Stalls are free, feeder is in, manure is hauled, corn is planted

What a busy, busy month on our farm.

Yesterday we were at dinner with friends and one said, "I have no idea what it's like on a modern farm."

Kris and I started to explain a little bit, and one part I wanted to emphasize that I normally don't is this:

There is continual activity here. Milk truck, feed truck, electricians, builders, vets, salesmen, plus all our regular team members. There is always someone coming and going. It's a beehive of activity and people and vehicles.

Free stalls

We added 140 free stalls overall to our barn. We had to do this to make room for the additional heifers we're keeping. To explain this, our cows have a calf every year, and about half of them are heifers. If we keep every heifer, then our herd grows, because obviously we don't cull half our cows every year. (We still have to sell heifers, but this helps.) This was a giant project that required tons of work, which was done by our building company, and it lasted from December until now.

Feeder

This was another project that lasted from December until now, due to parts and timing and everything else that happens with multiple companies working on projects! We would have put in a system like our new barn, where you just put feed on the cement in front of them, instead of this feeder system that is mechanized and can break, but we have manure pits under the barn. As a result, the floor wouldn't be able to support our tractors and wagons. So! We put in a feeder that we hope lasts the rest of our CAREER. It also speeds up the feeding process, which everyone is happy about!

Manure

We use a company to haul our manure, and now we have so many cows that we have to do it multiple times a year. They got even bigger equipment, and in two days they hauled 2.5 million gallons of manure out of our lagoon and spread it on our field. I think back to when we had one tiny manure hauler and it took weeks. Of course, we had fewer cattle then, but this is still a nice time savings, especially when the weather doesn't always cooperate.

Corn planting

The corn is halfway in as of yesterday, and the rest is going in today! It is warm but very dry, and already everyone is worried, because that's all you can do about weather. It is a universal trait about farming. Check the weather, worry about the weather, talk about the weather ... despite my vow that I would never have a job that depended on the weather ... I do! Of course, I also work from home as a writer, so that has never depended on the weather, so it partly came true. 

On to May and more and more and more activity!

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It doesn't seem like a Monday

For all the summer days that Kris works 14 hours, it’s nice to have winter days like today when he worked three. Just fed the cattle this morning and went to a family Christmas in another town for the rest of the day. And no calls about anything breaking or the cows getting out! (Again, this freedom is being brought to you by reliable employees.)

And, is there anything better than going to a family Christmas and hearing about how much far-away family members love to read your blog and in addition, how much they’re learning? That’s really making my Christmas merry.

As for the broken items: they’re going to rebuild the metal frame for the manure scraper. If it were a busy time of year (like the three other seasons during calving, planting, and harvesting) we would buy a new metal frame or have a fabrication company build it. However, since it broke during a slow time, we have enough hours in the day to make another one.

They had to order the belt for the feeder and it should be here this week. So the cows will be able to eat more, faster. Something I know we all mastered during the holiday meals. More sugar, anyone?