05/18/2009 - 05/20/2009 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Sunny in Eastern Washington. It rained sometime over the past three days here in Western Washington.
I was in Richland, WA attending a conference on how to make money with beef. I got many good ideas and suggestions from the speakers. Now I need to chew on the suggestions and make some changes. A business plan might be nice, too.
One of the things I need to think about is whether or not my property is really set up for winter cows. I also need to think about a marketing paln and a business plan, not necessarily in that order.
In Richland we had hot dry weather. Chas said it rained one day.
I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. I drove to Zillah where I met with the guy who has a dun female Dexter with a bull calf by her side who wants to sell her for $1500. I think that's a little steep but both the calf and the momma are very nice looking. The sire is just beautiful. He want's $2000.00 for him. I will need to find some way to get her to this side of the mountains.
The reason I'm pleased is that this is the longest trip I've ever driven by myself. I got to Zillah and then to Richland and the hotel with very little effort.
As I said, the conference was wonderful. I may have found someone who purchased a bull from Kit Pharos and will be using that bull for breeding his stock this year. He will have calves on the ground next year. Marcie X gave me the name of someone who does AI so I might not need a bull after all. I will buy some of Kit's bull's semen.
05/17/2009 Sunday: Hot today. Nice.
Moved the Buff Orpington chickens out into the chicken tractor in the afternoon around 2pm.
Mary and Dena showed up this morning while Chas and I were loading round bales of hay into the Dexter and Hereford feeders to get some black gold from my Hereford pasture. We decided that even with Jon's dump truck we couldn't get into the field to load the truck. It's still too wet. They decided to try again in a week.
We finished loading the round bales. We put the two bales in the Hereford feeder in on their sides. I wanted to see if it kept the hay from dropping down behind the gate and pushing it out. I can barely get the gate closed before the cows shove half the grass under the gate.
The cows aren't going to be too happy. I asked Chas to keep the cows in from the fields. That will give the fields a bit of a rest and a chance to grow for three days. The Herefords are out now but I'll bring then in this morning when I do my chores.
Chas and I moved the chicken tractor. I decided to put the Buff Orpingtons into the pen with the ducks. They'll have to duke it out. They'll be plenty of food and water for both sets of birds. When I get back I may break down and put the chickens into a separate tractor, depending on how the ducklings and chicks get along.
I dragged the duck water tub to the edge of the flower beds and emptied out the wet shavings and feed into the flower beds. Then I dragged it back rinsed it well with the hose and let it dry. Before dinner I dragged it into the loom room and piled in a layer of wood chips. Then I moved 9 Red Rangers from the large tub into the smaller tub. They were none too happy when I moved them but they were starting to fight from being so close together. Now about a third of them have their new tub and are doing well as are the birds left in the large tub.
I put new shavings down on top of the pooped on shavings so the chicks are good to go for a few days.
I wrote out animal care instructions for Chas after showing him how to do the evening chores.
I packed for my trip tomorrow, I'll have to remember to bring my toiletries and some pop so that I have something to drink without having to buy expensive cans of pop. Maybe I'll bring water bottles and my Crystal Light packages.
So, I was going all day. I even made chili for dinner. There's some left so that Chas can have something to eat one night while I'm gone. I even put some more minutes in the phone card although I think it's cheaper to buy a new card from Costco when we go there next.
Wrote to Susie in reply to a very nice email from her. She's got 3.5 acres fenced and four of her pregnant Dexters at her new house so she can keep an eye on them.
I got my iTouch working again and downloaded an ebook reading application. Cost me all of $.99. I was trying to charge my battery with one of my other ebook reader's charger. Naturally it didn't work so I'm recharging it now using my computer. Shouldn't be too much longer before it's ready to go. I also downloaded the iTouch manual so that I could read it on my iPAQ using Mobipocket, a program I really love for reading all sorts of formatted ebooks, including PDF.
Time for bed. I'll have to get up early tomorrow to get out of here by 9am.
05/16/2009 Saturday: Hot and sunny. My pastures are beginning to dry out but there's still a long way to go before we can drive on them with the tractor.
The second Muscovy duck is setting now. She's plucked down from her breast and I haven't seen her since yesterday. I did peek this morning to see how things are going.
This morning I hauled the smaller tub out to the lower deck and left it there intending on having the guys move and empty it. Unfortunately Enrique and Juan couldn't borrow a car today and so didn't show up. Actually, it was quite nice not to have to do something, except what I wanted to do.
Given that my time was my own, I decided to empty the drum composter that Mike and Mary gave me. I got numerous small wheelbarrow loads and put the loads of compost into the flower bed that runs along the wall of the house under the bathroom and large window. I didn't have time to plant any flowers, tho'. It will have to be seeds.
