So today was the day...let's round up spayed heifers.
Mom and I got up to go down for chores and saddle up this morning. For whatever reason, she thought that I had a coffee pot on my counter the last time she was here- so she didn't bring one. Well, it must have been a figment of her imagination- so she boiled coffee on the stove! hahaha- I thought it was ridiculous and was wondering why she couldn't just drink a glass of orange juice! But, none the less, she had her coffee.
By the time I fed the chicks and got down to the corrals Dean had a lot of chores done, but buckets still needed filled, and hay needed put out. I did all that while the horses ate their oats. Then, Nicole came out and I got to talk to her a bit before we caught our horses. Once we rounded up the heard, I grabbed Bowdie since it's been a while since we've bonded and had mom ride Nelly. Adrienne, Dean, Ross, Nicole, Mom, and I loaded up our horses and got in the pickup. I left a spot for Ross in the front seat but he insisted on sitting in the bed of the pickup- so off we went. He took us out to the pasture along the creek and off we went. We all covered different corners and managed to get them about where we wanted. Right towards the end they tried running down the creek but mom was posted in a good spot and Nicole and I ran down to stop the herd and between the three of us it all worked out ok. I felt bad because mom ended up having to run all over-but she swears she enjoyed it and it wasn't that bad!
From that point we headed on home and didn't have much trouble. We had to keep them off of a couple millet fields and some round bales, but they were good for the most part. We had 152 for a count at the gate and that meant that we were right on beause we had two strays along with us and the steers that were mixed in were accounted for. When we got to the road there were of course cars coming from all directions and the obnoxious rez runner full of kids at teh front were hollering and beating on the doors at the cattle. I didn't know at the time because I was further back but if I had I would have beat on their doors as well...
We got them up the road just a ways and before we coudl put them into the next gate a few jumped the fence...annoying yearlings. But, we got the rest in the right spot and Merle headed back with his four wheeler (he had taken the trailer home and come back on four wheeler) and shut the gate and fixed the fence. We took them to the water and then headed home through the pasture.
Alll in all it wasnt' too bad for a yearling roundup. At least they are home now and we won't have to take them far to get them in the corral for Wednesday. I had a good time taking my mom along and talking to Nicole. I think Adrienne really enjoyed getting on her other horse and being out again too! We went in and unsaddled and let the horses get a roll and some much deserved oats. It wasn't as hot when we got home today but it was getting close!
Merle sent me and mom home to get Grandma and come back for dinner. So, we ran home, gathered her and some gatorade and headed back down. We were a little early so we sat around and I tried to help Adrienne with dinner. She made some super tasty roast and lots of other good stuff. I love a good meat and potatoes dinner! We helped her with the dishes and Erin had Rylee. It was so funny to see Rylee in a little jumper today. Erin dressed her and insisted that she wear something more than a onzee- it was really cute! So after dinner we all sat aroudn and talked for a bit until I broke up the party and said we should go- there were enough people around there. Ross headed home, Merle and Adrienne adn Nicole went and strung salt and looked at cattle, and Mom and Grandma and I drove around seeing the sights all afternoon. It was super nice of them to feed so many of us for dinner and fun to be around everyone too!
They wanted to stop at the quilt store in town for fabric- so we did that for quite a while. Then, decided to head south. I took them past the refuge and we drove through the Bowring Ranch that is set up for tourists but they were closed. We were able to drive through though and at least see the place- it's pretty neat. Then, we decided to go a little further into the sandhills. While doing that, I said that we may as well go to Gordon and get some of the good ice cream at the gas station..so we did! haha- ridiculous. Then, I took them home on hwy 18 to see some different scenery. There were a lot of harvesters going so that was a neat route. After getting back to town, I took them around to the east side of town and we headed down to Dicks from that direction. Inever realized how good the view was from there before because we're usually on a mission when we're headed that way. It was nice just to drive down and take pictures. They got to see what I'm always talking about when I say I go down there and they really enjoyed the drive and view I think. We finally headed back out of there and came back home as a big rain cloud headed our way. I don't think it ever rained a bit- but you never know!
We had a pretty informal supper and now I'm ready for bed. This was the first day that I've been around the area and not done chores (Besides because of other work) that I can remember! I'm a bad person!! ...pretty sure the boss man was all over it but I still have a hard time skipping!
It was nice to take an afternoon off and hang with my mom and grandma. It sounds like we are going to try to fetch our three missing bulls int he mornig. Mom says she wants to go again so I guess we're going! If I break her- she volunteered!!!
"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing."
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Pictures.
After forever I have finally started uploading some pictures...check back in May on a post called "gate after gate".
Get er done
So the day started pretty simply.
We did chores- they went pretty well minus the fact that the darn steers are off their corn. I'm guessing it's a combo between it being too hot and them getting too much good hay! ...o well, they seem to still be alive and kickin'!
After we got that taken care of Ross went out and rounded up the horses for a day's work. Today, we were told that we were gunna take a first shot at rounding up bulls out of the big unit. Hence the name, it's rather large. I saddled up Tanner and loaded him up. The doctor told Adrienne that she could ride the other day so she saddled up her horse and loaded him in hopes that he wouldn't buck her off today!
We hauled all the way out to the house on the hill of this pasture and then took off. Dean and Ross took one side and Adrienne and I took the other. There was one bull right at the gate so Adrienne drug him all the way to the other end of the pasture...he was not fun to push. I took off in another direction and every once in a while I would run across another rider or see them in the distance....but never with any bulls- and I didn't find one either. I ended up meeting with Adrienne at the creek once and got her bull headed in the right direction but other than that there wasn't much contact with everyone else. Becasue I wasn't sure what was covered and what wasn't- and I knew we did have anywheres close to 8 bulls, I took off for the west end of the pasture and covered quite a bit of it too. Right at the very last few steps I took towards the gate I ran into one bull...my prize. When we all met up we had five bulls, two stray steers (we knew there were a bunch in there) and no Ross. So...Dean goes back to figure out what the black spot in the fenceline is and Adrienne and I hold the bulls at the gate. After a while Merle calls and says he's headed our way on a four wheeler- meanwhile I ride over the ridge to see if I can find Ross. ...and here he comes with ONE yearling. Yes, he came all the way across the pasture with one steer- I think he originally had ten or so but this was what he had left. So, I figured since he was headed that way anyway I pushed six or seven steers out of the far corner and we took them with as well. We all ended up meeting up at the gate (Merle on the four wheeler as well) and took our five bulls and seven or so steers back across a couple pastures and to the long pasture along the road.
We should have started earlier or given up sooner...it was super hot! I'm pretty sure if my horse could speak english he would have had some choice words for each time I kicked him! But, we all made it back to the trailer and they headed home. I took the four wheeler back and headed up the rear, closing the gates. We unsaddled and went in for dinner.
After dinner, we all set out to stack bales. Adrienne stayed with Rylee and her sister Erin for a while. Dean went north to stack bales- he got his tractor running temporarily by putting an old ty rod back on. The one that Roger and I worked on wasn't working right and now we are tryhing to solve that mystery- in the mean time, the old one should hold out.
Ross took the hydrabed pickup to move bales with, I hooked onto my loader bucket and Merle headed out with his tractor too. I started putting bales next to each other for Ross while Merle stacked. This worked for a while until Merle's loader broke down and he headed to town to fix it. I have a broken pin in my loader and they didn't order the right ones in town so I was being super careful as well. After I got everything set up for Ross I started stacking, but gave up pretty quick after realizing that my loader pin wasn't going to hold out. All in all, the stacking was fine. I did manage to mess up one bale, but I shoved it in the stack so tight that I'll never be found out until late in the winter time! haha!
After quitting that job I took my loader up to the chicken shed and cleaned it out. The chicks have grown to the semi ugly stage and have been jumping the partition for quite some time. So, I got both sides of the shed ready for them and took the partition wall out. I wanted to get a few more things done before choes so I took the trash out of the shed as well. That bought me enough time to realize that I had better start feeding. By this time, Merle was back and had stacked bales and Ross just finished up hauling them in. Now, we are ready for some heifers to move home tomorrow!
As I went to do chores, Adrienne and Merle went out and worked on the fence at the bull pasture at Dick's. I did chores and Dean helped clean up. Then, I turned in for teh day and showered. Shortly afterward, Mom and Grandma showed up. We drove out and looked at teh horses and went for a short walk. It's fun to have other living breathing talking bodies in the house...but it's getting close to bedtime. Nicole (Who worked here for several years before I ever came) is here tonight at Merle's as well. So, we're just full of compnay! But, it's time I part for bed. Perhaps my back won't hate me as much.
"Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction." -Cowboy Wisdom
We did chores- they went pretty well minus the fact that the darn steers are off their corn. I'm guessing it's a combo between it being too hot and them getting too much good hay! ...o well, they seem to still be alive and kickin'!
After we got that taken care of Ross went out and rounded up the horses for a day's work. Today, we were told that we were gunna take a first shot at rounding up bulls out of the big unit. Hence the name, it's rather large. I saddled up Tanner and loaded him up. The doctor told Adrienne that she could ride the other day so she saddled up her horse and loaded him in hopes that he wouldn't buck her off today!
We hauled all the way out to the house on the hill of this pasture and then took off. Dean and Ross took one side and Adrienne and I took the other. There was one bull right at the gate so Adrienne drug him all the way to the other end of the pasture...he was not fun to push. I took off in another direction and every once in a while I would run across another rider or see them in the distance....but never with any bulls- and I didn't find one either. I ended up meeting with Adrienne at the creek once and got her bull headed in the right direction but other than that there wasn't much contact with everyone else. Becasue I wasn't sure what was covered and what wasn't- and I knew we did have anywheres close to 8 bulls, I took off for the west end of the pasture and covered quite a bit of it too. Right at the very last few steps I took towards the gate I ran into one bull...my prize. When we all met up we had five bulls, two stray steers (we knew there were a bunch in there) and no Ross. So...Dean goes back to figure out what the black spot in the fenceline is and Adrienne and I hold the bulls at the gate. After a while Merle calls and says he's headed our way on a four wheeler- meanwhile I ride over the ridge to see if I can find Ross. ...and here he comes with ONE yearling. Yes, he came all the way across the pasture with one steer- I think he originally had ten or so but this was what he had left. So, I figured since he was headed that way anyway I pushed six or seven steers out of the far corner and we took them with as well. We all ended up meeting up at the gate (Merle on the four wheeler as well) and took our five bulls and seven or so steers back across a couple pastures and to the long pasture along the road.
We should have started earlier or given up sooner...it was super hot! I'm pretty sure if my horse could speak english he would have had some choice words for each time I kicked him! But, we all made it back to the trailer and they headed home. I took the four wheeler back and headed up the rear, closing the gates. We unsaddled and went in for dinner.
After dinner, we all set out to stack bales. Adrienne stayed with Rylee and her sister Erin for a while. Dean went north to stack bales- he got his tractor running temporarily by putting an old ty rod back on. The one that Roger and I worked on wasn't working right and now we are tryhing to solve that mystery- in the mean time, the old one should hold out.
Ross took the hydrabed pickup to move bales with, I hooked onto my loader bucket and Merle headed out with his tractor too. I started putting bales next to each other for Ross while Merle stacked. This worked for a while until Merle's loader broke down and he headed to town to fix it. I have a broken pin in my loader and they didn't order the right ones in town so I was being super careful as well. After I got everything set up for Ross I started stacking, but gave up pretty quick after realizing that my loader pin wasn't going to hold out. All in all, the stacking was fine. I did manage to mess up one bale, but I shoved it in the stack so tight that I'll never be found out until late in the winter time! haha!
After quitting that job I took my loader up to the chicken shed and cleaned it out. The chicks have grown to the semi ugly stage and have been jumping the partition for quite some time. So, I got both sides of the shed ready for them and took the partition wall out. I wanted to get a few more things done before choes so I took the trash out of the shed as well. That bought me enough time to realize that I had better start feeding. By this time, Merle was back and had stacked bales and Ross just finished up hauling them in. Now, we are ready for some heifers to move home tomorrow!
As I went to do chores, Adrienne and Merle went out and worked on the fence at the bull pasture at Dick's. I did chores and Dean helped clean up. Then, I turned in for teh day and showered. Shortly afterward, Mom and Grandma showed up. We drove out and looked at teh horses and went for a short walk. It's fun to have other living breathing talking bodies in the house...but it's getting close to bedtime. Nicole (Who worked here for several years before I ever came) is here tonight at Merle's as well. So, we're just full of compnay! But, it's time I part for bed. Perhaps my back won't hate me as much.
"Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction." -Cowboy Wisdom
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wet
I almost missed the memo about rolling out of bed ontime thismorning!
Last night we had quite the storm and along with it came some nasty lightning and winds. I woke up and had a hard time getting back to sleep. The point is, during that time the electricity flashed and all my alarm clocks were way off as a result. If it wasn't for my mom calling me, I probably would still be in bed!
I did chores at 6:30 and then found out the plans for the day. Before we got too far, all the straw that was loaded last night still needed put in the barn. So, Merle and Dean and I swept out the hayloft of the barn and started unloading. We didn't get too far before I had to go home and change clothes for a chiropractor's apt.
I got out of here by just a little after 8 so that I couls start paperwork around 8:30. While I was sitting in the waiting room, I had to laugh. It's such a small town- everyone that was there was pretty much staring at me or tring to figure out who i was. In fact, the secretary was Adrienne's mom and I"m not so sure that she recognized me either. But, I eventually go the paperwork all filled out and the chiropractor showed up. He did some talking and told me about wha the does and then gave it a shot.
He definitly go my back to move into a new place, but the questions remains...will it stay. We set up a follow up apt down in his office in Gordon for next week as well to see how things progress. Well, I know right now that I didn't keep the adjustment more than an hour. Ugh. My back now feels just as nasty or worse. It's really not comfortable to be in any position but I swear I'll get over it. Hopefully he can figure out how to fix it by next week.
When I got back home I changed clothes and went down to see what was happening. I found Ross, digging out an old marker post for a tank overflow down in by the yard (Dean was fixing on some corral gates). So, I helped him dig and pull out the post. One the things I was trying to do was pull the overflow pipe out of the tank so that we could get teh water out of i tand clean it up. Well, I got it good this time. I managed to tap too hard on the pipe and break the piece. Smooth.
But regarless of me breaking things we got it drained and Merle and Ross and I did some serious mud scooping to get it all cleaned out. There were some goldfish that had been put in that tank so it was kinda funny to scoop water and mud out since you never knew if there was a goldfish around or not! But, we got it scooped out and then headed in to eat. Adrienne had cooked some good minute steaks again so it was pretty hard to pass that up!
After eating, we started to look for the size piping that was needed for the short section of overflow tubing that I broke. Despite looking everywhere- I can't find anything tha titns't perforated around here. That was pretty frustrating since I never needed to break it anyway-grrr...oh well. On his way home, Ross was going to stop and pick up a piece in town. After giving the hunt for pipe up, I got in the rake tractor and we started putting up the hay on the bottoms. Before we left I noticed a leaky tire on my tractor...just one more obnoxious things that needs fixed. The hay was still a little wet, but flipping it over helped some. We hayed the whole afternoon and got all that was cut put up. Adrienne was out stacking bales with teh pickup and Merle joined her later after I helped him put the loader and bale fork on his tractor. We unhooked our haying equipment for now- but I know we still hve some ditches and bottoms to do.
I did chores while those two stacked bales and Dean went up north to work on his tractor. All in all, it was an ok day-but now I'm ready to crawl into bed.
Goodnight!
Last night we had quite the storm and along with it came some nasty lightning and winds. I woke up and had a hard time getting back to sleep. The point is, during that time the electricity flashed and all my alarm clocks were way off as a result. If it wasn't for my mom calling me, I probably would still be in bed!
I did chores at 6:30 and then found out the plans for the day. Before we got too far, all the straw that was loaded last night still needed put in the barn. So, Merle and Dean and I swept out the hayloft of the barn and started unloading. We didn't get too far before I had to go home and change clothes for a chiropractor's apt.
I got out of here by just a little after 8 so that I couls start paperwork around 8:30. While I was sitting in the waiting room, I had to laugh. It's such a small town- everyone that was there was pretty much staring at me or tring to figure out who i was. In fact, the secretary was Adrienne's mom and I"m not so sure that she recognized me either. But, I eventually go the paperwork all filled out and the chiropractor showed up. He did some talking and told me about wha the does and then gave it a shot.
He definitly go my back to move into a new place, but the questions remains...will it stay. We set up a follow up apt down in his office in Gordon for next week as well to see how things progress. Well, I know right now that I didn't keep the adjustment more than an hour. Ugh. My back now feels just as nasty or worse. It's really not comfortable to be in any position but I swear I'll get over it. Hopefully he can figure out how to fix it by next week.
When I got back home I changed clothes and went down to see what was happening. I found Ross, digging out an old marker post for a tank overflow down in by the yard (Dean was fixing on some corral gates). So, I helped him dig and pull out the post. One the things I was trying to do was pull the overflow pipe out of the tank so that we could get teh water out of i tand clean it up. Well, I got it good this time. I managed to tap too hard on the pipe and break the piece. Smooth.
But regarless of me breaking things we got it drained and Merle and Ross and I did some serious mud scooping to get it all cleaned out. There were some goldfish that had been put in that tank so it was kinda funny to scoop water and mud out since you never knew if there was a goldfish around or not! But, we got it scooped out and then headed in to eat. Adrienne had cooked some good minute steaks again so it was pretty hard to pass that up!
After eating, we started to look for the size piping that was needed for the short section of overflow tubing that I broke. Despite looking everywhere- I can't find anything tha titns't perforated around here. That was pretty frustrating since I never needed to break it anyway-grrr...oh well. On his way home, Ross was going to stop and pick up a piece in town. After giving the hunt for pipe up, I got in the rake tractor and we started putting up the hay on the bottoms. Before we left I noticed a leaky tire on my tractor...just one more obnoxious things that needs fixed. The hay was still a little wet, but flipping it over helped some. We hayed the whole afternoon and got all that was cut put up. Adrienne was out stacking bales with teh pickup and Merle joined her later after I helped him put the loader and bale fork on his tractor. We unhooked our haying equipment for now- but I know we still hve some ditches and bottoms to do.
I did chores while those two stacked bales and Dean went up north to work on his tractor. All in all, it was an ok day-but now I'm ready to crawl into bed.
Goodnight!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
drawing straw(S)
Hm. Where to start...how about the same way I always do.
