Hay and silage making, three day sickness and moving children......nothing new!!!!

As usual life on the farm has been very busy. The past few weeks has been hay and silage making season. After all the rain and great pasture growth we had experienced the past few months it was time to mow, rake and bale all that surplus pasture into hay and silage. Feed for the cattle to be stored on farm for a time when grass is in  short supply or the dairy cows need extra protein. Taking the excess feed off our paddocks also makes it easier to prepare for autumn sowing of winter pastures which is just round the corner.

The past couple of weeks has also seen three day sickness (bovine ephemeral fever) in some of our cattle on the farm. This virus is spread by mosquitoes or march flies biting cattle and spreading the virus. The sickness lasts for around 36 hours. The cattle develop a high temperature of 41 degrees celsius, milkers suddenly drop milk production, they stop eating and drinking and become depressed. Cows heavily in calf can abort their calves. Often they become lame, joints swell and the cattle refuse to move. By the third day they stand again and begin to eat though they still can appear lame for a couple more days. Last year we didn't have any three day sickness and so we expect that this year a lot of our young cattle will come down with it. We actually prefer our heifers and young cattle to catch the virus so that when they do get in calf they are immune to it and won't lose their calves. It also means that if they are dairy cows and they have already had the virus then their milk production is not affected. Rarely do cattle catch the virus twice.

The weather has turned very dry very quickly and the lush greenness of the past few months has turned to dry and brittle brownness. There is plenty of bulk feed for the cattle and most importantly good water in the dams and creek. A few weeks without rain does not hurt us so long as it doesn't turn into months of dryness. It also means that the new mower has not been getting as much use as was expected.

 In the past month not one but two of my children moved houses in the same week. I spent more time helping my eldest daughter move than I did my son and his family as it is not  humanly possible to be in more than one place at the one time (though I wished otherwise). There have also been sick grandies to help look after, as like all littlies, they seem to pick up whatever bugs are doing the run at their childcare centres. Saturday afternoons is filled with a French for Travellers course which is running in our local village through community education and has been loads of fun. We have a wonderful holiday to France coming up later in the year which DH Farmer and I are quite excited about some of which is farm related. I also have a new venture about to begin. I will tell all very soon. A busy 2016 ahead!

This busyness is the norm and happens in all households in one way or another and days fly by I am sure.

Until next time....

Carol

Putting away for a rainy, or rather, a not so rainy day!

Since the rain began falling again in December last year we have experienced one of the best summer seasons on the farm that we can ever remember.  The pay off for the wonderful season we are having is that we can make and store feed and fodder from the excess pasture we currently have on farm. This feed can then be fed to our cattle when there is a lack of feed in the paddocks. This is not only  when there is a lack of rain and therefore little natural grass growing for the cattle to feed on but also in the transition period between summer pastures to sown winter pastures. We can also feed our dairy herd late winter and early spring to produce more milk when milk payments are at their highest for us on farm.
So last week on returning home from visiting our new grandson, DH Farmer turned his attention to the weather to decide on the optimum time to cut our pasture for silage. As an aside here - it is true to say that one of a farmers favourite topics for discussion is the weather. In our house we listen to the weather on the radio early every morning prior to starting the day, check on various weather sites on the internet throughout the day and then watch several different TV channel weather segments every evening. When your entire livelihood is so reliant on weather and what work is going to be done that day, it is easy to understand why it is like this.
DH Farmer decided that the end of last week was a good window to cut and make silage. Silage has a high moisture content whereas hay has minimal moisture content. Silage, unlike hay, can be cut one day then raked the next and baled and wrapped that same day. Silage can also take a good shower of rain on it once cut without destroying the quality of the feed. Hay on the other hand requires dry, sunny weather to dry out the pasture prior to baling. Hay shed fires are caused by hay being baled with too high a moisture content or from being rained on once baled. Whilst we own our own mower and rake we do not own a baler or wrapper and so contract out this work. Some machinery is just not economical to own. Late last week we managed to bale 92 large round bales to be fed out to our cattle when needed. We intend to cut more pasture to be baled for silage at the end of this week again. Silage and hay is as good as, if not better than, money in the bank to a farmer. It is like an insurance policy for a farmer!

Mown pasture being raked into rows prior to baling.

Round baler .

Bales of silage prior to wrapping.