Hello August

Well, it's summer!  Around here that means calving, harvesting, and hoping for rain.  The heat has been tough on the cows and we're doing our best to always keep them cool and comfortable.  Kris' latest thing is that he hooked up a soaker hose above them to mist them before they come into the parlor.  The fans blow on their wetted backs to give them an additional way to cool off.  We're hot too - we know how they feel!

For us and for all the farmers in our area, we had a different routine this year.  Usually, you harvest your alfalfa (hay) every three weeks.  But for the second cutting ... there was nothing to cut.  It didn't rain that whole time and nothing really grew back.  So we waited an additional week (like lots of people), and it did rain almost an inch during that time.  So Kris started the hay this week and ... there's something there.  Not a lot, but as we keep saying ... better than nothing!

Summer for us also means we get lots of visitors.  Our family comes, friends come from all over, and we get our annual visit from the Northwest A&F University of China.  This year 28 of the 30 students were female, and I absolutely loved their reaction to seeing the kittens, hearing my boys were twins, seeing a calf suck on my son's finger, and meeting Kris.  Each time it was, "Awww!"  It was delightful.

                                                              

                                                      

A strange thing happened yesterday - a cow in the parlor ran into the wall on her way out - and the wall got damaged!  We had the builder and mason out to look at it today, but I told Kris that I'd much rather they put in a huge observation window.  It'd make it so much easier for all of these friends we have coming!  (I realize this is not the point of the parlor, but it would be nice.)

So, hello August!  I hope these can be used for rain soon.

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First cutting - done!

Yesterday Kris left the house at 4:00 a.m. to help dry up the cows, move cattle, work on a fence, and chop.  He chopped all day until he came home at 9:30 p.m..  We told each other about our days and he went to bed at 10:00 p.m.

I went to the airport to pick up his sister and husband (Meghan and Jon) at 11:30 p.m.  We stayed up talking until 1:00 a.m.  I said, "I'd better go to bed."  Jon said, "We could just wait up for Kris ... he'll be leaving in three hours!"

Yes!  Today Kris left the house at 4:00 a.m. again, fed and chopped until 9:30 a.m. when he came home to see Meghan and Jon.  At this point I convinced him that he should help me open the pool, but it was ONLY ten minutes of physical labor.  He left at 11:00 a.m. to chop again.  They finished chopping at 8:00 p.m. and they're covering the pile of first cutting alfalfa with tires and plastic. They'll all eat pizza together and come home about 10:30 p.m.

When I said Kris' schedule to a friend, she said something like, "Poor guy," and I was surprised and felt I had to explain.  Kris likes the busy season!

He likes when the harvest goes well, when the weather cooperates, when the machinery works, and when it all comes together nicely.  He finds it very satisfying to look at a giant pile of alfalfa and grass that was harvested at just the right time and under the right conditions.  It's always satisfying to put up feed that you know will be ready for your cattle in the winter.

So ... yes, he needs sleep, but he doesn't complain.  He'll even help take off your pool cover if you ask nicely enough.

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Flat tire

Does that wagon look crooked to you? 

Yes, that is one FLAT tire.

This is the way it works:  the chopper chops the alfalfa and blows it into a wagon.  The wagon is being pulled by a tractor.  When we harvest, we have two tractors pulling two wagons.  Once one is full, the driver dumps it on the pile at the barn.  Then goes back.  It's a cycle so that the wagons never stop moving and the chopper never stops moving.

Unless you get a flat tire! 

The wooden blocks on the ground are for helping jack it up.  You have to jack, put a block under the axle, put a block under the jack, etc.  Since it's full of chopped alfalfa, it's really heavy, too. 

Thankfully, we had another wagon we could use.   Nice to have a spare - tire and wagon.

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Kris said this is the busiest week of his life.  He's working every waking hour, and when he's chopping and such, he's planning what he needs to do next.  But he said that he's not sure if it's like this every year and he forgets about it, or if it really is more busy.

I guess next year we can just check the blog posts! 

Chopped

All our alfalfa is chopped and put up for the year.

(That's how you say it. 'Put up'. Even if I need to ask about details sometimes, I am fluent in the lingo.)

Since we moved here, we added more cement to the pad to make more room to pile feed on it. Our alfalfa harvest this year covers the entire area of the original cement pad. We still have corn to harvest! So the corn will fill up the rest of the pad.

So, here's a comparison of the first load of alfalfa vs. four cuttings' worth of alfalfa.





And it'll be all gone by next spring, when the cattle go back out on pasture.

I like to imagine my family's food that we're going to eat this winter, all piled up like this. Cows are big animals. But when I'm unloading groceries, I really feel like our family's food pile would be the same size.