From the Barns: Start of a new season

I saw robins, snow geese and green grass all in the same frame last week — it must be spring! We found one not frozen and dry day last week and got our manure pumping year off to a great start, then it rained so we headed back to the shop for another week of tuning up equipment.

The last of the calves are weaned and on feed and we turned out their mothers on a pasture that hadn’t been grazed hardly at all last year. While the cows were thrilled to be out on all that new acreage, it didn’t take long for them to express their displeasure of not seeing the feed truck bring them corn silage and distillers the next morning. They are still lining up at the closest pasture corner in the morning with a very sour look on their faces.

With fats trading at over $2, letting them find their way on a truck has been real easy. Regathering replacement feeders may be more challenging and will certainly be more expensive. It’s a little nerve-wracking navigating in these uncharted waters. We are certainly handling a lot more money.

Some of my grandsons have been out getting the ranch ready for another grazing season. Ian and Jett have been stringing up fence, subdividing wheat growing on crop fields to accommodate more cattle for a couple of months before we turn out on permanent pastures. Kaden is busy flying clover and grass seed on pasture and hay fields with his drone to make more feed. I love new technology and these guys are really embracing it.

We won’t start calving until mid-April and by the look of things there should be lots of green grass to calve on by then. These warmer temperatures coupled with the time since the cattle were last poured have some animals looking pretty ratty due to lice. I have been using the mist sprayer to get ahead of the issue and it seems to be working. A little insecticide and the spring shed-off will have them all looking sharp pretty soon.

I’ve been seeing a variety of boats and fishing rods come in and out of the shop, so that season must be getting started, as well. A big crowd of grandmas and grandpas were in attendance for an indoor track meet at Knox College last week. It was great to get caught up with them since last season. Oops, I see the sun coming up. I better get outside and started for the season. I surely have someplace to slip off to about mid-afternoon.