Halftime Show

Farmer Excitement #4: When you deliver a calf during halftime.

The Farmer's Holiday

Today is November 11th and a holiday celebrating Veterans. The Farmer would like to take time out of his busy schedule and thank all the men and women who have served in our military services to protect our freedoms, with great sacrifice from them and their families.




So how busy was The Farmer on this holiday?




He left the house at 4:00am this morning to bottle feed his baby calves so he could start milking by 5:00am. After milking, the cows were fed and the veterinarian showed up at 9:00am for the cows' monthly herd health check. The barn was cleaned after the veterinarian left and The Farmer was home by 1:00pm for lunch. During lunch The Farmer fielded several farm-related phone calls and still managed to take a 15 minute nap.




At 2:00pm The Farmer was back to work, feeding the heifers and bottle feeding the calves in order to start milking at 4:00pm. During the evening milking The Farmer was interrupted by two dairy supply salesmen and a farm equipment dealer. After milking, the cows needed to be fed and The Farmer made it home for dinner at 7:30pm. After a quick dinner he went to a Diking District meeting at 8:00pm to discuss annual budget review and property acquisitions. He was home by 9:00pm to check on the cows - yes, there is "lights out" even for the cows - one more time before heading to bed.




Tomorrow The Farmer repeats his normal routine and will meet the grain truck before 4:00am, the milk truck at 8:00am and the shaving truck (bedding for the cows) at 10:00am, and shoot the breeze (aka conduct business) with any other unscheduled visitors.




On this "holiday" The Farmer would also like to thank the farmers who keep America rolling and to thank those individuals who keep the farmers rolling.




~The Farmer~

Farmer Quote #59: Salty Goodness

"Do we need to get you a salt lick?"

(The Herdsman has taking to licking forearms...)

And here on The Farm, The Farmer can come up with a salt lick with amazing speed. Yeah. No, honey. No salt licks in the house...

Farm Milestone: Complete!

A very important milestone happened yesterday.

Flipping over?
Old news.

Crawling?
Not yet.

Walking?
God help us...he's not even four months old.

What is every little boy's dream come true? Yep...riding a tractor. Or a firetruck...or a bus...or a bulldozer...

But around here, what we have are tractors. And guess who rode sat on one?

He looks (kinda) excited.

Now he's not so sure..."I might be tipping!"

"Look who joined me on my tractor!"

"I guess I'll let him borrow it sometimes..."

Herdsman Excitement #68: The USDA Farm Survey

Falling asleep while completing the latest USDA farm survey...

A Walk In The Country (Farming Style)

Hey! Look who it is! The Farmer is meeting me for a walk!

Wait...why is he bringing a shovel?

Oh. Yeah. We live on a farm. And a romantic walk in the country usually involves a non-romantic task.

Such as digging up tansy. 

Tansy is a noxious weed that needs killing. Apparently it needed killing today while on our walk.

But Bonus #1, this walk was better than the one we took a few years ago that was ill-timed with the spraying of the adjoining field. And spraying on a dairy farm does not mean spraying water. It's a more ... organic ... material.

And Bonus #2, we had this beautiful day...

Hello ladies!

And Bonus #3, I had a view like this...

Finally, Bonus #4 included The Herdsman. He looked like this for most of the walk.

Don't worry...we had him covered up with the stroller hood for most of the ride. He didn't like the sun in his eyes. 

But then this happened...

He doesn't like tansy either.

The Smell of Money

Ever wonder what that sickening sweet smell is when you drive by a farm? That's the smell of silage - fermenting forage (aka grass) used as a feed additive in the winter. Hay apparently gets a bit boring and dry so silage is added into their diet for a bit of variety. OK, and important milk-producing nutrients too.

Or...as some farmers will tell you...it is the smell of money.

Honestly, I wish money smelled better, as it is probably my least favorite smell on the farm. The Farmer is well aware of this, and I cringe at the thought of being caught downwind from the silo on certain days. But it is the smell of money, so says The Farmer, so I live with it. I only whine a little bit.

