And I thought just our cows did stupid things like that.

I keep telling SU. ".....and all I ever heard was that WE had the only brain dead cows in the world"

It's been a day of whiteouts, here and throughout western NY. Lots o' snow and a bitter cold southwest wind bringing arctic air down around a low pressure. There was even some thunder.

I'm not even trying to pretend I'm doing anything the last couple of days, re-reading favorite books, keeping the house moderately tended. My forays outdoors are either for milk or mail. Winter brings out the nesting tendencies in most everyone here.

Well , it is the end of day 4 here on the job site. LOL. Fresh cow this morning, all was well even tho the blessed event was in the bak of the close-up pen. Fresh heifer on Monday morning, she is going to be a 3-teater as one od her hind teats seems to be frozen, I imagine her owner will not be too pleased by that.

Was way colder than what I care to be outside in and work, but if I must, I must.

My dairy farming experience was in South Carolina. As I've said before, I don't know how you northern dairy folks manage, brrrr!

Stan got the test results back from Dairy One yesterday. I don't know if any of you remember our old Nut cow. She was, um, an interesting character her whole life, which lasted 14 years. One of her last calves is now into her 5th lactation and at 36 days in milk gave 131 pounds of milk with a 4.5 butterfat and 2.5 protein. The nutritionist we had when Nut was a first calf heifer intent on killing Stan told us we should get rid of her, she wasn't worth keeping. He was wrong about several other things as well - - -

Probably did not have a clue on how to balance a ration either.

Well, wonderful snow here. We did not go home today to feed our beasts....SU had the kid do it. And I gave the kitties enough to last till tomorrow....I hope.

Hi everyone. I finally found you. I should have known that Kathleen would start a new thread for January. DUH.

Our winter has been mild so far. A little rain now and then, not much snow, and more than enough wind. It's strange to see bare ground in Jan.

Starting tomorrow I'll be doing chores for the neighbors while they take a bit of a break to go to Portland to a farm equipment show and do some visiting while they are clear across the state. It's not a lot but you know it's twice a day so tends to keep a person close. Later this week I'll go to a calving school with another neighbor. It's put on by the extension service with a couple of vets that travel teaching about calving difficulties. I went to it last year or maybe it was the year before. Good to keep up on these things.

Back from the milking job about 9 last night. Next job Tues. and Wed. this week. We went to town after church to the DQ for burger and fries. Saw some people we know; got to chatting and he said "well, I bet you are glad you don't have those chores to do in weather like this". We said "well, we have been farming all week, milking and chores". I think they might be future clients at some point. They don't live far either, maybe 5 miles or so from us. We told them what we charged and said "maybe we charge too much and y ou won't be able to afford us".

Do you charge extra in winter? You SHOULD!

Charge $1.50/cow/day for milking and $10/hr for extra chores.

I kind figure that calf feeding go along with the milking, as long as they don't have as many calves to feed as cows to milk. LOL

And I really didn't charge for the barn chores........bedding, etc. as i had help.

And where we were last week..........well, they didn't care if we stayed over in their house so that does count for something too. We were saving gas by not having that 40 mile round trip 1 less time a day. And they had said that they liked having someone in the house while they were gone. Understandable.

- And $5 per degree below 30?

Oh, no.............just normal "job hazards". LOLOL

Newsflash! Apparently cows don't like oranges.

Due to the drought our orange trees have produced a lot of fruit with discolored peels - not very appetizing looking but quite fine inside. I have been giving oranges to the chickens and pigs who seem to find them quite tasty so I thought the cows might like some, especially since the hay they are getting now is pretty old and stemmy. I cut up a dozen or so and tossed them in with the noon feeding. Nope, cows don't eat oranges. So don't rush out to the local fruit stand to treat your girls.

Hm, your cows must be fussy. I have read that cows will eat oranges. We had a couple that did.

Day 1 of this milking/chore job done, just tomorrow (Wed) yet. Things going pretty much ok, but I'm afraid there will be a cow that won't get up very well in the morning. She appears to be one of those brain-dead creatures that can't lift her arse up, sticks her foot up front in the manger, and just generally flops around. I told SU "and you said WE had the dumbest cows on the face of the earth.............." I think he is finding out that our dumbest creatures have LOTS of company.

Give her an orange!

Cows do like cotton seed, but there's no telling what they will or won't eat.

It's windy, but not as windy as it has been over the last week or so. We are in one of those damp, cold, windy spots that are just cold. We are having a weather roller coaster this year, up and down.

Off to the job. My stomach feels less than stellar this morning. HOpe I can keep it going till noon, at least.

We have had a partly sunny morning, but this afternoon, the clouds moved in slowly. The Gkids came over and did chores and when they left it was cloudy, but precipitation free. I was sitting here goofing around on the computer and the wind chimes made that un-tuneful rattle that means the wind has picked up. I looked up and couldn't see across the road - the snow had come down hard.
Ah, the joys of lake effect mixed with a general snow and a nasty west wind.

Other than that, things are ok as far as I know...