We started our year much as we always do....Bangs vaccinating our heifer calves. M and R still have not determined how many of our 80 they plan to keep so vaccinated them all. I warned R that he might end up with all of them. He said, no, if M didn't make a decision he'd haul some to the sale himself. Having them vaccinated should increase their value when they do make it to the sale. We had a neighbor stop by to take a look and make an offer. He'd like to take all 80, though, and we need to keep some, maybe 50. He needed to up his offer a bit, too. M is always hesitant to sell to a neighbor (especially this neighbor) because if there's a problem down the road he doesn't want to hear about it. We did have a pen of 20 or so that were a bit on the small side so R took about half of those to the sale this week. The market has been a bit softer lately so we're anxious to see how they sold. That might help determine how many more get sold and when.
Anyway, we had a nice day for it. There were high winds predicted but didn't hit until we were almost done and then weren't as bad as predicted. R's girlfriend took the day off from work to help, and it was good to have that extra hand. The calves are really calm in the pen--in fact, I walked through to write down some numbers of ones I thought we should definitely keep and a couple of them followed me the whole way. They were not, however, calm in the chute and we had a problem with the squeeze on the chute. That's never happened before, and M was definitely not happy! We're going to have to run them through again and brand them once we decide what we're keeping. I'm thinking that's not going to be fun.
It was a busy time around the place that day with the vet and his assistant, our neighbor, and then the owner of the local fencing company who came to see where we wanted windbreak built. We have found it kind of funny that we had a fencing company move in, but he's doing a brisk business and M has become a fan because he has good ideas, builds a good fence and has lots of supplies on hand. We've given him a lot of money lately! They've completed the first section and it looks great. We've been mulling over building another barn for a couple of years but debated where to put it. It appears that the decision has been made and the new windbreak will tie into it. M is getting excited about the whole thing now and hopes to get a barn built this summer. He is constantly thinking and planning on how to make the whole operation more efficient and more profitable. The other day he said, "someday we're going to have a great setup". I corrected him--someday R is going to have a great setup!
R is gone this weekend so I helped with chores yesterday. It was pouring down rain with a howling wind a few minutes ago so I begged off this morning. M grudgingly agreed to that, but I had to promise I'd work on the farm program puzzle. That gives me a headache so I should have gone to do chores. I just keep wondering who thinks up this stuff.....and who thought it was a good idea to have the government involved in farming. Ugh!
