Farm Girl

7 Comments / By / October 8, 2016

Since we moved to town I’m not much of a farm girl anymore.  I miss it from time to time.  I was happy when I was there but now I’m happy to be here.  I’m glad I’ve had each of the experiences in my life.

This last week was crazy busy filled with kids, appointments, new babies and late nights.  On Tuesday I had an appointment to have my foot checked.  After that I ran the errands not taking my scooter and walking with my boot the entire time.

It was getting dark as I was finally heading towards home.  I had to drive past the farm where we used to live, where Hubby still works, to get home.  I saw that he was in the combine in the field right next to the road.  Although I had ice cream in the back I decided to stop and ride a few rounds with him in the combine.

This was my view for the next 45 minutes.

combine

I am so amazed with the work that Hubby does.  There are so many knobs, buttons and toggles that all have their own purpose.  It would take me years to be able to figure it all out.  There’s a monitor that predicts the yield (amount of bushels of corn per acre).  Happily, it’s running high and crops are good…the down fall…prices for the corn aren’t very high.  But, a good yield always makes everyone happy.

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We went a few rounds chatting and catching up.  I don’t see Hubby a lot in the fall.  Typically a half hour or so a day.  It’s not enough, but that’s farm life.

From there I headed home with the task of unloading the groceries and getting the house ready for another day of childcare.

Friday I played farm girl again.  They were done with what they needed corn for now and moved over to beans.  The corn isn’t finished but the beans were ready to go.  Corn is much more flexible than soybeans are.

Hubby was done at one field and needed help moving four miles down the road to the next farm.  None of the guys were around so it was Kelli and I to the rescue.  He drove the combine to the new field.  We picked him up and took him back to the old field so he could drive the combine head to the new field.  We dropped him off.  He asked that we stick around and make sure everything went okay.  I proposed something else.  I said we’d to get ice cream and them come back and check on him…he liked that plan.

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Once we got back the bean head was hooked onto the combine…see? …

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On The Farming Front

6 Comments / By / September 11, 2016

Things aren’t all well on the farming front.  Typically at this time of the year the guys are already done or close to done making corn silage.  For those of you who aren’t farmers or familiar with farming, corn silage is made by chopping the entire stalk of corn, ear and all, off at about 5″ from the ground.  The machine to do this is a chopper.  It cuts it off the cuts it into small bit sized pieces for the cows.  The farmers do enough of this so that there is enough for feed for their livestock for an entire year.

Here’s a picture of it how they preserve the feed for the year.  The photo is from a year or two ago.  That’s Hubby the bunker on top of the pile packing down the silage with the tractor.

Well this year things are different.

They have the bunker empty and clean ready to go.

Silage-1

The blower to blow the silage into the bunker is all ready to go.

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The problem… …

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What Hubby’s Working On…

4 Comments / By / July 5, 2016

The crops are in at the farm so it’s time to work on improvement projects.  Summer’s are always that way for Hubby.  On the list this year….a total renovation of the cattle shed.

The shed typically houses just over 400 head of cattle.  It’s longer than the picture looks.  It was built in the early 90’s.  It’s had improvements along the way but this time it’s a big renovation.

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About 4 years ago Hubby’s boss had a group of workers re-tin the roof…but LOOK.  It’s awful.  See all the holes?  …

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At the Farm

6 Comments / By / May 6, 2016

Last week on Sunday Hubby’s boss was away so Hubby was on Sunday afternoon chore duty.  He asked me to ride along and although it was drizzling, I said yes.  I needed to get out of the house…needed it badly.

He said new calves were in and I always love seeing the new calves….especially the small ones.

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At the farm calves come in at a variety of sizes.  This is a smaller weight group.  Typically the calves are larger but it depends on what’s available, what the per 100 weight price is and how many are in a bunch.  The guys like to have the bunch be from as few as farms as possible.

Cattle jockeys (people who group and sell cattle) bring calves together from farmers and bunch them together in groups.  The fewer farms that the calves came from the few chances of picking up disease or sicknesses.  Then guys like Hubby’s boss contact the jockey and let them know what they are looking for and purchase through the jockey.  The jockey gets a cut working as the middle man between the farmers.

These guys were fun to see.  They were pretty little.  When we walked into the barn almost all except a few in the back were laying down.  As we came in more and more started getting up.  I kind of miss the farm some days….

After chores at the farm we were off to Hubby’s bosses place.  They have calves on pasture there.  His boss has a wooded are with pasture and each summer they keep calves there to keep the grass down.  There are lots there…likely 100.  All came up to the bunk except these in the back.

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Farm rules dictate that we’ve not allowed to leave unless all the calves are given a “once over” look.  Both Hubby and I were concerned about the laying down….we called and he didn’t rise.  UGH.

Hubby was feeding them so I volunteered to walk out and check on him.

Thankfully he was just spoofing me.  Nothing was wrong with him.  He just didn’t feel like walking up to the bunks for feed.

Crops are going in…we’ve had rain on and off.  Nice rains actually.  They are on a good schedule and happy with how things are progressing.  By the time you read this, corn will be in as will most if not all the beans. It’s really been a wonderful spring for planting.  Hubby is putting in long hours and it’s been lonely here.  Leaving by shortly after 5am in the morning and coming home at 9pm makes for a tired husband and lonely wife but it’s all part of farming.  After 30 years together, I know that….it doesn’t always make it easy.

In the post, I mention that it was drizzling this day…We actually welcome a rainy day here and there in the planting season.  It’s the only way we see each other!

So the farm report is this…all is good.

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