Chores went as normal as usual. It actually takes a lot less time now that we have no fats (sent to the local butcher) and no extra bull (took him to the sale barn yesterday). Dean went and got the horses while I was feeding everyone else and we saddled up and loaded them in the trailer with a four wheeler for Adrienne.
We headed out to Tech's with three pickups so that we could pick up the panels and tub chute when we were done. On the way there I guessed where they were set down at wrong and had to cut across a wheat stubble field...haha if you ever see those tracks- it wasn't me!
We got the chute set down and corral panels set up and took off. I was the last one to finish panels so Ross and Dean were way ahead of me looking for bulls. I just did my own thing. We ended up all meeting in about the same place with just one bull. Dean held him back while Adrienne and Ross and I scoured the pasture for the other one. Finally, after covering the whole thing probably more than one time, Ross found him just across the fence and got him back. We got them both in the tub chute but had trouble with them fighting and one managed to load by himself. With bulls, it never works unless they load together...we didn't want to take the chance so we just loaded them up in separate compartment and tied the horses up there. Adrienne and I hopped in the pickup with Rylee and took the bulls down to the bull pasture at Dicks. Meanwhile, they rest of them picked up corral panels and the tub chute and got going towards home. Merle stayed there with the horses and four wheeler.
We got down to Dicks just in time to notice two yearling bulls on the wrong side of the fence. So...after we unloaded I uncovered Johnny's fourwheeler and fired her up. I had to do some ring around the rosie but I got them back into the right spot. We are guessing there is a hole in that fenceling along the hayfield somewhere since they found a bull in there earlier this week. We'll have to look into that soon. But, for the time being we got going back towards the horses at Techs. This whole time Rylee decided that she was content as long as we moved. I have never seen a baby that likes to be jiggled to sleep like that one does because believe me- the trails are anything but smooth.
So we head back towards Techs and here comes a strange looking object down the road. As it turns out it was Merle on the fourwheeler ponying three horses behind him...I thought that was pretty impressive and rather funny! We loaded them up and went on home. After feeding the baby while Adrienne cooked, we ate an early dinner and Merle headed back out to move the tractor and square baler and started baling straw southwest of hisle.
Adrienne adn I took off for town and she dropped me off to get the older red pickup after they replaced the leaf spring in it. Our trip in was less eventful than usual because her sister is around for a week or so and babysat Rylee for the afternoon. I think that was nice for Adrienne to have a break! While I was in town I grabbed some groceries and mail and then headed back home. I unloaded groceries and tried to lay down for five minutes to give my back a rest but it didn't do any good so I just took off again. I was going to help Ross unhook the chisel and hook up the disk but he beat me to it so I just went to the shed to find a new task.
I decided to blow the radiator out on the fire truck after our wheat field excursion the other day. And boy did it need it...half a wheat field came out of the darn thing! After that I started cleaning out the other half of the chicken shed because the chicks have gotten big enough that they just go where they want and are not staying on their side of the coop! ...turds.
I didn't get too far with that when Adrienne pulled up and said it was time to go pick up bales. We hooked on to all three trailers that are around and went to the field. When we got there I said heck with someone driving lets just let it drive itself. So, we seatbelted the steering wheel in and put it in low. It worked pretty slick adn Adrienne adn I were pretty darn proud of ourselves. Lol- I think Dean thought we had lost it. I was laughing as Merle drove by with the baler and saw his shiny red pickup driving itself! After throwing a few bales Merle pretty much demaned that i come over to the baler. I was then sentanced to baling for the rest of the evening for fear that I might mess up my back more than it already is.
It's probably a good thing that someone forces me not to lift everything I see- cuz I can't get comfortable on 500mg of Tylenol right now and I didn't throw hardly any bales compared to the rest of them. Anyway, they filled three trailers and I almost finished baling when we shut down. We each took a pickup home and parked them. Ross had finihsed disking the wheat stubble on the bottoms around home and done chores so I just went down and filled the grain pails for tomorrow morning and then headed to the shed. Merle wanted to get some haying in before dark since it's supposed to rain so we did that for an hour or so and then turned in.
We got a few things done today anyhow- it was more productive than yesterday for sure. But now, I'm going to go find a way to be comfortable because this is ridiculous. And yes, (for all you worrisome ppl out there) I do have an apt with the chiropractor that comes to Martin once a week tomorrow morning.
"Cowboy Up"
Chores went as normal as usual. It actually takes a lot less time now that we have no fats (sent to the local butcher) and no extra bull (took him to the sale barn yesterday). Dean went and got the horses while I was feeding everyone else and we saddled up and loaded them in the trailer with a four wheeler for Adrienne.
We headed out to Tech's with three pickups so that we could pick up the panels and tub chute when we were done. On the way there I guessed where they were set down at wrong and had to cut across a wheat stubble field...haha if you ever see those tracks- it wasn't me!
We got the chute set down and corral panels set up and took off. I was the last one to finish panels so Ross and Dean were way ahead of me looking for bulls. I just did my own thing. We ended up all meeting in about the same place with just one bull. Dean held him back while Adrienne and Ross and I scoured the pasture for the other one. Finally, after covering the whole thing probably more than one time, Ross found him just across the fence and got him back. We got them both in the tub chute but had trouble with them fighting and one managed to load by himself. With bulls, it never works unless they load together...we didn't want to take the chance so we just loaded them up in separate compartment and tied the horses up there. Adrienne and I hopped in the pickup with Rylee and took the bulls down to the bull pasture at Dicks. Meanwhile, they rest of them picked up corral panels and the tub chute and got going towards home. Merle stayed there with the horses and four wheeler.
We got down to Dicks just in time to notice two yearling bulls on the wrong side of the fence. So...after we unloaded I uncovered Johnny's fourwheeler and fired her up. I had to do some ring around the rosie but I got them back into the right spot. We are guessing there is a hole in that fenceling along the hayfield somewhere since they found a bull in there earlier this week. We'll have to look into that soon. But, for the time being we got going back towards the horses at Techs. This whole time Rylee decided that she was content as long as we moved. I have never seen a baby that likes to be jiggled to sleep like that one does because believe me- the trails are anything but smooth.
So we head back towards Techs and here comes a strange looking object down the road. As it turns out it was Merle on the fourwheeler ponying three horses behind him...I thought that was pretty impressive and rather funny! We loaded them up and went on home. After feeding the baby while Adrienne cooked, we ate an early dinner and Merle headed back out to move the tractor and square baler and started baling straw southwest of hisle.
Adrienne adn I took off for town and she dropped me off to get the older red pickup after they replaced the leaf spring in it. Our trip in was less eventful than usual because her sister is around for a week or so and babysat Rylee for the afternoon. I think that was nice for Adrienne to have a break! While I was in town I grabbed some groceries and mail and then headed back home. I unloaded groceries and tried to lay down for five minutes to give my back a rest but it didn't do any good so I just took off again. I was going to help Ross unhook the chisel and hook up the disk but he beat me to it so I just went to the shed to find a new task.
I decided to blow the radiator out on the fire truck after our wheat field excursion the other day. And boy did it need it...half a wheat field came out of the darn thing! After that I started cleaning out the other half of the chicken shed because the chicks have gotten big enough that they just go where they want and are not staying on their side of the coop! ...turds.
I didn't get too far with that when Adrienne pulled up and said it was time to go pick up bales. We hooked on to all three trailers that are around and went to the field. When we got there I said heck with someone driving lets just let it drive itself. So, we seatbelted the steering wheel in and put it in low. It worked pretty slick adn Adrienne adn I were pretty darn proud of ourselves. Lol- I think Dean thought we had lost it. I was laughing as Merle drove by with the baler and saw his shiny red pickup driving itself! After throwing a few bales Merle pretty much demaned that i come over to the baler. I was then sentanced to baling for the rest of the evening for fear that I might mess up my back more than it already is.
It's probably a good thing that someone forces me not to lift everything I see- cuz I can't get comfortable on 500mg of Tylenol right now and I didn't throw hardly any bales compared to the rest of them. Anyway, they filled three trailers and I almost finished baling when we shut down. We each took a pickup home and parked them. Ross had finihsed disking the wheat stubble on the bottoms around home and done chores so I just went down and filled the grain pails for tomorrow morning and then headed to the shed. Merle wanted to get some haying in before dark since it's supposed to rain so we did that for an hour or so and then turned in.
We got a few things done today anyhow- it was more productive than yesterday for sure. But now, I'm going to go find a way to be comfortable because this is ridiculous. And yes, (for all you worrisome ppl out there) I do have an apt with the chiropractor that comes to Martin once a week tomorrow morning.
"Cowboy Up"
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Oats for thought
Im falling asleep in the chair here so I'm gunna make this short and to the point.
After chores this morning we all went our own ways. Merle and Adrienne headed to
Rapid for a doctor appointment, Ross started windrowing draws, Dean did some odds and ends and I headed to the sale barn.
We spent just a little bit of time rounding up and loading three bulls that needed to be sold for vairious reasons. Dean and I saddled up and Merle grabbed a four wheeler. We went just ove rthe hill in the 80 and found the two bulls we needed there. We loaded them up front, then left the back for the wild bull that we have been feeding in the corral for a couple weeks. With Merle and I on foot and Dean on a horse, it took a bit to get him loaded but we finally got 'er done.
I grabbed my drivers license and took off for Phillip. I didn't have any problem getting there and figured out where to unload pretty easily by following the leader. They have a pull through gate, so it's really easy to unload there. I got rid of the boys and signed my papers and then sat down to watch them sell. After a while of sitting there this guy in front of me says "so you're gunna be changin a tire today?" I was like...um no? I don't think so? He went on to ask if I was pulling a red trailer because he thought he saw a bad flat on it that had been driven on for quite a while. Knowing myselft and my luck I thought I had better check but I was almost sure my tires were all up when I unloaded. I ran out and checked and thankfully it wasn't me- but the red trailer parked next to mine sure had a doozy on it!
As I was walking back in, sure enough the first bull sold. I managed to see the other two in full and then sat around for a bit to let them get the checks wrote. It was free meal day at the sale barn so I took them up on a little beef- yum! Then, collected the checks and headed out. Next stop, the welder in Phillip to get the trailer latch fixed.
When they were picking up square bales, it got hooked on a round bale and did a little damage, so I stopped by Konst welding and they got it fixed in no time. I ran into Roger (the mechanic) there and talked to him for a while too.
After they got it all fixed like new I headed for home. When I got back I stopped at the house to make a couple phone calls...that didn't turn out to well. As it turns out, last night when I tried to fill out my deer hunting app I had some trouble so I decided to wait and call the gfp today. I knew the apps were due today but usually thing like that are due mid day or in the afternoon. So, I give them a call. As it turns out- they were due by 8am...what a crock of crap! So, even though I had trouble it doesn't matter. I guess that's waht I get for waiting until the last minute. I was pretty mad at myself about it, but I can't do anything buy try to apply for a leftover now. O well- I guess if nothing else I can just come out and walk with them. I really don't like deer meat all that much anyway! This way I can get my east river guaranteed license too I guess... that' if I look on the bright side. Again, I'm not happy but that' life. The second call I made was in regards to a message from the internet provider back in Brookings. I ended up paying them a large sum of money because it wasn't being paid by the party responsible. So, that really brightened things up as well.
From that point I was hoping things could only go up but I'm not so sure they did. I met Dean as I headed down the driveway and he was haeded to go poison prairie dogs. I took on moving oats to the grain shed. This took a while as I had to scoop oats into the augar a couple times- but I finally got the wagon filled. But, the best part was that while I was doing this the wind came up really strong and started whipping on the big sliding shed doors. So, I turned on the light and closed them. ....but then I had to get out. This was interesting becasue I didn't really want to open the doors very far for fear the wind would take them off. To top that off it had created a vortex- making it hard to open the doors (esp from the inside where there are no handles.) But, I managed to get out of there and get the doors shut again. I did however, have to come back later to put the pickup back in when the wind had a short lull.
So, I spent the rest of the time moving oats, cleaning out oats and the floor of the shed and doing chores. When I cleaned some oats out of a freezer where this cat had raised her kittens it was pretty ridiculous. There was this kitten (they are pretty good sized now) there squaking at me and that incombination with the smell was enough to make the experience super enjoyable- haha! But I managed. The four wheeler also managed to die on us twice to day as well- gunna have to get that looked at.
I ended up turning in a alittle early and wimping out becasue my back got pretty sore. But, I did manage to get an apt with the chiropractor that comes to Martin once a week on Thrusdays. So, that should help.
Now, it's bedtime!
After chores this morning we all went our own ways. Merle and Adrienne headed to
Rapid for a doctor appointment, Ross started windrowing draws, Dean did some odds and ends and I headed to the sale barn.
We spent just a little bit of time rounding up and loading three bulls that needed to be sold for vairious reasons. Dean and I saddled up and Merle grabbed a four wheeler. We went just ove rthe hill in the 80 and found the two bulls we needed there. We loaded them up front, then left the back for the wild bull that we have been feeding in the corral for a couple weeks. With Merle and I on foot and Dean on a horse, it took a bit to get him loaded but we finally got 'er done.
I grabbed my drivers license and took off for Phillip. I didn't have any problem getting there and figured out where to unload pretty easily by following the leader. They have a pull through gate, so it's really easy to unload there. I got rid of the boys and signed my papers and then sat down to watch them sell. After a while of sitting there this guy in front of me says "so you're gunna be changin a tire today?" I was like...um no? I don't think so? He went on to ask if I was pulling a red trailer because he thought he saw a bad flat on it that had been driven on for quite a while. Knowing myselft and my luck I thought I had better check but I was almost sure my tires were all up when I unloaded. I ran out and checked and thankfully it wasn't me- but the red trailer parked next to mine sure had a doozy on it!
As I was walking back in, sure enough the first bull sold. I managed to see the other two in full and then sat around for a bit to let them get the checks wrote. It was free meal day at the sale barn so I took them up on a little beef- yum! Then, collected the checks and headed out. Next stop, the welder in Phillip to get the trailer latch fixed.
When they were picking up square bales, it got hooked on a round bale and did a little damage, so I stopped by Konst welding and they got it fixed in no time. I ran into Roger (the mechanic) there and talked to him for a while too.
After they got it all fixed like new I headed for home. When I got back I stopped at the house to make a couple phone calls...that didn't turn out to well. As it turns out, last night when I tried to fill out my deer hunting app I had some trouble so I decided to wait and call the gfp today. I knew the apps were due today but usually thing like that are due mid day or in the afternoon. So, I give them a call. As it turns out- they were due by 8am...what a crock of crap! So, even though I had trouble it doesn't matter. I guess that's waht I get for waiting until the last minute. I was pretty mad at myself about it, but I can't do anything buy try to apply for a leftover now. O well- I guess if nothing else I can just come out and walk with them. I really don't like deer meat all that much anyway! This way I can get my east river guaranteed license too I guess... that' if I look on the bright side. Again, I'm not happy but that' life. The second call I made was in regards to a message from the internet provider back in Brookings. I ended up paying them a large sum of money because it wasn't being paid by the party responsible. So, that really brightened things up as well.
From that point I was hoping things could only go up but I'm not so sure they did. I met Dean as I headed down the driveway and he was haeded to go poison prairie dogs. I took on moving oats to the grain shed. This took a while as I had to scoop oats into the augar a couple times- but I finally got the wagon filled. But, the best part was that while I was doing this the wind came up really strong and started whipping on the big sliding shed doors. So, I turned on the light and closed them. ....but then I had to get out. This was interesting becasue I didn't really want to open the doors very far for fear the wind would take them off. To top that off it had created a vortex- making it hard to open the doors (esp from the inside where there are no handles.) But, I managed to get out of there and get the doors shut again. I did however, have to come back later to put the pickup back in when the wind had a short lull.
So, I spent the rest of the time moving oats, cleaning out oats and the floor of the shed and doing chores. When I cleaned some oats out of a freezer where this cat had raised her kittens it was pretty ridiculous. There was this kitten (they are pretty good sized now) there squaking at me and that incombination with the smell was enough to make the experience super enjoyable- haha! But I managed. The four wheeler also managed to die on us twice to day as well- gunna have to get that looked at.
I ended up turning in a alittle early and wimping out becasue my back got pretty sore. But, I did manage to get an apt with the chiropractor that comes to Martin once a week on Thrusdays. So, that should help.
Now, it's bedtime!
Monday, July 26, 2010
and it burns burns burns..
I belive that puts me up to date.
Today was an interesting one to say the least. I got up for chores and got back into the swing of things that way. Afterward we rounded up teh ponies and saddled up. They have been pulling bulls while I was off galavanting in Iowa. Everythings is pulled from the east side of the road but we still have a few pastures left. Today the goal was to get 5 at Hisle Dam and the 2 left a Chief Bears. And that we did...
We headed out to Hisle Dam first and let Ross off to start riding while we loaded up panels. We went up on top of the hill and pikced up all the panels we sat down back when we loaded up fall calves. We moved them down to Hisle dam an set them down again. Merle told me not to lift the panels if I wasn't supposed to but no one said not to and we had to get something done today- so I did it anyway.
Then, Dean and I road out to Ross and found that he had found all five bulls. Adrienne took off o n the four wheeler in the other direction. From there it wasn't easy. We had trouble with keeping them all there together and one stupid cow kept leadin thema ll over. But, after the battle, we got lucky and shoved them into our corrals backwards of the way we had planned...but whatever works. You have to be flexible to do this sort of stuff! We got them loaded up and Adrienne and Merle tooke them down to the bull pasture at Dick's to drop them off. Meanwhile we rounded up the two yearling bulls from Chief Bears and got them back to the corrals with virtaully no problems. We locked them in and then tore down all the corral panels and loaded them back on the panel trailer. By that time, they showed back up and we loaded out the last two bulls and went home for dinner.
AFter some tasty minutes steaks, Merel headed out to meet some guys about the hailed out wheat and Adrienne and I loaded the bulls back up and took them to Dicks. Rylee was a great source of entertainment for us on the way with all her faical expressions and such. She makes the trip much more interesting! We got the bulls down there with no problem. As we were headed out Scott was headed in to round up his bulls and get his cows off of his alfalfa..I was glad to leave the premesis. When we got back i watched and played with Rylee for a few minutes so Adrienne could acomplish somtihing. Then, Merle came back in and we were just headed out to take on the afternoon when he came flying out of the house and said that there was a fire east of town. I quick dropped him off at the shed for his fire clothes and thr truck and then ran home to get my fire pants on. We met at the end of the driveway and took off. When we got there we were the first truck. Now, you know it's bad when we can make it to the fire from 20 miles away before teh ppl at the fire department in town that were only like6 mile away! I guess they had a bunch of rookies that aren't allowed to drive and not driver...but they eventually got people.
