Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts

Monday, September 12, 2016

Fall

It's September ...

- After a tough harvest, we got the alfalfa done!  Now onto corn harvest - starting this week!  We have to change the head on the chopper, get it inspected, and get everyone lined up to drive.  Corn harvest is easier than alfalfa.  There's no waiting on it to dry and hoping it doesn't rain ... you just go for it - start and don't stop until you're done!

- Yesterday the hydraulics didn't work on the wheel loader and the skid steer got a flat.  Two machines in one day!  They're both fixed now.

- Something happened here that was a first since we've been here.  A cow had a healthy heifer calf.  The next day, she delivered ANOTHER healthy heifer calf!  Twins aren't uncommon ... but twins one day apart? 

- Since the high schoolers and college students are back in school, the boys and I have been regulars helping Kris with calf chores.  It's amazing how much faster it is to do it when it's five of us instead of one.  It's also fun that when we're all doing it together it doesn't seem like 'chores.'  




- This isn't a romantic picture of farming, but it does show what it's really like sometimes.  Our cows usually give birth unassisted, but this calf was backward.  It's 10:30 p.m. right now and Kris is at the barn assisting in a cow that's having trouble post-birth.  Not every birth is perfect, as much as we want it to be.


- Kris and I are the fourth grade farmers at Gateway Elementary again!  They just sent me letters with their questions, and here are a few ... for the first, I liked the 'job-life':


Like this student's favorite part of a farm is horses,(which we don't have), many people who come really like the cats! (We aim to please.)


And a poet, who would be sad when she ate our field corn instead of sweet corn, but it doesn't matter for artistry's sake:


Bravo!  Here's to corn and harvest this week!



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Monday, September 16, 2013

Ode to harvest

The leaves are falling!  The air is crisp!  The furnace is on!

It's corn chopping time.

The tractor broke down!  The chopper needs fixing!  An employee is sick!

It must be corn chopping time.


We started chopping last week and it continues into this week.  Kris - even though summer is a busy time - has been especially busy this part of the year due to our increased size of herd and decreased number of employees.  Our summer help is back to school (both students and teachers) and of course all the high schoolers are busy at night and on weekends with sports and activities. 

So, Kris leaves the house at 6:00 a.m. and returns home at 10:00 p.m. and is also available to help me with things I need here ... like yesterday we closed the pool in the rain.  Today he sprinted from his vehicle to mine so we could take a car into the mechanic.  And he always makes time for the boys, even if it's them riding with him in the chopper.  They love it, he loves seeing them, and the only bad part about it is that I can't fit in there too. 

And, with all the excitement of the harvest ... we're getting more cattle this week!  We've purchased more heifers and they'll be delivered to our farm soon. 

After this week, when all the corn is chopped, piled up, and covered, we can be happy knowing all winter long they'll have a good crop to eat.