The last two days have been very cold and dreary. We have been getting a little moisture but not enough to really help much. Temperature is running 40's and near freezing at night.
This has been a much busier week than is normal for us. Monday was allergist (just dust mites!) a veritable waste of our time and we will not be returning. The medicine they precribed for DH had more negative effects than his occasional sneezing fits. I did, in a weak moment, order the suggested mattress and pillow covers...........and a new comforter. We have a hepa filter vacuum.
Tuesday was DH's day to run his Mother on her errands which took all day! She is amazing at 96!
Wednesday was deliver the beef to the processor. I am almost out of beef in the freezer. They took us out back to see something interesting: The had a 2,000 lb Hereford steer from MSU that had a "window" embedded in his left side so students could observe. I found it very disgusting. He told us we had the only 'normal' beef delivered so far that day. The other pens were Long Horns, 2 very young and one mature with a set of horns so wide they had to unload him through a side panel instead of the regular gate. He said there is a big demand for Long Horn hamburger; it is supposed to have more nutrients. I am wondering if it just means no fat? I hadn't heard that one before.
Today is my run to the local store for a few groceries; DH's run to Ash Grove for a haircut and chicken feed, salt blocks and l00 lbs of puppy feed.
I did finish cleaning the dog pen one morning. I think it was 5 5- gallon buckets. We finally got smart and trapped the babies on one side of the double pens so I could empty the buckets without fighting them back each time. Now we will spread straw and I hope to clean the pens on a regular basis. They are little butterballs of hyper-activity!
Farm
I ordered fertilizer for the hay fields and now we just wait for a good, dry day to spread. Then, of course, I will hope for rain on the fertilizer.
We milked Jewel for the first time day before yesterday and are milking her again this morning.
She came right up the ramp and only kicked once then settled right down to the milking machine.
Her personality is very different from Willow's.
She gave 2.5 jars of very yellow milk, also different from Willow's more white version. I haven't checked the cream line yet this morning.
We don't know yet if we will try to find another calf to put on her.....probably not.
Well all the news for now. I need to get an early start to the store. From noon on I go downhill rapidly!
This has been a much busier week than is normal for us. Monday was allergist (just dust mites!) a veritable waste of our time and we will not be returning. The medicine they precribed for DH had more negative effects than his occasional sneezing fits. I did, in a weak moment, order the suggested mattress and pillow covers...........and a new comforter. We have a hepa filter vacuum.
Tuesday was DH's day to run his Mother on her errands which took all day! She is amazing at 96!
Wednesday was deliver the beef to the processor. I am almost out of beef in the freezer. They took us out back to see something interesting: The had a 2,000 lb Hereford steer from MSU that had a "window" embedded in his left side so students could observe. I found it very disgusting. He told us we had the only 'normal' beef delivered so far that day. The other pens were Long Horns, 2 very young and one mature with a set of horns so wide they had to unload him through a side panel instead of the regular gate. He said there is a big demand for Long Horn hamburger; it is supposed to have more nutrients. I am wondering if it just means no fat? I hadn't heard that one before.
Today is my run to the local store for a few groceries; DH's run to Ash Grove for a haircut and chicken feed, salt blocks and l00 lbs of puppy feed.
I did finish cleaning the dog pen one morning. I think it was 5 5- gallon buckets. We finally got smart and trapped the babies on one side of the double pens so I could empty the buckets without fighting them back each time. Now we will spread straw and I hope to clean the pens on a regular basis. They are little butterballs of hyper-activity!
Farm
I ordered fertilizer for the hay fields and now we just wait for a good, dry day to spread. Then, of course, I will hope for rain on the fertilizer.
We milked Jewel for the first time day before yesterday and are milking her again this morning.
She came right up the ramp and only kicked once then settled right down to the milking machine.
Her personality is very different from Willow's.
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| From Jewel |
She gave 2.5 jars of very yellow milk, also different from Willow's more white version. I haven't checked the cream line yet this morning.
We don't know yet if we will try to find another calf to put on her.....probably not.
Well all the news for now. I need to get an early start to the store. From noon on I go downhill rapidly!
Glad you are having better behaviour from Jewel vs Willow in the milking station. Is her milk yellow right now since she just calved? Something to do with colostrum? Or do Jersey's have so much more butterfat in the milk. Sure looks luscious. Hope you get a good bit of cream.
ReplyDeleteSunny but cold here. 99% of snow melted finally. Saw grackles at the feeder yesterday - a sure sign of Spring! You weather is so much further along than us -- hope we'll catch up soon. Glad you got good prices for your calves. :-D
Nice read about farm happenings.
ReplyDeleteGlad Jewel is treating you better than Willow did when it comes to milking.
Happy Spring ~ FlowerLady
Willow doesn't give Max any trouble usually; just me she dislikes!
DeleteJewel's milk is really rich looking. Mama used to have customers from town who bought gallon glass jugs of milk. Some of them would ask her to skim off the cream. Filling the jars with what we called 'blue john' amused Mama. She put the cream in the churn. I guess they were without a clue about whipping cream for a real treat over canned fruit, or that you could shake the cream in a quart jar and have pats of butter for bread.
ReplyDeleteJean, Dad called it 'blue john ' too and wouldn't touch it! I keep heavy cream on hand at all times. Hopefully, now I won't have to buy it. I use it when I make beignets and in a cream cheese Danish recipe....then I also like a bit on cereal......We also used to shake a jar to make butter. I will use the food processor. It works really well for that.
DeleteOh, man, that Jersey cream makes the smoothest ice-cream in the world! Jewel's milk looks like it's already butter! Heh!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad Jewel is easier to milk, I thought she would be. When you can milk Jewel regularly, will you retire Willow? Seems like it will be a lot better for you if/when that happens, since Willow gives you such a hard time.
We are chilly here, too, not freezing at night or any predictions of same, I'm thinking the cabbages and greens will grow better in the cool weather. I hope for a good cabbage crop this year. Still have sauerkraut from last year so won't need to make any of that, but I found a recipe for canned "pickled cabbage / carrot / onion" I thought I'd try, and I have a recipe for "freezer slaw" I want to try. I hope to get my cabbages grown and out of the garden before the cabbage worms discover them.
Those are basset hound pups, right? Weren't basset hounds bred for hunting? Oh, that'll be good for you too, they'll keep the varmints at bay. I guess their mama must've met with some kind of disaster, surely she'd be back by now. When I was a girl we had a cat disappear like that, leaving un-weaned kittens for us to deal with. My sister and I fed them milk with sugar in it from doll bottles - remember those that Evenflo used to make that were just like the real thing? All of them lived, and one day, after they'd been weaned, Mama cat showed up out of nowhere. She had a big triangular scab on her forehead. Oh they were all so glad to see each other, the kits tried to nurse but by then she was dry. It was a smile / cry event.
I don't know for sure what the puppies are other than part Beagle. I think they look very Basset like too. We have a cat, one of our oldest that leaves for months at a time then shows up and DH feeds her again. She hates the yellow cats that adopted us!
DeleteStill cold and dreary here.
Forgot about the milk cows, don't really know how we will handle it. The idea was to never be without milk like we were were when we turned Willow dry for two months. now they won't be dry at the same time. We will just see how things go. I need to start making more cheese products.
DeleteGlenda,
ReplyDeleteIt's been raining like crazy here. I would prefer to see some sun :-)
I so hear what you're saying about the allergist. I've been through 2 over the years, finally found one that listened. Hopefully, you'll find one that will help.
Good to hear your Jewel is providing you with some nice quality milk. She is gorgeous!