So anyway, without going into great detail, we fought it alone until another truck came behind us. That was Johnny, who happened to come from just about as far as we did. The Vetel department came as well beacuse we had to call them right when we realized no one else was there. Merle drove and I ran the hose along with Mark Novotany on the other hose. It was quite the deal. I think we ended up filling the truck 3 times or so... The fire stared with a busted hydraulic hose on a combine and went into the stubble. They were able to save the comibine but not the stubble or the grass hay and bales, or the wheat beyond that. What saved our butts is the spring wheat that it was up against. It was just green enough and stopped it pretty much from spreading that way the wind was pushing it. When it was all said and done we had spent 4 hours there and had about 50 acres of burnt prarie and about 30 bales still on fire. The bales had no where to burn and we put all the rest of the ones close to the fire line out. We ended up with six or so fire trucks, two loaders to stirng out bales wiht, and a copule of disks that made a good fire line aroudn the whole deal. Since Merle was driving the whole time adn I was runnign the hose we would try to communicate...but appreantl he couldn't hear me one time. The smoke was bad so he couldn't see and despite me yelling, he ran through the fence. We were abel to fix the tire tonight- but jeez of all things. lol- you never know with us
So now everyone is blaming the fire on me because they were just having little fires while i was gone, now that I'm back, we have a 50 are one with bales still burning I'm sure. But, I got my fire in! AFterward we stopped at teh fire hall quick, then heaed home. We finished getting the wire out of the truck tire, and then went our separate ways home. The fire was obviously not a good deal in the first palce- but the family just lost the grandfather/father of a lot of the people that were out fighting the fire jsut recently. It was their land and they all had to go to the vigil at 7. It stinks for them, but it just goes to show how the world won't stop turning. I hope they all got to where they needed to be and no one sucked in too much smoke! Actually, I know that someone did because we were looking for someone the ambulance came and checked out for half the fire. When they finally did find him on a four wheeler, he refused service...darn stubborn ranchers!
Today was cool, because I got to hold, feed, and play with Rylee a lot AND I got to fight fire! Hooray. Who knows what tomorrow might bring but it's certainly fast approaching. Me and my ridiculously sore back are going to go to bed.
Sara: FENCE!!! FENCE!!! FENCE!!!
Merle: ......................
Sara: YOU JUST HIT THE FENCE
Merle: What?! Shit!!!
Today was an interesting one to say the least. I got up for chores and got back into the swing of things that way. Afterward we rounded up teh ponies and saddled up. They have been pulling bulls while I was off galavanting in Iowa. Everythings is pulled from the east side of the road but we still have a few pastures left. Today the goal was to get 5 at Hisle Dam and the 2 left a Chief Bears. And that we did...
We headed out to Hisle Dam first and let Ross off to start riding while we loaded up panels. We went up on top of the hill and pikced up all the panels we sat down back when we loaded up fall calves. We moved them down to Hisle dam an set them down again. Merle told me not to lift the panels if I wasn't supposed to but no one said not to and we had to get something done today- so I did it anyway.
Then, Dean and I road out to Ross and found that he had found all five bulls. Adrienne took off o n the four wheeler in the other direction. From there it wasn't easy. We had trouble with keeping them all there together and one stupid cow kept leadin thema ll over. But, after the battle, we got lucky and shoved them into our corrals backwards of the way we had planned...but whatever works. You have to be flexible to do this sort of stuff! We got them loaded up and Adrienne and Merle tooke them down to the bull pasture at Dick's to drop them off. Meanwhile we rounded up the two yearling bulls from Chief Bears and got them back to the corrals with virtaully no problems. We locked them in and then tore down all the corral panels and loaded them back on the panel trailer. By that time, they showed back up and we loaded out the last two bulls and went home for dinner.
AFter some tasty minutes steaks, Merel headed out to meet some guys about the hailed out wheat and Adrienne and I loaded the bulls back up and took them to Dicks. Rylee was a great source of entertainment for us on the way with all her faical expressions and such. She makes the trip much more interesting! We got the bulls down there with no problem. As we were headed out Scott was headed in to round up his bulls and get his cows off of his alfalfa..I was glad to leave the premesis. When we got back i watched and played with Rylee for a few minutes so Adrienne could acomplish somtihing. Then, Merle came back in and we were just headed out to take on the afternoon when he came flying out of the house and said that there was a fire east of town. I quick dropped him off at the shed for his fire clothes and thr truck and then ran home to get my fire pants on. We met at the end of the driveway and took off. When we got there we were the first truck. Now, you know it's bad when we can make it to the fire from 20 miles away before teh ppl at the fire department in town that were only like6 mile away! I guess they had a bunch of rookies that aren't allowed to drive and not driver...but they eventually got people.
So anyway, without going into great detail, we fought it alone until another truck came behind us. That was Johnny, who happened to come from just about as far as we did. The Vetel department came as well beacuse we had to call them right when we realized no one else was there. Merle drove and I ran the hose along with Mark Novotany on the other hose. It was quite the deal. I think we ended up filling the truck 3 times or so... The fire stared with a busted hydraulic hose on a combine and went into the stubble. They were able to save the comibine but not the stubble or the grass hay and bales, or the wheat beyond that. What saved our butts is the spring wheat that it was up against. It was just green enough and stopped it pretty much from spreading that way the wind was pushing it. When it was all said and done we had spent 4 hours there and had about 50 acres of burnt prarie and about 30 bales still on fire. The bales had no where to burn and we put all the rest of the ones close to the fire line out. We ended up with six or so fire trucks, two loaders to stirng out bales wiht, and a copule of disks that made a good fire line aroudn the whole deal. Since Merle was driving the whole time adn I was runnign the hose we would try to communicate...but appreantl he couldn't hear me one time. The smoke was bad so he couldn't see and despite me yelling, he ran through the fence. We were abel to fix the tire tonight- but jeez of all things. lol- you never know with us
So now everyone is blaming the fire on me because they were just having little fires while i was gone, now that I'm back, we have a 50 are one with bales still burning I'm sure. But, I got my fire in! AFterward we stopped at teh fire hall quick, then heaed home. We finished getting the wire out of the truck tire, and then went our separate ways home. The fire was obviously not a good deal in the first palce- but the family just lost the grandfather/father of a lot of the people that were out fighting the fire jsut recently. It was their land and they all had to go to the vigil at 7. It stinks for them, but it just goes to show how the world won't stop turning. I hope they all got to where they needed to be and no one sucked in too much smoke! Actually, I know that someone did because we were looking for someone the ambulance came and checked out for half the fire. When they finally did find him on a four wheeler, he refused service...darn stubborn ranchers!
Today was cool, because I got to hold, feed, and play with Rylee a lot AND I got to fight fire! Hooray. Who knows what tomorrow might bring but it's certainly fast approaching. Me and my ridiculously sore back are going to go to bed.
Sara: FENCE!!! FENCE!!! FENCE!!!
Merle: ......................
Sara: YOU JUST HIT THE FENCE
Merle: What?! Shit!!!
Jelly Robbers
Sunday:
O boy, I'm getting closer to being caught up! Sunday is a pretty simple day to write about. I got up too late to go to church. Showered, packed, ate mom's amzing cookies and took a bunch with me...then drove to Martin. O and PS- mom referred to my laundre methods as "Sara's Chinese Laundering" because I don't dry a lot of clothes so they were hanging all over the bathroom. Ok, so maybe it looked a littel ridicuouls but really?! haha
It's a long drive but I didn't have much trouble. Just stopped in Kadoka to get gas and some food, and kept on going. When I got here I spent some time unpacking and putting things away. It was nice that my tomatoes and flowers and fish were all alive. What would I do without Adrienne and Merle? Merle left a note on the table thanking me for the strawberry jam. This is an ongoing thing beacasue everytime he runs out of jam I rub it in his face that I have his favorite kind in my fridge...well this time he got me. Although, he did leave me some in the jar...the littel fart! But, I'm over the paniking stage- now to figure out how to get him back! haha
Then, went down and helped with chores and grabbed a pickup to have at the house. Merle went out with Adrienne and Rylee and strung salt. I came home a worked on my computer beasue my back hurt so bad I didn't think I could life the salt bags without messing it up ten times worse. Believe me- it took effort to not go..a lot of effort. I seem to be rather stubborn when it comes to work.
So, I came home and worked on catching up this darn thing.
"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."
O boy, I'm getting closer to being caught up! Sunday is a pretty simple day to write about. I got up too late to go to church. Showered, packed, ate mom's amzing cookies and took a bunch with me...then drove to Martin. O and PS- mom referred to my laundre methods as "Sara's Chinese Laundering" because I don't dry a lot of clothes so they were hanging all over the bathroom. Ok, so maybe it looked a littel ridicuouls but really?! haha
It's a long drive but I didn't have much trouble. Just stopped in Kadoka to get gas and some food, and kept on going. When I got here I spent some time unpacking and putting things away. It was nice that my tomatoes and flowers and fish were all alive. What would I do without Adrienne and Merle? Merle left a note on the table thanking me for the strawberry jam. This is an ongoing thing beacasue everytime he runs out of jam I rub it in his face that I have his favorite kind in my fridge...well this time he got me. Although, he did leave me some in the jar...the littel fart! But, I'm over the paniking stage- now to figure out how to get him back! haha
Then, went down and helped with chores and grabbed a pickup to have at the house. Merle went out with Adrienne and Rylee and strung salt. I came home a worked on my computer beasue my back hurt so bad I didn't think I could life the salt bags without messing it up ten times worse. Believe me- it took effort to not go..a lot of effort. I seem to be rather stubborn when it comes to work.
So, I came home and worked on catching up this darn thing.
"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."
Homeward Bound
So in summary:
New Century Farmer is one of the best things I have ever done. It was by far the best conference i have ever attended and opened many many doors for me. I learned so much information and how I can apply things back home, as well as the networking. The people there were abslutely amzaing!!! Rarely, do i get to meet and spend time with people my age who are going into production ag as well. I now have friends that can be used as resources in all sorts of aspects. We were all in a simlar boat, and that made it such a great learning environment as well as lots of fun! ...and when they took a bunch of farm kids away for a week and put them all together in the city...did they expect us to go to bed at 10? Haha, we were good, we just had fun when we could.
So, Saturday morning, at 7, after a very reluctant 2 hours of sleep I got up and hopped in the car with Wyatt and Colton and we headed home. I got some sleep in, so that was nice- but there is always something to do at home. As soon as Wyatt dropped me off at Mom's we pretty much went straight to Midway so I could pick up my car. They did some work on my rotars and pads as well as changed my fuel filter. It was nice to have done, but silghtly hard on the pocket book. So, I picked up my car and headed up to Baltic. After checking out things there I headed to Brookings to run some errands. I needed to pay rent, which I did right away, then I needed to meet with lady to sign some papers, and was gunna stop and see some friends. Well, after paying rent I couldnt' get ahold of anyone, so I went to Walmart...and when I parked the car I realized that I was sooo tired. So, I slept in my car in the Wal mart parking lot for an hour. Yes, I did that...you might know you're reckneck when...
O boy- I'm sure the cars that came and went around me thought I was crazy! hahaha- so after waking up and going into walmart to pick up some gatorade to bring back to the ranch I finally go a call to sign the papers- did that quick on campus and then left town.
I got back to Mom and Johns and ate with them and took a nap. Then, mom's friend Barb, who does massage therapy came over and tried to fix my back. I think she helped it, but of course, as a result it was super sore. I went to bed after that in hopes that I would feel better Sunday.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body."
New Century Farmer is one of the best things I have ever done. It was by far the best conference i have ever attended and opened many many doors for me. I learned so much information and how I can apply things back home, as well as the networking. The people there were abslutely amzaing!!! Rarely, do i get to meet and spend time with people my age who are going into production ag as well. I now have friends that can be used as resources in all sorts of aspects. We were all in a simlar boat, and that made it such a great learning environment as well as lots of fun! ...and when they took a bunch of farm kids away for a week and put them all together in the city...did they expect us to go to bed at 10? Haha, we were good, we just had fun when we could.
So, Saturday morning, at 7, after a very reluctant 2 hours of sleep I got up and hopped in the car with Wyatt and Colton and we headed home. I got some sleep in, so that was nice- but there is always something to do at home. As soon as Wyatt dropped me off at Mom's we pretty much went straight to Midway so I could pick up my car. They did some work on my rotars and pads as well as changed my fuel filter. It was nice to have done, but silghtly hard on the pocket book. So, I picked up my car and headed up to Baltic. After checking out things there I headed to Brookings to run some errands. I needed to pay rent, which I did right away, then I needed to meet with lady to sign some papers, and was gunna stop and see some friends. Well, after paying rent I couldnt' get ahold of anyone, so I went to Walmart...and when I parked the car I realized that I was sooo tired. So, I slept in my car in the Wal mart parking lot for an hour. Yes, I did that...you might know you're reckneck when...
O boy- I'm sure the cars that came and went around me thought I was crazy! hahaha- so after waking up and going into walmart to pick up some gatorade to bring back to the ranch I finally go a call to sign the papers- did that quick on campus and then left town.
I got back to Mom and Johns and ate with them and took a nap. Then, mom's friend Barb, who does massage therapy came over and tried to fix my back. I think she helped it, but of course, as a result it was super sore. I went to bed after that in hopes that I would feel better Sunday.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body."
From the farm to the city...
Friday...the last day of conference:(
I somehow managed to get out of bed and ready to go by 7am. I decided that that was way too early, since we didn't have to be on the bus until 8- so I just layed back down for a while and then left. I got downstairs and ate with the rest of the gang and then got on the bus and headed towards Pioneer. When we got there we started off by writing down some things we learned and things we still wanted to learn. Overall, it was pretty obvious that we had learned a ton and only had questions about how Pioneer made such good food and how you can learn to climb a 30ft. cow! hahaha...the facilitators didn't understand that one.
So the first speaker of the day was Jill Brown, from UNL and she talked about resumes and interviewing. Yes, we are a bunch of farm kids, but you never know when you need these types of skills. Especially those of us who are still in college. We were all totally shot and she talked a million miles an hour- so it was fairly entertaining. After she spoke we had a panel discussion with some past new century farmer alumni that were there for the alumni conference. That was really cool- we just got to ask them general questions about how they do things and why they do it. It didn't get to see the whole thing because myself and Dan (participant from Iowa- just so happens to be the Iowa state FFA pres) had to go across town for a radio interview. For whatever reason they picked us two to do it. We hopped into a car with some girls from Pioneer and they took us all the way across DeMoines (not like it's that far). We went to WHO radios and did an 8 minute live intereview. They asked us about conference and our backgrounds. We also did some talking about women in ag and that whole bit. Afterward we decided it went fine. Not horrible, not amazing...just fine. I am super rusty with that type of stuff so I'm sure Dan did a better job, but it was alright. As we were on our way back to the conference we assumed that maybe the conference organizer dude listened to it. Not that it's a bad thing, but it always makes you nervous when someone listenes. So we get back in our conference room and everyone had already eaten lunch and headed to the auditorium to hear the next speaker in conjunction with teh alumni conference. As we walked into the empty conference room, I looked up at the big screen and saw the WHO radio website. We then realized that EVERYONE (including alumni) was listening over lunch....o how nice. So that was rather entertaining to say the least. We quick ate some leftovers from the kitchen and then snuck into the next speaker.
But, there was really no sneak to it- he pointed us out and asked us questions. It wasn't long into his talk and I realized he was crazy..very smart, but crazy. I didn't get much out of it because i was so focused on how spastic he was. His name was Dr. Kohl and he called his speach on economics and fundamentals "The Future of Ag." I don't have much for note on it because i was so distracted with my back that was getting super sore for no apparent reason and he was overly spastic and crazy!
After he spoke we broke up into our small groups for the last time and read all of our visions to one another. That was really cool and nice to hear that I'm not the only one with hopes and dreams. We then voted on who had the best one to be read at the banquet and broke our group session. I was glad to have my vision done, but it has a long ways to go! The kid that won the vote had a super simple one that was pretty down to earth. I'm jealous of his down to earthness! haha
Anyway, we then snapped a group photo. We were supposed to do that at noon but since Dan and I were gone they didn't. One kid, Jeremy had to leave right then beacuse he had to be home in the morning for a Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference. He almost didn't make the photo- but we got him in. So..it will be complete! :)
After this, we cleaned out our room, and boarded the bus to go downtown to the Meredith building for our banquet. Brittany and I got changed and tried to look "professional" and headed downstairs just in time. I actually had to call Colton because I had put my blazer in his hanging bag. I didnt' realize it until we were ready to head out the door so I called him and made him go back up to his room and get it! haha...I ended up dressing in the elevator! But, we made ti downtown to this really cool building that houses 40 magazine companies- one of them being our media partner, Successful Farming. After socializing with the Pioneer guy that headed up the conference and an alumnus of the conference, I was asked to do a short interview for successful farming. I got that over with pretty quick and by that time we were headed upstairs for the banquet. They had quite the spread and all sorts of fun things at our palce settings. We all got buisness cards and holders along with luggage tags that were persaonlized. It was short and sweet with a couple speakers, the four students from the different groups who read their visions, and then we all got certificates. I really enjoyed it. They actually showed that short video that I was saying I looked like an idot in eariler..and guess what- I did. hahaha. o well.
Afterward we mingled around a bit and then hopped on the bus and headed back to the hotel. We packed our stuff up and then changed and headed downstairs for the reception. We had some lag time so Wyatt and I started jitterbuggin. That was entertaining because most of those people didn't know how or weren't sure- so we taught a lot of folks! It was alot of fun, but by this time my back was ridiculously sore I didn't do too much. We followed that up by watching the half our video of our conference. It was pretty cool and I know eventually I'll get a copy. I was pretty much voted most photographed person because me or my hand is in the video a ridiculous amount of times! I guess I'll have to look at it again when it comes in the mail!
Afterward, I sat around quite a while and talked with people and listened to ridicuouls stories from peoples college experiences. Then, some of my buddies came and told a few of us to come across the street and see the party there. Ok...so we were planning on going out the last night but a lot of people copped out and went to bed. By the time I made it across the street...this was definitly not the case. Boy, were they having a good time...I was entertined and actually had fun making fun of their pool playing and spending other peoples money in the juke box! ...no I'm not that bad of a person I swear. And to boot, this bar was in the back of the Day Inn, and I'm pretty sure you would never find it unless you walked righ tinto the door- talk about whole in the wall. But, we had fun, and then walked back across the street and i headed upstaris and changed into my pajamas to go to bed. About this time, one of the guys calls me and advises me to leave my room.
