The scurs and the Weather Eye were on the mark last week with moderate temperatures and little precipitation. Will we get more of the same or suffer from freezer burn? Starting Wednesday, sunny with a slight chance of evening snow. Steady temperatures around zero with temps rising to around 10 above in the overnight. Thursday mostly cloudy with a modest chance of snow. Highs in the mid-20’s with lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy on Friday with a modest chance of snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the upper teens. Saturday, cloudy with another modest chance of snow. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the mid-single digits above zero. Mostly cloudy Sunday with highs in the mid-teens and lows in the mid-single digits above zero. Monday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the upper teens with lows in the mid-teens. Partly sunny for Tuesday with highs in the low 20’s and lows in the mid-teens. On the 14th the sun will set at 4:37p.m. CST, one minute later than it did a week ago. The bad news is we are down to 8 hours and 55 minutes of daylight on the 17th. The normal high for December 17th is 25 and the normal low is 9. As the holiday approaches, the scurs are doubling down on their Christmas shopping procrastination courtesy of the shorter days.
Not much in the way of field operations except the odd field where manure was applied or some headlands were worked. One could smell some of what was likely surface applications of swine manure, although it dissipated relatively quickly with cold temperatures. Some of the last corn in the area to be harvested made it into the bin. There is still the odd soybean field left to harvest. Those are likely to be there a while, barring some miraculous turn of weather events. Snow between the rows makes them unlikely candidates for harvest any time soon.
At the ranch we were fortunate to get a shot at cleaning the main barn, so we took advantage of it. I’d noticed a friend had spread some manure the day before and after gathering some advice from him, I hit the field. This of course was after pulling a wagon out of the barn, taking the chains off the tractor, putting the forks on the skidsteer and hooking up to the spreader after greasing everything prior to that. Oh yeah, and then finally take down some panels in order to get at the poop. It’s almost as time consuming prepping as it is doing the actual barn cleaning.
Hauling went about like I figured on frozen, worked ground. In other words, it was rougher than a cob. At least it was frozen and I didn’t break through, which might’ve happened the day before. Something I’d been forewarned about was the snow was deeper than expected. I loaded the first load about normal and found places where there was still a foot of snow. Not a problem when loaded going downhill, but trying to get back off the field it was time to speed up in order to make it through those spots. Eight loads later the main part of the barn was finally clean, something I was starting to think would never happen.
The lambs born the prior weekend kept me entertained, sort of. While getting closer in the pack to their pen I noticed a couple spots where there was an opening an ambitious lamb might slip through. My mind was preoccupied with getting as much done as possible so didn’t think much of it. After coming back from the field I heard a ewe having a hissy fit about something. From the cab I also noticed two small escape artists perched atop of the manure pack having the time of their life. In a week’s time they’d become nearly impossible to catch. I was reminded by my buddy Billy about his friend who used to use a landing net to capture escapees such as these. Not a lot of style points perhaps, but who’s keeping score?
After dragging my beat-up bones out of bed the next morning it was off to St. Cloud for a rendezvous with a sheep hay manger manufacturer. The yearling ewes’ habit of wasting hay had worn thin so time to invest in another round bale feeder to keep the hay where it belonged. Got there right on schedule. Within 15 minutes the feeders were loaded and money along with BS was exchanged. If you see some suspicious activity between shady characters in a parking lot with livestock trailers and old pickups, chances are there’s a deal going down between a couple sheep guys. No contraband involved, just how commerce is done.
Sunday the feeder was put together and installed after unhooking the manure spreader and putting the bale spear on the 3-point. A bale was placed in it and just like that it was in service. No more ewe lambs using round bales as a gymnastic apparatus or a toilet. Off to work a Lion’s pancake feed, which was followed by a short nap during a boring second half of Vikings football. Time to get things put away before Old Man Winter returned. Dropped the forks off the skidsteer, put the bucket back on and checked the lambing barn. Sure enough, the ewe we’d been waiting for was starting the birthing process, so time to move her after backing the screenings wagon back in the barn.
Started putting the chains back on the tractor rather than having them freeze down in the yard. Checked the small barn to see there was already a lamb on the ground. In a few minutes we moved the ewe with the lamb down the main barn and bedded the pen. A half hour later a second lamb hit the ground, causing a huge sigh of relief. Both lambs got off to a good start in the mild conditions. With a cold snap on the way, having the lambs on the ground and started ahead of the onslaught was a definite plus. Do they know when rough weather is coming? Sometimes you wonder.
See you next week…real good then.