Once I'd gotten the drum composter mostly empty, I started moving it into place. Chas came out to help me and it only took a second or two to move it into place. Now Chas can cut the grass without having to drive around it.
I moved some stones that had been moved out of the way and remade the north end of the flower bed so that I could put compost in it. There was a lot of compost but it wasn't enough to do more than a thin layer in the bathroom window garden bed.
I cooked steak with rice and some wonderful asparagus cooked in butter and lemon juice for dinner.
I purchased an ebook reader from Apple Store for $.99. Now I have to find my iTouch so that I can install it. Wonder what I did with my iTouch?
05/15/2009 Friday: Sunny in the afternoon.
Stopped off at the Farm Store and purchased some additional insulators, some of which will go on the t-posts along the driveway. Still awhile to go before we can start taking the fence down. Weed whacking first, then fence, then the hi-tensile wire. I'd be happy to get two strands up just to keep the Herefords in.
Pat spent Thursday getting the gutters ready to mount and then today put the gutter up on the high point of the west side of the barn and also the gutter on the east side of the lean-to addition.
He's going to build mangers for me for the inside of my cow barn. I have one already made but I want it up higher so that it's easier for the cows to reach. He's going to make a second manger for me on the other side of the fenceline feeder.
He'll be putting up a lean-to sheep shed for me. We're going to use up the boards left over from the various projects he's been working on and the non-rotten parts of the wall he took out. He says the shed will be tall enough for me to stand up in so that I can easily clean it, or lay down new hay.
The two ewes and their babies are doing well; the babies are growing like crazy.
The ducklings are now outside in their new chicken-tractor and loving it. Chas said an eagle was sitting in a nearby tree eyeing them this morning but once he had scoped it out decided it would be a problem getting inside to get my ducks. I bought 2 Rouen and 3 Pekin, hopefully there is a male there somewhere to do the breeding later on. Or I can use one of my Muscovies.
Speaking of Muscovies. The one hen has been setting for about a week and a half. The other is still laying eggs. I'll know when she's going to set because the females pull down from their breasts to line the hole they dig with their back legs. They look something like the pictures you see of turtles digging their nests.
Monday I'm headed off to Richland to attend that Beef/Pasture Management course at one of the local hotels. It's sponsored by WSU. On the way I'm going to visit the home of the guy who wrote the MyFarm software and see his herd. He's moving to Florida (ugh, my least favorite state) after he sells his property and I guess won't be taking his Dexters with him. I thought I'd look, at least. It's always fun to visit someone else's farm to see how they manage their cattle. Someday I'll get up to your farm.
My friend, Mary (of Mike and Mary fame) brought me a large dog igloo that she salvaged from the floods. I plan to use it for my ducks for laying their eggs in, if they'll use it. If not, I may turn it over to my dog, Lucky, as slightly warmer sleeping quarters in the winter time.
I've been picking up coffee grounds from a little coffee hut that I use every work morning when I want my latte. I just leave a covered bucket there and pick it up every other day. Mary gets one bucket for sharing all the flood goodies with me; I get the other bucket. I just spread a thin layer in flower pots and flower beds like it was mulch. It's acidic so you don't want to spread too much. The earthworms love it. And it makes the soil look black. The grounds come out steamed together into round disks that I break up with my hands as I spread them so the buckets aren't heavy to carry.
Mike made me a device, a hay scraper, I can attach to my tractor bucket and use to scrape up the hay/manure mixture that the cows leave behind them when they eat. I tried using it once and it works like a champ. Just digs right in and removes the hay & muck really easily and fills the tractor bucket. Now if the ground would only dry out so that I can get back to my Hereford & Dexter pens to dig out the trompled there. Much easier to use a tractor than human labor. But maybe I told you this already. It's a sign of age...
Oh yes, the woman, Kim, who was looking for an inexpensive Dexter found one just 15 minutes from her house. That problem is solved.
I contacted one of the guys in Eastern Washington who sells hay. His price for the hay was good but I would have to hire a trucker to bring over a load. Unfortunately they will only bring over a truck and a pup(?) trailer load and that will cost me an additional $2,000. I don't think so. I will keep looking.
I made a little more progress on the descriptions for the Health Indicators for the Health Department. June is the deadline for completing the writing. I finished rearranging the folders containing the Indicator data. The first iteration made the data we were using way too far down on the hierarchy. Should be easier to find data and written information on the indicators now.
05/14/2009 Thursday: Cloudy and cold this morning but sun in the afternoon.
Sherry came to clean; Pat came later. He had to fix the fence since the calf got out again.
While Sherry was cleaning I worked on my computer.
