Winter

Love is in the “Ear Tag”

Posted on by Melissa

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Happy Valentine’s Day! It was a snowy one here in Iowa but the cows didn’t seem to mind. Well, not as much as we seem to in February anyways! By this time of year we are ready for the snow to be done and the green of Spring to start showing through.

As I was walking through the cows this morning, I was struck by how many “Valentines” we have in our herd!

Names can tell a story and my mind was rolling as I snapped a few shots of them at the bunk. And although I couldn’t get pictures of all of our beautiful ladies, here are a few that I thought were fitting on Valentine’s Day…

Some make their love known, just with their names “I Love You”, “Kiss” and “Arrow”

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Others have sweet names that could easily be found on a Valentine candy

“Cutie”, “Beauty”, “Angel” or “Skittles”

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And some make you feel “Lucky” to have found the one…

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You would have a beautiful bouquet with our cows “Rosie”, “Aster” and “Dalia”…

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And some, if you had the choice, would make you run the other way if you were looking for a Valentine… “Quazy”, “Frazzle”, or “Cheetah”…. oh and some are a pain in the “Azz”!!!

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We hope you had a great day!

 

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Family Bonding

Posted on by Melissa

This afternoon we headed out for a little extra family bonding before chores.

Our wood supply is getting on the low side, so we took the tractor and dump wagon and skid loader and chain saw out to get some wood cut up.

Usually we get together with neighbors and have at least one cutting party every fall. With the colder than normal November, that just didn’t happen.

So today, Dan and I, Chelsey, Kayla and Reed made quick work of a couple trees and had a good sized load in less than an hour.

There’s never a dull moment when cutting wood. !) And here are a couple pictures to prove it…

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Making memories one hour at a time!

Farmin’ is Fixin’ & Fixin’ is Farmin’

Posted on by Melissa

Hubby has one solid complaint about farming. There’s always something that needs fixin’!

Get one thing fixed and something else breaks down. It’s always something. Now some things are higher priority than others, and many times our plans for the day are changed by something that needs fixed.

One job that’s needed done for awhile, is changing some knives in the TMR. We have been waiting for a warmer day (so we didn’t have to freeze our fingers off!) to check this one off the list.

Well, that day came this week.

We’ve had our TMR since the year Kayla was born. Dan bought it new back in ’95.

TMR

A TMR is a type of equipment we use everyday to mix up our feed ration for the cows. (TMR ~ “Total Mixed Ration”)

Now I love to bake, and I really love mixing up for the cows too.

I think of our TMR as my big Kitchenaid mixer! It has a scale on it that helps me get just the right mix to help our cows get all the nutrients they need.

So naturally, it’s really important to me that this particular piece of equipment stays in good, working order.

You see, cows like to eat the same thing EVERY DAY. And that means this machine and I have to work together to get the same feed every time I mix up. I follow the recipe (ration sheet) and I’m careful to mix it long enough without over-mixing it.

It has a series of augers inside that turn and roll all of the ingredients together to mix them up. The first auger that the ingredients make contact with has triangular knives on the edges to cut things up into smaller pieces, like hay.

Over time, these knives get worn and dull, or get weak and break off. An errant flip of the bucket could also shear off a bolt or knife, allowing it to shift so it doesn’t cut anymore.

Well, our warm January day brought this task to the top of the fixin’ list this week. Reed had a day off from school for the holiday so we had a little helper too.

Reed in TMR

In the magnet tray you can see the triangular knife we were changing out, along with the bolts, lock washers and nuts.

Unfixed TMR Auger

Yep! Looks like it could use a little work!

We changed out many of the knives and straightened up a bunch too.

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I helped put the new knives on too, but of course, no pictures to show for it. !)

It went pretty good, and in about an hour we had her good as new!

TMR Fixed
Ready to “chew” again

I sure was glad to get this job off the list.

And it’s always good to hear Hubby say “That’s a good job done!”

Perfect 10 in the Half Pike!

Posted on by Melissa

Winter visited while we were sleeping last night and spread a blanket of heavy, wet snow in our neck of the woods.

The trees that fill the horizon every way you look were a snowy white, with a glittery shine. We had gotten a good 2 to 3 inches on the ground.

As I carried a sleepy boy down our front yard to the barn this morning, who knew that I was secretly training for the next winter Olympics!?! Not even I!!!

Where the grass meets the gravel there’s a slight ledge. And a downhill slope. And that…  should be enough information for you to guess what happened.

I hit that sucker like a banana peel and up in the air I went!

I’m pretty sure I landed perfectly horizontal! A perfect 10!

Reed wasn’t so happy with my landing. As I was perfecting my form, I probably squeezed him awake before we even hit the ground! He looked at me like “What the heck just happened?”

And I let out a loud groan…. Crap.

