Back Deck Garden

Hot, hot, hot! It has been a very hot start to summer here, and unfortunately we are also experiencing a severe drought.

I wanted a few garden vegetables this year, however, so I recruited the kids to help me get a back deck garden started.

We had a very nice pile of compost near the barn that was ready for use. It was mostly manure and hay from the cows and the horse. Devin kept it turned well the last couple of years. He scooped me some up with his tractor bucket and parked the tractor near the pots.
This is when hoarding is nice. I was able to round up several pots that were stored in the barn.

The kids helped shovel the rich soil into the pots for me and then helped me move them to the back deck. My back deck gets solid sun all day, which make sit good for only two uses. 1) Drying clothes and 2) Growing vegetables.

Along with the beautiful pool towels drying after swimming, the deck looks much better with some green life on it, and the plants do great with a good watering each evening. In fact, the boys have been helpful by helping me keep the pots watered. We have tomatoes and peppers in bloom this  morning . Who says you need tons of land to grow food?

In other farm news, we were needing a way to get some dairy ladies bred. Last year we borrowed a neighbors black Angus bull and I also had a few cows AI'd.

This year I was lucky enough to have friend loan me his Wagyu bull, Ralph.

Because we had a few weak spots in our fencing, Devin made fence fixing a priority.

We had some wooden boards that were starting to rot and lean some, so Devin secured the posts with concrete and replaced any rotted boards.

It was a day's project, but it needed to be done because you really do not want ANY cows escaping, especially a bull.

Now Ralph has been with us a few weeks and he has settled in nicely. We keep three dry cows with him: Belle, Molly and Valentine. I have the two ladies we are milking who will also need to spend some time with Ralph before his visit ends here.
I also have a smaller Jersey heifer ready to breed, but I will have her AI'd. This should give me 6 calves next spring!
It has been a slower way to build a beef herd, but it works....and it fits my budget :-)

It will be 95 degrees today! We are expecting some rain this week. Please cross your fingers we get some too, or there will be no berries to pick!

Happy Monday Ya'll!

All Bull

The cold has arrived and boy is it ever chilly, especially for a Southern girl who prefers the heat.

We busily made sure all the animals had plenty of hay and fresh water before the cold snap hit and each morning we are bundled up doing farm chores.

Part of dairy farming is making sure the ladies are bred each year, and this task can be difficult when you do not have a bull.

Bulls can be dangerous and dairy bulls are notorious for being especially mean. Since I have children who like to roam, I have never been comfortable keeping a dairy bull around.

Thank goodness for great neighbors with bulls to spare.

This isn't a dairy bull, but rather an Angus bull. He is young and still docile. In fact, as one would expect from a beef cow, he is rather scared of people and runs away when we approach his fence.

He is shorter than my Jersey girls and tends to sire small calves. He will be the daddy to my next round of calves born here next year.

My neighbor told me I could keep him as long as I wish, so I will keep him at least a few months. He is in the far paddock to himself. I expect at least two of my girls to go into heat this week or next.

I find him rather handsome.

This spring there is a class offered at Mississippi State in artificial insemination of cows. It is a 3 day course and I am seriously considering taking the course. If I keep raising dairy cows I will need to either get a bull or learn how to AI. The bull would be easier and likely cheaper, but AI is a skill I have always wanted to learn.

Finally, my turkey raising adventure is about to end. Monday we will process the very few birds we have left. One actually dies last night. I am totally baffled as to what is causing the birds to suddenly die. I had to turn down several customers, but this was a year of learning curves...I just haven't maneuvered the curves well yet.

 

Whoever said farming was easy never farmed.

 

Happy Hump Day Ya'll!!