Growing Some More

Pods are forming near the end of September! It's exciting to watch! David will count the number of pods per plant, multiply by the number of beans per pod (2-3), multiply that by the number of plants per acre, and come up with a bushel per acre yield estimate.

I'll admit that I just stand there and nod. I'm not a numbers person. Even with a calculator in my hand, I'm still not sure unless I've run the numbers through it a few times.

More and more sunflowers are opening. So pretty!

Early in the morning is a good time to do some hand weeding. The weeds aren't bad in our fields, but we don't want those stray pokeberries dyeing our soybeans at harvest time!

Our brave assistants thought it was more comfortable to huddle in the truck with blankets than to get out and help!

Getting Dry

By the middle of September, our beans and sunflowers were starting to get seriously dry. Daily prayers for rain became common in our house. Even the children caught the refrain.

Side by side in the field.

Being dry didn't keep them from forming big buds and blooming! It was so exciting to see the first blooms!

Our Cows

Happy heifers.

Coming when called. David loves doing the chores. And the girls know him well now.

"Hey girl!"

David likes to talk to them as they come in for feed. And of course, the children do too.

A nice looking beef steer.

Healthy calves, and mama cows.

Moving heifers to a greener pasture. It's nice when they're tame enough that we can just 'kind of rig up a fence' to move them, and it works just fine.

Some of us prefer to stay on top of the truck, where it's safer, just to be on the safe side.

Making Hay

Whew! We've been busy around here the last while! There's been a lot going on, and I've really fallen behind on the blogging! Time to do some catching up!

The first half of June, we were really focused on making hay. Trying to get it cut, tedded, raked and baled without getting rained on somewhere in the process was quite a challenge! Some hay made it to the barn without any extra waterings, but some didn't!

Windrows ready to be baled.

There's no shortage of volunteers to ride along with Daddy when he's baling hay! Did you know that five people can fit in the cab of a tractor??

Baling.

Loading hay on the trailer.

Heading for the barn, to get the hay under cover.

What a relief to get the hay all made and safely put away! At least until we start on the second cutting . . .

Working Cattle

Recently we were made an offer that we couldn't resist, namely, a partnership with a cattle-farming friend of ours who is getting to the age that he would like to slow down a bit, but isn't ready to hang up the cattle prod yet.

So, suddenly, we have found ourselves in the cattle business, and we're loving every sweaty minute of it! (Well, almost all of them!)

There are 50 + beef cows, and um, somewhere between 100-150 dairy heifers. That makes for a fair amount of chores to be done.

This morning, we met at the corral around 5:30, there was a lot of work to be done, vaccinating and putting in fly tags and the like. We wanted to get an early start, and move those girls through before the 90 + degree day had fully arrived. Heat stress is not good for cows, or their owners.

Getting set up. David and Chad worked the squeeze chute.

Joe and Jonathan brought the cows up to the chute.

Josiah and I took notes. Or to say it another way, I took notes, and Josiah bawled louder than the cows every time a gate crashed. That lasted through the first 45 cows, then he fell asleep. (5:30 is too early for an 8 month old.) After that, he jumped and yelled everytime a gate was slammed, but kept on sleeping until it was all over!

(And Mama makes a mental note to leave baby with a sitter the next time she helps!)

When it was all said and done, we had worked 79 head of cows, calves and one bull, in just about 2 hours. We felt pretty good about getting so much accomplished bright and early on a beautiful morning!