I will explain no further...the moral of the story is that i wasn't able to get into my room and sleep in my bad till 4am when the first group of people were waking up and getting on the airport shuttle. I had to laugh as my friend Josh got on the elevator with a few drunk kids that hadn't gone to bed yet! hahaha....o boy. But, I finally got to bed.
"You Only Live Once"
I somehow managed to get out of bed and ready to go by 7am. I decided that that was way too early, since we didn't have to be on the bus until 8- so I just layed back down for a while and then left. I got downstairs and ate with the rest of the gang and then got on the bus and headed towards Pioneer. When we got there we started off by writing down some things we learned and things we still wanted to learn. Overall, it was pretty obvious that we had learned a ton and only had questions about how Pioneer made such good food and how you can learn to climb a 30ft. cow! hahaha...the facilitators didn't understand that one.
So the first speaker of the day was Jill Brown, from UNL and she talked about resumes and interviewing. Yes, we are a bunch of farm kids, but you never know when you need these types of skills. Especially those of us who are still in college. We were all totally shot and she talked a million miles an hour- so it was fairly entertaining. After she spoke we had a panel discussion with some past new century farmer alumni that were there for the alumni conference. That was really cool- we just got to ask them general questions about how they do things and why they do it. It didn't get to see the whole thing because myself and Dan (participant from Iowa- just so happens to be the Iowa state FFA pres) had to go across town for a radio interview. For whatever reason they picked us two to do it. We hopped into a car with some girls from Pioneer and they took us all the way across DeMoines (not like it's that far). We went to WHO radios and did an 8 minute live intereview. They asked us about conference and our backgrounds. We also did some talking about women in ag and that whole bit. Afterward we decided it went fine. Not horrible, not amazing...just fine. I am super rusty with that type of stuff so I'm sure Dan did a better job, but it was alright. As we were on our way back to the conference we assumed that maybe the conference organizer dude listened to it. Not that it's a bad thing, but it always makes you nervous when someone listenes. So we get back in our conference room and everyone had already eaten lunch and headed to the auditorium to hear the next speaker in conjunction with teh alumni conference. As we walked into the empty conference room, I looked up at the big screen and saw the WHO radio website. We then realized that EVERYONE (including alumni) was listening over lunch....o how nice. So that was rather entertaining to say the least. We quick ate some leftovers from the kitchen and then snuck into the next speaker.
But, there was really no sneak to it- he pointed us out and asked us questions. It wasn't long into his talk and I realized he was crazy..very smart, but crazy. I didn't get much out of it because i was so focused on how spastic he was. His name was Dr. Kohl and he called his speach on economics and fundamentals "The Future of Ag." I don't have much for note on it because i was so distracted with my back that was getting super sore for no apparent reason and he was overly spastic and crazy!
After he spoke we broke up into our small groups for the last time and read all of our visions to one another. That was really cool and nice to hear that I'm not the only one with hopes and dreams. We then voted on who had the best one to be read at the banquet and broke our group session. I was glad to have my vision done, but it has a long ways to go! The kid that won the vote had a super simple one that was pretty down to earth. I'm jealous of his down to earthness! haha
Anyway, we then snapped a group photo. We were supposed to do that at noon but since Dan and I were gone they didn't. One kid, Jeremy had to leave right then beacuse he had to be home in the morning for a Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference. He almost didn't make the photo- but we got him in. So..it will be complete! :)
After this, we cleaned out our room, and boarded the bus to go downtown to the Meredith building for our banquet. Brittany and I got changed and tried to look "professional" and headed downstairs just in time. I actually had to call Colton because I had put my blazer in his hanging bag. I didnt' realize it until we were ready to head out the door so I called him and made him go back up to his room and get it! haha...I ended up dressing in the elevator! But, we made ti downtown to this really cool building that houses 40 magazine companies- one of them being our media partner, Successful Farming. After socializing with the Pioneer guy that headed up the conference and an alumnus of the conference, I was asked to do a short interview for successful farming. I got that over with pretty quick and by that time we were headed upstairs for the banquet. They had quite the spread and all sorts of fun things at our palce settings. We all got buisness cards and holders along with luggage tags that were persaonlized. It was short and sweet with a couple speakers, the four students from the different groups who read their visions, and then we all got certificates. I really enjoyed it. They actually showed that short video that I was saying I looked like an idot in eariler..and guess what- I did. hahaha. o well.
Afterward we mingled around a bit and then hopped on the bus and headed back to the hotel. We packed our stuff up and then changed and headed downstairs for the reception. We had some lag time so Wyatt and I started jitterbuggin. That was entertaining because most of those people didn't know how or weren't sure- so we taught a lot of folks! It was alot of fun, but by this time my back was ridiculously sore I didn't do too much. We followed that up by watching the half our video of our conference. It was pretty cool and I know eventually I'll get a copy. I was pretty much voted most photographed person because me or my hand is in the video a ridiculous amount of times! I guess I'll have to look at it again when it comes in the mail!
Afterward, I sat around quite a while and talked with people and listened to ridicuouls stories from peoples college experiences. Then, some of my buddies came and told a few of us to come across the street and see the party there. Ok...so we were planning on going out the last night but a lot of people copped out and went to bed. By the time I made it across the street...this was definitly not the case. Boy, were they having a good time...I was entertined and actually had fun making fun of their pool playing and spending other peoples money in the juke box! ...no I'm not that bad of a person I swear. And to boot, this bar was in the back of the Day Inn, and I'm pretty sure you would never find it unless you walked righ tinto the door- talk about whole in the wall. But, we had fun, and then walked back across the street and i headed upstaris and changed into my pajamas to go to bed. About this time, one of the guys calls me and advises me to leave my room.
I will explain no further...the moral of the story is that i wasn't able to get into my room and sleep in my bad till 4am when the first group of people were waking up and getting on the airport shuttle. I had to laugh as my friend Josh got on the elevator with a few drunk kids that hadn't gone to bed yet! hahaha....o boy. But, I finally got to bed.
"You Only Live Once"
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Yay for Farming!
Ok, I'll try to make this shorter.
Thursday came early, but we sure made it and ate. We started out at Pioneer by listening to a kid talk about the I-Cal trip that goes to a new country every year. It's basically an international ag travel group- pretty cool to hear about, but they are going to China and heay guess what- I've been there!
Next, a gal came and talked about nitch marketing. Her name was Abby Nichol and she called her boxed beef business Dougherty Farms Beef. Basically, she raises steers on their farm for the specific purose of bringing them to the locker and selling them from there. She talked about the "5 P" concept: people, product, price, place, promotion. It was interesting to learn about branding and such. Fun fact: 86% of people have brand preference to logos. So, she was interesting but we finally had a break to move around and try to wake up before the next speaker! By the way, the pioneer people are awesome- they had bottles of pop and fully sized candy bars, granola, chips, fruit, coffee, the whole nine yards in the back of the room the whole conference. That, in combination with the random stuff in the middle of our tables helped to keep us interested and awake during the morning speakers.
Next, we hard from The folks at Rabo Agrifinance about ag finaincing and budgets. Neil Stadlman was the man in charge and they did this fun theme with a borning subject. It was a CSI investigation via finances. They wore lab coats and gloves and crazy glasses- sounds childish but the way they put things together was really fun. I learned a lot from their presentation. They even had clickers there like we use at school. You click in yoru answer from this remote control and then within seconds it shows the results in a graph on the projector. They basically showed us what we didn know! But that's not all bad, the talk taught us something! I even got some software from them that normally costs like $30. But after explaining my situation, and talking to the guy he produced one out of his van outside! Sweetness! It has some super forms and such on it for some easy bookeeping and loan preparation stuff.
After they spoke we ate another meal at Pioneer and then headed back into the room for one of the most influential parts of New Century Farmer. At this point, we had Dr. Ron Hanson come in a speak about farm succession. This was the most interesting talk ever. Basically, this man has devoted his life to teaching at UNL and helping families get through farm succession nightmares. He hit on some super important topics and told some unbelievable stories. I was able to share some with the group just from experience and knowing how it works already. Not gunna lie, the my hair stood on end the entire talk and I almost left the room beacuse i was hard to sit through- I can relate to it wayy to much. But, he provided everyone with lots of useful tools, including myself in my unique situation.
After he spoke we went to small group and worked on our visions. But between times, a few of us go pulled aside to be put in a short movie. We just said some phrases and I knew when we did it that it wasn't a good idea cuz I was way out of it and half upset from Dr. Hanson's talk yet. It went ok, but I'm sure I looked ridiculous! We did some more work on our visions and wrote some thank yous in small group. When we finished there we went to the hotel and got ready for a baseball game. At 5:30 we headed out for an ICubs game. This is DeMoines minor league team, and they aren't that amazing- but hey I love baseball so it's all good. I sat through a lot of the game in the stands and such but my back started to hurt and it was really hot so I travelled over to some picnik tables close the the stands and chatted with some other NCF kids there. Our group took off at about the 7th inning so we didn't get to see the rest of the game. But hey, we saw some good baseball, got a free shirt and cap, and ate a hot dog! When we got back that night we went to a reception for us and the alumni that were there.
Each year they have New Century Farmer alumni come back for the last two days of the conference and do their own little conference. They met us there and we chatted for a while. Then, we all decided to go cruise DeMoines. I drove one vehicle and a Jeremy (a friend) drove another guys pickup and we took off and used some directions to a sports bar that we had. Well, they were rather sketch so I had a kid mapquest it on his phone. We used those directions to get us there. After driving around all over we ended up in a sketchy housing district..not exactly the right directions. So...we turned around and went to the nearest local bar. That was hillarious. I think we gave them more business than they have had in a year. I watched some ridiculously bad pool (apparently farmkids don't have enough time to be good at pool). Meanwhile, a group of them went across the street and climbed the 30ft Dean foods Cow Calf pair. Yes, 30 ft. I don't know how they did it, but wow- it's lit and all, and apparently you get into huge trouble if you get caught. hhaha- I wish I could have watched but the risk seems a littel too high.... Anyway, we eventually left and went back to the hotel. I went to bed- the 'amazing' roomate didn't show up...no comment.
So thus far the conference was absoluetly amazing. Love the people and the speakers, Truly learning a ton! I talked to Merle on the phone shortly after I got there and found out that the wheat that was yet to be harvested got hailed out...not good. Also heard that they did some more haying and Adreinne and Riley did some tractor driving! Yey for them:D But, it was rather concerning to hear about the wheat-but then again, what can you do. I guess the harvesters left because the wheat that was left was too wet after the storm and they went to Allen. That doesn't work out too well because once they leave, they are hard to get back. Anyway, that's what I knew of from the ranch.
I know I'm still behind, but I have a super sore back...I don't know what I did or how I did it, but somehow I really messed up my back. I'll write the rest tomorrow.
Thursday came early, but we sure made it and ate. We started out at Pioneer by listening to a kid talk about the I-Cal trip that goes to a new country every year. It's basically an international ag travel group- pretty cool to hear about, but they are going to China and heay guess what- I've been there!
Next, a gal came and talked about nitch marketing. Her name was Abby Nichol and she called her boxed beef business Dougherty Farms Beef. Basically, she raises steers on their farm for the specific purose of bringing them to the locker and selling them from there. She talked about the "5 P" concept: people, product, price, place, promotion. It was interesting to learn about branding and such. Fun fact: 86% of people have brand preference to logos. So, she was interesting but we finally had a break to move around and try to wake up before the next speaker! By the way, the pioneer people are awesome- they had bottles of pop and fully sized candy bars, granola, chips, fruit, coffee, the whole nine yards in the back of the room the whole conference. That, in combination with the random stuff in the middle of our tables helped to keep us interested and awake during the morning speakers.
Next, we hard from The folks at Rabo Agrifinance about ag finaincing and budgets. Neil Stadlman was the man in charge and they did this fun theme with a borning subject. It was a CSI investigation via finances. They wore lab coats and gloves and crazy glasses- sounds childish but the way they put things together was really fun. I learned a lot from their presentation. They even had clickers there like we use at school. You click in yoru answer from this remote control and then within seconds it shows the results in a graph on the projector. They basically showed us what we didn know! But that's not all bad, the talk taught us something! I even got some software from them that normally costs like $30. But after explaining my situation, and talking to the guy he produced one out of his van outside! Sweetness! It has some super forms and such on it for some easy bookeeping and loan preparation stuff.
After they spoke we ate another meal at Pioneer and then headed back into the room for one of the most influential parts of New Century Farmer. At this point, we had Dr. Ron Hanson come in a speak about farm succession. This was the most interesting talk ever. Basically, this man has devoted his life to teaching at UNL and helping families get through farm succession nightmares. He hit on some super important topics and told some unbelievable stories. I was able to share some with the group just from experience and knowing how it works already. Not gunna lie, the my hair stood on end the entire talk and I almost left the room beacuse i was hard to sit through- I can relate to it wayy to much. But, he provided everyone with lots of useful tools, including myself in my unique situation.
After he spoke we went to small group and worked on our visions. But between times, a few of us go pulled aside to be put in a short movie. We just said some phrases and I knew when we did it that it wasn't a good idea cuz I was way out of it and half upset from Dr. Hanson's talk yet. It went ok, but I'm sure I looked ridiculous! We did some more work on our visions and wrote some thank yous in small group. When we finished there we went to the hotel and got ready for a baseball game. At 5:30 we headed out for an ICubs game. This is DeMoines minor league team, and they aren't that amazing- but hey I love baseball so it's all good. I sat through a lot of the game in the stands and such but my back started to hurt and it was really hot so I travelled over to some picnik tables close the the stands and chatted with some other NCF kids there. Our group took off at about the 7th inning so we didn't get to see the rest of the game. But hey, we saw some good baseball, got a free shirt and cap, and ate a hot dog! When we got back that night we went to a reception for us and the alumni that were there.
Each year they have New Century Farmer alumni come back for the last two days of the conference and do their own little conference. They met us there and we chatted for a while. Then, we all decided to go cruise DeMoines. I drove one vehicle and a Jeremy (a friend) drove another guys pickup and we took off and used some directions to a sports bar that we had. Well, they were rather sketch so I had a kid mapquest it on his phone. We used those directions to get us there. After driving around all over we ended up in a sketchy housing district..not exactly the right directions. So...we turned around and went to the nearest local bar. That was hillarious. I think we gave them more business than they have had in a year. I watched some ridiculously bad pool (apparently farmkids don't have enough time to be good at pool). Meanwhile, a group of them went across the street and climbed the 30ft Dean foods Cow Calf pair. Yes, 30 ft. I don't know how they did it, but wow- it's lit and all, and apparently you get into huge trouble if you get caught. hhaha- I wish I could have watched but the risk seems a littel too high.... Anyway, we eventually left and went back to the hotel. I went to bed- the 'amazing' roomate didn't show up...no comment.
So thus far the conference was absoluetly amazing. Love the people and the speakers, Truly learning a ton! I talked to Merle on the phone shortly after I got there and found out that the wheat that was yet to be harvested got hailed out...not good. Also heard that they did some more haying and Adreinne and Riley did some tractor driving! Yey for them:D But, it was rather concerning to hear about the wheat-but then again, what can you do. I guess the harvesters left because the wheat that was left was too wet after the storm and they went to Allen. That doesn't work out too well because once they leave, they are hard to get back. Anyway, that's what I knew of from the ranch.
I know I'm still behind, but I have a super sore back...I don't know what I did or how I did it, but somehow I really messed up my back. I'll write the rest tomorrow.
Facts and Wenesday
So I'm obviously way behind...we spent most of the week living by the "I can sleep when I'm dead" (or get back home and have to do chores) motto. Therefore, everytime I would get in I would just go to bed and leave everything that required brain functions behind...inclding my poor blog. So here goes.
I think I forgot to mention that on Tuesday we went and toured the Pioneer test plots and looked at a "fast corn" greenhouse. It was pretty interesting to learn more about their hybrids and how they set up their plots. They have corn varieties from all different parts of the globe in their test plots and arranged in a really cool way so that you could go through everything by continent. The soybean research is not as vast, but they still do quite a bit and are still working on eliminating rusts and molds there. The greenhouse part was pretty darn interesting. They have this couple million dollar greenhouse that is completely automated where they grow corn. We weren't allowed to take pictures of it but you could see the robots moving the potted corn around and on coveyor belts. It was pretty neat. They use the greenhouse to manipulate different growing environments like drought and rain. They can also bring in a machine from the national weather service that manipulates winds and hail. So anyway- that was cool and super interesting although we decided that they definitly weren't telling us the whole story because they said that they just test plants that they think should go on trial in that greenhouse..pretty sure there is more to it than that. As far as names that I couldn't remember...we had a speech from Brian Buckallew from Pioneer- he also stayed with us all week and helped with lagistics. We heard from Chad Gregory from the EPC, then on Tuesday Denny Harding was the man from Iowa Farm Bureau. We heard from Chris Novak at the Iowa Pork Board...he was super into himself and pork (after all he was the CEO). But, I thought his talk was rather obnoxious and then to top it off they made me do the thank you! lol We heard from the North American vice pres. of sales fro Pioneer, Jodd O'Connor and then listened to Jim Wiesmeyer speak on Informal Economics. Debbie Lyons-Blyth was the gal that spoke to us about "agvocating"- she was really good. So here are some fun facts that I wrote down from the above speakers: Chad Gregory tought on some advocation facts and spoke about the poultry industry. In 1976 there were 10,000 egg farms in the US in 87 there were 2500 and in 2010 we only have less than 200! The laying industry is trying to go to a more modernized caging system that allows more room for the hens but it is extremely expensive and groups like HSUS are making this extemely difficult because they don't htink it's good enough- they want free range. This is the most inefficient way of raising layers and has the highest death rate with the dirtiest eggs...Did you know that HSUS had $131 million on reserve and $196 million in assets?? They have 11 million members and 470 employees. They employ 112 lawyers...yes 112 and counting- hence why people think they are so credible. We talked about prop. 2 in Ca that is going to completely abolish their egg industry and and for all those CA folks out there...we (the US) still buys "caged eggs". This proposition is not going to effect how eggs are produced...only where they are produced at. The facilities that HSUS consider healthy cost apptox 10-13mill per farmer. Now that's realistic. Here are a copule random facts he closed with...80% of items on Walmart shelves are produced in China and in 2007 the US became a net importer of food for the first time ever!!! Ahhhhhh!!! Basically, we need to advocate for our industry because "by the time you need friends...it's too late to make them."
