Archive for the ‘Life on Lost Creek Valley Farm’ Category

On May 12th our first bull calf, Prince arrived.  He has a cute white spot on his forehead.  And a couple days later, May 14 (Mothers Day) we got another heifer named Ruby.  So, we have 4 calves and still expecting one more.  It’s been a good Spring for calving!  It finally dried up and we put the cows out to pasture last weekend which made them all very happy!  Soon we will be meeting with someone to do our skidsteer work and get that driveway finished.  Hoping to get that all done by the end of this month!!  Then, we need to focus on the cow handling facility and get that upgraded.  Always something on the to do list!!

Little Blossom was born on April 29th!  She was born to a first time Mom and both are doing very well!  The weather hasn’t been very nice since she was born, but she is strong and gets around the muddy pasture just fine.  We had cool rainy weather and even some slushy snow fell on the first day of May.  When is it going to dry up?  The pasture is a mess of mud and water.  The good thing is that the grasses in the paddocks are growing well and we hope to turn them out to pasture in a couple weeks.  Meanwhile, we met with an excavator the other day and made plans to get a driveway put in around the pole shed, and add gravel to the rest of the drive.  He will also fill in dirt by the old house and build water runs to keep water away from the buildings and pastures.  The work will start in the next week or so and we are looking forward to the improvement!  The clay-like mud around there is very slippery.  In fact, we can’t even drive the tractor in the pasture right now.  So, a good driveway will be wonderful!  Now, let’s have some sunny May weather!

Our hereford cow “Brownie” had a calf on Sunday, April 23rd.  A cute mix of hereford and black angus- “Pepper”  has lots of white on the back of her neck, her belly, face and spots on her front legs- along with a white tip on her tail!   So nice to see a healthy calf prancing in the pasture, getting used to her legs!  And, she picked a nice sunny 70 degree day to be born.  We have been watching her the past couple days and everything looks good.  Of course the other cows are curious and gather around them often.  We are hoping to get 5 more calves in the next couple months.  Then it will be fun to watch them run and play together!  So fun to have calves in the Spring!

We are finally getting some warmer weather!  But, there have been days of rain and the pasture is thick with mud, especially by the water tank.  We moved it to higher ground and that helped alot.  The cows don’t seem to mind, though.  Can’t wait til the mud dries up!  We spent a whole weekend cleaning up around the farm.  There was an old shed we torn down last fall with lots of wood and junk piled in it’s place.  And there was a lot more junk stored in the basement of the old farmhouse too.  So, we got a 7’x20′ dumpster and filled it up on one day!  There are still items like old air conditioners, appliances, etc that we are taking to a local recycling center in May.  And, we started a metal pile that will be sent to a metal recycling center- our neighbor will haul it for us.  We don’t know what metal prices are, but are hoping we get enough to pay part of the cost of the dumpster.  So glad we got all this done!   We will be making a road beside the pole shed that will make it much easier to go back and forth.  And we are looking at moving the handling facility back there where it’s higher ground.  Lots of work, but it would be worth it.  Time to start a “to do” list for this year!  And we are still waiting for the first Spring calf….

 

It’s been a long wait for Spring weather- we go through this every year.  But March seems to go at a snails pace!  We decided to purchase 3 yearling heifers from a farmer a few miles from us with a large Angus herd.  They were born in April 2016, and were delivered to us 2 weeks ago.  We kept them separate from the rest for a few days and then introduced them to the rest.  They seem to get along fine with everyone.  So, with that addition we have 14 head!  They all made it through the winter nicely- they’ve been eating good!  We are excited to expect 6 calves in the next couple months also.   Mud seems to be the biggest problem right now.  It has been so wet this year, that we have had some trouble getting the tractor through it.  It has made us think about options for feeding next year.  We are planning on adding a gravel road into the pasture and make a feeding area for winter.  That way, we can stay out of the mud in the pasture.  And, we will put the hay bales in a more easy accessible area.  We are waiting for Spring, and hoping the pastures will dry up and start growing grass soon!