After my last post two friends wanted to know what was silage. With the help of The Farmer (everyone say "hi" to The Farmer!), here's the scoop...

Silage is the fermentation of forages in an oxygen-free environment. Common forages are your basic pasture grasses, corn, and barley. The forages are processed with a forage chopper, which reduces the crop to small pieces and then is compacted in a bunker silo.

This is the silo on day one.

Once the silo is full, the silage is covered with a plastic tarp (oxygen barrier). The compaction and tarp create an oxygen-free environment. With the aid of bacteria which is infused into the crop during harvest (Brunette Comment #1: note the yellow/green tank, which holds the bacteria and water mixture, attached to the chopper in the first photo), the forages are allowed to ferment over several months. Since silage is harvested at a higher moisture level than hay, the oxygen-free environment also keeps the crop from molding. 

Brunette Comment #2: see this previous post on tarping silage

Silage is normally fed to the cows during the winter months along with alfalfa hay as part of their total nutrient ration.

Brunette Comment #3: in short, silage is sauerkraut candy for cows...and cows love sauerkraut candy

From The Tractor Seat

One of The Farmer's favorite things about farming is driving his tractor. Besides the obvious boys-and-their-toys reason for enjoying the driving in circles the tractor brings him, the tractor seat provides a time to think, imagine, and plan. Often after a day of tractor driving, dinner includes a conversation that begins, "So as I was driving, I had a thought..."

Driving tractor also provides The Farmer scenery that most of us never see, or rarely appreciate. If those dinner conversations don't begin with a plan devised from the tractor seat, they frequently begin with commentary about what he saw during the day. And to the locals...The Farmer has said on more than one occasion that the neighbors have no secrets with him around. You are forewarned.

As silage season drew to a close two weeks ago, The Farmer took his camera along for the ride to provide a glimpse into his life on the tractor seat.

Enjoy the view...

During the mornings of silage, The Farmer cuts the grass with a large mower. Don't we all wish we had a mower this big?

After mowing, The Farmer comes back over each neat and tidy row of cut grass with the forage chopper. Here you can see the forage chopper and silage wagon, as seen when The Farmer looks backwards while chopping silage (yes, he was driving, looking backwards, and taking photos). The grass is chopped from a size of 2-3 feet to 1/2 inch pieces, then shot through the red arm-thingy (technical term of The Brunette) into the wagon towed behind his tractor.

And the view looking forward (though I am amazed at how much The Farmer is glancing backwards while driving tractor...then again, he is driving a mere quarter of a mile per hour)...

As you can see, The Farmer has a ways to go to finish this field. He also knows how to drive in straight lines and make right angles with his tractor. I'm impressed.

The Farmer has two silage wagons, allowing for a continuous flow of silage to be chopped and then delivered to the silo. OK, almost continuous...I often get a lot of 5-6 minute phone calls during silage as The Farmer waits for the empty wagon.

Here comes the second wagon.

The hand-off.

Often The Farmer sees wildlife from the tractor seat. Sometimes that wildlife is a bald eagle...just hangin' out. 

These guys aren't quite as majestic. These ravens are searching for mice.

Bambi!

She didn't leave the field because she had a fawn in the brush she was protecting. So more accurately...Bambi's mom!

And these gals aren't quite wildlife, but they sure are cute.

When The Farmer comes in for lunch, he drives past the silo. The dozer is pushing and compacting the silage to begin the fermentation process.

The silo as seen from the field.

And as seen from a farther-out field. And that hillside? That's Oregon.

And the "I can see Oregon from my front yard" is even more spectacular of a statement when a ship goes by.

This was one of the naval ships that was a part of the Rose Festival fleet.

This is a bulk freighter headed upriver. The green doors are the cargo hatches.

This is a container ship headed downriver. 

And an oil tanker. And yes, these all went by in a single afternoon.

And finally, it was time for the last wagon to leave the field. 

And this is The Farmer taking one more glance before departing. 

The day - and silage season - is done.