Summer time and my 'rig'....

OH, how I am missing summer. Mowing, gardening, picnics, mud, blood sucking vermon, nights around our fire pit - blood sucking vermon - and the best of all the smell of fresh cut hay and freshly plowed earth and watching the boys play in the water... Summer is more work in ways, but so enjoyable to. Any season on a farm is busy - but the work trades off. In the Winter its to get all the cattle fed, cleaned and watered and keeping the snow at bay, plowing and shoveling pens etc - in the spring the fieldwork, plowing, discing, planting, fencing, planting etc. Summer haying, dehorning, castraiting, fencing, building upkeep, painting and just maintanance that cant be done in the winter. We try to give each piece of machinery a good 'going over' in the summer so that its less in the fall when its put away for the winter. Fall - is a swear word.... harvesting, harvesting, harvesting, harvesting, harvesting.... for weeks on end - day after day - hour after hour. Corn, oats, hay, barly, rye and corn stalk bails for bedding, straw for bedding and the list goes on. The things that I mentioned above are things that we have to do on top of milking morning and night, feeding morning and night, cleaning for all the cattle one time a day. Also, any vet needs that we have to take care of. We do all the things, other than surgury's, ourselves. The Milk Man is ver proficent in 'veining' a cow to give her IV meds, foot care on a dairy herd is a MAJOR nessecity and not to mention breeding programs. We have a bull for our beef herd and our dairy herd, but we look for 'heat cycles' in our cattle to make sure the bull gets a good chance at her... *wink wink nudge nudge* When a dairy cow is bred, the date that she is bred needs to be kept track of. This is done because she needs to 'dry up' at about 7.5 months. The gestation for a cow is the same as a human - 40 weeks. Drying a cow up before freshing (giving birth) is done so that she is in the best possible shape when she calves. (gives birth)There are several steps to a dairy cow 'drying off'. She has to have a gradual change in her feed intake - what she eats and how much of it - and how 'dry' you get her when she is milked. Its a science really - not for the faint of heart. SO - thats it for the that lesson.. I started this post wanting to show you my 'rig'... what I drive in the summer when I have to haul stuff.

This is what I drive when I need to haul 'stuff' - like mulch, rocks etc. Yes, I can back it up and 'run' it.. it is really a feather in my hat when the guys at the lumber yard where I get mulch - tell me to 'move over so I can back it up' - and I smile and answer them 'Where do you want it'.... and back it up - myself... **giggle** Last year when I went to get mulch, I had all 3 kids with me, the guy that told me to back up asked if I was single!!! LOL He is a guy that we know and he was TOTALY kidding, but did mention that its hard to find 'a gal like that'.... SO - I had better get going. Here is a couple of pictures of summer that make me feel good... enjoy!

This is a cutting job we had to do that was on the edge of one of our fields. You have to keep the edges of the fields clean or they get so overgrown and when you drive the tractor close to it the branchs hit the cabs and scratch them up or chip the glass in the windows. Also, we use the wood for our stove in the winter - waste not, want not. Beautiful view isnt it.
My best friend, Lispy in the corn. This picture was taken in early July - knee high by the fourth of July is the rule in our area. That means if your corn is knee high at that time, it will make it to maturity before the first frost.
AND - our Beloved Schnitzel and The Trout. Those 2 are SO special to us and we hope they will be able (and willing *giggle*) to stop by for a visit again this summer. We love having them and let me tell you they are the MOST special couple. They are like a second set of parents - I just LOVE THEM!

Ok, time to get going - love you all!