A Day On The Farm
May 16th, 2006 by Northern FarmerI’d better try an get a short post in here before I fall asleep. Boy, am I ever bushed! Today we made great progress around here in moving cow/calf pairs to different pastures. This consists of identifying pairs out in the seven acre calving lot and heading them towards the corrals, locking them up, making darn sure that they are mother and calf, loading them up in the trailer and taking them to one of the pastures. We started that job around eight thirty this morning and finished up after six this evening. The only ones left home are the ones with calves under three days old and the ones that haven’t calved yet. We’re down to around fifty cows at home so that will knock down the daily chores quite a bit.
It sure was pretty a little bit ago checking the pasture a couple miles away, the calves don’t know what hit them, running around and laying in all that grass. The mothers know quite well what they’re standing in. There’s going to be some full guts tonight, the milk will really start to flow, and two or three days from now a person better not stand anywhere near the rear end of one of them cows. Believe me.
So now with the cattle work load cut down I can turn my attention to getting some field corn in finally. The soil conditions are improving fast so it’s time to get on the move tomorrow. Gotta get that corn in. Our neighbor came over today and picked up the Minnesota 13 seed corn he had ordered from me, so, I’m not alone in the neighborhood here planting healthy corn. I would be willing to bet that we’ll be far from alone in a few years here as far as the type of corn going into the ground. Kind of exciting to see this spread here, and I know at the friendly farmer co-op here they told me more folks were asking about it. Not bad, eh.
Tomorrow night is church over in the hills and today when we were hauling cattle to a far pasture, from the top of the hill we could see the hill country to the west. It’s so beautiful now that the grass and the leaves are out and about. This sure does beat winter, not that winter is all that bad, I’ll more than likely be wishing for it in July and August, but it does get old after a week or two. No, this is the good time of year when life is new and bursting forth. So, with some luck in a week or two we’ll be catching up so we can slow it down a notch here. And after the progress made today, all is well here. I’d better quit now, clean up, read the Good Book and hit the hay in a bit.
May 16th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
nothing better than a good day on the farm! Thanks for the letter and booklet!
May 16th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Tom,
Glad to hear you are winding up the shuffling of cattle! Too wet here today, but I plan to get that OP corn in this week yet! Thanks for your posts.
JM
May 17th, 2006 at 3:37 am
Hi Peggy!
I hope it is a “little” blessing to you.
I’m glad you received the letter and booklet! I was wondering if one stamp would do it
JM,
Boy oh boy, when I woke up this morning I couldn’t believe where the night went, I don’t think I even moved once in the bed all night. Then my eyes were pasted shut from the dust yesterday chasing cattle. But it feels pretty good. Today with a little luck I can sit on my butt and disk and stuff. Of note, we were discussing yesterday building an “old fashioned” corn crib, you know, long and narrow with more than one compartment for different strains of OP corn. We had one like that when I was a kid, but it was pretty shot at the time. That design really works good for drying out a seed supply. I know I have some plans here somewhere, maybe in an old Small Farmer’s Journal or somewhere.
Keep on keepin on over your way, the day is getting closer where I’ll be able to make my pilgrimage your way to bother you folks. Just figured I’d give you a warning so you can figure out some good hiding places
May 17th, 2006 at 7:03 am
Good Morning Tom!
I so enjoy reading just about your activities on the farm. You take something that would seem so trivial and so mundane and make it joyously glorify God. It is always an encouragement.
I am not sure we could do corn here. I was talking with Brian about it. We tend to go most of the mid to late summer without any kind of rain. Most of the corn farmers use irrigation to keep the corn alive. We may have to check into spelt or something like that. But our quest to buy land is not going to come to reality for a while yet. Doesn’t even look like the barn is going to be built any time soon either. Waiting is so hard. Have a good one.
May 17th, 2006 at 8:32 am
Tom, I’m glad to see that you’ve made it out of bed. One of these days I really would like to come out and see how everything runs. I think it would be very educational for me. So one day I’ll make it out there. Just let me know ahead of time, and I’ll take a day off of work. See you tonight.
May 17th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
I love to envision the pastoral setting of your farm as I read your narratives, Tom. It reminds of James Herriot’s tales in a way. I know that among the newly born calves frolicking and green things growing, there is more than enough dirt and hard work, but you are gifted with that certain turn of phrase that enlivens simple ordinary fare and turns it into something extraordinary and desirable. Thank you for sharing your day!
May 18th, 2006 at 3:46 am
Christina,
Thanks for your kind words. About corn in your area, well, I’m no expert but I agree it could be a little tough for you in that area because of lack of moister. But it sounds like you folks have some good plans. Keep the faith!
Pastor Josh,
Like I told you last night there are a lot of jobs that I think you’d like and be amazed at around here. We’ll do something like that in the future. Thanks.
Emily,
Thanks so much. In all truthfulness I believe that I’m the poorest writer of all the blogs, I guess the only thing I can say is I write from the heart. 99% of the posts I do I think will be the last, but then for some reason just keep on going. P.S. I haven’t forgotten all your questions from a few days ago.