OFI 594: State Of The Farm Episode | Kidding Season Continues | Not Giving Up On Electric Fence | Transforming Canadian Geese

SHOW NOTES

STATE OF THE FARM EPISODE! 

New D&B Under Construction

As you all know I host a radio show and podcast for D&B Supply, a farm and ranch retailer based in Caldwell, Idaho.  Naturally, this is where I do my shopping for equipment, veterinary supplies, clothing, you name it.  Well, they are building a brand new store just two miles from the end of my driveway.  I am very excited about this as I will be able to just jump on my bicycle and go to D&B.  You know, like a farmer in Germany might.

As of right now, when I need something farm and ranch related, which, other than groceries, is all I shop for, I have to drive either into Meridian or Nampa, Idaho.  So, I have a 25 to 35 minute drive, depending on which store I choose.  Soon, this will be very easy.  The only mixed emotions I have on this is that the building of this new store is a clear cut example of how fast my little community is growing and how much more growth is anticipated here.

Auction Day

I am taking a bit of a risk this year to expand my cow herd.  The ground that I have had in production for hay is being converted to pasture.  The alfalfa stand is 7 years old this year, so we just planted a pasture mix into it a couple of weeks ago.  I just walked it yesterday, and the orchard and rye grasses we planted are sprouting.

This means two things for us.  First, I will have to buy all or most of my hay.  This is the risky part.  As hay prices fluctuate, and I am no longer growing my own I may regret this decision.  Second, I will now have more pasture than I have cattle.  So, I am retaining my heifers to grow my herd.  This means that I am short on cattle to sell this coming fall.

So, I spent last Friday at the auction.  I bought one steer to be able to market to our customers, and I suspect I will buy a couple more in the coming weeks.  I also sold a three year old cow that was not working out.  This all worked out because she sold for more than the steer I purchased.  So, I had no money out of pocket.  I actually still received a check.

But, it was a busy day at the auction. I was there early to purchase

the steer, and then I waited until the very end for my cow to sell.  They sold about 750 head that day, so it was a long, long day.  The lines to drop off my cow, and then later to pick up my steer were also very long.  The main photo for this post was taken at the end of the day when I was waiting to pick up the steer

I always enjoy going to the auction.  Buying cattle low and selling them high was the specialty of my step-grandfather who introduced me to this business.  When I go to the auction I am definitely out of my element. I am certainly not a “cattle trader”, but I strive to be one.  So, whenever I go, I spend a lot of time just watching, listening and taking notes.  One of these days I will be that old man that is there every Friday that the auctioneer knows as a savvy trader.

Kidding Continues

We are about 1/2 way through our kidding season now.  Hattie is becoming more and more astute on the farm.  In this picture she has a sizable Boer buckling that wasn’t nursing enough.  She tried to get him to bottle feed, but he wasn’t having it.  So, she decided to tube it with some milk replacer to make sure it had the energy to keep fighting his siblings for the milk.  Of course this means kids in the house.  But luckily we haven’t had to keep any in the house overnight this year.

Farm Fitness

Almost exactly one year ago I had a calf that I needed to castrate, and I had waited way too long to get this done.  He was big, and I don’t have a calf table….yet.  I got him penned up, roped his head and tied him off. Then I went to throw him.  You know, the way I did when I was 20.

I reached over him, grabbed his flank and pulled!  But nothing happened.  I tried again, and I did not budge him.  So, I settled for bulldogging him to the ground, piling my help on top of him and getting the job done.  Since that day, I have decided to work smarter, not harder, when it comes to our calves.  However, the memory of that day has stuck with me.

About two days later I noticed that my legs were killing me, as if I had tried to squat 300 pounds after not working out for, well forever.  This got progressively worse and worse and worse until it became apparent that I had done something to my lower back.  I went and saw a chiropractor, but that really did not work out the way I was hoping.

This pain, which could be upwards of a 7 on the 10 scale at times, continued to persist and stay the same if not get a little worse.  I had to face it.  I had become a non-exerciser, and I was hiding behind the excuse that I was just too busy.  That statement is actually about 1/2 excuse, and 1/2 truth.

I never liked going to the gym, and I really did not have the time to take 90 minutes out of each day to go down there, work out and then come back home.  But, I like lifting weights.  I am no Mr. Universe, but I do like the way lifting weights makes me feel.

