Fantastic contraption

Choppers are amazing machines.

 

This chopper takes the entire, juicy, huge, green corn plant - cobs, stalk and all - and chops it finely into tiny digestible bits.  So small of bits that they can be blown into a wagon.  And it does it all really fast.

 

Just think about mowing a lawn - when the grass is wet it takes the mower a little bit of time to cut up the grass.  Sometimes it even stalls the mower if you're doing it too fast.  (That happens to other people, too, right?)

 

We started the corn harvest yesterday.  We're chopping all of the corn to feed to the cattle all year.  That means we don't just use the corn kernels - we use the entire plant. 

 

The boys and I went to ride with Kris in the field.  Here he is with the chopper and the wagon in back.  The chopper blows the chopped corn through that yellow tube into the wagon. 

 

 

 

Here's Kris.  Chopping takes a lot of concentration.  It's not like hitting cruise control and going on the highway.  You have to chop the hard-to-get-to parts first, then you have to coordinate with the people driving the wagons ... sometimes Kris chops with the wagon on the back, and sometimes he has guys drive a tractor alongside it with a wagon.  It goes faster that way, because as soon as one wagon is filled, another is ready - instead of unhooking a full wagon and hooking up an empty one.

 

When we were doing this yesterday, Kris strained to make a turn and said, "That new ditch sometimes catches me off guard.  Also ... I can't move my arms."  Yes, it was a tight fit for five people in a chopper! 

That was the end of our ride.  I guess 'arm mobility' is the reason there's only an extra seat for one.

Inspiration

Today we ran a race called Trail for the Troops. The race was to honor the armed forces and benefit the Wounded Warrior project.

 

One of the runners honored was Eddie Moinet, who lost his leg last year in Afghanistan. Here he is beating his sister to the finish line:

 

My brother, who's also in the military and was in Iraq last year, emailed me a Got Chocolate Milk ad last week. 

 

I'd looked at it on my phone, but today after the race I opened it up on my computer.  So when I did I was surprised to see: 

 

 

Sarah Reinertsen is a triathlete and professional speaker.  She was born with a bone growth disorder and had her leg amputated at age seven.  

 

It's a great ad and it was a great race.  Hooray for the military, brothers, and milk!

Defacer

When you have your feed in big piles on the ground, you have to get it off in an efficient way.  Until last month, that way for us was to knock it off with the skid steer bucket.

 

But!  There's a piece of equipment called a defacer that's designed to get the feed off the pile.  It helps in keeping the feed fresher, because you don't expose as much of it to the air.  It makes it easier for when we feed small quantities, like we do in the summer.  Overall, it helps in creating less spoilage. 

 

It's also ... cool.  We already had one James Bond torture device we used last year.  Now we use another one daily.  Rotating points grinding away?  Check.  On a piece of heavy equipment?  Coming right toward you?  IT'S THE DEFACER. 

 

And it's not even Halloween yet. 

 

 

 

Candy corn

 



Kris picked a few ears of corn out of the field today to check them out.  He plans on starting to chop corn tomorrow.

After my youngest gnawed on them despite me telling him field corn is different than sweet corn, we took the ears down to feed to the cattle. 

We were picking kernels off the cobs.  My son Cole held one in his hand and said, "This looks just like candy corn!"

It did - three colors and all.  It was easy to see where candy makers got the idea. 

I did just google 'candy corn' and see that in the candy, the orange and white have switched places.  But I wouldn't have known that without looking.  Instead I told Cole he was exactly right, took a picture, and told other people about it.  I'm going to chalk it up to the 1880s confectioner not being able to exactly recall the color scheme back on the farm.

Kris told me that the white line was called the milk line - that when he picked it there was more white in the kernel, but after it dried out more of the white turned to yellow.

So, of course, we all tried a little.  Field corn doesn't taste like candy corn, either.

Not a normal morning

 

Ah - a picture like so many I've taken. Cattle grazing peacefully in the pasture.

 

Except it's not a pasture and I didn't take the picture. It's our alfalfa field, and there's no fence. These cattle are out!

 

I got a call this morning from a neighbor that the cows were out.  I called Kris and heard tons of mooing.  I said, "Oh, you know.  Never mind." 

 

A few minutes later our neighbor (and friend) Sharon called and told me, "This is what I love about living in the country."  She was so amused to see the cows out running around!  She grabbed her camera and sent me the pictures.

 

Kris and the guys got them in fairly quickly, because they were - surprise! - in a herd.  Here, Sharon captured them turning the corner next to her yard.     

 

 

And some who were running through their yard after they missed the gate home ...

 

 

 

I told some friends tonight that the cows had gotten out this morning and one said, "Well, where would they go?  Don't they just stand around?"  I told them that cows can run really fast - definitely faster than a person. 

Of course someone who hadn't been around cattle wouldn't know that - but let me tell you!  They can RUN!  We have to get them back in with the help of quads and trucks. 

Sharon told me, "I will be smiling and relaying this story all day!" 

No one wants the cows to get out, so it's great when you have understanding neighbors.  And even better when they have their cameras ready to capture the cow-sprinting action!

Almost last

A cow was kind enough to calve right in front of our house yesterday!  As I walked out toward her, I could see she was really close.  When I got in a good spot to watch, she pushed out her calf!  It was the perfect timing.

Newborn. It actually doesn't get any more new than this. 

 

All cleaned off and mooing, just minutes old

Kris said that later she also gave birth to another - she had twins.  I guess I was bound to see at least one of them be born ...

It's also that time of year - on Friday we moved the yearlings (that's what you call cattle that are a year old) at the old barn out to pasture.  They've been kicking up their heels in delight all weekend long.  They haven't even broken out yet - fingers crossed. 

So now the pasture is full of heifers.  In the paddock next to them are the last 11 cows that have yet to give birth.  The cycle continues, with one huge difference - this is the most calves I've seen born in any year!  2012 will go down in history!

That number?  Yeah, it's three.  Three births.  Two natural, one assisted.  It's a start.   

Take a tour

We hosted a farm tour Monday and today.  It's such a beautiful time of year!  Blue sky, green grass, perfect temperature. 

 

We finished the alfalfa last night.  It all went well, except a hydraulic line did burst.  Mike blamed me for writing that nothing had gone wrong yet.  I should've known better!  The machinery is always listening ... and apparently has internet access.

 

Just a few weeks ago that the grass was so crunchy it hurt to walk barefoot on it. Now it's soft and growing fast again! The pasture is, of course, benefiting from this, too.  Irrigation is wonderful, but nothing beats real rain.

 

 

Look at that sky.  The barn sets it off nicely.  I'm only half-joking.  When we show the barn to people on tours I'm like a new homeowner.  Look at the features - the rafters, the waterers, the new tube fans!

 

Our dairy barn - now more ventilation, still a good parlor inside.

 

 

Speaking of grass, it's the time of year to plant some more.  But not just for cattle! Here's our farm's sixth generation watering the new grass below our centennial farm sign. 

 

What's more beautiful than a summer day?  To me, nothing.  But a close second?  Watching your kid do his first actual chore ... and seeming to enjoy it.  This grass is not going to go dry!