Around 11:15 I took the heat lamp out of the duck tub and put in a 250 watt bulb and stuck the heat lamp with a flat pan for water and the small black tub for duck food and moved the 3 Pekin and 2 Rouen ducks outside into the chicken tractor. I also added a Rubbermaid tub turned on its side and filled with shavings in for them to hide in. I'm going to leave them in the chicken tractor full time. They should be ok with the heat lamp on.
Their tub was getting too small for them because they're growing like crazy. I found an extension cord and ran it from the house to the chicken tractor for the heat lamp. Hopefully Lucky will keep the predators away. If not, the chicken tractor is made out of hog panel and will keep most things out.
Dinner was 7 shrimp each sauteed in butter and 6-7 oysters. Chas prepared cauliflower and we ate the bread we cooked yesterday. It was a dinner to die for.
05/13/2009 Wednesday: Started out with overcast skies but quickly turned to pouring down rain. The question of the day is, "When will it ever stop raining?" Maybe we'll go directly into summer with no spring at all. Looks like Friday might be a good day, at least not raining.
This morning I got a bigger container to keep the duck's food in. They were running out of food early and were starving when I changed water twice a day. Both sets of chicks are doing well. The Buffs are continuing to feather out as are the Red Rangers. The Red Ranger pen needs cleaning out badly. I need to bring a bucket downstairs so that I can fill it with the soiled shavings. I'll dump the shavings on the flower beds running alongside Hope Creek.
I got so involved at work with reorganizing files that I didn't leave the Health Department until nearly 3pm. The public health nurses asked me to do some in-service knowledge management training. We're going to look at how to organize information by organizing folders, by creating shortcuts to Web sites and organizing the on their desktop and maybe even training them how to do PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets to capture information. I doubt if we'll try to do an Access database.
I've asked them to write down questions that they have as they work and any ideas for what they'd like to organize.
I kept the cows in their winter sacrifice pastures today as it was pouring down rain much of the day.
05/12/2009 Tuesday: Rain during morning chores with overcast, rain and sunny periods.
I would have liked to laze around today but I have things to do. I need to rearrange the fencing materials, weed the cottage garden and put more waste hay into the CalfTel that I'm using for the sheep. But I never got any of these done today. I did put the camera battery on to charge so that it would be ready when I wanted to take some pictures of the cows.
I did not put the cattle out to graze today because of the rain. They were not happy with me even though they got alfalfa flakes for breakfast and dinner. Ungreatful things.
Pat got another gutter up on the west side of the green barn. I phoned in another order at Lincoln Creek Lumber. I talked to Diane there. She took my last order Pat will return some of the parts he doesn't need and I'll get credit for them.
Dang, I cannot find the receipt for the last set of purchases I made. Wonder what I did with it. May still be on the kitchen table. I need to get organized.
I did a bunch of email deleting on my UW account.
I took a pork roast out of the freezer and cut it into steaks and cooked them for dinner with potatoes and frozen beans. Delicious.
05/11/2009 Monday: Overcast with the occasional light rain shower and some sun.
Worked at the Health Department on health indicators.
Dexters were in S1 this morning; Herefords in S4 this evening.
I went to Pe Ell to attend a meeting about writing a grant for getting a new fire hall but was given the wrong date. It was last week, not today. I checked in at the grocery store and the woman at the desk called around for me and told me it was last week. Oh well, it was a nice night for a drive. Wish I'd brought Lucky. He enjoys car rides.
Charles cooked a pot of vegetable soup for dinner. It was great. We ate it with some of the bread he baked last week. Hard to beat soup for dinner.
Four eggs in the second Muscovy duck's nest.
I talked to Paul Erickson, PA.Erickson@gmail.com, 148 Mattson Rd, Centralia. about his Dexter cows. I emailed him because he had an ad on Craigslist about some cattle for sale. His prices are very reasonable: Proven moms: $600., 1-2 year olds: $500., Weanlings: $400. They are unregistered. All have horns. They are all the longer leg type opposed to the short (stubby) legged Dexters. Colors: 2 red, 6 black.
If I wanted inexpensive Dexters (with horns), I could certainly purchase one or more of his herd. He has 20 or 30 animals he says, including Duns, blacks and reds. I've heard from Kim, a Dexter list friend who is looking for a milking/milkable Dexter cow for her very small farm, that his animals have not been handled much so may be a little wild.
I'll visit him on a Sunday since he works during the week and I have too much going on on Saturdays. Looks like Sunday a week from this coming Sunday (May 24) is the first chance I'll have to see him.
I really need to take pictures of each of my cows. Maybe I'll get some of them tomorrow morning when they're full from eating grass. I put the battery in to recharge.
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