It was too early in the morning for me to ask Kayla, who I had seen over by the condo as I was coming down the yard, to score my landing. She rushed over to help me up, but I convinced her that I was just going to lay there for a couple minutes.

After I rolled over, curled my spine, and listened to see how many vertebrae popped, I thought maybe I could make it to the barn to tell my Olympic tale.

What a way to start the day. Well, at least it got better…

Dan, Reed and I headed to Fredericksburg to serve frozen yogurt at the schools today. (Click on the red words to see pictures)

We had great help, which always makes it lots of fun.

We also stopped by the Mennonite School near our house and served the kids and teachers there a dish of frozen yogurt. The appreciation you get from everyone sure makes it worth doing!

We had about an hour to relax when we got home before we had to start chores. We headed outside a little early so we could get to our Dairy Promotion Board Meeting tonight.

While my feed was mixing in the TMR, I had a couple minutes to play with Reed in the snow.

Reed and sled

There’s a spot in our yard that has a deep hill and the snow was packed just enough to make it really slippery! I tried not to repeat this morning’s performance as I showed him how to start at the very top to get lots of speed!

He giggled and giggled and had a great time sledding all through chores!

Reed on Sled

It was funny to see how his sledding progressed… He started sledding on his bottom at first, then drove it down the hill like a chariot, holding the reins. By the time he was done, he was snow surfing!

You’ll have to stop by my Facebook Page to see the video! (Click on the red words)

As the night gets late, I’m starting to get a little stiff from my (Perfect 10!) landing. Ya know, it’s too bad I couldn’t have gotten that on video!

But then again… I like to think there’s a reason for everything !)

Morning Glory

Posted on by Melissa

The stars were crystal clear and close enough to touch this morning as we headed out for chores. I made it just outside the door when I stopped, looked up and marveled at how big and close the stars seemed to be.

The sky was a deep, navy blue but quickly faded to black as I changed my focus to the stars. They twinkled a good morning and I realized how warm it was for January.

The pump jumped to life in the barn and I glanced that way to see the lights in the milk house, glowing a candlelight yellow in the darkness.

I joined my family and saw that the cows were up, milkers were put on and the milk was flowing.

I gave a round of good mornings and leaving the barn, I headed toward the shed to start the skid loader and the 4020. I’d start my morning with mixing up feed for the cows.

Hopping up on the open cab tractor, I pulled down the throttle, twisted the key and layed on the rubbery start button. The 4020 roared to life, surely enjoying the warm morning as well.

Backing out of the darkness of the shed, dawn broke and the stars faded, and the sunrise peeked over the trees to the east of our farm. I stopped to snap a photo, framed with our two silver bins.

Jumping in the skid loader, I headed down to the barn to get some hay. I tossed the bale in my bucket, snapped the strings with my knife, pulled them into loops and knotted them.

Stepping up over the bale and twisting as I sat in the cab, I pulled the door shut and turned my hand to the left. I swung around to the East, and the now brighter sunrise caught my gaze. I reached again for my phone and clicked a photo with our calf building, hovering over the glowing light.

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Revving down to the bunker, I flipped the hay into the TMR and turned to the North to scoop up some haylage. Pink clouds flashed to my right and I stopped again to admire the now red and deep gray sky, behind the tractor and over the bags.

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I kept an eye on my scale as I weighed out the haylage, flipping it into the TMR. Perfect! Turning, I headed to the earlage bag.

As I rounded the corner by the oat bin, the skid loader came to a halt. I opened the door to a sunrise that my camera couldn’t do justice, but snapped one last picture and sat there to take it in.

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I thought, “Man, anyone still in bed sure is missing one great morning!”

A glimpse of “Fagle Time”

Posted on by Melissa

It seems like when we start a job around the farm, we know what we’re getting into.

We’ve done things dozens of times… hundreds, thousands, MILLIONS of times we’ve done things! And still. You just never know HOW LONG something will take.

Yesterday was a great winter day here on the farm. The sun was shining, the wind was calm, and chores got done in record time. That left us with a little time before lunch to get a few things done.

We opted to grind feed, 5 batches in all, figuring a couple hours of work before heading in for lunch.

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We ground both shell corn from our bins and ear corn from the corn crib, grinding enough to fill two steer feeders, a calf feeder, a granary we use for our dry cow feed, and a load for our dairy cow ration.

All was going good until we got to the last load. We pulled up to the bin to add some shell corn, switched the auger on the grinder on, it made about a half a turn and then… nothing. Tried it again… nothing.     Crap.

We decided to run home (luckily we had the truck along) and get some tools, as we thought maybe we sheared a pin, lost a key or maybe a chain came off ??? Who knows.

