Even cows can benefit from having a mobile device. A new collar being developed for cattle ranchers could send cow health updates to farmers’ cellphones. The device could help ranchers save money in the long run, monitoring the health of their animals

This got me to thinking about getting a text message from my cows. I think it would be so cool. What would a cow text?

Gate left open. Cant find our way back in. Hrry Home

Ur late for chores. Where R U?

Betsy in heat. Lookn 4 Bull. bout 2 go thru fence

Pick up oats on ur way home

Dont 4get vet apt @ 2

What do you think a cow would text message? And what apps would they want?

Every year we haul corn out of the grain bins in December or January to the elevator. The kids are always giddy about pushing their favorite shovel to move corn, as you will see in the video. Usually the weather is bitterly cold but emptying the last bin the beginning of this Jan. was unusually warm.

Here is the video from last year. You can see the difference in the kids’ sizes in just one year. They eat lots of beef.

I have to decided to capture this harvest season day by day as much as possible. We have started pretty much on schedule with only a few “hiccups”. Stopping and starting because of cattle work, wells going dry, hauling water, meetings, drizzle ect. The corn is testing around 22%. So we can only fill the drying bin so much at a time.

Day 1:

Mike came with his weigh wagon to calibrate the GreenStar monitor. Got the cheat sheets out to remind me of what buttons to push. Only had to call the guys at the dealership twice for all the different settings. At the Farm Progress show, we were told that the dealership will be able to see our screen on their computer to see what in the world we are trying to describe.

The kids have cleaned out the bins and replaced the doors. The boys’ job is to watch the auger dump loading the bins. Bella is to keep track of the pastures and water situation.

The following video is a short one. It was taken before I had the idea of a daily harvest log. If you would like to follow along with our daily harvest activities, subscribe to the post updates in the sidebar. New entries will be sent to your email. And ask any questions you might have.

Baling Straw Video

When the 4th of July roles around every year, it also means it’s wheat harvest time which then means baling straw. For two hot days we baled straw into square bales onto rack wagons. Straw is bedding for livestock made from the stems of wheat after harvest. We store it in the hay loft of the barn for winter. William and Z took turns driving the tractor and riding the rack. Did I say it was hot?

Why Straw?

The stem of a mature wheat plant is hollow. This is good for wicking up moisture and for insulation in the winter time. It does eventually have to be removed as Z shows in the previous video Farm Boy and Tractors. Leave a comment on what you think of the above video. Thanks

After baling the hay, the round bales need to be moved and stored. We do not have a shed for storage. So we line them up end to end on an old drive way. Moisture is the biggest problem with hay storage. This year we put the bales on pallets, keeping them off the ground to let air circulate under them. Then we added a long tarp that is tied down to protect from rain.

We started planting corn this year on April 10. Were able to go for a few days, planting the fields that had wet spots. We knew if it started raining it would be a long time before we could get into them. Then it rained and rained and rained. Never lacking for something to do, we worked on cattle fence and regular repairs. We can never plan on anything because “it might dry out tomorrow and be back in the field”. But we kept waiting because it kept raining. Earlier this week we took a video of the field we first planted right after another rain. That field is nothing to brag about. The stand is uneven and puny mostly from lack of sun and warm weather.

Wednesday we were finally able to get into the fields. That day we planted 180 acres. Then yesterday we got 100 acres in before it rained again. Within 4 more days we could be finished. That is not including replanting the drowned out areas.

This is 4 years in a row that we have had major planting delays because of rain. I am hoping this is not a new normal weather pattern. I know that we are not the only farmers in this situation. There are whole regions of the US still in limbo, chomping at the bit to put seed in the ground. Many have yet to even start. But if farming were easy (or cheap) everyone would be doing it.

How are things progressing around your parts?

FarmAndRanchCountry.com is my husband’s website for his farm podcasts.

Planting season is upon us.

Big question is when to start? Do you get the corn in the ground while you can? If you wait will it be too wet later? Will there be a cold snap? Don’t want to run the rotary hoe. Will waiting decrease the chance of diplodia? Let the early planting suckers get it. Everyone has an opinion on when to start. No one wants to be first or last or wrong. Even read a tweet by Jim @tractorattack “Tried the ol indian trick of bare butt on ground. Holy mother of …. ground is dang cold. Not planting this week I guess” Hadn’t heard of that one before but it’s just as good as any other indicator.

We started on the 10th, in a field that can be a mud hole. Then we chose to plant other fields like it that have nasty wet areas that rain can easily prevent us form getting into for awhile. It’s actually a relief to just start.

Here is a video of us planting the field on the 10th. The tractor has auto steer but we ran the markers as a back-up for our fist time. This is the post William refers to in the video: Love by the GreenStar Light

Coach Radio Make Your Blog Sharable

Bella and I are cleaning where the steers have been lying during the last blizzard. The kids put down straw and hay for them under the lean-to. That was last week. Now the lot the steers are in is a muddy mess. Once we get the bull sold at the Beef Expo this week they will be moved to their new lot. Hopefully the kids will have them “mostly” broke to lead by then.

Like the catchy music? Makes you think of sunny times.

After trying to prime the well pump for over an hour, we decided the foot valve in the well must be bad. We removed the well cover, replaced the pipe and valve (with the help of Ron), then put the cover back. The cattle were mostly patient with us while the well was down.

The farm industry needs to listen to Mike Rowe. We don’t need to hire some big name hot shot to convince the public that farmers are good guys. The only way to get the message out is farm by farm, ranch by ranch telling its own story. The ones at “ground zero” doing the work. We can not abdicate our responsibilities to commodity organizations’ PR staffs to do the job for us.

Once a week on this site, I will write about how farmers and ranchers are getting their message out to inspire others to do the same. With less that 5% of the population producing food, we’re going to need every voice possible. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but it’s got to be done.