Wednesday, January 27, 2010

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!

17 comments:

WudWerkr said...

Yes it is a beautifull time of the year my friend . I am a summer person as well , hate cold and winter . as for the "rig" do u stick ur head out the window and hollar " Beeep Beeep Beeep Beeeep as your backing up ?

ROFLMAO

Heidi said...

you are a dead man... ;) LOL

Heidi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SUGAMAMA'S CAFE' said...

Your blog is wonderful! I took a blog break, but knew when I came back yours was one I had missed! I feel you man on the summer gig!

Suzanne said...

woo hoo.... thanks for the tour and the information. I know it's a lot of work and a lot of responsibility on a dairy farm. I'm worn out just reading about it. I'm jealous of your truck-backing-up skills.

Suzanne

WudWerkr said...

BTW did u ever read my last post about a farm kid ??? Acts All hurt and stuff cause you never visit anymore

Karen Deborah said...

Yeah well you can back up the truck and I am supposed to be impressed by this? It's all in the side mirrors man.

I bet all the guys flirt with you*wink wink**

you posted!!!! whoooooohooooooo

Heidi said...

Coffee man YES - and I left a comment!!

Karen - The guys like to give me a hard time for sure - not sure if you would call it flirting...but it makes me smile. As for backing up, and yes BE IMPRESSED!! LOL its hard to get straight back when that trailer has a mind of its own AND its own set of brakes!! BE VERY IMPRESSED!!! **double snort** LOL

Andi said...

But, in winter, you have a good reason to snuggle the milk man!

Heidi said...

Andi - I LIKE YOUR THINKING GIRL!! WOO-HOO!!!!

Schnitzel and the Trout said...

Heidi and the Milkman, a wonderful post on just what happens on a farm. I know there are a lot of people who cannot imagine the work, headaches and stress that goes with it. Thank you for the flattering comments, but we are just normal folk and we took a liking to your whole family. Hugs.

TnTConnect said...

I am impressed with the backing skills...but can you do it with a wagon? Loaded with hay?

Just curious...I can't :)

Heidi said...

OMG TC!!! I can, BUT - only if I hold my mouth a certain way, with my foot on each break, turning the wheel like a FREAK!!! LOL I HATE WAGONS!!! only a fellow farm gal would know the trouble we have seen!! LOL

WudWerkr said...

u commented ??? i never showed up ? huh weird

Brian + Cheryl B. said...

Hey Heidi - your comments about "backing up" reminded me of something I thought I'd share -

We had a 3/4 ton, full block engine, suburban {insert the 'Tim the Tool Guy' noice here ;-p} Which I absolutely loved, and a full sized, hard sided, crank up camper. The camper was the same length as the suburban.

Sometimes "the boys" and I would head out to a relativly nearby campground on Friday, and Brian would join us there when he got done catering on Sat. {we only did this when he wasn't scheduled for a late evening Sat. job}.

The memory that came to mind was about one of those camping trips. I had pulled into the campground and registered, then drove around their campground to spot exactly which site was to be ours for the weekend. But then I drove the loop again, thinking over exactly where I wanted to park our camper, etc..

As I again approached our site, I stopped and let my four and a nephew get out, with instructions they were to "go sit on the picnic table - and STAY THERE!!". Sometimes I need full concentration to back that up, and their added in-put / advice seldom helps start the weekend on a good note (if ya get what I mean).

I pulled all the way forward, stopped, and with my eyes closed, was talking myself through what I needed to do. "Okay, if you want the trailer to turn left, you need to turn the truck right ..." When I felt confident, I opened my eyes and about jumped out of my skin!! There was a man standing next to my open window, grinning broadly at me. Yikes!! He said, "I came over to help. I saw you drive on through and then back again, saw you make all the boys get out, thought maybe you needed help, but sounds like you'll do just fine. If you do need help, I'll be on the picnic table like a good boy!"

Oh my gosh. I was so-o embarrased. He patted me on the shoulder and said, "You're doing great mom!" and strolled away - to the picnic table.

I backed the trailer in and only had to adjust it once :-} See, I wasn't just backing it straight into the spot. The first time through I had noticed that this particular spot actually had a beach to it, so I had decided to park the trailer parellel with the road, with the front facing the lake - that way, with five young boys, it didn't matter if the door was closed right when they were getting dressed, a-n-d I would be able to sit under the awning while watching them play in the water. :-D

After I had gotten it parked and climbed out of "the truck", I learned that I had really been being watched. Five other guys had also come over meaning to help, but had stood back by a different trailer when unbeknowest to me, the guy at my window had waved them back with his hand.

When Brian got there (in his tux serving outfit - while all of us looked totally frumpy by that point {but man did he look "hot" wink, wink}), ALL of those men wandered over to congratulate him on having such a capeable wife. chuckle, chuckle.

http://thebzhousethatlovebuilt.blogspot.com

Heidi said...

OMG!! Cheryl I TOTALLY wanna be you!! LOL

Unknown said...

I can't back up a rig....as a matter of fact, I can't walk bakwards; however, I DO know how to castrate and ring some hogs--oh sure, it might take me a minute to remember how, but get me some razor blades and a bottle of iodine and let the magic happen. I can butcher too. I don't like it, but if I'm starving and it's just me and old Bess, Bess is goin' down.

summer = yeah.