We got back and took the housing off and saw that the chain tightener had come loose on the chain that runs the auger. We put the chain back on, raised the tightener, cinched things up and we were back in business! (Sometimes we’re not so lucky)

So we finished our last load and headed in for lunch. Well, maybe we should call it a mid-afternoon snack, ha ha. And that’s what happens when we run on “Fagle Time.” When things don’t go quite as smoothly as planned and it costs us some time. Luckily, the only thing we were late for this time was lunch 🙂

Mittens… Serious Business Round Here

Posted on by Melissa

If you asked me what I can’t live without these days, I wouldn’t answer the way I used to. There are just certain things that are a “must” now that I’m a farm girl.

This morning in the skid loader I got to thinkin’ bout my mittens… and how much I love them.

As soon as the aisles at Norby’s Farm Fleet get double-wide stocked with winter gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, and the like I turn my cart down the aisle for some serious shopping.

I have made the mistake the last couple of years to pick up just ONE pair of mittens for myself and the crew. BIG. MISTAKE.

See here? This is the result of only buying one pair of mittens.

Old Mittens
Sad, but true

This pair got totally blown out when I was pumping up a low skid loader tire. There must have been a weak spot in the sidewall because it exploded and blew me on my butt about 4 feet back.

Holy smokes! I thought my contacts were permanently glued to my eyeballs! I count myself lucky, but… my poor mittens. It blew one of the straps clean off and ripped the stitching out of the end of the other one.

But when I got up, they still dusted my butt off. That next week I went back to the store to get me another pair and guess what?

Hmmm…

Notice I still have them. (And in a safe place too, just in case there’s a mitten emergency!) They survived that season because I couldn’t live without them.

Now, this year I went all out. I found a pair of mittens that I am currently in love with. They’re heavy, warm, pretty much waterproof, have a rubbery grip and even have fleece between the fingers! Score!

In fact, I loved them so much I bought THREE pairs! (One for chores, one for good, and one on reserve for someone I really love or in case of a mitten emergency!)

My Mittens
My current Must-Haves

My husband and girls have a favorite kind too.

Axeman Leather Mittens

We have a trusty supply of back ups of these too!

So on this windy, cold, morning my hands were warm.

And that, was a blessing.

 

Dan’s New Toy

Posted on by Melissa

One sunny day last summer, my husband was on a mission. He had had enough during the past long, hard, snowy winter and raised his bidding number over and over and OVER again until he had bought something on his bucket list.

This is my husband's idea of fun!
This is my husband’s idea of fun!

As you can see, the dogs like it too. We have 2 dogs… Cosmo and Brooklyn. Cosmo is our black lab and is close to 8 years old. Our yellow lab, Brooklyn, is his daughter and is about 3 years old.

Brooklyn especially loves to chase things that fly, like snow from a snow blower! Both dogs also enjoy tennis balls, bale spears, welding sparks and the worst of all, flying manure.

Let’s just say she stays a lot cleaner chasing flying snow. 🙂

So, if you’re in the neighborhood, you may be seeing Dan going from place to place, using his new toy! He’s good like that.

 

It was a double-sweatshirt kind of morning!

Posted on by Melissa

Brrr. Well, I’m not sure that covers it! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! There. Each r represents how many degrees below zero it was this morning.

However, the wind wasn’t blowing (which is the thing I hate the most about working outside) so it wasn’t too bad. And God made up for the bitter cold with a beautiful sunrise.

And he threw in a one sided sundog for good measure!

January 5, 2015
First snowfall of the year measured about 4 inches in the tire tracks this mornin’

Hope you’re staying warm today!

The snow is falling…

Posted on by Melissa
The view out my front window...
The view out my front window… It’s lookin’ kinda blue with the snow starting to fall.

 

Today is the day I probably should have taken down my Christmas Tree, decorations, cards, and my cute little lighted village.

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I sure love my little village!
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Such a cute little house! Isn’t it festive?
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If I could, I think I would leave it up all year. There’s just something about teeny tiny lights that makes me happy!

But… (in true procrastination fashion) I chose instead to start my new little adventure! To be honest, I’ve never done anything like this before, blogging that is. And frankly it will be a “learn as you go” kind of thing.

So… here we go! We will see how much time this “snow storm” affords me in the next couple days. You just never know what that will mean for the farm.

We could be spending all day outside pushing snow? Or fixing waterers that freeze up? Or bedding down cattle that are knee deep in snow? Or cuddling up in our warm, wood-fire heated house.

And my hubby has a new toy I may get to show you! After last winter’s deluge of daily snow and cold, my husband invested in a rear-end snowblower for our tractor. Yay! Maybe I won’t have to spend all day in the skid loader? We will see! More to come on that subject!

So I don’t know where you are at out there, but I hope you are snuggled up on this snowy night. As for me, it’s chore time. So I’m headed out to scrape the cow lot in the skid loader so my husband can clean barn and haul manure.

Can’t wait to get in and eat one of my favorite casseroles. I will try to remember to take a picture.

Out I go!