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Hi Everyone,
How did you spend the first day of 2024? For starters we did the same thing that we did every morning in 2023—we milked the cows and fed the chickens. Steve and Penny were given half the day off—so once the morning chores were done and all the milking equipment was done they went home. Mom and I camped out in the kitchen for a few hours while we canned two batches of kidney beans. Dried beans might last forever—but they are more useful if they are cooked and ready to use. So we will buy a 25 pound of beans and then we will can them so that they are ready to use at the pop of the lid. The rest of the day was spent going through the “To Do List” book and doing some of the things that we didn’t get done in 2023. Pa spent his day outside putting fresh wire on the walls of the chicken tractor.
In 2023 a heifer named Melba turned two and was transferred from the heifer field to the milk cow herd—where Dijon the bull roams with the milk cows. We wait until our heifers are two years old before we breed them in order to make sure they have all their adult teeth for grazing—because they need to eat a lot more once they give birth to a new calf. We also want to make sure that their bellies are deep enough to carry a calf. Not only do we moo-ve them in with the bull so that they can get bred, we also start working with them to get them to come into the milking parlor to eat so when it is time to milk them they are used to coming in already. Some heifers come right on in to the milking parlor stalls and are more than eager to eat the alfalfa treats we give them. Others on the other hand can be downright stubborn. They show no interest in a feed bucket—and won’t come near you for months. Some come in with much coaxing—but the day you tie them in is the last day they come in. Some come into eat—but tear all the wires down on their way out. Melba has been one of those stubborn heifers. First off she was supposed to be sold to a family with twelve children—but the day we went to deliver her she escaped from the loading pen and we spent the next two hours chasing her all over 40 acres. She was a pro at jumping fences. When we finally got her back in the panel pens she refused to load and gave one last ditch effort to escape—she took a flying leap and tried to clear a six foot cattle panel. All she managed to do was to get her head and feet stuck in the panel and we watched in horror as the panel teetered back and forth as she tried her best to get out. We were terrified that the panel was going to fall all the way over and really hurt her. Melba did manage to get out safely—and Papa made the wise decision that Melba was not the best cow for that family. From that day forward Melba decided that she did not like Papa. Some days we could coax Melba into the milking stall, but if Papa was anywhere around she would get all bug eyed and go to the back of the holding area. So Papa would leave and then she might come in. Melba would come in some days—but she would never stay in her stall until she was finished eating which made it very unsafe for anyone standing in the breezeway. So one day I snuck over and put a board in behind her—and she had to stand still and eat her food. I did the same thing the next day, but when the next day rolled around she was not coming back inside. Melba is due to calve in about four months—so we HAVE to get her broke. So her training began last Monday, January 1st. Mom was able to get her into the stall, and then get the board behind her. Then Papa helped her get a halter and rope on her. When Tuesday rolled around they could not get her in the stall at all. They tied her rope in the stall but Melba refused to follow—so Mom and Melba spent the day together in the milking parlor. Mom did take a break to come in to eat lunch and to help package the eggs—but the rest of the day she was with Melba. Melba refused to enter the stall while anyone was around—but when I went outside after lunch I saw her in the stall eating her alfalfa pellets. As soon as she knew that I was looking at her she backed out as if she had never been in there. Stubborn and sneaky!! Wednesday morning I was able to grab her rope and try to pull her into the stall—but all I managed to do was get the end of her rope wrapped around the cleat on the pipe in the stall. When Mom and Steve got back to the parlor they were able to get Melba into the stall—but not for long for she backed up real quick and broke the metal ring that her rope was tied to. That ring snapped in three places. Papa had to buy a new ring set up—one that is rated for 1200 pounds. Every day is a different challenge, but every day gets better.
Wednesday night I had to separate the calves by myself, because Papa was making deliveries in Jacksonville. Papa had finally been managing to get Heidi separated at night time—but Mom had helped him. When I got to the gate all the calves were there waiting, but when I opened the gate to let them out Heidi decided to run back into the field. At first I thought—“Just let her go!” Then I thought—“I will give her one try.” I got the other five into the lane heading for the barn, and then I went back for Heidi who was starting to make her way back toward the gate, but as soon as she saw me she took off even further into the field and once again I was ready to give up—but I decided to give it a fair try. So I continued after her as she headed to hide herself in the herd. As she went around one side of the hay rack, I went around the other and when she saw me she took off running toward the gate. I was hot on her trail then and to my delight she headed right on out the gate and joined the others in the barn area for the night.
With the start of 2024 comes a lot of planning. I had to print a calendar for the milk house so that we can keep track of how much milk we get and the hours that Steve and Penny work. Then I needed to print a calendar for when the cows are due and when they calve and when to dry them off or wean them. Next I needed to print a gardening calendar so that I can keep tract of when to plant what, what I planted when and where, what worked and what didn’t, the temperatures and the rain fall. I needed a calendar for Poultry—when to order, when to process. Then I also needed new calving charts and cow info charts. Yep, there is a lot of planning record keeping that goes into farming.
Thursday we finally got to work in the garden. Mom prepped a new flower bed by digging up some grass and putting down some cardboard and cow manure. I worked over in the raised beds harvesting one of the beds of ginger. I had just finished harvesting the ginger (I got almost a five gallon bucket full)—when Steve came over to see if he could help. I had him broadfork the bed to get it ready to replant come Monday and then we tackled the weeds around the turmeric bed. The walkway was completely taken over and I wanted to harvest the turmeric on Friday—but we needed to be able to get to the bed. In the process of opening up the walkway we also managed to pull all the big weeds out of the rose bed and now we can see them again. I was delighted to see that my rose “Mr. Lincoln” was still alive. A friend had given him to me when my dog died, and the poor rose really struggles to live (because the weeds always seem to take over). But boy can he produce some really large and delicious smelling red roses.
We did make it to the garden to harvest the turmeric Friday afternoon. I haven’t harvested it in a few years—and boy was there tons of it. As I dug through the dirt looking for turmeric roots I unearthed quite a few hibernating creatures. The first was a chameleon lizard. He was all brown—like the dirt. I cradled him in my hands and transplanted him to the big ginger bed so that he could hide over there. A little while later I saw a piece of blue string, or was it blue wire? Actually it was the tail of a Blue-tailed skink. Skinks are really fast and next to impossible to catch—but this guy was hibernating and wasn’t “on the move” at all. I cradled him in my hands too and moved him over to the ginger bed also. A little while later I came across a snail in her shell. She wasn’t exactly wanted in the garden, so I didn’t give her a new cozy home in the ginger bed. Instead we just set her aside. The last critter I found in the turmeric bed was a big green tree frog. He was the most active and therefore he was a little harder to catch and move over to the ginger bed. Once the turmeric was all harvested we took it up to the house and I laid them all out on the shelves in the greenhouse—because it was late and we had no better idea of where to store them so that the dirt could dry off of them.
While we were working in the garden Papa was up in the yard with the welder guy doing some repairs to the tongue on the chicken tractor and adding some bars to the hay rack to help hold the hay in so that the cows do not waste so much hay. Wasted hay is a farmer’s yearly pet peeve. They are always looking for a new invention to keep the cows from wasting hay.
November and December seemed to just fly by so fast—and now the New Year is here and it seems to be creeping by at the moment. So many times this week we have gotten confused as to what day of the month it was as we somehow kept thinking that the month was almost over—yet it has just begun. Maybe this year won’t fly by so fast. May we enjoy every moment and cherish our time spent with loved ones.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare