Happy Labor Day!
Monday, September 4, 2023
Hello friends,
Happy Labor Day! The unofficial beginning of the fall season. Could have fooled me. This weather is just as hot and dry as it gets. To add insult, there was a hot dry wind to boot. Bill is watering the strawberries in the garden, trying to keep them alive. He waters other plants too, like maybe peppers. I’ve given up on some of the beans, and the tomatoes are really ugly. The pastures are dormant and brown. The only grazing left is in lane 1 and in the lower 20 acres. We may have to start feeding that hay that we just put up. Lord, send rain!…..
A Breath of Cooler Air
Monday, August 28, 2023
Hello friends,
We survived the heat of last week! Whew! How miserable! The cows were not happy about it at all. There are a few paddocks that have more shade than others and we took advantage of it. Even with our best efforts, our newly fresh heifer was sooo hot and starting to move pretty slowly. Because she is low on the pecking order, I think the bigger cows were hogging the water tub and she wasn’t getting enough. Also, I think she was low on salt. Then Thursday evening we were taking the cows back and she passed the water tub, stopped to get a drink, and was there for a long time. Then she started on the salt, back to the water, then back. I just waited until she was done. The next day she was so much better, and of course they are loving the cooler temps today.
That hot weather was great for getting our hay put up! It’s always a relief to get the hay safely lined up behind the electric fence where the cows can’t rough them up. It wasn’t enough for our herd for the whole winter, but we purchased some extra hay and now it is also safely stored. Now we just need some rain to help the grass grow back for a fall green up. The cows will love that!….
Hot and Humid
Monday, August 21, 2023
Hello friends,
What a difference a week makes! Last week I started morning chores with a long sleeved overshirt, this week that sounds just awful! I don’t know how accurate our house thermometer is, but I think it’s pretty good. We had 104 degrees and 26% humidity yesterday, and then today it was only 98 degrees, but the humidity was thick! Argh! We are back to watering to try to keep the flowers and garden alive. We’ll see if we are successful. Meanwhile, I got poison ivy, and it is miserable!
I had so many stories to tell last week that I didn’t even tell you that we got our baby chicks. We had ordered 35 but only ended up receiving 27. Of course, they rightly tell us that you can’t count your chicks before they hatch, but the 10 that I really wanted were the ones that didn’t come. It’s not like they can send them the next week. Only one week difference in age can make a big difference in how the chicks treat each other. There is literally a pecking order, and it can be vicious. No, they all have to be the exact same age. We went from a heat lamp on them last week, to a simple incandescent bulb for light only this week. They are very cute……
Always an Adventure
Monday, August 14, 2023
Hello friends,
What a beautiful day! After a week of total muggy mugs! It is literally like two different seasons. The heat and humidity make you feel like staying inside as much as possible, and today’s weather encourages you to go outside and get things done. We knew it just had to rain yesterday. It was so thick that an ice cube could have caused a cloud to form. True to form, we had a good rain last night and it scrubbed the air of most of that humidity. Yay!
Saturday morning was another farm adventure. Every time something challenging happens, the silver lining is that I have something to tell in the newsletter. We went to the “lower 20” pasture to get the cows for morning milking and we always count them. There should be 16. We milk 10, one dry cow, one heifer, and 4 steers. We were short one so Bill and Gayla went looking and found Patty in the pond, up to her chin in mud. She had waded out far enough to get a clean drink of water and the mud was too sucky. Also, cows will only struggle so long and then they seem to give up. Great. They went back to the barn for the tractor and a strap of some sort. I went to check on Patty and maybe look for some rocks from the creek to give some firm footing. It decided to rain so of course we were getting drenched. Gayla took off her good leather boots and waded in with only her socks. I had my muck boots, but I was having a hard time not leaving them in the mud. Finally, we worked together to fish around under Patty’s belly to get the rope under and behind her front legs. We were literally totally covered with mud! It began to rain even harder. Got it! Now the other end was wrapped around the tractor.
We needed Patty’s effort too. She had to be convinced that she could do it! We coaxed and encouraged. Bill backed the tractor up and she moved forward. Then rest. Do it again, until finally she got far enough out that she could sit up properly, and we knew she could stand. But she had to be convinced. Bill put the tractor away and we waited in the rain. Finally, she stood up shakily, completely covered in mud, but except for a little rope burn behind her front legs, not worse for the event. Gayla and I were a mess! Sure, we hosed Patty off before we milked her, but who was going to hose us off? What an adventure! And then we milked, and things seemed rather normal. Oh brother!….
Sally Had a Boy
Monday, August 7, 2023
Hello friends,
…….We also had another birth because Sally had her calf on Wednesday. Unfortunately, it was ANOTHER bull calf. I think I am going to invest in some sexed semen and see if we can get some heifers to add to our herd. I know it’s not my girls’ fault because the males determine the sex of the calf. Sally is already online and producing a lot of milk. Now we need to get the cheesemaking geared up. It sounds like the equipment to replace the broken boiler is arriving and soon it will be installed. So many moving parts in the business and they all have to be working!
The garden is entering the ugly but productive stage. My butternut squash has succumbed to the squash bugs, and I salvaged the fruit that I could. I harvested some of the best carrots that I have ever grown, and another red cabbage. That was encouraging. The tomatoes have been amazing, the beans are on round two, and the peppers are a delicious green stage. I found a cooler day and did battle against some monster weeds and won! We have had enough rain to postpone the hay cutters, but not enough to avoid watering here and there. Hay must be made soon!…..
Vivian Had a Boy
Monday, July 31, 2023
Hello friends,
Another unexpected rain last night. The forecast has been predicting extreme heat and no rain, and then suddenly it clouds up and the forecast predicts the storm that is literally bearing down on us. Very strange. I was debating whether I should water the garden last night and then I didn’t have to. The strong winds keep the yard littered with twigs and leaves, but I am thankful for the moisture.
Vivian’s due date was Saturday, and she had her calf on Sunday! It’s a boy so of course we are disappointed about that. Momma and baby are both healthy. We still have a heifer due to calve on Wednesday and I honestly don’t know how she can hold out much longer. She is so fat, her udder is so full, and she just waddles. The law of averages says it should be a girl calf, but like any flip of a coin, the odds go back to 50/50. We are ready to get her milked out and relieve the pressure on her udder. Come on Sally!….
Officially on Calf Watch
Monday, July 24, 2023
Hello friends,
Another nice rain this morning to help us through the coming heat. The lawn was getting long because the mower needed some repairs. Bill came home from his rehab/errands, put the new tires on the mower, and got right to it while Hailey and I did chores. It looks so much better! Normally July is not a rainy season, but we’ll take it. Every rain we get is a day that we don’t have to water.
We are officially on calf watch. Vivian is due Saturday and Sally next Wednesday. If I was just looking at physical signs, I would say that Sally would go first. She looks very plump and ripe. Any day now. We sold the little bull calf so it’s just Sweetheart and Darcy in the calf area. Stephen worked on remodeling the fencing back there to make it easier to maintain when the weeds grow, and more pleasant to look at if you are visiting. We’re not done but it looks so much better already….
Generator Preparations Paid Off
Monday, July 17, 2023 Hello friends,
The recent storms have been widely scattered, and they have had some impressive cloud formations, but did you get any rain? Last Wednesday we got a storm, and our new generator was tested. We were in the middle of milking and the power just went out. The milkers dropped off and the cows began dripping milk on the floor. We knew what to do. Bill immediately flipped off the air conditioner, and I turned off the bulk tank so that when the generator kicked on, the milk machine with its significant start up power draw, would have enough power to let us finish milking. We waited a little longer and realized that there was a switch on the generator that needed to be on “auto”. Then we were back in business and the cows got a little extra grain while they waited. When the power came back on, we turned on the air and the bulk tank. The power went off two more times, but each time we had a system and our generator preparations paid off!
The pasteurizer is working just as it was designed to work now. The part came, was installed, and we immediately began to make yogurt. We are still catching up, but that will be our focus. Meanwhile, the boiler went out on our big cheese vat. I kid you not! When we built the creamery, we got a good deal on a tankless hot water heater type boiler that came out of a carwash in the 1980’s so it has had a long productive life and finally gave out. As we consider its replacement, we are thinking of the future and the possibility of a bigger cheese vat down the line. Meanwhile, we will focus on catching up with the fresh cheeses in the small vat…..
Pasteurizer is Fixed!
Monday, July 10, 2023
Hello friends,
We are back to watering the garden again. It’s not too serious, but it looks like heat is coming and that tends to dry things out quickly. No hay has been cut yet, but that might be a good thing. There was a little extra growth in the pastures after last Saturday’s rain. The cows have noticed it and are producing well.
The new part for the pasteurizer did the trick and we are back in yogurt production! I am so thankful. I guess I didn’t realize how much yogurt we sell or how many people are craving it. As soon as we ran out, I discovered. It takes a little bit to catch up but we’re working on it! Keifer will come soon……
Happy Independence Day!
Monday, July 3, 2023
Hello friends,
Happy Independence Day! Whoo hoo! Fireworks have been going off all weekend, to the extent that I wonder if there will be any left to fire off tomorrow, the actual 4th of July! Good thing we got a nice rain on Saturday to protect flammable objects from a floating ember.
Seriously, we got a 2” rainstorm that developed right over the top of us. The driving wind and rain was severe, and there was even hail. More branches down from the maple trees, and my blackberry canes that are growing for next year’s berries were leaning on the ground. I tied them back up, but they don’t look so happy. The surprise rainstorm came after we got the cows for milking and then it stopped when we took them back to pasture, only to start back up again. A very timely rain. We can stand with the hose watering for a very long time, but a soaking rain is way better!….
Bull Calf For Sale
Monday, June 26, 2023 Hello friends,
It has only been a little over a week, and already we really need some rain. Saturday threatened to rain. The sky was dark and encouraging, the radar was hopeful, but ultimately, we only got a handful of sprinkles. I’m confused by the wild forecast on my phone which predicts three one hundred + degree days with 100% chance of rain. When has it ever rained when it was 100 degrees? When has it ever been 100 degrees while it was raining? Something is amiss. We are getting close to getting our hay cut but the pastures are drying up and looking stressed so I don’t know that we will have much hay to show for it. Bill is already asking around for sources of more hay for our cows.
Remember I was waiting for Vivian to have her calf? Remember that I said it was any day? Well, I was wrong. After the week went by and she doesn’t look much more ready to calve than last week, we began to question my record keeping. Sure enough, I put down the wrong date and she is not due until July 29. That’s a bummer because we dried her up for her vacation a month early. Nothing we can do about that now. Just wait. Meanwhile, Patty is contributing to the milk supply and for that we are thankful. We are naming her little heifer, Darcy. That makes us bottle feeding two heifers and a little bull calf. We don’t really need the bull calf so if you need one, let me know because he is for sale. I will post him on Craig’s List this week….
Patty Had a Heifer
Monday, June 19, 2023 Hello friends, We have a new heifer! Yea! Patty had her calf this morning and it’s a girl. We are so happy! We looked out into the pasture this morning and we could see Patty and the calf, and then there was Bonnie circling around them. She thinks every calf is hers. It was very difficult to persuade her otherwise. Vivian was due today, but it hasn’t happened yet, so we are still on calf watch. It is obviously soon!
We got another nice little rain on Saturday night so everything is still growing. The garden is really happy, the lawn is happy, the pastures are happy, so then the cows are happy. It has been a particularly prolific year for thistles, however. They pop up in the pastures with their pretty purple puff ball flowers, but the leaves are all thistley and the cows can’t eat them. Anything in the pastures that the cows can’t eat, I consider a weed. You may call crabgrass and clover weeds in your yard, but in the pasture, they are excellent cow food! Give me more! Blue grass in the pasture is … meh. Everything is growing now….
We Are So Blessed!
Monday, June 12, 2023
Hello friends,
How can it be the middle of the month already? I feel like I lost two weeks dealing with Bill’s health emergency. I think we are gaining some semblance of normalcy, a slower normalcy. Bill is feeling pretty good, but his main symptoms are the side effects of the medicine he is on. I am hoping that we can eventually get him off of some of this. He has an appointment in the city with the cardiologist on Thursday and I plan to go along. It also happens to be my delivery day so maybe we can do both.
These timely rains have made my life easier because I don’t have to water! That was a serious chore last year. Now I’m just dealing with the monster weeds that are thriving in this weather. Gradually I am making progress. Ron and Liz came over last week and did us a HUGE favor by weeding the flower beds. What a blessing! Now the little zinnias and marigolds and their little blooms will be visible instead of choked out…..
He’s Home
Monday, June 5, 2023 Hello friends,
What a difference a week makes! At this time last week, we were zooming to the emergency room. This week Bill is sitting in the easy chair at home, feeling MUCH better. He still needs time to recover and then cardio monitored rehab. Our diet is already pretty healthy, but we will make a few changes for salt intake, etc. My son is spending time here at the farm to help out. He usually works from home, so he is just doing that at our house. We are so blessed by the outpouring of prayers and offers of help. It’s humbling and overwhelming. Thank you so much!
On Friday Billie Jean decided it was time to give birth. It’s a girl! Yea! She was not due to calve until the 11th, but she would have none of it. When we found the calf, there were two cows vying for her attention, and neither one was the mother. If it had been earlier, my workers would have had to deal with the extra responsibility for her, but it was my first night back. I don’t have a name yet but we’re working on it. Unfortunately, Billie Jean has a bad case of mastitis in her right rear quarter, and she is moving pretty slowly. Please pray for a full recovery for her as well! Our next two cows are due on the 18th and the 19th but we’ll see when they decide to go into labor….
Family Emergency
“A late explanation
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 Hello friends,
So! Where to start. On Monday Bill was not feeling well. Pain in his neck mouth, chest, so he took a pain reliever and rested. It came and went a bit. Then towards the end of evening chores he took a bottle to feed the calf and I was watering flowers in front of the creamery. It seemed to be taking him a long time. I shut off the water and I heard him calling for me. I found him on the floor in the barn, the bottle not fed. He looked terrible and felt as bad as he looked. I helped him to the house and pulled of his muck boots, grabbed my purse, a couple of water bottles, and texted a friend from our home group to stay with Mom. Then I drove 82 miles an hour to St. Luke’s South to the Emergency Room and they got to work. 15 or more people began prepping him, testing him, questioning him. The EKG came back, and the Interventionist Cardiologist said it was terrible, very bad, he could die. Literally no sugar coating! I was not discouraged. Our God is a big God. They quickly proceeded to the Cath Lab to see what was going on. 100% blockage in his Right Coronary Artery that feeds the heart. So, they put in a stint and continued exploring. 90% blockage on the left side where it was more complicated to repair because of the forking of the arteries there. They decided to wait for that repair until he recovered and stabilized. Tuesday afternoon, again the honest truth doctor explained that it was very serious and that he could die. By this point, many of you and others were praying. Not only did Bill feel the Lord’s presence, but he was thanking the health care workers and encouraging them and their faith in the Lord. After a two-hour procedure and three more stints, the serious doctor proclaimed “Beautiful!”. It was the success they were hoping for. I’m home for the night with Mom tonight. My son is with Bill in the hospital right now and I will go back in the morning as they are planning on sending him home tomorrow. Meanwhile, our workers have been doing all the chores. Quite well, I must say! Our hope is to begin selling milk on Friday, but after four days of not selling milk, there are quite a few of you out of it. I will determine how much we will have and will take orders until we run out. Please be patient as we work this through. I am tired, thankful, blessed, and ready for normal again. Maybe a little slower normal. My son is planning on working from here for a little while until we can figure things out. I may be out of some things, but I can sell what we have. Thank you for your prayers! We really appreciate the outpouring of love many of you who knew the situation have shown. Love you guys, Sheri”
Makenzie Had a Boy
Monday, May 22, 2023
Hello friends,
The wind has gone somewhere else, and the weather is just so pleasant. We had a perfect weather day for the farm tour. After a chilly rainy day on Friday, we were just blessed with a sunny, slightly cool tour day. There was a good crowd but not overwhelming. We had both of our workers here to help and everyone did a great job. And right on schedule for the tour, Makenzie had her calf on Saturday morning! Can you believe her timing??? Unfortunately, it is a boy, but a cute boy, nonetheless. We let the kids go right in the stall with him and he enjoyed being pet by everyone. Bill and I took a long nap on Sunday.
I am working hard to finish planting the garden. Two more beds done today, and hopefully two more tomorrow, and then I’m done. I got some flowers to put in pots on the back porch, and some daisies to transplant. The weeds are really sprouting with the rain we had and then the warm sunshine. Time to pull weeds and MULCH! I have the advantage of a big supply of abandoned hay bales so I can really put it on thick. I’ve planted some flowers here and there so if it doesn’t rain, I have to WATER their tender root….
