. We had to set it up three times because they got rained out the first two times. Cate and Jackie, the teachers pestered me persistently until they were able to come out the third time. (They acted as if I were responsible for the rain...) The kids named a calf "Quest" after the name of their summer program Quest For Fun. I also have a calf named Cate that I think has some sort of mental imbalance... she hid off in the trees most of the summer. The calf named Jackie sucks. Literally. She kept sucking on the other calves until I put a stop to it. The kids had a really good time on their tour. I milked a couple cows for them and we went on a hayride out through the fields. Stopped and let them run around out there for awhile. Then came back to the house, had a picnic lunch, showed them some machinery and then for a finale, showed them how the baler throws a bale into the wagon. The absolute best part was when we turned the kicker up as high as it would go and threw a bale completely over the back of the wagon! Ah, fun on the farm...
The rain pretty much stopped the end of July and we didn't have much more the rest of summer or fall. This made it very easy to get oats and straw done. Kind of took a few days off in August. Still had to milk, but then took the rest of the day off. Kelly and I drove to Wanamingo, Goodhue and Zumbrota one day, had lunch at the auction barn and watched the heifer sale. The next day I drove to Altura and Lewiston looking for machinery. I was looking for a mower to put on a tractor for cutting road ditches and pasture weeds. Also looking for a rear blade and anything else I thought I needed and could afford. Bought an 8' rear blade in Altura and found a mower from an individual about a month later.
My friend Josh Skattum worked for me over the summer. He did a good job. Said he didn't like making fence ( and who can blame him really ) but overall had a good time. He learned something about electric fencers and I told him all I know about raccoons. We found a 5 foot bull snake over by the machine shed one day... that was neat.
Speaking of wild animals, I haven't had any close encounters with the native wildlife lately. My little adventure with the 'coon this spring was about the last... ( If you didn't get that story, E-mail me and I will sent it to you ) Did I tell you how that turned out? Well, the raccoon tested negative for rabies. And part of the reason I never met another one was because Kelly was doing that play so I was doing chores alot earlier than usual at night. There was one night when I turned on the silo unloader and could immediately tell something wasn't right. That's when the coon fell in a heap to the bottom of the chute -- which answers the question of whether they come down head first or tail first-- and I ran away screaming ( a very manly scream I am proud to say) "AAAAAHHHHH!!! "GET IT!! GET IT!! GET IT!!"
And there was that snapping turtle out in the hay field... Had to pick it up to move it out of the way. That was pretty interesting. Called up the naturalist at Oxbow park, Tom Ryan and talked with him about turtles for awhile.
We got a new car this summer. A Ford Taurus Wagon... Blue... Got it from Stevens Ford in Chatfield. (No way we were getting a minivan! ) The kids really like having their own doors and riding in the little seat facing backward is a special treat for them...
The day before we got the car our old freezer finally quite. This was that big freezer out in the garage that belonged to my mom and dad before us. And their parents before them and their parents... OK, it wasn't that old... I think it was from about 1958. It has always been out in the garage and I think the house was built around it.... There was about 300 lbs of meat in it so I spent a few hours that morning running meat to various freezers around the county... Got a new freezer the next day. Put this one down in the basement. The delivery guys had to take the door off to get it down there. Then practically herniated themselves trying to pick up the old one and get it into their truck.
Also got another dog this year. That makes three for those of you keeping count... Remember that old saying, " One dog is one dog. Two dogs is half a dog, three dogs is no dog"? I am here to tell you it's true. "Maggie" will be one year old in January and she is half Chocolate lab and half the neighbors dog down the road, but we think he was a border collie. My friend Mark Delehanty gave her to us. She was suppose to go to someone in Mexico but before she got there someone else said "NO WAY IS THAT DOG COMING HERE!!" So we got her. Had Tori Yarges send me some doggie commands in Spanish so I could talk to her... didn't help...
Bought two new cows this fall. Another Jersey, named "Geraldine" for one of the characters in that TV show The Vicar of Dibley and a Holstein that had just calved at the sale barn. Named her "Lynne" to honor Lynne Warfel-Holt from MPR. She's one of the classical music hosts. The one that has kids and horses and likes Bugs Bunny cartoons, so I feel like I can relate. When she talks it always sounds like she has a twinkle in her eyes... "Geraldine" does this really weird thing with her tongue where she sticks it out the right side of her mouth and sort of shakes her head and sort of chews on her tongue... I don't know what she's doing... The vet just says Jerseys are sort of odd that way...
