Imagine the fur coats you could get along with beef.
Posted on 11/01/2025 5:46:00 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Those newer clamps look sturdy. I can’t wait until this is all up and operational and filled with FOOD! :)
‘Cow Chronicles’ LOL!
Sorry for your loss. You’re really invested in these cows! I think you need a milk cow of your own. I’ll suggest a Mini Jersey which is what I lust after. They’re only about $10K now. ;)
https://www.outdoorhappens.com/the-ultimate-mini-jersey-cow-guide/
It was a pretty good meal. Beau said, ‘About average,’ which means he liked it.
Sunny Side Up eggs from the hens and some hash made with the leftovers for our ‘Brunchfast’ this morning.
Decisions decisions
Cross Brace Straps in Tunnel Vision plus 12 Railex Tees for the gable vent framing $166.50
Everything in Railex $282.21
Those Railex cross brackets are so much nicer than the straps. Definitely want the Railex Tees for the strength for a gable vent fan that will have some vibration. $300-ish seems to be my standard internet purchase for the tunnel. Gee, that reminds me — I need three roll up motors @ $100 ea. Poly/wire/track was $283.
If nickles are $300 and dimes are $400, this tunnel is nickle and diming me to death.
Gotta hit one grocery store this morning. Last day for leg of lamb.
We’re not big on turkey and ham is every day cheap stuff. Most common recipe for leg of lamb seems to be, poke a bunch of holes in it with a knife and shove slices of garlic in them and roast it.
Some kind of potatoes - probably roasted red potatoes(w/rosemary) along with the lamb.
Green Bean Casserole and deviled eggs as usual.
Speaking of GBC, we often do pork chops smothered in GBC. Pork chops quickly seared on each side first. Cheap and even the lightest pink sirloin chops won’t dry out. A nice big pork steak works too.
Imagine the fur coats you could get along with beef.
My niece has 2 regular size Jersey calfs. They are ‘bottle babies’ & so cute!! They are actually good meat cows so they’ll have a really good life for the next probably 2 years or so.
This niece has the goats. One of the original 2 Nubians & the Dwarf Nigerian are expecting in about 2 weeks and “are huge”. I told mom when the goats (8 of them) have had their kids, I AM going to see them - she can stay home because she hasn’t wanted to make the trip for just a visit. Surprisingly, she’s now insisting she DOES want to go with me LOL.
The 5 Nubian does that were born last year were bred to a Dwarf Nubian buck. This will result in kids that look Nubian & are good milk producers, but they will be small ‘mini’ size. Plus, it will be easier for the first-time mamas to birth their kids. Evidently, this is the new ‘hot’ goat to have. She’s doing all the blood draws & testing to have healthy goats & to be able to sell them. She sent me a video of “draw day” .... the goats are unappreciative of the fact they have an RN expertly drawing their blood!
My other homesteading niece wanted a certain breed of miniature sheep, but they also cost thousands of dollars each each so she ended up with 2 free Dwarf Nubian wethers.
CC: The downed cow may be alive- it looks like her head is up, but otherwise she’s not moving. Once the farmer arrives to do his morning check, I will see what happens. I can only see so much with the binos. There ‘may’ be a new calf with another cow but there’s another fairly small one in the herd already & it could be that one I am seeing. The brand new ones stick pretty close to mom & this one has wandered away just a bit.
My maternal grandparents had a dairy & I have always loved cows. On one visit, I woke up on Sunday morning to be told my very favorite cow ‘Redford’ had a calf the night before - so exciting! Poor Granddad - once my brother & I named our 2 favorites, they were always there when we visited because I don’t think he had the heart to sell them & have to explain that to us.
Sweet stories all around. I’ve never been around much livestock, but they sound like fun, until the work aspect settles in. Like gardening only more so.
Today is a rainy day, thank goodness, so I hope to get some inside chores done. I have a lot to get done before heading out to Oregon on Sunday.
I was a month late planting the turnips/rutabaga. If you want a really good crop of roots here in USDA hardiness zone 6, August 1st is when the seed needs to go in the ground. The best of mine are around baseball size now. Most of them are golf ball size or smaller.
Don’t sweat it if you don’t get any roots. Cut the tops off, chop em up, boil until tender, season to taste, enjoy.
Ah...thx
y/v/w
The other problem is Cabbage loopers, southern Army worms, thing like that.
The final problem is lack of interest by spouse and daughter. "What? Turnips? Ewww!"
In the time before refrigeration Turnips and Rutabagas were held in a higher regard in peoples imagination!
Hopefully you did it for less.
Frame only, I’m still about the same but I have a solid welded 2.38” outer frame while the kits are 1.25” or 1.66” and thinner walled for my sized tunnel. My solid frame goes all the way into the ground while kits have short straight pieces in the ground and the outer frame slides over those and they bolt together.
The poly may get torn apart but the frame will stay put and can be recovered.
Custom home builder vs developer built subdivision home.
*** “What? Turnips? Ewww!”***
There was a time in my life where I couldn’t look at a green or red bell pepper without having nightmares. My family grew them as a means of having enough income to put food on the table. I swear we had bell peppers with nearly every meal (ok, we didn’t REALLY top our off-brand generic Cheerios with them, but we DID have them in with lunches and dinners, almost every day. Not kidding!)
So, if you regularly serve turnips daily, I can understand the response, because I’m sure I said , “What? Bell Peppers? Ewwww!”
;)
Cow Chronicles - Tuesday (yesterday):
Exciting stuff going on across the road in the pasture(s). There were 3 different situations, I won’t try to go through them chronologically - just too complicated, but here are the 3 activities going on:
The downed cow (aka DC for brevity) was alive and alert yesterday, something I could not see in the dark the night before. When the farmer arrived, he went straight to her, checked her out, was patting her & rubbing her back. These are beef cows and not used to being handled, as opposed to dairy cows who are used to be being handled and touched every day. The patting & rubbing, something DC was not used to, likely had her trying to get up and away. After checking her out, the farmer sat in his truck a bit away & watched her for 10-15 minutes. I saw her try at least twice & once later to get up, but she just couldn’t do it. The farmer did give her a feed pan of grain & “stood guard” for 10-15 minutes while she ate, shooing the rest of the cow herd away - they wanted grain too. Later in the day, about 3 hours later, he brought DC water & hay. Obviously, he has hope that she’ll recover enough from whatever is going on, to eventually get up.
The next “big thing” .... two very “little things” - new calfs! There were two itty bitties spotted in the pasture - the new mamas were hanging together away from the main herd. The farmer approached in his truck, then got out to see if he could catch the calfs - nope, not happening. One mama was very protective and hustled her calf straight away & the other mama followed with her calf. They headed to a grove of trees where the cows hang out in the shade. The farmer got back in his truck & followed, staying a small distance away & observing. When the calfs are are very small, they lie down a lot & I believe that is what he was waiting for. He eventually drove his truck around to the other side of the trees, got out & was doing something, but with the swale in the ground, I could only see him from the shoulders up. I think he caught at least one of the calfs - one of the itty bitties was sporting a red (it’s a girl!) ear tag when I got a good look later. I wasn’t able to see the other calf clear enough to see if it was tagged.
The last “rodeo” (and it was LOL) involved one of the calfs - I initially thought it was one of the new ones, but I think it might have been the smaller of the two calfs born maybe 6 weeks ago. Anyway,the farmer at one point drove down to check the cedar copse where the cows like to go to have their calfs. Two cows were hanging out in the area - he parked and watched for maybe 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I had noticed something going on between the field closest to the road & the one ‘behind’ that field where the cows are. A mama & calf were near the fence dividing the two fields & somehow the calf got through the fence & into the front field - mama could not follow. She was anxiously walking the fence & I could see she was mooing. The calf ran just a little, then collapsed in a heap for a nap - tired already. I was hoping the farmer would see this situation & I noticed him looking that way out of his truck window - he could probably hear mama raising a ruckus.
When the farmer left the cedar copse, he drove like he was leaving due to the terrain, but then turned and ended up at the gate between the two fields. Whew - I was glad he had seen the situation with the calf separated from mom. He got into the front field and approached the calf who got up & took off. The farmer is not a young guy - he didn’t run, but had to walk fast. He & that calf went up & down the fence line next to the road several times - due to the bank, they were out of my sight some of that time. Finally, I saw the farmer (top half) heading across the field & I thought he had the calf, then they both came into full view.
I wish I had a video. The farmer had that calf by the tail & was using it like a helicopter cyclic stick to control & move that calf. When it balked, he raised the tail higher & the calf went forward. Tail left or right to turn the calf. It wasn’t a smooth journey (hilarious, actually - I was laughing out loud), but he finally got it over towards the gate where he could let it join mama. Ruh roh - in a burst of energy & bucking, the calf broke free. It turned left down the fence line & was headed for an area where three fields meet at the cow stable/corral. This turned out to be a good thing because the farmer was able to corner the calf long enough to open gates there & get the calf back in with mama, who had followed down the other side of the fence.
The DC, new calf tagging & the ‘rodeo’ took about an hour and a half. I know that poor guy was tired - he certainly got his exercise chasing calfs! He came back about 3 hours later with the water & hay. Fun times now that calfs are starting to arrive & I hope DC will end up ok - as of yesterday, the farmer was definitely taking good care of her & giving her a chance with food & water.
I love reading the Cow Chronicles! Keep ‘em coming!
It rained almost all day yesterday, so I did some laundry. In between prepping for our upcoming trip to meet the new (hasn’t yet arrived) granddaughter, I am planning a retirement trip for hubby and our kids next June. We have invited siblings, cousins, and their kids to stop by. Most of the family hasn’t seen much of my kids or their families for years. So a family reunion of sorts. Anyway, siblings are all asking about accommodations, and I haven’t found a place yet that is close enough by, large enough, or affordable enough. So while I have our lodging secured (renting a whole house near the beach), there’s still more legwork to do.
Also, on Monday I did a harvest of shishitos, so in the next day or two I will need to de-seed, chop, and lightly sauté so that I can freeze them for use over the winter. I tend to use these In recipes as a substitute for jalapeños or bell peppers. Or else I love them blistered, but since I’m down to my last several dozen, I think it will be a small batch if I make those again.
I’m excited and a little anxious about this trip. I don’t like flying anymore. Not because of airplanes, but because of all the people who seem to be fairly entitled these days, and don’t give a hoot how much noise/commotion they make. People have forgotten to use their manners! Say some prayers that my travels will be uneventful in this regard.
Seed Catalogs have started to arrive! 'Totally Tomatoes' 'Johnny's' and 'Seed Savers' so far! :)
They are adorable from the tips of those horns down to their hairy hooves! *LOVE*
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