Ok- I'll quit ranting- here are some short facts about IA Farm Bureau. 80% of Iowa farmers belong to it and that Iowa is the first in the nation for ethanol and biodiesel production. In addition, it's the second highest in wind production but the 10th windiest state. So in short, nice work Iowa! We didn't get much else out of that guy because he was too political to answer our questions about ethanol efficiency and and sugar cane ethanol...
The pork board shared some info about their checkoff programs Pork Quality Assurance which was made to help ensure farm food safety and help to continue to do so. The folks that went ot the soybean council and beef council shared that 96 percent of farms are still family owned in the use...thought that was interesting as well.
Jim Wiesemeyer talked to us for quite some time and he is a journalist with opinions but what he shared were facts. I won't write much becasue this is taking forever but here are some highlights. We need to up our food output by 50% by 2030 or 70% by 2050 using the same or even fewer resources than today. ...therefore it's not easy. He talked about the emerging business environment and how important it is for us to watch China. He said to check out the book "World after America"- if you want some interesting reading I bet it'll supply it. We discusses what Obama is (more like isn't) doing for our industry and touched briefly on the next farm bill which plans to ax $5.2billion dollars in direct payments. We also discussed how hard it is to pass government regulations anymore- part of this problem is that it takes 2x as long to get a GMO (genecically modified organism) approved than it does to get a non GMO apprved.
Finally, we heard from Debbie Lyons-Blyth. She told us how imporant it was to "Agvocate" and how to actually go about doing that. The problem with us ag folks is that we advocate to one another and don't get out to the general public. 95% of American's actually want to believe farmers and ranchers so it's best we get out there! Check out www.humaewatch.org for some good agvocation info.
I think I forgot to mention that on Tuesday we went and toured the Pioneer test plots and looked at a "fast corn" greenhouse. It was pretty interesting to learn more about their hybrids and how they set up their plots. They have corn varieties from all different parts of the globe in their test plots and arranged in a really cool way so that you could go through everything by continent. The soybean research is not as vast, but they still do quite a bit and are still working on eliminating rusts and molds there. The greenhouse part was pretty darn interesting. They have this couple million dollar greenhouse that is completely automated where they grow corn. We weren't allowed to take pictures of it but you could see the robots moving the potted corn around and on coveyor belts. It was pretty neat. They use the greenhouse to manipulate different growing environments like drought and rain. They can also bring in a machine from the national weather service that manipulates winds and hail. So anyway- that was cool and super interesting although we decided that they definitly weren't telling us the whole story because they said that they just test plants that they think should go on trial in that greenhouse..pretty sure there is more to it than that. As far as names that I couldn't remember...we had a speech from Brian Buckallew from Pioneer- he also stayed with us all week and helped with lagistics. We heard from Chad Gregory from the EPC, then on Tuesday Denny Harding was the man from Iowa Farm Bureau. We heard from Chris Novak at the Iowa Pork Board...he was super into himself and pork (after all he was the CEO). But, I thought his talk was rather obnoxious and then to top it off they made me do the thank you! lol We heard from the North American vice pres. of sales fro Pioneer, Jodd O'Connor and then listened to Jim Wiesmeyer speak on Informal Economics. Debbie Lyons-Blyth was the gal that spoke to us about "agvocating"- she was really good. So here are some fun facts that I wrote down from the above speakers: Chad Gregory tought on some advocation facts and spoke about the poultry industry. In 1976 there were 10,000 egg farms in the US in 87 there were 2500 and in 2010 we only have less than 200! The laying industry is trying to go to a more modernized caging system that allows more room for the hens but it is extremely expensive and groups like HSUS are making this extemely difficult because they don't htink it's good enough- they want free range. This is the most inefficient way of raising layers and has the highest death rate with the dirtiest eggs...Did you know that HSUS had $131 million on reserve and $196 million in assets?? They have 11 million members and 470 employees. They employ 112 lawyers...yes 112 and counting- hence why people think they are so credible. We talked about prop. 2 in Ca that is going to completely abolish their egg industry and and for all those CA folks out there...we (the US) still buys "caged eggs". This proposition is not going to effect how eggs are produced...only where they are produced at. The facilities that HSUS consider healthy cost apptox 10-13mill per farmer. Now that's realistic. Here are a copule random facts he closed with...80% of items on Walmart shelves are produced in China and in 2007 the US became a net importer of food for the first time ever!!! Ahhhhhh!!! Basically, we need to advocate for our industry because "by the time you need friends...it's too late to make them."
Ok- I'll quit ranting- here are some short facts about IA Farm Bureau. 80% of Iowa farmers belong to it and that Iowa is the first in the nation for ethanol and biodiesel production. In addition, it's the second highest in wind production but the 10th windiest state. So in short, nice work Iowa! We didn't get much else out of that guy because he was too political to answer our questions about ethanol efficiency and and sugar cane ethanol...
The pork board shared some info about their checkoff programs Pork Quality Assurance which was made to help ensure farm food safety and help to continue to do so. The folks that went ot the soybean council and beef council shared that 96 percent of farms are still family owned in the use...thought that was interesting as well.
Jim Wiesemeyer talked to us for quite some time and he is a journalist with opinions but what he shared were facts. I won't write much becasue this is taking forever but here are some highlights. We need to up our food output by 50% by 2030 or 70% by 2050 using the same or even fewer resources than today. ...therefore it's not easy. He talked about the emerging business environment and how important it is for us to watch China. He said to check out the book "World after America"- if you want some interesting reading I bet it'll supply it. We discusses what Obama is (more like isn't) doing for our industry and touched briefly on the next farm bill which plans to ax $5.2billion dollars in direct payments. We also discussed how hard it is to pass government regulations anymore- part of this problem is that it takes 2x as long to get a GMO (genecically modified organism) approved than it does to get a non GMO apprved.
Finally, we heard from Debbie Lyons-Blyth. She told us how imporant it was to "Agvocate" and how to actually go about doing that. The problem with us ag folks is that we advocate to one another and don't get out to the general public. 95% of American's actually want to believe farmers and ranchers so it's best we get out there! Check out www.humaewatch.org for some good agvocation info.
But anyway, I left off at Wednesday:
We got up and ate and headed to Pioneer. Our first speaker was Becky Harstad from South Dakota (past state officer) and she spoke about commodities. Some of the kids were way ahead of her and others were way behind so it was hard to do, but she got the point accross. She basically focused on the importance of understanding futures and options trading and why we do it. I understand most of it after taking a marketing class and really actually enjoyed the review from her talk. I would definitly consider hedging some commodities someday- as long as you understand the risk and know what you're doing you can minimize a lot of issues. Then, after a short break we heard from John Buck. He is a farmer from Ohio that spoke about sustainability and the leadership that we need to continue to be the grassroots group that we are. He had some great stories and super fun information. Check out youtube.com and put in "shift happens". It's just a really interesting video on statistics that I have seen a couple times- it's not just ag, it's a general one that is super fun and interesting! I enjoyed his talk but the day moved on. We did some small group work and thought about our vision statments. I finally had a chance to brainstorm and actually write down what I envisioned that farm as eventually. So, we got a small start on that and then went on to eat lunch at Pioneer and left for some operational tours.
We had two groups. One group went to Barilla Pasta and Louis Dryfus (ethanol plant) and my group went to Ag Leader Technoly and Bridgestone/Firestone tire plant.
We had a super cool tour at Bridgeston/Firestone. They had us put on safety glasses, ear plugs, steel toe things that go over your shoes, and then we got a cool radio thing so we could hear them give the tour through the plant. We went through the plant and learned all sorts of things about how tires are made. The plant was 40 acres big and yes, that is huge! We saw everything from the liquid hot rubber with the poly and wire that get's pancaked between sheets of rubber and went all the way through to the final tire cooling and warehouse. So the dies and casts that they put the final wrapped tire product in before it gets molded costs about $300,000
to $500,000 depending on size. They can only produce like 5-12 of the huge size implement tires per day because it takes that long for them to be molded and cooled. Hence, why tires are so expensive. I now undestand. It was a pretty cool process to see and very impressive how they wrapped the bead with so many layers of rubber before it got put back into the mold of the tire. Fun fact, those little tiny "nipples" or spiky things that are on your tires when you first get them- they are only there because there are tiny little holes in the mold for air to get through. As a result, you get these little spikes. I just thought that was super ridiculous and funny since I never did know what the point was. After that tour we went to Ag Leader Technoloy and learned all about all of the up and coming precision technology offered to agriculturists. That was really interesting to me because I have no experience with the gps monitors for planting and harvesting or the EZ steer controls.
Finally, we left Ag Leader and went to a farm on the outskirts of town where the Case IH implement dealership had brought out a ton of new equipment and tractors! Woo HOo! Talk about heaven on earth. I'm pretty sure I will never sit in that new of a tractor ever again. First, we ate pork chops and tasty HyVee catering sponsored by Case IH. They split us up into three groups and we spent some time at one spot talking to a guy about input costs and how to lower them with new technology and row spacing. The next station was all about their new tillage and planting systems and we went through a couple that they had there. Finally, we got to ride around on Scouts with Agri-GPS's hooked up to them. We plotted out some fields and they showed us how you can determine yeild and all sorts of fun things. I really like learning about that. One of the guys in my group actually knew more about the GpS stuff than the guy driving did so it was hillarious to watch them interact! Then, our last stop was at the combine where we pretty much listened to a combine expert tell us all the ins and outs...awesome. After we rotated through we all sat down and did a final talk with them. I did the big thank you to them in like a split second. They gave me the gift to give them and before I could even think they gave us teh option to either run around and play with tractors or sit and listen to them for another 10 mins. Of course, we picked that tractors so I just did it off the cuff. lol- it tured out just fine. We finally boareded up the bus and went back to the hotel. That night, I went out with some people to a bar connected to the Quality Inn. If you can imagine the quality of a bar that has kareoke every night... yeah. It was fun none the less. We sang some kareoke and I made sure they all got back ok. I don't drink, but sometimes it's just fun to go out and watch people and their ridiculousness. So, I finally got back into the room and got stuff ready for the next day and headed to bed. I was obviously tired, but it was an awesome day and I learned sooo much! PS. we got loads of free stuff! the Firestone people gave us mouse pads and paper, pens, and super awesome hats! We tried to get some tires from them but no luck! haha!! Then, the Case IH people gave us awesome draw string bags full of awesomeness...a cup, pen, pin, hat, t-shirt, 1/16th scale combine, license plate cover, lanyard, and a bunch of other stuff! O so cool.
Ok- it's time to finish this!
"By the time you need friends...it's too late to make them."
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Agvocating~
Day two:
Oh what fun it is to go to bed at 12:30 and wake up at 6! But, it's worth it.
Today was another jam packed session- but lots of fun. We started off our day with tours. My group started off at the Iowa Farm Bureau. We were sat in a conference room and watched a fairly interesting power point about what they do. But, when we started asking questions, the guy had this obnoxious habit of politically avoiding all of them. For example, we were asking him about the sustainability of the gagillion ethanol palnts they put up in NW Iowa, and he was just certain that they would never fail and that if something did go wrong in that area they woudl just magically recover...eeeeeeee- wrong answer. We also brough up the efficiency of sugar cane and he just purposly ignored that one.
Then, we moved on to the pork producers. We talked to their CEO. He was definitly interesting and full of info, but also very politically based and definitly stuck on pork. We managed to get a few answers out of him- but not a whole lot of concrete info.
After our tours we all came back to our conference room at Pioneer and debriefed with the other groups who travelled to the Beef Council and the Soybean Council. When we exchanged info and facts it was really interesting. Did you know that ALL the foam in a Mustang is made of soy?? Or that China puts up a new DeMoines in less than 1 year, every year? Or that Iowa is number one in ethanol and bio diesel production in the US? Again, I could go on- the point is, it was really enlightening- even if our tour guides were a littel policical.
So after some debriefing we headed back to our room and ate some dinner. During that time we had a short talk from another important Pioneer guy and drilled him with all sorts of hybrid and seed questions. When he took off we tuned in to a jounalist named (I can't remember and will look it up later). He was extremely right winged and I think most of us agreed with him and his views for the most part. But, it's hard to feel like you can use those facts when that person is so biased. None the less, he spoke for over an hour about ag policy, the Obama administration and their considerations to ag, and basically what is going on in Washington concerning ag and what we can do about it. It was a really good speech, by the end I was struggling to stay awake, but I think I made it...
As soon as he took off we moved right on to Debbie (gotta look up the last name on this one). She is a rancher from the flint hill of Kansas what does Ag Advocacy all around the area. She had a great talk and showed us some of the horrible, hoax videos that HSUS, Peta, and other activists have out there to shut us production ag folks down. Those videos were agrivating enough that I think about half the room would have gone out into DeMoines right that minutes and AGvocated right on the streets to avoid people actually believeing thsi stuff. If you want a good website go the humanewatch.com. This is the organization that does check ups on the HSUS and their site...it's pro ag and you will find it VERY intersting. Also, search youtube for "water and poo"...it's created by a dairy farmer and is hillarious!
Regardless, she had a great speech, and I love agvocating so it was every more interesting to me. So many times, we focus on advocating to other ag people that surround us. However, those poeople are not the ones who need to hear this information-they already know it. It's the people like my aunts that live in the city, and friends from home that have no clue what goes on right outside their back yard that need to hear this information! Did you know that less than 2% of America's population is involved in production ag today? And of that rememing 98%, 95% of them would like to believe a farmer or rancher for facutal info. But, we just don't get out there and help ourselves enough to fix this minsconceptions that the general public has because of groups like PETA and HSUS that have over 80% of the population interested in listening.
The point is: it's vital that we get out there and speak for ourselves, becasuse if we as producers don't others will try to do it for us in a very negative way.
After hearing from her we did some large group work and then loaded up the bus and headed to a restuarand called the "machine shed" for supper. This place was a good time. They had a little store like Cracker Barrel does up front that was chuck full of cool IH an JD stuff. In addition, they had all sorts of random farmish stuff. Like an entire shelf of pork stuff: bacon flavored mints, gum, a bacons scented candle, a bacon wallet, bandaids, etc. It was hillarious! I really wanted to buy a Farmall toothpick holder but it was like twenty bucks...wow. We all ate and it was quite tasty. The food was good the company was good and the waiters in overalls were pretty great too! AFter the food they brougt out huge plate of desert to share at each table... by that time we had to get on the bus we pretty much rolled out the door! When we got back to the hotel we met with small groups to work on our visions.
We are in the preliminary stages, and mine is very preliminary jsut because it's a unique situation; I hope I can get a good one accomplished by Friday- I think I can do it! The last thing we did tonight was Ag in a Bag with everyone. We did it in a sort of speed dating style. So unlike last night where we presented to the whole group, we just presented to a group and then the group moved and a new one came. It worked pretty slick. I had a little red tractor, a Beef thermometer, a picture of my Dad with corn that he planted, a picture of some of the cattle at the ranch, a bit from a bridle, a young farmers and ranchers pin, a smokey bear keychain, a coule business cards, and a bio fuels pen. So, it was fun to tell about our place and learn about all the other diversities within the room.
This is truly and amazing group and I'm so blessed to meet them all! O, and I must tell you about my roomate. She is from Southern Georgia (where I swear they are still fighting the war of "Northern Aggression" aka the civil war). Her family grows, cotton, pecans, and tobacco. She has quite the drawl and really likes her green tractors. She cracks me up with her "bless your heart"s and "my momma says...". As you can imagine- it's pretty hillarious. But, I better get to bed!
"Without courage, all other virtures lose their meaning." -Winston Churchill
Oh what fun it is to go to bed at 12:30 and wake up at 6! But, it's worth it.
Today was another jam packed session- but lots of fun. We started off our day with tours. My group started off at the Iowa Farm Bureau. We were sat in a conference room and watched a fairly interesting power point about what they do. But, when we started asking questions, the guy had this obnoxious habit of politically avoiding all of them. For example, we were asking him about the sustainability of the gagillion ethanol palnts they put up in NW Iowa, and he was just certain that they would never fail and that if something did go wrong in that area they woudl just magically recover...eeeeeeee- wrong answer. We also brough up the efficiency of sugar cane and he just purposly ignored that one.
Then, we moved on to the pork producers. We talked to their CEO. He was definitly interesting and full of info, but also very politically based and definitly stuck on pork. We managed to get a few answers out of him- but not a whole lot of concrete info.
After our tours we all came back to our conference room at Pioneer and debriefed with the other groups who travelled to the Beef Council and the Soybean Council. When we exchanged info and facts it was really interesting. Did you know that ALL the foam in a Mustang is made of soy?? Or that China puts up a new DeMoines in less than 1 year, every year? Or that Iowa is number one in ethanol and bio diesel production in the US? Again, I could go on- the point is, it was really enlightening- even if our tour guides were a littel policical.
So after some debriefing we headed back to our room and ate some dinner. During that time we had a short talk from another important Pioneer guy and drilled him with all sorts of hybrid and seed questions. When he took off we tuned in to a jounalist named (I can't remember and will look it up later). He was extremely right winged and I think most of us agreed with him and his views for the most part. But, it's hard to feel like you can use those facts when that person is so biased. None the less, he spoke for over an hour about ag policy, the Obama administration and their considerations to ag, and basically what is going on in Washington concerning ag and what we can do about it. It was a really good speech, by the end I was struggling to stay awake, but I think I made it...
As soon as he took off we moved right on to Debbie (gotta look up the last name on this one). She is a rancher from the flint hill of Kansas what does Ag Advocacy all around the area. She had a great talk and showed us some of the horrible, hoax videos that HSUS, Peta, and other activists have out there to shut us production ag folks down. Those videos were agrivating enough that I think about half the room would have gone out into DeMoines right that minutes and AGvocated right on the streets to avoid people actually believeing thsi stuff. If you want a good website go the humanewatch.com. This is the organization that does check ups on the HSUS and their site...it's pro ag and you will find it VERY intersting. Also, search youtube for "water and poo"...it's created by a dairy farmer and is hillarious!
Regardless, she had a great speech, and I love agvocating so it was every more interesting to me. So many times, we focus on advocating to other ag people that surround us. However, those poeople are not the ones who need to hear this information-they already know it. It's the people like my aunts that live in the city, and friends from home that have no clue what goes on right outside their back yard that need to hear this information! Did you know that less than 2% of America's population is involved in production ag today? And of that rememing 98%, 95% of them would like to believe a farmer or rancher for facutal info. But, we just don't get out there and help ourselves enough to fix this minsconceptions that the general public has because of groups like PETA and HSUS that have over 80% of the population interested in listening.
The point is: it's vital that we get out there and speak for ourselves, becasuse if we as producers don't others will try to do it for us in a very negative way.
After hearing from her we did some large group work and then loaded up the bus and headed to a restuarand called the "machine shed" for supper. This place was a good time. They had a little store like Cracker Barrel does up front that was chuck full of cool IH an JD stuff. In addition, they had all sorts of random farmish stuff. Like an entire shelf of pork stuff: bacon flavored mints, gum, a bacons scented candle, a bacon wallet, bandaids, etc. It was hillarious! I really wanted to buy a Farmall toothpick holder but it was like twenty bucks...wow. We all ate and it was quite tasty. The food was good the company was good and the waiters in overalls were pretty great too! AFter the food they brougt out huge plate of desert to share at each table... by that time we had to get on the bus we pretty much rolled out the door! When we got back to the hotel we met with small groups to work on our visions.
We are in the preliminary stages, and mine is very preliminary jsut because it's a unique situation; I hope I can get a good one accomplished by Friday- I think I can do it! The last thing we did tonight was Ag in a Bag with everyone. We did it in a sort of speed dating style. So unlike last night where we presented to the whole group, we just presented to a group and then the group moved and a new one came. It worked pretty slick. I had a little red tractor, a Beef thermometer, a picture of my Dad with corn that he planted, a picture of some of the cattle at the ranch, a bit from a bridle, a young farmers and ranchers pin, a smokey bear keychain, a coule business cards, and a bio fuels pen. So, it was fun to tell about our place and learn about all the other diversities within the room.
This is truly and amazing group and I'm so blessed to meet them all! O, and I must tell you about my roomate. She is from Southern Georgia (where I swear they are still fighting the war of "Northern Aggression" aka the civil war). Her family grows, cotton, pecans, and tobacco. She has quite the drawl and really likes her green tractors. She cracks me up with her "bless your heart"s and "my momma says...". As you can imagine- it's pretty hillarious. But, I better get to bed!
"Without courage, all other virtures lose their meaning." -Winston Churchill
Go Ag!!!
Monday
Hooray for conference! We got up around 6:15 or so and were down for breakfast by 7:00. By the time my roomate, Brittany and I got down there there was virtually no food left on the buffett! I don't know what got into people- we didn't have to be there until like 7:45, but they were all down there and had eaten most of the food:( But, we survived and headed out to the busses.
The weather was just lovely, raining cats and dogs. I guess the night before we had some strong winds and hail. I did wake up but I went staight back to bed! ...must have been tired from riding with those boys all afternoon the day before.
I knew that this was going to be a conference worth while and it sure proved itself right away. First off, I wondered how many girls would be here- the ratio is actually really good. We have about 15 of 50- so not too bad. We are hosted on the campus of Pioneer's headquarters in Johnston- which is basically DeMoines. They have an amazing building and some great people! As soon as we got there and sat down they started us right off with a welcom and some fun activities. I won't hit everything we did- but most of it. Durding this time the President of Pioneer spoke with us as well as a few other representatives- it was really interesting and we had some good discussions. After being welcomed we broke off into our small groups of about 15 or so. We spent some time doing acitivites and getting to know one another. This was when they explained to us that we would be working on creating a "vision" or our operation all week long within our small group time. After spending some time diong that we met back as a large group and had a speaker come from the United Egg Producers. He focused his talk on ag advocacy and was very, very interesting. He had lots of quailty facts about the HSUS that were interesting- and he taught me a lot more about the poultry industry and all that they have done to advance laying houses. The poultry industry fights a pretty constant battle, and despite common belicf, that have come up with some very efficient, clean, and humane new ways of caging and housing these animals. It has been proven than free ranch chickens have a much higher mortality rate and are much less efficient- but that's not what people want to hear. But, I could go on like that all day.
After Chad from UEP spoke we did a few more group activites and then ate some lunch there at Pioneer. Afterward we headed over the the FFA center and met teh folks from the Adventure Learning Center. We were supposed to go and do a ropes course at the center, but because of the rain and mud, they brought some games to us. They were all games and activities that required lots of thinking and teamwork. It turned out to be a lot of fun and really worth it. We were all pretty tired by the time it was over!
After leaving the FFA center, we went to Fudrickers and grabbed some burgers for supper. They had it all set up in a party room with a limited menu so it actually went pretty fast and tasted good. After getting back to the hotel we met with our small groups and did what we call "ag in a bag". We each brought a few items that represent our operations and told about them. It was really intersting to learn about everyone's background. There is a citrus farmer, a pecan farmer, a few corn/soybean farmers, a dairy farmer, a few beef farmers, cotton farmers, an organic farmer, hog farmers, and the list goes on. I am particularly intrigued by the citrus farming, it sounds sooo intersting. They still harvest everything by hand- can you imagine??
We ended up done by about 10:15. I headed down to the pool after that and a bunch of us sat in the hot tub and pool and talked farming for quite some time. There were some cops there for a conference as well so we chatted with them and explained the point of detassling corn. The boys couldn't get it across to them why we do it so I used a steer in comparison to detassling a stalk and then they got it! hahaha men! There are also like 10 Snap-On tool trucks in teh parking lot of our hotel. We have all been waiting for our free Case IH tractor (beacuse they are sponsors) and free set of Snap-On tools...but I don't think it's gunna happen.
Overall it was an awesome day and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week. I would say teh best part is a tie between the learning experience of it all and the people I'm meeting!
"Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." -Confucius
Hooray for conference! We got up around 6:15 or so and were down for breakfast by 7:00. By the time my roomate, Brittany and I got down there there was virtually no food left on the buffett! I don't know what got into people- we didn't have to be there until like 7:45, but they were all down there and had eaten most of the food:( But, we survived and headed out to the busses.
The weather was just lovely, raining cats and dogs. I guess the night before we had some strong winds and hail. I did wake up but I went staight back to bed! ...must have been tired from riding with those boys all afternoon the day before.
I knew that this was going to be a conference worth while and it sure proved itself right away. First off, I wondered how many girls would be here- the ratio is actually really good. We have about 15 of 50- so not too bad. We are hosted on the campus of Pioneer's headquarters in Johnston- which is basically DeMoines. They have an amazing building and some great people! As soon as we got there and sat down they started us right off with a welcom and some fun activities. I won't hit everything we did- but most of it. Durding this time the President of Pioneer spoke with us as well as a few other representatives- it was really interesting and we had some good discussions. After being welcomed we broke off into our small groups of about 15 or so. We spent some time doing acitivites and getting to know one another. This was when they explained to us that we would be working on creating a "vision" or our operation all week long within our small group time. After spending some time diong that we met back as a large group and had a speaker come from the United Egg Producers. He focused his talk on ag advocacy and was very, very interesting. He had lots of quailty facts about the HSUS that were interesting- and he taught me a lot more about the poultry industry and all that they have done to advance laying houses. The poultry industry fights a pretty constant battle, and despite common belicf, that have come up with some very efficient, clean, and humane new ways of caging and housing these animals. It has been proven than free ranch chickens have a much higher mortality rate and are much less efficient- but that's not what people want to hear. But, I could go on like that all day.
After Chad from UEP spoke we did a few more group activites and then ate some lunch there at Pioneer. Afterward we headed over the the FFA center and met teh folks from the Adventure Learning Center. We were supposed to go and do a ropes course at the center, but because of the rain and mud, they brought some games to us. They were all games and activities that required lots of thinking and teamwork. It turned out to be a lot of fun and really worth it. We were all pretty tired by the time it was over!
After leaving the FFA center, we went to Fudrickers and grabbed some burgers for supper. They had it all set up in a party room with a limited menu so it actually went pretty fast and tasted good. After getting back to the hotel we met with our small groups and did what we call "ag in a bag". We each brought a few items that represent our operations and told about them. It was really intersting to learn about everyone's background. There is a citrus farmer, a pecan farmer, a few corn/soybean farmers, a dairy farmer, a few beef farmers, cotton farmers, an organic farmer, hog farmers, and the list goes on. I am particularly intrigued by the citrus farming, it sounds sooo intersting. They still harvest everything by hand- can you imagine??
We ended up done by about 10:15. I headed down to the pool after that and a bunch of us sat in the hot tub and pool and talked farming for quite some time. There were some cops there for a conference as well so we chatted with them and explained the point of detassling corn. The boys couldn't get it across to them why we do it so I used a steer in comparison to detassling a stalk and then they got it! hahaha men! There are also like 10 Snap-On tool trucks in teh parking lot of our hotel. We have all been waiting for our free Case IH tractor (beacuse they are sponsors) and free set of Snap-On tools...but I don't think it's gunna happen.
Overall it was an awesome day and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week. I would say teh best part is a tie between the learning experience of it all and the people I'm meeting!
"Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." -Confucius
Sunday, July 18, 2010
New Century Farmer
Finally Caught up!
Today seems short and sweet.
I got up and went to church. It was nice to be back at my home church for worship and it was nice to see so many familiar faces that I've missed. After church I headed home and mowed the lawn quick like.
Then, back to Sioux Falls. By the time I got in the house, one of the guys, Wyatt, that I was carpooling with called and said he was getting on I-29 so I hurried up and got my stuff together. By the time he made it to the house i was about ready. We really were actually early getting going but I didn't want to make him wait.
Mom sent us with some cookies she made last night- yum! So, we had some pretty good road food. We headed down to Lennox to pick up Colton, our third traveller at his farm. We met up wtih him there an transferred everything to his car, said bye to his family, and headed out. We made a quick gas stop- and off we went. The trip out was rather entertaining with those two. Colton has subwolfers in his trunk (for whatever reason..who knows). At one point, we had him turn them on to a country song while driving in heavy traffic...what fun. Or another time I pretended to be choking Wyatt around the neck while passing a car. Aren't we mature?! We had a good time, and between the map and GPS we made it here with plenty of time to spare. I showered and had a chance to wander around. While doing so I met up with some other conference participants and got to meet them. At 7:30 we all went to the social where we had pizza and played games. I went down and sat with a table of guys from all over the country. After eating adn talking, we broke out the Jenga. After a couple rounds we read the box and learned that you had to go 36 storied to be a pro...well, we made it to 42 I'll have you know! By the end, everyone in the room was watching us! Another group tried later, but only made it to 40. So, yes, that's right- you are reading a Jenga Pro's blog! hahaha Later, we tried some catch phrase, but weren't near as good at that!
Eventually, I headed to my room to work on some stuff for the college and take care of emails. It was a fun night and I'm so excited to work with these people. My roomate is from a South Georgia cotton farm. She said they also grow some peanuts, pecans, tobacco, etc.
I think it'll be a good time. But, I'm off to bed! Good night!
"Don't cuss the farmer with your mouth full!" - An old Farmer
Today seems short and sweet.
I got up and went to church. It was nice to be back at my home church for worship and it was nice to see so many familiar faces that I've missed. After church I headed home and mowed the lawn quick like.
Then, back to Sioux Falls. By the time I got in the house, one of the guys, Wyatt, that I was carpooling with called and said he was getting on I-29 so I hurried up and got my stuff together. By the time he made it to the house i was about ready. We really were actually early getting going but I didn't want to make him wait.
Mom sent us with some cookies she made last night- yum! So, we had some pretty good road food. We headed down to Lennox to pick up Colton, our third traveller at his farm. We met up wtih him there an transferred everything to his car, said bye to his family, and headed out. We made a quick gas stop- and off we went. The trip out was rather entertaining with those two. Colton has subwolfers in his trunk (for whatever reason..who knows). At one point, we had him turn them on to a country song while driving in heavy traffic...what fun. Or another time I pretended to be choking Wyatt around the neck while passing a car. Aren't we mature?! We had a good time, and between the map and GPS we made it here with plenty of time to spare. I showered and had a chance to wander around. While doing so I met up with some other conference participants and got to meet them. At 7:30 we all went to the social where we had pizza and played games. I went down and sat with a table of guys from all over the country. After eating adn talking, we broke out the Jenga. After a couple rounds we read the box and learned that you had to go 36 storied to be a pro...well, we made it to 42 I'll have you know! By the end, everyone in the room was watching us! Another group tried later, but only made it to 40. So, yes, that's right- you are reading a Jenga Pro's blog! hahaha Later, we tried some catch phrase, but weren't near as good at that!
Eventually, I headed to my room to work on some stuff for the college and take care of emails. It was a fun night and I'm so excited to work with these people. My roomate is from a South Georgia cotton farm. She said they also grow some peanuts, pecans, tobacco, etc.
I think it'll be a good time. But, I'm off to bed! Good night!
"Don't cuss the farmer with your mouth full!" - An old Farmer
Home
Saturday.
Well, this shouldn't be too hard to write about. I have no solid report from the ranch but I can guess that square bales got picked up off the field and that the chisels are changed or in the process of being changed to sweeps out in the field.
As far as my life...I got up at a decent time (tried not to get up "for chores" but I woke up and tried to lay in bed anyway. I ate some tasty breakfast with mom and John and then worked on packing my bad a little better. I finally got ready to go and Mom and I took off and ran all sorts of errands. From the drug store. to paying bills, to seeing the grandparents, to hitting up all the western stores just to find out that they don't carry kahakis...yeah. It was a morning full of all sorts of things. We came home and I tried to get my poop in a group long enough to head back out again adn get some things done at home in Baltic. I stopped by TSC on my way out of town adn didn't find any pant their either! annoying...guess I'll just wear the old crappy ones I have to the conference. I stopped at Midway and got gas and talked with my friends there a while- then on to Baltic. After driving through the huge metropolis I stopped at a friend of the family's palce. He is actually the oldest person living in Baltic I believe, and his wife isn't far behind him! I always try to make it a point to stop and see them as well as my grandparents. So, it was nice to visit with them- but I had to move on to my house.
I moved te pickup around and grabbed some things i needed out of the house. Then, I had plans to go to Brookings for the evening but I couldn't get ahold on anyone so I just headed back to mom and johns. It was nice to have supper with them and spend some time there anyway. AFter a bit, I met up with my friend Lauren who was passing through Sioux Falls and we went and had ice cream and went to the new movie, Dispicable Me. It was is 3-D and was one of the cutest cartoons ever! But, the night was getting late. We split our directions and i went home and watched tv with mom till we both fell asleep and I headed to bed.
It's always so amazing to me that I can't just come home and sit- there is always too much to do and too manay people to see in a short amount of time!
Well, this shouldn't be too hard to write about. I have no solid report from the ranch but I can guess that square bales got picked up off the field and that the chisels are changed or in the process of being changed to sweeps out in the field.
As far as my life...I got up at a decent time (tried not to get up "for chores" but I woke up and tried to lay in bed anyway. I ate some tasty breakfast with mom and John and then worked on packing my bad a little better. I finally got ready to go and Mom and I took off and ran all sorts of errands. From the drug store. to paying bills, to seeing the grandparents, to hitting up all the western stores just to find out that they don't carry kahakis...yeah. It was a morning full of all sorts of things. We came home and I tried to get my poop in a group long enough to head back out again adn get some things done at home in Baltic. I stopped by TSC on my way out of town adn didn't find any pant their either! annoying...guess I'll just wear the old crappy ones I have to the conference. I stopped at Midway and got gas and talked with my friends there a while- then on to Baltic. After driving through the huge metropolis I stopped at a friend of the family's palce. He is actually the oldest person living in Baltic I believe, and his wife isn't far behind him! I always try to make it a point to stop and see them as well as my grandparents. So, it was nice to visit with them- but I had to move on to my house.
I moved te pickup around and grabbed some things i needed out of the house. Then, I had plans to go to Brookings for the evening but I couldn't get ahold on anyone so I just headed back to mom and johns. It was nice to have supper with them and spend some time there anyway. AFter a bit, I met up with my friend Lauren who was passing through Sioux Falls and we went and had ice cream and went to the new movie, Dispicable Me. It was is 3-D and was one of the cutest cartoons ever! But, the night was getting late. We split our directions and i went home and watched tv with mom till we both fell asleep and I headed to bed.
It's always so amazing to me that I can't just come home and sit- there is always too much to do and too manay people to see in a short amount of time!
The race is on...
So I'm a little behind...
Back to Friday.
I got up and did chores as usual- nothing exciting there. Then, the fun began. The plan for Merle and i was to go and get the 560 tractor and square baler that he stores in a shed just south of Martin. But first, we had to get Ross ready to go with the farming tractor. Dean headed out to stack bales- so the three of us started in on servicing it. Between filters, tires, grease, windows, fluids, and everythig else- it took quite a while. When Merle went to go fill the hy-tran resivour he noticed that it took way too much conidering that we filled it up a day earlier. After looking around we figured out that the cyllinder on teh chise was leaking a pretty steady stream....so we are analyzing what to do while Ross dissapears into the shed. A coupel minutes later he comes out with this cyllinder. I swear it's like he has a treasure chest in there somewhere.
So...we take the leaky cyllinder off and put the oder one on. We noticed that it had a parts tag on it- which is not the best sign in the world, but we weren't sure if it had been worked on or not so it seemed worth a try. After getting it put on, we sent Ross off to the field out by Irelands (east of Martin). Meanwhile, we got the pickup ready to go for the hayfield and did a few little jobs around the shed. We fed the chicks and cleaned up and then I took off with Ross's pickup to meet him at the field. First, I stopped in town to drop the old cyllinder off at Jay's and grabbed my mail. I still beat Ross to the field and made some phone calls up on a hill while I waited.
By the looks of things, the summer fallow was a bit taller than planned so i didnt' know how the chesel would work anyway. But we got it there and took the pins out- set it the way we thought it should be set. He went up and back and by that time Merle had come back and anylized the situation and decided that the cyllinder stop wasn't working. We had already broken one stop so we tried resetting it and ended up breaking all of them. So then we had a bigger problem.
We all headed back into town to see if Jay could fix the old cyllinder. Since he was super busy we just went back into the shop with him and tore it apart ourselves. He had a new o ring for it and we switched a few things around and had it back into shape. Adrienne was waiting for Merle somewhere in town all this time so he went and got her while Ross and i went back to the field to put the new cylinder on. First, we had to fight getting the old one off...I almost had it off when Merle showed up. He gave it one tap and it came off- I hate that!