So, I talked to Autumm, and she agreed that purchasing some weights would be a fine idea.  I bought some dumbbells, kettle bells, a bench and some floor protection from Amazon.  If Amazon Prime has ever come in handy, it was now.  The free shipping on all this weight was awesome.  I actually had to unload the weights from our mail lady’s Jeep for her.

I have been lifting three mornings per week for past few months now, and my back and leg pain is disappearing.  Actually, if I didn’t believe in jinxing myself, I would say that it has disappeared.  This is great news, and I highly recommend a little supplemental exercise and lifting for all of us aging farmers.

Plus, our Golden Retriever, Hailey, joins me in the art/piano/exercise room in the mornings for my workouts. So, it is special bonding time!

Running Track, Softball & 4H

I never thought that Autumm and I were going to be those parents who went from child activity to child activity.  As a matter of fact, we pledged to not be those parents.  So, we do not sign Hattie up for every event possible.

How ironic that we have raised a girl who wants to do those things on her own!  Currently Hattie is running track at school, playing softball out of school and in 4H.  She had her first meet last week, and I got to use our fancy new camera to document it.  Did I mention that she is teaching herself piano at home?  Who is this kid?

Electric Fence Repair

Because we bought our farm completely undeveloped we don’t have everything in place quite yet.  That means that I still create a sacrifice area using electric fence each winter.  Ever since we got started with this I have been using electric rope.  I really like it because it is easy to work with and you can tie it like rope.

However, it will sag as temperatures fluctuate or during a rain or snow.  Just this year, about four years after I started using it, I started to notice that my fencer was showing a full charge with no faults but I had parts of the fence where there was no spark.  This didn’t make any sense to me because normally if there is a short, the fencer will show a very low reading.

I went looking for the cause of the problem and was not able to identify it.  In the mean time our calves started getting out of the sacrifice area by going under the electric rope that was not charged.  Pretty soon the cows couldn’t stand it, and they started working their way out as well.  This led to a mess of other electric rope dragged around the pasture and cows out eating grass way before they should be allowed to.

I finally identified the problem while doing an interview on electric fencing for the D&B Supply Show – smart right?  If you do not already know, the electric rope is a polymer type substance that is woven into a rope with thin strands of wire woven in with it.  The polymer make it into rope and the wire carries the charge that shocks the animal.

Over time if the rope is damaged the wires inside can break apart.  But, if they are close enough together they will arc each time the fencer sends a charge.  This repeated sparking starts to melt the polymer.  Pretty soon you have a spot that is melted, and it is no longer able to carry the charge past that spot.  However, there is nothing obvious to indicate to you where the spot is located.

This is what had started to happen throughout my entire line.  So, this last weekend I converted a large portion of the sacrifice area over to wire for my electric fencing.  This solved my problem, and now all of the cattle, calves included, are more than happy to stay away from the electric fence.

Scourge Of Canadian Geese

Can you remember a time when Canadian Geese were a magical thing to see?  As a hunter, I sure can.  I can remember when seeing them in the air was a sure sign of fall and of great things to come.  I can remember when finding a place to hunt geese was on par with winning the lottery.  Then gradually, things started to shift.

When I used to work in Boise I started noticing more and more Canadian Geese hanging around in the city parks.  Then crossing the roads to the dismay of the many motorists that were stopped for them.  I even responded to road rage calls because people got in shouting matches with motorists who did not stop for the geese.

Pretty soon the grass in our parks was almost unusable because of all the goose poop.  Laying a blanket down for a picnic was out of the question.  Then we bought our farm.  After we were here a couple of years I noticed a pair of geese would try to make a nest on the top of our haystack in the spring.  This was unfortunate because I had to keep feeding, and the nest usually ended up toppling down with eggs still in it as I pulled bales away.

Then I started noticing nesting pairs out in our alfalfa field.  This year we have multiple sets of geese nesting on our property.  They are back on the haystack, out in the alfalfa and now in our pasture.  As I write this I am looking down at a nesting spot in our pasture where mother and father were at just a while ago.

The City of Boise even eliminated restrictions on having dogs off leash in several parks hoping the dogs would run the geese out!  Did Ducks Unlimited do too good of a job with conservation?  Wow, too much of a good thing!

More Updates:

There are even more updates for you on this podcast.  I hope you enjoy this version and my attempts to share more with you about our farm!

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA 

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue

Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:

Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters