Fence upgrade

new fence

This new fence was a necessary upgrade from the old one. The old fence had rusty steel posts and worn down cattle panels, that wasn’t very eye appealing. Now with this new wooden fence, it’s more durable and looks like a feasible fence. Also, the 14 foot gate will be useful when some cattle get out and when liberty utilities has to work on the gas line. The new fence is great and will most likely be stands for awhile, but most of all it doesn’t look like something out of Kentucky.

Video of Farm Life Ep. 3

Farm Life in 6 second clips

kinze planter on a John Deere tractor going into transport position, filling the planter with seed corn, corn germinating after two days, switching the planter units over to plant soy beans, farm kids bringing in newborn calf so its closer by the barn away from coyotes, putting the planter away in the shed since storm clouds were approaching. One of our many videos of farm life.

Slideshow of Farm Life May 2013


(click arrow to start slideshow)

As last year had historic drought conditions, this spring has had unending waves of rain. This month alone we’ve had over 10″ of rain. We were able to get all the corn planted and 80% of the beans. But we’ve yet to determine how much replant we’ll have to do. We haven’t had the first cutting of hay which really needs to be done. Very glad May is over.

February Farm in Photos

Farm photo slide show of the major events.

Farm Kids & Child Labor

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.

Harvest11 Day End’s in Sight

Well, Monday coulda been the day we finished.  We had started the last field of beans late Saturday afternoon. The weather was warmish. We whittled away at the last 160 acres for the next couple of days. With the elevator staying open ’til 8:pm, we could get quite a bit done in a day. But it started getting cloudy late Monday morning. NOAA kept increasing the chance of rain from 30% to 70%. By 3:pm it started raining and we had to quit with 20 acres left of the 2011 harvest season. Then we’ve had drizzle for the next two days to keep us out.

skunk in field

BigGreenCombine ran this skunk out of the beans. Lots of critters in the field

We got a hole in the ground

The drillers came and did what they do best and put a 140′ hole in the ground for our new well. They said it was good for 90 gallons/minute. William is just giddy about having water.

drilling rig

William is holding sand that came up like it's gold. He's going to bottle it. (not kidding)

The picture above was early in the morning. The picture below was what was left after they did their magic. They were pumping air down the hole to bring up water ’til it ran clear. So we had a 6ft fountain in our hay field.

water in the hole

Next time you see William congratulate him on his new well. I think he would pass out cigars if he had any. Below is the video we made for his blog.

A Farm Family Week

A Week in the Life of My Farm Familyboy on tractor

We are a family of 5 (William, me, and 3 kids; 16, 14, & 13 yo). The following is what we did this past week in addition to the daily cattle chores and school work.

Wednesday May 4:

Cultivated ground- 65 acres; planted corn – 170 acres; evening Planning Commission meeting

Thursday May 5:

Helped two heifers have calves; Planted corn – 105 acres; Artificial Inseminated a heifer and cow; Rained; evening Zoning meeting

Friday, May 6:

fields too wet; did book work; washed show heifers; after ground dried planted corn – 15 acres; hauled manure

Saturday, May 7:

cultivated 22 acre field then moved to another field to work gulleys; planted corn in two fields – 90 acres; cleaned the barn; hauled manure

Sunday, May 8: Mother’s Day

After church cultivated 29 acres; planted corn 120 acres

Monday, May 9: Wedding Anniversary

Assisted cow having a calf; planted corn 65 acres; replanted corn on sections of two fields; hauled manure; Artificial inseminated a heifer; went out to eat for anniversary

Tuesday, May 10:

Double disked 30 acres corn stalks where cows over-wintered; planted the field; replanted section of another field; worked on cattle fence; hauled manure; washed show heifers; drained Buttercup’s udder

Wednesday, May 11:

Made 3 trips to pick up more seed corn for replant; replanted on sections of 2 fields; hauled manure; trimmed hair on weaned heifers; washed show heifers; had a rain shower; electricity went out because of storm to the north; went out to eat because couldn’t cook and celebrate finishing corn planting & replant

Thursday, May 12:

Picked up load of soy bean seed; switched planter units over to beans; ect.

4 things that disappear around here

Like the socks that are eaten by the washing machine, there are four things (sometimes more) that never seem to make it back to where they belong.

  1. Sharp knife: We keep large pocket knives in the tractors that move the round bales. Before we put bales in for the cows, we cut the wrap off of them.  Last time a few bales were put in, I got a phone call: “Send one of the kids out with a knife. There isn’t one in this cab.”
  2. 1/2 in. wrench: For some reason this size wrench is never to be found on or near the equipment that is being worked on. But if someone goes to another shed, a fist full of them are within a few steps of each other.
  3. Duct Tape: This one might be unique to this family. The duct tape roll (or rolls) are always hard to put our hands on. We even have a pink roll that can be difficult to find.
  4. Pliers: These win the most elusive prize. We could buy a pair of pliers every trip to Big R or Tractor Supply ;and we’d still never have a set on hand when we need them. I believe pliers do have legs that carry them out of tool boxes never to return.

With five of us (six if you count grandpa) running here and there, grabbing tools we need for whatever project we are working on; it is no wonder we can’t find things. At least once a week you can hear someone complain: ” Put it back where it belongs when you’re done!”

Do you have things that “have legs” around your place?