We got the new one on and found enought stops to make it work at the right depth. It even looked like it would help with the weeds as long as it get s sweeped soon. I said goodbye to Ross for the week and we headed back into town. Since the next stop was south of town and it was well past noon, we stopped to eat at the sale barn. After trying all the normal places, we found it was the only smokeless one open. We all went in and had a burger and then headed back to the pickup. Rylee was there but she wasn't my usual lunch buddy. See, we usually sit in the backseat and eat lunch together but today it was a little different! hhaha
AFter lunch we headed straight to the shed south of town and go the 560 (cabless) tractor out and hooked it up to the small square baler withno probems (a miracle after this morning). Merle took it for a short spin and we thought he might just take it home but I knew better. He stopped at the end of the driveway and told me i needed the experience of taking it home! lol So, I hopped on and headed towards home in fifth gear. I'm not totally sure how long it took...but quite a while. Merle caught up with me heading down Hisle road and said to just take it to the field (which is further on north of the ranch) so I did. I had to crawl up the trail to the field in 4th gear for fear that I would shake every bolt and pin out of that poor little baler! But, I eventually got there and met up with Merle. I stole some of his water right away because I made the mistake of not taking any with me! We got things set up and only had to fix one broken pin before he took off. It actually worked like a top as far as I know. After he baled a few Adrienne came and picked me up so I could go home and shower and get out of there.
So, I did just that. I finished packing and headed out. I got on the road right at 6. The original plan was to leave at noon but we just didn't get that far, which is just how things go. But, I got on the road, stopped for gas in Kadoka and didn't stop again until I got home to my mom's house just after 11:15 or so. Off to bed I went.
I actually felt really bad leaving and not helping pick up square bales, but I did all that I could in the time we had.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -St. Augustine
Back to Friday.
I got up and did chores as usual- nothing exciting there. Then, the fun began. The plan for Merle and i was to go and get the 560 tractor and square baler that he stores in a shed just south of Martin. But first, we had to get Ross ready to go with the farming tractor. Dean headed out to stack bales- so the three of us started in on servicing it. Between filters, tires, grease, windows, fluids, and everythig else- it took quite a while. When Merle went to go fill the hy-tran resivour he noticed that it took way too much conidering that we filled it up a day earlier. After looking around we figured out that the cyllinder on teh chise was leaking a pretty steady stream....so we are analyzing what to do while Ross dissapears into the shed. A coupel minutes later he comes out with this cyllinder. I swear it's like he has a treasure chest in there somewhere.
So...we take the leaky cyllinder off and put the oder one on. We noticed that it had a parts tag on it- which is not the best sign in the world, but we weren't sure if it had been worked on or not so it seemed worth a try. After getting it put on, we sent Ross off to the field out by Irelands (east of Martin). Meanwhile, we got the pickup ready to go for the hayfield and did a few little jobs around the shed. We fed the chicks and cleaned up and then I took off with Ross's pickup to meet him at the field. First, I stopped in town to drop the old cyllinder off at Jay's and grabbed my mail. I still beat Ross to the field and made some phone calls up on a hill while I waited.
By the looks of things, the summer fallow was a bit taller than planned so i didnt' know how the chesel would work anyway. But we got it there and took the pins out- set it the way we thought it should be set. He went up and back and by that time Merle had come back and anylized the situation and decided that the cyllinder stop wasn't working. We had already broken one stop so we tried resetting it and ended up breaking all of them. So then we had a bigger problem.
We all headed back into town to see if Jay could fix the old cyllinder. Since he was super busy we just went back into the shop with him and tore it apart ourselves. He had a new o ring for it and we switched a few things around and had it back into shape. Adrienne was waiting for Merle somewhere in town all this time so he went and got her while Ross and i went back to the field to put the new cylinder on. First, we had to fight getting the old one off...I almost had it off when Merle showed up. He gave it one tap and it came off- I hate that!
We got the new one on and found enought stops to make it work at the right depth. It even looked like it would help with the weeds as long as it get s sweeped soon. I said goodbye to Ross for the week and we headed back into town. Since the next stop was south of town and it was well past noon, we stopped to eat at the sale barn. After trying all the normal places, we found it was the only smokeless one open. We all went in and had a burger and then headed back to the pickup. Rylee was there but she wasn't my usual lunch buddy. See, we usually sit in the backseat and eat lunch together but today it was a little different! hhaha
AFter lunch we headed straight to the shed south of town and go the 560 (cabless) tractor out and hooked it up to the small square baler withno probems (a miracle after this morning). Merle took it for a short spin and we thought he might just take it home but I knew better. He stopped at the end of the driveway and told me i needed the experience of taking it home! lol So, I hopped on and headed towards home in fifth gear. I'm not totally sure how long it took...but quite a while. Merle caught up with me heading down Hisle road and said to just take it to the field (which is further on north of the ranch) so I did. I had to crawl up the trail to the field in 4th gear for fear that I would shake every bolt and pin out of that poor little baler! But, I eventually got there and met up with Merle. I stole some of his water right away because I made the mistake of not taking any with me! We got things set up and only had to fix one broken pin before he took off. It actually worked like a top as far as I know. After he baled a few Adrienne came and picked me up so I could go home and shower and get out of there.
So, I did just that. I finished packing and headed out. I got on the road right at 6. The original plan was to leave at noon but we just didn't get that far, which is just how things go. But, I got on the road, stopped for gas in Kadoka and didn't stop again until I got home to my mom's house just after 11:15 or so. Off to bed I went.
I actually felt really bad leaving and not helping pick up square bales, but I did all that I could in the time we had.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -St. Augustine
Thursday, July 15, 2010
put 'er up
I'm going to try to make this short and sweet because sleep is of the essence.
So today was a typical haying day. Did chores without much difficulty- then went to the shed and got the pickup ready and fed the chicks...who are ridiculously afraid of me I might add. I so badly wanted to grab one and try to tame them down but I'm pretty sure they would die of a heart attack in the process! After gettinge everything refilled and fueled up I grabbed my lunch and then Merle and I took off for the farming tractor. Meanwhile, Dean and Ross went up to get their machines and bring them home for a bit.
We got the water filter changed on the tractor and filled it with quite a bit of antifreze and fuel. We even got the cab filter changed so that tractor should be in pretty decent shape. We still need to work on the seat and the cyllinders for the hood...but we're getting there! Ross pulled up just as we were finishing up. He was ready to run the chisel. ...and that he did. After getting him going and setting the radio to his station (my assigned job each time he gets in the tractor! haha), we headed off for the hayfield. Since we ended up parked in different spots after bailing from the crop duster yesterday, I helped Merle get serviced- he thought it was a pretty good deal cuz I got him running and then had to go do my own! lol, what a mean boss! I actually managed to get diesel everywhere more than once because for whatever reason the saddle fuel tanks on his tractor wanted to burp fuel everywhere every ten seconds...so it was a slow fill but I finally got it up there.
He started out and I went and serviced my rig. It needed antifreeze so I managed to get that all over me as well...so I smelled like diesel and antifreeze...hmmm appetizing. From that point on we just basically hayed all afternoon until we finished all that was cut down for us. Adrienne came at lunch so I visited with Rylee in the backseat while eating my homemade ham sandwich (a Sara specialty). She was in a much better mood today! Lunch was kinda funny cuz Merle made Adrienne pull up on the hill so we could watch the neighbor cut hay...it was entertaining I guess...I bet he thought we were a little creepy! Then, we hopped back in the tractors and took off for some more dry dry dry hay.
We got it all put up except the little part that was cut narrow for squre bales. Tomorrow we are going to go get the baler...I'm sooo excited- can you tell? We also need to change the chisels to sweeps now...if I get to throw bales and change spikes on the chisel that'll just make my day! haha- I'll live and get over it. I did managed to string a broken bale out the wrong way today- but other than that it wasn't too bad.
After haying we came home and did chores. We had more planned but wimped out becasue it was getting late. In fact, I think I'll wimp out right now and finish my packing in the morning.
I will be taking off tomorrow afternoon/evening for home and heading to Iowa for the New Century Farmer Conference (through FFA) on Sunday. I will be there through Saturday. I'm pretty excited, but like I've said before- it's hard to leave here when I can see so much that needs done. But, I'm sure they can get by without me- it's been done forever so why worry now!
So today was a typical haying day. Did chores without much difficulty- then went to the shed and got the pickup ready and fed the chicks...who are ridiculously afraid of me I might add. I so badly wanted to grab one and try to tame them down but I'm pretty sure they would die of a heart attack in the process! After gettinge everything refilled and fueled up I grabbed my lunch and then Merle and I took off for the farming tractor. Meanwhile, Dean and Ross went up to get their machines and bring them home for a bit.
We got the water filter changed on the tractor and filled it with quite a bit of antifreze and fuel. We even got the cab filter changed so that tractor should be in pretty decent shape. We still need to work on the seat and the cyllinders for the hood...but we're getting there! Ross pulled up just as we were finishing up. He was ready to run the chisel. ...and that he did. After getting him going and setting the radio to his station (my assigned job each time he gets in the tractor! haha), we headed off for the hayfield. Since we ended up parked in different spots after bailing from the crop duster yesterday, I helped Merle get serviced- he thought it was a pretty good deal cuz I got him running and then had to go do my own! lol, what a mean boss! I actually managed to get diesel everywhere more than once because for whatever reason the saddle fuel tanks on his tractor wanted to burp fuel everywhere every ten seconds...so it was a slow fill but I finally got it up there.
He started out and I went and serviced my rig. It needed antifreeze so I managed to get that all over me as well...so I smelled like diesel and antifreeze...hmmm appetizing. From that point on we just basically hayed all afternoon until we finished all that was cut down for us. Adrienne came at lunch so I visited with Rylee in the backseat while eating my homemade ham sandwich (a Sara specialty). She was in a much better mood today! Lunch was kinda funny cuz Merle made Adrienne pull up on the hill so we could watch the neighbor cut hay...it was entertaining I guess...I bet he thought we were a little creepy! Then, we hopped back in the tractors and took off for some more dry dry dry hay.
We got it all put up except the little part that was cut narrow for squre bales. Tomorrow we are going to go get the baler...I'm sooo excited- can you tell? We also need to change the chisels to sweeps now...if I get to throw bales and change spikes on the chisel that'll just make my day! haha- I'll live and get over it. I did managed to string a broken bale out the wrong way today- but other than that it wasn't too bad.
After haying we came home and did chores. We had more planned but wimped out becasue it was getting late. In fact, I think I'll wimp out right now and finish my packing in the morning.
I will be taking off tomorrow afternoon/evening for home and heading to Iowa for the New Century Farmer Conference (through FFA) on Sunday. I will be there through Saturday. I'm pretty excited, but like I've said before- it's hard to leave here when I can see so much that needs done. But, I'm sure they can get by without me- it's been done forever so why worry now!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Hay and Spray
Well, today shouldn't be too hard to write about.
I did chores and then headed up to the shed to get ready to go to the hayfield. We cleaned out and filled up the pickup as usual and then started in on a fun little project before taking off.
Yesterday, Merle got the road grader going and moved it from out front of the little chicken shed the chicks are in. When he went in to feed them afterwards he said he thought we lost them all! They were all laying out on their sides and looked awful. For starters, we still havent' gotten their heat lamp quite right and that probably was too hot. To top that off, we figure he probably scared them to death when he started that maching right there. Poor little chicks! But they were ok. They now have had the shed to run around in, so they are pretty entertaining.
So back to our project. Merle had picked up some screen and laths so we could cover the open windows before the cats jump in the shed. We had just barely enough screen, but we got it done. It's definitly not for beauty's sake- but it does the job. The whole time teh chicks were just piling in the corner...those poor littel guys are gunna turn out tough and hard to scare by the end of their stay in that shed!
After getting them all fed and set to go for the day, we each grabbed our lunch and took off for the field. I didn't have to do much servicing and managed to not get any tools run over today- so I was already ahead of yesterday. I got to raking and that pretty much sums up the afternoon. Adrienne came at lunch to bring Merle some food so I ate in the pickup with them and played with the baby:) Then, back to the tractor and singing to the radio. I had some cell reception today so I was able to get some things done on the phone as well. One random funny: yesterday we found a coat that Ross windrowed...today a pair of gloves...we're just waiting to find the guy! haha- dont' worry, if there is someone out there I'm pretty sure they are walking around naked! lol
But, Ross and Dean cut until they reached the field that gets square baled....and then they cut it too- so I know what's coming soon...ugh. Merle and I went until a little after 7 when the crop duster came and started spraying upwind of us. Merle decided it wasnt' worth the gamble for us both to get sick so we jsut took off. Before he started spraying he let off a cloud of crap. We decided that was probably the "get out of here" signal. Anybody know?
Anyway, Ross and Dean finished cutting up there so they headed home and Dean started chores. I went down and helped finish them and then headed home. Since then, I've been trying to catch up on bookwork and random things for this conference! ahhh... time for bed!
"Success usually come to those who are too busy to be looking for it." -Henry David Thoreau
I did chores and then headed up to the shed to get ready to go to the hayfield. We cleaned out and filled up the pickup as usual and then started in on a fun little project before taking off.
Yesterday, Merle got the road grader going and moved it from out front of the little chicken shed the chicks are in. When he went in to feed them afterwards he said he thought we lost them all! They were all laying out on their sides and looked awful. For starters, we still havent' gotten their heat lamp quite right and that probably was too hot. To top that off, we figure he probably scared them to death when he started that maching right there. Poor little chicks! But they were ok. They now have had the shed to run around in, so they are pretty entertaining.
So back to our project. Merle had picked up some screen and laths so we could cover the open windows before the cats jump in the shed. We had just barely enough screen, but we got it done. It's definitly not for beauty's sake- but it does the job. The whole time teh chicks were just piling in the corner...those poor littel guys are gunna turn out tough and hard to scare by the end of their stay in that shed!
After getting them all fed and set to go for the day, we each grabbed our lunch and took off for the field. I didn't have to do much servicing and managed to not get any tools run over today- so I was already ahead of yesterday. I got to raking and that pretty much sums up the afternoon. Adrienne came at lunch to bring Merle some food so I ate in the pickup with them and played with the baby:) Then, back to the tractor and singing to the radio. I had some cell reception today so I was able to get some things done on the phone as well. One random funny: yesterday we found a coat that Ross windrowed...today a pair of gloves...we're just waiting to find the guy! haha- dont' worry, if there is someone out there I'm pretty sure they are walking around naked! lol
But, Ross and Dean cut until they reached the field that gets square baled....and then they cut it too- so I know what's coming soon...ugh. Merle and I went until a little after 7 when the crop duster came and started spraying upwind of us. Merle decided it wasnt' worth the gamble for us both to get sick so we jsut took off. Before he started spraying he let off a cloud of crap. We decided that was probably the "get out of here" signal. Anybody know?
Anyway, Ross and Dean finished cutting up there so they headed home and Dean started chores. I went down and helped finish them and then headed home. Since then, I've been trying to catch up on bookwork and random things for this conference! ahhh... time for bed!
"Success usually come to those who are too busy to be looking for it." -Henry David Thoreau
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Use your Resources
Hm- where to start.
Another day to wrench on a few things. After chores, I headed up to the shed and we all got ready to head to the field. I packed a few extra things for our lovely mechanic work and cleaned out some stuff from yesterday. Then, we were good to go.
I took off for the field with the flatbed pickup full of junk. We had a tire for the farming tractor and a whole bunch of parts on it. When I got there Ross was already greasing up. I helped him fill up his hy tran fluid and by that time Merle was there with his pickup so I could get a grease gun. He was on the phone, so I grabbed one out of the back and set it alongside the pickup...do you see where this is going? Hint: downhill. I left the case there on the ground and started greasing up. I heard him start the pickup and looked over. First, he pulled forward- no problem. then, we backs up at an angle and while squeeling at him to stop...he runs over the case. So...I'm an idot (moral of story)- there is a reason you set them on the tailgate. But, it wans't all that bad. Just ruined a tube of grease and put a few dents in the case. The extra battery wasnt' ruined and the case we still useable- although it is Ross's and I can imagine what he will say someday down the road when he goes to use it! O well, not that huge of a deal, just a crappy way to start the day.
We got going and almost finished the field we were on when Roger pulled up. We decided to start the day putting the front end back together on the 5250. One piece at a time...the worst part was that we were out in the field and it kept getting hotter and hotter. The parts were so ridiculously hot to the touch that we had to use rags and dump them in water quite a few times. Ouch! One of the first things we tried to do was pull out the old seals. Of course, they wouldn't come out with the gear puller so we had to use the cutting torch- in a hayfield, that is dry. We were mildly concerned so we dug out some grass and had a fire extinguisher, water, and a spade right there. Roger fired up his torch and was able to get them out with no fires- just some sparks flying around. We didn't get too far by the time Adrienne and Rylee showed up with lunch. Burgers...yum. About 30 times better than my sandwich would have tasted! So we ate and I played with the little fart and chatted- then back out into the lovely heat. (Apparently it got up to like 97 or so today). After lots of adjustments and twisting and such. We got the left side put back together and got the tire on. By that time, Merle decided to go bale. Dean had shown up from working on the road grater so he had him rake and left Roger and I there to do the other side. We got just a little ways in and realized that we never put this small gear and snap ring in on the other side (they were under a rag and we were just trying to get it done)- meaning that we had to take the tire off and tear off a seal again. Ugh. But, we kept plugging away at our side. We couldn't get the tie rod off to replace and didn't have the rigth special tool to do it, so we finally gave up on that task and left it for another day. But, we were able to get the right side put back together with some effort and then went back to our mess up. We took things apart and put the dumb thing in and then got it back together.
All in all we had to be pretty creative again. We couldn't get one shaft in and figured out that there was a pice of metal from the slip disk way down in the middle of the axle. So, Roger used his handy dandy electrical take again adn taped a magnet to a bar and we were able to get it out. That disk will have to be replaced probably before winter- but we definitly weren't gunna do that today! We also had to put our seals and glue and such in the cooler with the pop to make them contract and go in easier. Resourcefulness is key people.
So, we got the darn thing put back together and then worked on the air conditioners in all of them and looked at a few other miniscule things. O- I almost forgot. Somewhere throughout the course of the day when the gates were open the neighbors cattle got out. So..Merle went and chased them back in....we just can't seem to win! But, by the time we were done there it was five and I had to be at fire training by 7, so I took off for home to do chores and Merle and Roger headed towards Hisle to put the water pump in the other tractor.
