Canesisters 2024 journal

canesisters

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Oh my gosh... it's been a while!!

Work update
Things are still going good. I STILL haven't finalized my Creel training. 😒 I have to show 3 skills, 1 of which is being able to spot a particular issue between moving lines of fiber .... which will require a little experience ... which would require TIME in the creel - which I have not gotten.
I THINK that I MIGHT be staying on day shift 🤞. They are keeping me on the Beamer almost exclusively for training & I've heard that it's because the usual Beamer operator on my crew is moving to nights. Which would leave a day opening for an operator 🤔.
We did a preventive maintenance day. There were several tasks that the whole team had to work together on to get the whole machine taken apart, cleaned & back together so that the crew working today could start a new product this morning.
BUT... I was tasked with getting 1 particular roller that had been giving us trouble cleaned enough so that we could attach a new set of flaps. They gave me a scraper, a box of magic erasers & access to a drum of acetone. It had spots of up to 1/4" deep baked on resins. 3hrs later ... the supervisor was taking pictures of the sparkling, shiney bare metal! And me (probably a little high) running my hands over it Vanna White style saying My Precious... my Precious
🤣😅🤣😅

Little interesting or new happening on the farm. Birdie & the cats are all doing well. Eva & Blossom are too.
Pretty much just keeping the grass mowed & playing around with flower beds.
I DID start the seeds from that 1 little Trash Tomato that grew last summer out of pavement at the dump. They should be ready to go outside by June - which is really when we're safely past cold nights.
Oh! And "Suprise!" My asparagus died off last year. Grubs or moles I thought. But guess what I noticed in the weeds the other evening! 💗 Enjoyed a nice serving of butter fried asparagus & rice for dinner. 😊
 

canesisters

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It's May. 🫣
Weird how time can fly & drag at the same time.
In many ways it seems like it was JUST January. And in others I keep thinking things like HOW is it not July yet. 🤣

Work is good. Finding ways to deal with the heat. 🥵

Had a bizarre mystery the other day. We had some mild storms come through at work. When I got home, we had had very little rain, but I noticed a few things in the yard knocked over. I assumed that we had gotten winds instead of rain.
But then I noticed some evidence that something (a cow) had been in the yard. 🤔
Stacked tomato cages knocked over. Bushes bent, trampled, chewed on. Plants eaten. A cow pie on the path in the woods.
But - both girls were in the pasture. No fences down. All gates locked. And - oddest of all - a single line of electric fence that had been a temp fence for yard grazing last week had been moved from being stretched across the yard to neatly doubled (on the ground) & around a set of planters & some scrap lumber. :idunno:idunno:idunno
I called Dad, he had no knowledge of anyone being up there. I called Amy, a nearby neighbor who walks to my house now & then (exactly 1 mile) but she was out of town.
But from what I can tell..... SOMEHOW at least 1 of the cows got in the yard, did a little munching & running over things, moved a line of fence wire out of her way, then either went back into the pasture the way she came out OR went back via the gate & locked it behind herself.
OR.... someone found a cow in the yard, chased it around a little, moved a line of wire out of the way, chased it through the gate & locked it back. But left no note or anything to let me know why they were there to begin with. 🤔

Regardless, this has confirmed for me that it's unrealistic for me to keep both cows. My pasture just can't support them both & I don't want to feed hay year round.
Contacted my hay guy to get a last delivery & told him I want to agree on a price & set a date for her to go if he still wants her.

Oh, and in the "Am I really that stupid" category.... I came home Fri night to find Birdie lame. Not unusual since she breaks nails often fighting the kennel. Found & treated a broken nail. Sat she was no longer limping but there was swelling in the leg & some fluidy swelling along her side/chest. I assumed an infection was setting in & started at-home treatments & watching ... she was acting completely normal. Until Sunday when she didn't eat. The swelling was down some but she didn't want breakfast or dinner.
So Monday AM we headed to the vet fearing the worst. Full blood work, steroids, antibiotics... $$$ all to find out that she had a tick in her 'arm pit' & a bit if irritation around it.
I can't believe that I went to the vet for a tick bite 🙄
 

farmerjan

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Good to hear from you and so glad that the job is still going well... I think it is more "tiring" and you are more physically tired with the 12 hr days, and then you play catch up on the days off and try to catch on your sleep. But not so mentally stressful.

Yes, time for the heifer to go... I thought you were going to put her in the freezer? Cattle prices are UP more... we just got 1.35/lb for a 1600 lb bull for kill... $2100+ check after the commission. He had a damaged intestinal loop that had slipped into one side of the scrotal sack and couldn't pass a breeding soundness exam (BSE)... although he did manage to breed and settle some of the cows he had been with so a blessing that all 20+ weren't open....
850 lb heifers were bringing in the $2.00 to 2.35 PER POUND range, this past Friday.... I know it is your hay guy, and you will be fair... but do not give her away either.... She is worth $14-1900 easily......She may have been in heat also... they tend to wind up any where they want when they are coming into heat.

Sorry for the trip and money on Birdie... but the idea of antibiotics is not so bad because of the tick bite maybe causing more problems than might be obvious right now... The blood work might show up something that is not something you can see right now. Hope that the blood work comes back okay....
 
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