Farm Tour This Saturday 9-3
Monday, May 15, 2023
Hello friends,
Wahoo! We got RAIN! And plenty of it! The initial storm that came through was dramatic and scary, but it yielded 1.25 inches of rain filled with nitrogen fixing lightning. The response to the soaking rain has been amazing. Everything is growing like it should be this time of year. The violent winds almost sent us to the basement, and we lost some large limbs from a maple tree in the back yard, but after it settled down to just rain, we were rooting for the rainfall. No tornadoes, no hail, just wind and rain. Then we had two more half inch days of rain to follow up the beneficial soaking. Praise the Lord!
The Farm Tour is this Saturday, and we are getting ready. Makenzie is not due until the 26th but by the looks of things she will be early. I’m just not sure if it will be in time to show off a newborn cutie calf for the farm tour. Everyone loves the baby animals, and Erin is our youngest, but she is already 4 ½ months old. Still cute, but not as endearing as a wobbly newborn. We’ll have cheese samples, and everything will be as stocked as we possibly can. The entire creamery will be open to tour, including the cheese cave if you would like to go down and see it. The milkers will all be up close so you can take a good look at them without taking a hike in the pasture. If you want raw milk, let us know ahead of time so we can reserve it for you. The tour says 9 to 3, but we’re usually still finishing cleaning up after milking at that time and would prefer waiting until closer to 10…..
No Rain
Monday, May 8, 2023
Hello friends,
Ooh! The rain was so close last night! We woke up to constant thunder and lightning, but alas, no rain fell here. Even as we speak it has clouded up and there is severe weather directly to the east in Missouri, but no rain here. I’m wanting it to hold off until after chores because I have my garden beds prepared to plant tomatoes. Then it can rain. I mean I would take rain anytime at this point.
The June bugs are back already. I’m not surprised, they usually arrive in May. Also, the “June bearing” strawberries usually bear in May as well. Oh well. We try to turn off all the lights when we go to bed. That means that our bedroom light is the last to go out and that is where all the bugs gravitate. The June bugs are particularly noisy as they bang into the windows. It’s kind of like a scary movie. I had to sneak outside and bring in the flag from the front porch the other night and accidentally brought several Mayflies and two noisy June bugs. ( I guess the Mayflies were named properly!) Nothing more exciting than relaxing before bed and have a bug divebomb your light fixture!….
Rain Please!
Monday, May 1, 2023
Hello friends,
I’ll say it again. We need rain. This is supposed to be the rainy season. We are watering the seeds that I’ve planted in the garden with very little effect. The wind dries out the soil and the seeds don’t have a chance. I have plans to plant more things but I’m waiting. My tomato plants are waiting inside as the cabbage plants are getting beat up out in the garden. What survives should be very sturdy. The grass is green, but it should be taking off and instead it’s growing slowly in the cool, dry weather. Maybe this week it will rain.
We sold Pee Wee this evening. It’s always a little sad to sell an animal that doesn’t get to spend its life on Skyview Farm. But we really don’t need any more male calves. We are hoping that we have more heifers born this year. Makenzie is due in 25 days, and we have three cows to deliver in June. I pray for at LEAST 50/50 heifer ratio….
It’s Clouding Up
Monday, April 24, 2023
Hello friends,
It’s clouding up. I’m hoping for some rain this time. Last week we really had our hopes up, but we didn’t get two drops. All that scurrying around to get the garden ready for rain and it didn’t happen. Not to worry, I watered it in. Except the bean seeds. I didn’t want them to sprout and have that frost promptly kill them. I have always gone by the idea that the last frost is by the first of May. More or less. This year has been tricky. We covered our asparagus, but there was still a little damage. The potatoes got bitten, but they will come back. Everything else is fine. Now we are ready for some rain!
Remember when I wrote about our stinker cow going over the fence when she was in heat and there were three Angus bulls tending her? Well, it’s been three weeks, and can you believe she came back into heat????? I was flabbergasted! Something is not right! Good thing I didn’t waste any AI straws trying to breed her. We’ll give her some more time and see what happens. Meanwhile, we are beginning to dry up Vivian and Patty for their pregnancy vacations. They will take some time out from milking to bolster their nutrient stores for their upcoming lactation. The next cow due is Makenzie on May 26 or thereabouts. We also have a 3-week-old bull calf for sale since we are focusing on heifers. He would make a great 4 H bucket calf. Now I know that there are only a few of you that this applies to but if you have room in your back yard…. Jersey beef is delicious…..