Before I took the pickup I asked if he got all that he needed and he said he thoguht so- so I just took off. Later we all realized that I took the filter and all the antifreeze...how convieninet. Guess, well fill it up tomorrow or just sometime before it gets run! I headed home and did chores. The last thing I did was go round up the calves. I could only find 11, so I searched and searched and searched and had no luck. I don't know if they got out or weren't ever there this morning or what, but I had to get going so I called Merle and he and Dean were going to look later. ...Those little terds! I'm guessing they were all on the other side of the fence hiding from me somewhere.
I ran home and showered and headed to town to finish the class that we started last Tuesday on Fire Investigation. This time, they sent different people. This dude's version of teaching was reading the slides. What was supposed to take a recommended hour and a half too less than a half hour. Then, they basically gave us the answers to the test- how effective. I was definitly one of those deals that we run on rez time...they didn't really seem to be too concerned about anything. lol- that's always a great quality for a firefighter. But, anyway, regarless, I'm not certified at some really basic level to be prepared to investigate fires as a first responder. OOOO AAHHH.
Then, I came home and started in on some paperwork for school- not fun.
Now, I"m headed to bed.
"There is nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot!" -Scott Adams
I don't think we're that bad but it's funny anyway!
And PS- the harvesters came today- they might start in 3-4 days with the wheat.
Another day to wrench on a few things. After chores, I headed up to the shed and we all got ready to head to the field. I packed a few extra things for our lovely mechanic work and cleaned out some stuff from yesterday. Then, we were good to go.
I took off for the field with the flatbed pickup full of junk. We had a tire for the farming tractor and a whole bunch of parts on it. When I got there Ross was already greasing up. I helped him fill up his hy tran fluid and by that time Merle was there with his pickup so I could get a grease gun. He was on the phone, so I grabbed one out of the back and set it alongside the pickup...do you see where this is going? Hint: downhill. I left the case there on the ground and started greasing up. I heard him start the pickup and looked over. First, he pulled forward- no problem. then, we backs up at an angle and while squeeling at him to stop...he runs over the case. So...I'm an idot (moral of story)- there is a reason you set them on the tailgate. But, it wans't all that bad. Just ruined a tube of grease and put a few dents in the case. The extra battery wasnt' ruined and the case we still useable- although it is Ross's and I can imagine what he will say someday down the road when he goes to use it! O well, not that huge of a deal, just a crappy way to start the day.
We got going and almost finished the field we were on when Roger pulled up. We decided to start the day putting the front end back together on the 5250. One piece at a time...the worst part was that we were out in the field and it kept getting hotter and hotter. The parts were so ridiculously hot to the touch that we had to use rags and dump them in water quite a few times. Ouch! One of the first things we tried to do was pull out the old seals. Of course, they wouldn't come out with the gear puller so we had to use the cutting torch- in a hayfield, that is dry. We were mildly concerned so we dug out some grass and had a fire extinguisher, water, and a spade right there. Roger fired up his torch and was able to get them out with no fires- just some sparks flying around. We didn't get too far by the time Adrienne and Rylee showed up with lunch. Burgers...yum. About 30 times better than my sandwich would have tasted! So we ate and I played with the little fart and chatted- then back out into the lovely heat. (Apparently it got up to like 97 or so today). After lots of adjustments and twisting and such. We got the left side put back together and got the tire on. By that time, Merle decided to go bale. Dean had shown up from working on the road grater so he had him rake and left Roger and I there to do the other side. We got just a little ways in and realized that we never put this small gear and snap ring in on the other side (they were under a rag and we were just trying to get it done)- meaning that we had to take the tire off and tear off a seal again. Ugh. But, we kept plugging away at our side. We couldn't get the tie rod off to replace and didn't have the rigth special tool to do it, so we finally gave up on that task and left it for another day. But, we were able to get the right side put back together with some effort and then went back to our mess up. We took things apart and put the dumb thing in and then got it back together.
All in all we had to be pretty creative again. We couldn't get one shaft in and figured out that there was a pice of metal from the slip disk way down in the middle of the axle. So, Roger used his handy dandy electrical take again adn taped a magnet to a bar and we were able to get it out. That disk will have to be replaced probably before winter- but we definitly weren't gunna do that today! We also had to put our seals and glue and such in the cooler with the pop to make them contract and go in easier. Resourcefulness is key people.
So, we got the darn thing put back together and then worked on the air conditioners in all of them and looked at a few other miniscule things. O- I almost forgot. Somewhere throughout the course of the day when the gates were open the neighbors cattle got out. So..Merle went and chased them back in....we just can't seem to win! But, by the time we were done there it was five and I had to be at fire training by 7, so I took off for home to do chores and Merle and Roger headed towards Hisle to put the water pump in the other tractor.
Before I took the pickup I asked if he got all that he needed and he said he thoguht so- so I just took off. Later we all realized that I took the filter and all the antifreeze...how convieninet. Guess, well fill it up tomorrow or just sometime before it gets run! I headed home and did chores. The last thing I did was go round up the calves. I could only find 11, so I searched and searched and searched and had no luck. I don't know if they got out or weren't ever there this morning or what, but I had to get going so I called Merle and he and Dean were going to look later. ...Those little terds! I'm guessing they were all on the other side of the fence hiding from me somewhere.
I ran home and showered and headed to town to finish the class that we started last Tuesday on Fire Investigation. This time, they sent different people. This dude's version of teaching was reading the slides. What was supposed to take a recommended hour and a half too less than a half hour. Then, they basically gave us the answers to the test- how effective. I was definitly one of those deals that we run on rez time...they didn't really seem to be too concerned about anything. lol- that's always a great quality for a firefighter. But, anyway, regarless, I'm not certified at some really basic level to be prepared to investigate fires as a first responder. OOOO AAHHH.
Then, I came home and started in on some paperwork for school- not fun.
Now, I"m headed to bed.
"There is nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot!" -Scott Adams
I don't think we're that bad but it's funny anyway!
And PS- the harvesters came today- they might start in 3-4 days with the wheat.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Progress?
Progress as definied by Websters Dictionary: a forward on onward movement. I think we failed at that today...I'm unsure. Does working forward after working backwards count as progress?? I'll let you ponder that one.
I moved my little but right along this morning. For whatever reason, I did not get out of bed until 6:20 or something like that...(can't imagine bedtime had anything to do with that) so I moved right along to be on time for chores. I stood up on my four wheeler because the seat was wet, and tried to eat a pop tart all while cruising down that driveway. Normally, I would call that talented...but I didn't do it well! Once Deano and I got chores done we headed for the shed to check out what was going on. I saw a pickup up there and noticed that Ross had parked his in an odd place. After seeing that no one was at the shed I came to the conclusion that it was Delbert's pickup, he had brought chicks, and him and Merle and Ross went off to check something somewhere...turns out I'm a pretty good guesser.
Meanwhile, Dean is like beside himself because no one is there to telll us exactly what to do. He decided to go home and grab his lunch since Merle wasn't around. While he's doing that I picked up a broom and started sweeping out the shop. I knew that Roger was coming today and it's always nice to work on a semi-clean floor. Dean eventually comes back and helps me finish with the floor. Then, we went on to keep on cleaning off the work bench and I orgnized some shelves. You wouldn't belive the treasures you can find in those boxes that collect things! haha The whole time we were in the shop I was wondering if I should take off for Techs and check for cows...but I wasn't sure where the others were and if they would come back while I was gone and say they already checked. Well, as it turns out, I should have gone- but Dean got sent to check instead.
They brought me back some wheat that had a crook in the stem at teh top and the heads were curled over. It was strange because a lot of the affected heads where full grown and almost hard and cured. My first guess was a deficiency and as it turns out I may be right. I called the school to talk to some of my people in the plant science building and they said there was no disease that it really matches up with, but it may be a soil deficiency or a spraying injury. Since the wheat was never sprayed, that leaves teh deficiency. I'm still not sure what it would be defincient of and if that's 100% correct yet- I'm doing more checking tomorrow. If you think you know- please email me and do tell!!!
So, beyond the wheat I scrounged aroudn adn found a pin for the loader that I bounced out yesterday in the shop, then had Dean help me get the pickup loaded with net wrap and such for the hayfield. He took off to look for cows and I filled oil and loaded and cleaned out the pickup to get ready to go. Merle met me shorly before I was done so he finished up getting stuff ready and then stopped by and picked me up at home after I made my lunch (complete with a HAM sandwich...success). We took off for the field and new that we probably wouldn't get far before Roger (The mechanic) came. We didn't even get going and Roger was there. (That's a really good thing). Ross had him work on the O ring in the windrower and the nuetral trip first. After replacing the ring we had quite the fight with the nuetral deal. Eventually, we determined that the spring did not have enough tension on it an since it's a new part- I'm guessing they didn't put the right exact one on when they green-lighted the machine in Gordon this past winter. But, after adding a sickle section with a bolt and hooking the spring into it, we got her fixed!
Next, we headed over to Dean's tractor that I've been driving for a couple days. The front wheel assist seals are out of it so he started tearing the hubs apart and we helped pry and pull. We decided to do it in the field because it's a short process and we were able to lift the tractor high enough off the wheel with just a block under the loader bucket hookup bar. Turns out, the bottom bearings were out on BOTH front tires! Too much wear and tean I guess...so we had a lot more work than we bargained for. Roger kept on calling Charlie, the parts man and ordering more and more parts all afternoon long! After tearing both wheels entirely apart and into a gagillion pieces we found a beveled block (only one we had out there in Ross's pickup) and put it under the front axle and jacked one side up with the handyman in hopes that the tractor would stay like that.
Dean got sent off to Phillip for parts to work on that tractor later in the afternoon. We finished up taking the wheels apart and then came home for dinner. Adrienne cooked some very tasty roast and potatoes! But, it only lasted so long before we were out again. After talking to the fuel delivery guy from Phillip (him and Roger were joking that they should have carpooled!) we headed out to the next tractor that we west of Hislt rather than east this time. This would be my tractor. We figured after all the trouble we had it would be an easy fix- adn it was. The batteries didn't have much inital charge so we hooked the pickups up to them adn got them charging while Roger messed aroudn with other things. After chekcing some plugs and dinking around we noticed that an alternator cable got busted in the process. It must have been super weak adn just let go. After repariring it, everything seemed to work well again. It was that simple I guess..I think the new alternator from the other day made a pretty good dent in the problem as well. But, I was happy when I could see a tacometer and move my tractor! horray..back to a cab that doesn't smell nasty!
So, we got it going and then went down the road a little further to Bravehawks, where the farming tractor awaited us. Merle had broke off the top of a plastic valve that was designed to shut off the flow to the water filter when you change it. Well, it wouldn't be a big deal, but the o ring broke and it appeared that it was shooting fluid everywhere so Ross shut down that day adn hasn't farmed since. We ended up using an air wrench electrical taped to a drill bit to drill a hole into the plug. I can't even begin to tell you the troubles we had, but eventually, with a lot of prying and turning and threading with bolts, we got the plug out in three pieces. It took us over 2 and 1/2 hours for that 2 and1/2 inch plug. Ridiculous...but it came out and we put the new one in and started filling with coolant when I notcied some still shooting out. As it turns out, the originaly problem was that the water pump went out of the tractor. The plug wasn't the issue, but on the bright side- it would have had to been taken out eventually. Just as we discover this, I notice that the back, outside dual tire is pretty much flat. After further investigation, we found out that it blew out. Awesome. What more can go wrong. By this time, its past seven and we all need to get moving before dark, so Roger went back to Phillip and will be back tomorrow with more parts and working hands to he us to finish our long list of repairs!
Meanwhile, Dean brought parts back and left the pickup for us at the tractor we tore apart and left and then he rode home with Ross, who finished laying out the next hayfield today- super, more for us to scramble about! ..oh well, that's haying it seems. Dean went home and did chores. Merle and I stopped by my tractor and brought it over to the rake...which was still hooked on to the other tractor. We were a little creative in pulling the rake away, but we got it off that tractor and hooked back onto mine for tomorrow morning before Roger comes down. Super, I get to service a tractor all over again in the morning! haha..I"ll quit complaining.
So, we got it good to go for tomorrow and took off for home with the cutting torch and tanks and all the tools Dean brought back from Phillip. Then, I headed home.
Today was frustrating, everytime we would figure out the problem we would find another. I sure hope we get it all done tomorrow and don't have to fight anything near as much as we fought that valve pin today. Well, I'm ready for bed. I need to gear up to play mechanic tomorrow again.
Night.
I moved my little but right along this morning. For whatever reason, I did not get out of bed until 6:20 or something like that...(can't imagine bedtime had anything to do with that) so I moved right along to be on time for chores. I stood up on my four wheeler because the seat was wet, and tried to eat a pop tart all while cruising down that driveway. Normally, I would call that talented...but I didn't do it well! Once Deano and I got chores done we headed for the shed to check out what was going on. I saw a pickup up there and noticed that Ross had parked his in an odd place. After seeing that no one was at the shed I came to the conclusion that it was Delbert's pickup, he had brought chicks, and him and Merle and Ross went off to check something somewhere...turns out I'm a pretty good guesser.
Meanwhile, Dean is like beside himself because no one is there to telll us exactly what to do. He decided to go home and grab his lunch since Merle wasn't around. While he's doing that I picked up a broom and started sweeping out the shop. I knew that Roger was coming today and it's always nice to work on a semi-clean floor. Dean eventually comes back and helps me finish with the floor. Then, we went on to keep on cleaning off the work bench and I orgnized some shelves. You wouldn't belive the treasures you can find in those boxes that collect things! haha The whole time we were in the shop I was wondering if I should take off for Techs and check for cows...but I wasn't sure where the others were and if they would come back while I was gone and say they already checked. Well, as it turns out, I should have gone- but Dean got sent to check instead.
They brought me back some wheat that had a crook in the stem at teh top and the heads were curled over. It was strange because a lot of the affected heads where full grown and almost hard and cured. My first guess was a deficiency and as it turns out I may be right. I called the school to talk to some of my people in the plant science building and they said there was no disease that it really matches up with, but it may be a soil deficiency or a spraying injury. Since the wheat was never sprayed, that leaves teh deficiency. I'm still not sure what it would be defincient of and if that's 100% correct yet- I'm doing more checking tomorrow. If you think you know- please email me and do tell!!!
So, beyond the wheat I scrounged aroudn adn found a pin for the loader that I bounced out yesterday in the shop, then had Dean help me get the pickup loaded with net wrap and such for the hayfield. He took off to look for cows and I filled oil and loaded and cleaned out the pickup to get ready to go. Merle met me shorly before I was done so he finished up getting stuff ready and then stopped by and picked me up at home after I made my lunch (complete with a HAM sandwich...success). We took off for the field and new that we probably wouldn't get far before Roger (The mechanic) came. We didn't even get going and Roger was there. (That's a really good thing). Ross had him work on the O ring in the windrower and the nuetral trip first. After replacing the ring we had quite the fight with the nuetral deal. Eventually, we determined that the spring did not have enough tension on it an since it's a new part- I'm guessing they didn't put the right exact one on when they green-lighted the machine in Gordon this past winter. But, after adding a sickle section with a bolt and hooking the spring into it, we got her fixed!
Next, we headed over to Dean's tractor that I've been driving for a couple days. The front wheel assist seals are out of it so he started tearing the hubs apart and we helped pry and pull. We decided to do it in the field because it's a short process and we were able to lift the tractor high enough off the wheel with just a block under the loader bucket hookup bar. Turns out, the bottom bearings were out on BOTH front tires! Too much wear and tean I guess...so we had a lot more work than we bargained for. Roger kept on calling Charlie, the parts man and ordering more and more parts all afternoon long! After tearing both wheels entirely apart and into a gagillion pieces we found a beveled block (only one we had out there in Ross's pickup) and put it under the front axle and jacked one side up with the handyman in hopes that the tractor would stay like that.
Dean got sent off to Phillip for parts to work on that tractor later in the afternoon. We finished up taking the wheels apart and then came home for dinner. Adrienne cooked some very tasty roast and potatoes! But, it only lasted so long before we were out again. After talking to the fuel delivery guy from Phillip (him and Roger were joking that they should have carpooled!) we headed out to the next tractor that we west of Hislt rather than east this time. This would be my tractor. We figured after all the trouble we had it would be an easy fix- adn it was. The batteries didn't have much inital charge so we hooked the pickups up to them adn got them charging while Roger messed aroudn with other things. After chekcing some plugs and dinking around we noticed that an alternator cable got busted in the process. It must have been super weak adn just let go. After repariring it, everything seemed to work well again. It was that simple I guess..I think the new alternator from the other day made a pretty good dent in the problem as well. But, I was happy when I could see a tacometer and move my tractor! horray..back to a cab that doesn't smell nasty!
So, we got it going and then went down the road a little further to Bravehawks, where the farming tractor awaited us. Merle had broke off the top of a plastic valve that was designed to shut off the flow to the water filter when you change it. Well, it wouldn't be a big deal, but the o ring broke and it appeared that it was shooting fluid everywhere so Ross shut down that day adn hasn't farmed since. We ended up using an air wrench electrical taped to a drill bit to drill a hole into the plug. I can't even begin to tell you the troubles we had, but eventually, with a lot of prying and turning and threading with bolts, we got the plug out in three pieces. It took us over 2 and 1/2 hours for that 2 and1/2 inch plug. Ridiculous...but it came out and we put the new one in and started filling with coolant when I notcied some still shooting out. As it turns out, the originaly problem was that the water pump went out of the tractor. The plug wasn't the issue, but on the bright side- it would have had to been taken out eventually. Just as we discover this, I notice that the back, outside dual tire is pretty much flat. After further investigation, we found out that it blew out. Awesome. What more can go wrong. By this time, its past seven and we all need to get moving before dark, so Roger went back to Phillip and will be back tomorrow with more parts and working hands to he us to finish our long list of repairs!
Meanwhile, Dean brought parts back and left the pickup for us at the tractor we tore apart and left and then he rode home with Ross, who finished laying out the next hayfield today- super, more for us to scramble about! ..oh well, that's haying it seems. Dean went home and did chores. Merle and I stopped by my tractor and brought it over to the rake...which was still hooked on to the other tractor. We were a little creative in pulling the rake away, but we got it off that tractor and hooked back onto mine for tomorrow morning before Roger comes down. Super, I get to service a tractor all over again in the morning! haha..I"ll quit complaining.
So, we got it good to go for tomorrow and took off for home with the cutting torch and tanks and all the tools Dean brought back from Phillip. Then, I headed home.
Today was frustrating, everytime we would figure out the problem we would find another. I sure hope we get it all done tomorrow and don't have to fight anything near as much as we fought that valve pin today. Well, I'm ready for bed. I need to gear up to play mechanic tomorrow again.
Night.
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