At least for tonight. Stan said there was a little very light frost down in the valley this morning when he went to spread and
change fence.

The milk inspector was just here and I asked him if he thought now that the Farm Bill had expired and we should technically revert to parity we would see $38 dollar milk. He just laughed and said no, but we may see $25 milk as we are headed for a scarcity. Too many farms have dropped out of the equation because of the high cost of corn and the low price of milk.

Guess I'll go out and enjoy the sunshine.

we came from here: The thread "September leaves turning early" in Farming forum

I started rebuilding a section of fence that the horses barged into the other day; the posts were starting to rot so it had been needing to be done for some time. The rain we got on Saturday made post-hole digging easier but I'll wait for it to dry a bit to tamp the posts in and restretch the wire. We are supposed to have cooler, drier weather this week. It is sunny today and feels like fall.

Kinda cloudy here today. The SU is up at my brother's place making a corn silage bag. Actually, he is making 2, but SU got a 200 foot bag and cut it off when there was 100 feet in the one. Cheaper to buy 1 twice as long as you need and cut it. And less hassle, since you're only putting one on the bagger and not wasting time putting the 2nd one on. He will have 1 each at 2 different farms, hence the cutting off.

Had to work at Equity today, only made one grievious error. Grrr.............. I really should have known better. I will do better next time. *sigh*

Silage bagging is new to me. How do you close off the ends?

Oh, gee.........how can I explain how we do this and have it be clearer than mud???? First off, you have to know when to quit putting feed in. LOL He usually needs about 3 1/2 folds of bag left on the machine to have enough to close it off. Then pull ahead till the bag comes off. Hopefully, *IF* you have not put too much in, there is a few feet of bag on the bottom that has no feed. If it does, you get the shovel and shovel the excess back up into the bag. Then take the bottom, fold it up, then bring the top down over and tuck it up underneath the bottom. He then takes a tractor bucketful of dirt and puts over the end to seal it. Sorta like an envelope???? Do you get the picture?? LOL You also have to cut a vent hole to let the gas escape till the fermentation is complete; usually 2 or 3 weeks. He makes it about 6 inches long-kinda moves some of the dirt away so when he tapes it shut he can push some of the dirt over the tape too.

Ah, yes, I can follow that. When I worked on the dairy the silage either went into silos (a real pain!) or into trenches (much easier.) As far as I know, no one around here uses silage at all, small bagged haylage is as close as it gets.

According to a couple of different sites, it is Old Farmers day, and hey, I'm an old farmer! Here are the links I found:
http://northviewdiary.blogspot...
http://www.holidayinsights.com...

Stan spent the day checking heifers and getting wood. I've been clearing counters of mouse 'endearments'. We've gone from the grey house mice to deer mice. I'd rather they all stayed out in the garden where they belong!

I had 2 in my cupboard. I figured it was time to do something when the cats would sit on the counter twitching their tails and I could hear the creatures scratching around. I caught 2; haven't heard anything else for about a month, so hopefully that is it...........for now.

I use chocolate chips for bait. Put one on your tongue till it gets soft enough to moosh up on the bait holder, push it up in there good. Then when it cools off, it will get hard again and when mousie has to really get in there an gnaw at it..........SNAP!!!! Much better than peanut butter or cheese.

the house mice go for the chocolate chips, the deer mice prefer nuts and sunflower seeds. I've caught 4 so far. Having the wood in the basement doesn't help, and having a holey stone wall for one of the basement walls doesn't help at all!

Something in the closet nibbled one of my shoes - I think I'll try the chocolate chips!

We've been having nice mornings with rainy evenings lately. Stan is working on getting the wood in and I am working on getting over this stupid cold.

Most of the maple leaves have blown away so the woods is mostly yellows and smoky burgundies of beech and ash and the popple and birch trees.

The main color around here is green - a wonderful improvement over the drought of last summer. It looks as if we will have good grazing on into the winter. All the cows and horses are quite fat and prosperous looking.

The on-going job is cutting up all the drought-killed trees which creates a lot more wood than we can use, so much of it will go into a big bonfire - for Guy Fawkes Day, perhaps?

Wow, Porkpal......too bad my SU can't come and take the wood. He colletcts it, I think. I don't think he'd have to go cut any for a couple years, but he still goes out and gets a tractor bucket full about every day during fall/winter when he can get out to the timber.

Milking job this morning. The cows were a filthy, muddy mess and likewise their dispositions. Grrrrr............

Need to run to WM before I have to be at Equity at 11:30, so better hit the shower and be off. Hope to be done by 5;30, but since I've never done feeder sale by myself before it will be a "learning experience". More of the same that I do on Mon. and Wed, just LOTS more of it. And we all know how hard it is to keep men in a hurry happy...............*sigh*.

It's warm, in the upper 50s at 6:14 am with a drizzly sounding rain. I have a doc appt to see if my 3 week old cold is something more and then Stan and I are going to Lakewood for supplies (ie trip to Home Depot and groceries). He has the basement full of wood and a big load on a wagon out in the shed, just in case.

Upper 70's for today, then it's to start getting colder. Upper 40's by the weekend. We're milking today and tomorrow morning. We've had rain since last Thursday. You don't even want to know how those cows look. They are just filthy.

Oh, well, only 2 more times and then that job is done.

so, it's pneumonia,but I told my mother that it's bronchitis. It is bronchial...

Anna, Stan's thinking the cows will go in this weekend - between the mud and the lack of regrowth, it's time.

Oh dear! Do try to take care of yourself. Perhaps since it isn't a cold, there is actually something that can be done to speed the cure.

Kathleen I hope you get well real soon.

Thank you. I'm on antibiotics and prednisone. The problem with that is that the pred. sparks an energy spurt. I end up doing a lot of little things like dusting the living room and then sitting and then wandering about trying to find something else that won't be too hard. I've got some outside work to do and today looks like the last good day for probably months. It was 77F yesterday and up to 70F predicted for today. HOW CAN I STAY INSIDE???

Stan went up to our property on Clymer hill yesterday and salvaged a big hemlock tree that had blown over. Between that and a smaller, dead tree nearby, he got 3 really nice logs. He'll probably get one of the Amish guys with a sawmill to saw them into boards. I'm wondering what he has in mind...

We lost a big heifer calf this morning - dead at birth. The cow had the body all licked clean and didn't appear to be in any distress. Some times, it just happens.

Sorry about the calf loss. You always wonder if it could have been avoided if you'd have been there. *sigh*.....BTDT too many times to even want to think about.

Glad to hear you're on the mend, Kathleen. My SU is still hacking away, he went back to ShopKo's FastCare on Wed. to see just what is going on. Gave him more antibiotics, a stronger one this time. More cough dope.