billonthefarm
Member
- Location
- Farmington IL
For me, the end of daylight savings time signals the last big change of the year. With harvest and our tillage work complete we now become a cattle farm and will do little else till spring. It means lots of cold days working outside but hopefully sunset will find us headed in doors to the comforts of home. Here are a few pictures, some reflection on year quickly slipping away.
January started the year with snow and cold but much to our suprise, some bred cows we purchased, bred for march, had calves. If you remember we named this little feller lucky. Oh you should see him now!
February 2 2011. A snow storm for the record books. At daybreak on the second day we had recieved two feet of fresh snow and drifts 7 feet deep. For the first time in several years, everything was at a stand still. We finished morning chores at 4pm and returned home in time for the power to go out. We spent two more days moving snow with two snowblowers.
March brought spring on many levels, the part that I enjoy the most is the new calves and watching them everyday. After a long winter, a glimpse of better days was much appreciated!
April came and to the fields we went. Mother nature gave us great weather to get most of calving done and get the corn planted.
With may came rain but we were able to finish planting beans without much delay and the pastures were really greening up! We were off to a great start!
While dodging rain drops in june we took the cows to pasture. They were happy to be there and we were thrilled to not have to feed them every day. Rockwell himself never painted a prettier picture than a group of cows in a lush green pasture.
July, dry and hot but the corn appeared no worse for the wear! We were busy making hay, mowing pastures, spraying weeds, and starting to build a new feedlot. After three very wet years we hardly complained about the dry weather, yet.
Things changed amazingly quick in august. Still hot and not a drop of rain. Once lush green pasture began to quickly wither and creeks ran ever so slow. With the weather the way it was quickly we were thrust into harvest before we were expecting it.
September is harvest. It is front and center everyday. We got started and went for broke never looking back. We dont have the biggest or newest equipment out there but there is no substitute for working steady and working hard. We finished harvest almost 3 weeks ago now.
So now its november. Its about 5pm and the sun has set on another day and soon another year. We will very soon begin the day ritual of feeding cows silage, hay, and gluten from the mixer. The calves in the feedlot will be feed twice daily as well. We will likely do battle with the weather off and on for the next 4 months. Mother nature may wear us down but with wrigly leading the charge we shall persevere. Long winter days may lie ahead but the memories of fall days gone past and spring days ahead will make it go ever so quickly!
bill
January started the year with snow and cold but much to our suprise, some bred cows we purchased, bred for march, had calves. If you remember we named this little feller lucky. Oh you should see him now!
February 2 2011. A snow storm for the record books. At daybreak on the second day we had recieved two feet of fresh snow and drifts 7 feet deep. For the first time in several years, everything was at a stand still. We finished morning chores at 4pm and returned home in time for the power to go out. We spent two more days moving snow with two snowblowers.
March brought spring on many levels, the part that I enjoy the most is the new calves and watching them everyday. After a long winter, a glimpse of better days was much appreciated!
April came and to the fields we went. Mother nature gave us great weather to get most of calving done and get the corn planted.
With may came rain but we were able to finish planting beans without much delay and the pastures were really greening up! We were off to a great start!
While dodging rain drops in june we took the cows to pasture. They were happy to be there and we were thrilled to not have to feed them every day. Rockwell himself never painted a prettier picture than a group of cows in a lush green pasture.
July, dry and hot but the corn appeared no worse for the wear! We were busy making hay, mowing pastures, spraying weeds, and starting to build a new feedlot. After three very wet years we hardly complained about the dry weather, yet.
Things changed amazingly quick in august. Still hot and not a drop of rain. Once lush green pasture began to quickly wither and creeks ran ever so slow. With the weather the way it was quickly we were thrust into harvest before we were expecting it.
September is harvest. It is front and center everyday. We got started and went for broke never looking back. We dont have the biggest or newest equipment out there but there is no substitute for working steady and working hard. We finished harvest almost 3 weeks ago now.
So now its november. Its about 5pm and the sun has set on another day and soon another year. We will very soon begin the day ritual of feeding cows silage, hay, and gluten from the mixer. The calves in the feedlot will be feed twice daily as well. We will likely do battle with the weather off and on for the next 4 months. Mother nature may wear us down but with wrigly leading the charge we shall persevere. Long winter days may lie ahead but the memories of fall days gone past and spring days ahead will make it go ever so quickly!
bill