We spend these last winter months discussing plans for the year.  We want to make winter watering easier by winterizing the pump and possibly installing underground pipe to the water tank.  We have been lucky so far, only having to replace frozen pvc pipes once.  We winterized the water tank so the tank heater doesn’t run constantly- that helps with the electric bill.  We also want to add one or two paddocks so we will need to do some fencing again.  The cows are looking very good this winter- we are supplementing them with protein tubs in the cold months.  They love their shed, especially when we added some bedding for them.  We are also thinking about how to position the round bales for easier feeding.  Last Fall was very wet so there were a lot of ruts from the tractor in the pasture, making it hard to haul bales this winter.  Also, it got warm in January- actually rained for a few days- and the tractor got stuck in the field in one of the ruts.  After a few days it got cold so we could get it out.  Luckily, we could just move the temporary electric fence back to feed them until we got the tractor out.  It made us realize we need a backup plan in case we can’t use the tractor!  We plan to position bales on the outside of the paddock with temporary fencing, and move the fence as we feed next winter.  The hay bales in stock will last through March, so we will be purchasing a few more to get us into May.  Time to make some calls…

It was the first Christmas in our house!  So nice to gather around the fireplace and toast to 2017.  After all we went through the past couple years, we are thankful to be back to normal in our beautiful new home.  The cows are loving their new “house” too- the 3 sided shed is very popular.  Especially when it sleets or gets windy.  Even though beef cattle can stand most weather, we feel good that they can get in out of the elements.  It’s been good so far- we have enough hay to get through most of the winter and the water system is working good.  We feed the haybales on the weekend when it’s light out so we don’t have to work in the dark on the weeknights.  It is very dark down there without a yard light!  We leave the car running with the lights on and use a flashlight and it’s all good.  So, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all from Lost Creek Valley Farm!  May 2017 be a good one!!

We installed our new cattle shoot and put up another interior fence in the winter paddock.  The vet came to take care of deworming and a few shots so the cows are good to go for winter.  We have 6 pregnant cows- so that is good!   We sold our steer and bull calf and bought some additional hay for the winter.  Plans are to improve our hayfields next year so we don’t have to buy hay again.  Meanwhile, we are feeling pretty good about our winter preparation this year!  Last thing on our list is to winterize the stock tank so the tank heater can run as efficient as possible.  And, we have been so lucky with our fall weather!  It has been in the 60’s most of November and the weekends have been mostly dry and sunny- great weather for working on the farm!  Now we are coming up to the Wisconsin Gun Deer hunt, so all projects are on hold for the next 2 weeks.  Time to stock up the freezer with venison!  And we may be seeing some of that white stuff soon…

 

So far the weather has bee cooperating! We have had great fall days to get a good start on all of our fall projects. We finished the steel roof on the cattle shed and decided to tarp the other 3 sides for now and finish next Spring. We also got the cattle shoot moved into position- that was quite a job! The bull went home the end of September and we are hoping he did a good job so we have several calves next Spring. The 3rd crop of hay was good! Again, we were lucky with the weather. In-between farm projects, we managed to get landscaping and lawn seeded at the new house. So, for now we are caught up there. A couple projects still to finish, like winterizing the water tank and pumphouse, and maybe doing some late fall fertilizing. We feel much better about our fall preparation this year! We are good with hay for most of the winter, but still have to buy a few bales from the neighbors. Feeling good about the coming winter!

We used our new baler and got the second hay crop done- the baler and new rake worked great!  So nice to have things work without problems!  Now we are hoping we can get a 3rd crop by the end of September.  We have had alot of rain this summer, so we are hopeful.  The cows are looking great this summer and with all that rain, the paddocks are staying green and lush.  We are also working on landscaping at the new house- trying to get the lawn in.  We’ve had some equipment breakdowns, but finally got most of it finished a couple weeks ago.  Still some finishing work that may have to wait til Spring.  This weekend we will be working on the 3 sided shed again, hoping to get the steel on the roof at least, before winter.  And, we have to set up the cattle handler before the end of this month when the bull goes home.  Never-ending projects!  Wish I could clone Craig!!