One of my other heifers in the barn this summer is named "Angel". For awhile I thought I misnamed her. She acted more like the "Anti-Christ" then an Angel. But we figured each other out and we get along better now.
Chopping corn went really well this fall. As I said, it didn't rain at all so it was easy going. The same can be said for combining soybeans, picking corn and combining corn. The corn yields were down a little from last year and the price is still in the dumps. Soybean yields were above other years... I had my neighbor Kevin Scanlon plant some narrow row corn for me this spring. He then combined it this fall. Put that corn in the grain bank at the elevator to use for cow feed. Kevin also combined my oats and soybeans. Sold both of those at depressingly low prices.
The biggest thing this fall was the death of Kelly's Aunt Ruth. She passed away October 27. That has been hard on everybody. It's interesting how many days you feel like you lose when you are dealing with something like that. I spent a few nights after milking out chisel plowing. Doing fieldwork can be very cathartic. I heard a State Representative say when the legislative session is over he comes home and spends a few days out in a tractor before he feels like talking to anyone...
Here's another quote. This one from Jane Goodall on the differing personalities of chimpanzees:
" I like some chimpanzee's better than some people and some people better than some chimpanzee's."
I think most of you heard that Amelia had her tonsils and adenoids out back in November. She stayed overnight in the ICU just as a precaution but she did great. Only appeared distressed the afternoon of the surgery, after that she was fine. Still had 10 days off school and pretty much ruled the roost at home. She goes to school every afternoon; Gage East Monday, Wednesday and Fridays; Aldrich Memorial Nursery School Tuesday and Thursdays. She really enjoys it. Gets a little tired in the afternoons and falls asleep on the bus some days.
Preston has a really great 1st grade teacher (Mrs Buckmeier)
at Bamber Valley again this year. He is really good at math and enjoys going
to school.
I rode with a sheriff deputy one night this fall. He came down and picked me
up about 7:30 PM and I rode with him until about 3:00 AM. Was a pretty quiet
night. Stopped two speeders, broke up a party behind the fire hall in Dover
and went to a domestic dispute. It was interesting. Kelly would like to ride
along next summer. I asked one of our County Maintenance guys if I could ride
in a snowplow sometime and he said he would get me a "...Wild Ride. We'll
send you up North!" Kelly says I only became a Townboard Supervisor for
entertainment purposes. Well, maybe that was part of the reason...
Another interesting thing this fall is that I became an Agricultural Pen Pal with a class of 20 first grade students at Roosevelt school in St. Paul. I am just getting started with this but the teacher said most of the students haven't seen a farm so it should be interesting. I took a bunch of pictures this morning while I was doing chores. Will send a little simpler version of this letter to them. We are to write three times during the school year and they are to write back. Supposed to make it educational as well: If two cows are traveling away from the barn at 15 MPH, and they travel 9.25 miles in 37 minutes, how much milk will they give after the farmer chases them around the pasture and home again? Please show your work...
Other than that... I had the pleasure to help out a little with the Allegro / Rochester Ballet School's production of "The Nutcracker" again this year. They always call me three days before opening and ask if I can come in and "tweak" the lights a little bit. And I always do... I love the show. My fee for this work is some free dance lessons for Amelia so it's worth it. In February of 2000, barring any Y2K problems, I will be doing some lighting for an original Modern Dance Experience at the ballet school. That might be fun if it doesn't kill me...
A hot air balloon went over the barn this morning and scared all the cows. Cows have very good eyesight, you know, so when they see a hot air balloon they all get freaked out and run away from it... I don't think it's the sound of the burner in the balloon as much as it is just the idea of that big thing floating around up there that scares them. There are stories that during WWII soldiers could tell where the snipers were hiding because the cattle were always staring at them. I don't make this up people, I just repeat it...
Chore time... Everybody go find something to do until the cows come home....
 |
Write me: ben@farmerben.com |