Happenings of Life on The Farm
You may have read that back in the spring, our one John Deere tractor popped a hole in the engine block. We took the summer to browse a few different tractors, and we finally settled on an older Case International. It’s been painted, so it looks nice and new, and has recently had an engine overhall and a transmission fix, so it should be good for a while! The 4wd should be handy as well!
Anyone wanting to test it out for us, is welcome to come plow a field or two!!
Leaving Grandpa in charge of the sheep and pigs, we headed up to the family cottage for the weekend, Friday after school. With the kid’s each bringing a girlfriend, we had 6 people and a dog, and luggage, which required a rather full van and a roof rack!
Just as we were taking the last few curves towards Dorset, the van engine started to rev, and the van seemed to lose speed, but only on the left curves. Thinking this was strange, and maybe we should stop and check it out, we pulled into Dorset, and almost didn’t make it down the road to the store. As soon as we stopped, the incredibly large puddle of oil pooling under the van made us realize this was not good!
Unsure whether to try and make it the last few miles into the marina or not, we bought all the transmission fluid the store had (4 L) poured in 2, and set off. (’cause what else are you gonna do at 7:00 on a Friday nite?) We made it about half way before we added the 3rd litre, and then got stopped half way up the hill between Mt. Trout House and Old Mill. This time, we added the last litre we had, and had everybody out to give a push to start, and made it up the hill. Then I made the mistake of waiting for everyone to get back in the van (apparently it leaks out just as fast not running!) So another push was needed to get it going, and down the hill it coasted into a (conveniently) empty parking space!
We spent a few hours trying to figure out how to get 6 people (2 of who aren’t even our kids!), 1 dog, and too much luggage, with or without a broken down van, back home again.
Knowing Steve and Joanne where coming up the next morning, we gave them a call, left a message, and asked if maybe they could rent us a van and bring it up with them. Steve being the excellent guy he is, did one better, and brought his truck and car trailer with him. So Sunday afternoon, (after a surprisingly relaxing and excellent time at the cottage) we unloaded Joanne’s car from the trailer, and loaded up the van, and the two of them drove us all home! The perfect solution, with much too little inconvenience on our part at all! After unloading the van again at our place, (and a quick visit to see the little lambs) they put their car back on the trailer, and Steve and Jo headed back.
So once again, Thanks Steve and Jo, you gotta love cousins with car trailers!!
A couple days ago, Dad arrived at the barn to find another baby lamb. It was up and moving around, and seemed to be trying to nurse everyone and not succeeding with any of them, so we weren’t sure who the mother ewe was. After picking out 3 possible candidates, we found one who had milk, and proceeded to force her to let the little lamb nurse. (she wanted nothing to do with it!)
After two days of this, (and thinking this ewe is a terrible mom) we suddenly had 2 more lambs in the pen with her. She had twins, and the first little lamb really wasn’t her’s! (I guess we should have listened to her when she said she didn’t want the little guy.)
So, now she has twins, plus one who sneeks in when she’s looking the other way. (hopefully he’ll do alright with a little bit of milk replacer as well)
The first sheep we bought this spring, arrived in mid April, and although we put the ram in with them when they came, I was not that sure about whether he had bred anything or not. So when Dad went to the barn Monday morning, and heard a very small bleating, he was pleasantly surprised to see a newborn lamb in the corner of the pen! According to average gestation lengths, the ewe must have been bred within a day or two of arrival!
Ewe and lamb are doing fine, and even better, we had another lamb born the next day, and one more two days later. Now that we are looking, there are several more ewe’s that have udder’s filling out, so there should be some more over the next few weeks.
Like most small animals, baby lamb’s are very cute! (although they do have a rather high leg to body ratio!)
My Father-in-Law has been coming quite faithfully to help out with odd jobs around the farm while I’m still recovering from hip surgery. So yesterday, we tackled putting in a door big enough for round bales in the upstairs end of the one barn.
Luckily, the end wall is non-weight bearing, so it was a matter of cutting out a few studs, and cutting through the steel siding. (and measuring correctly, which is always the trickiest part!) So by the end of the afternoon, we had a nice 8′ square hole in the end of the barn, and were thoroughly satisfied with our days handiwork!
Next visit, we’ll have to build a door!
We started Wheat harvest last week. My two kids and I spent an enjoyable Sunday afternoon teaching them how to run the Combine Harvester on one small field we had. Then, while I was in the hospital (hip replacement surgery, which is healing nicely!) they could help spell off Grandpa while he feed sheep and pigs and other such necessities.
Now, a week and a half later, my daughter is just finishing off the last of the wheat with Grandpa now. Yield has been good, quality good, and even the price has been good… should have grown more wheat!
We still have quite a bit of Barley to harvest for Cousin Bob, and a bit of our own, as well as all the straw to bale, and some more hay to do… But each milestone leaves you feeling happy that it is done. (especially when it’s supposed to rain the next day!)
Although we’ve always done a fair bit of our own machinery repairs- and even the odd creation or two – ourselves, we never had a set of torches for cutting metal. My brother-in-law, John saw a really good deal at the good ol’ TSC store for a nice little portable set, “everything” included. So on Friday Morning, he was up and first in line when the store opened to make sure he got the set to surprise us with.
The thing we didn’t realize, until we tried them out later that morning, was that the gas canisters that came with it were empty. In retrospect, it does make sense when all the other gas has to be stored outside of the store, that they wouldn’t be sitting on the shelf with full tanks.
Since cousin Bob gets his tanks exchanged just down the road at Eric’s Auto Body, we thought we’d go and switch the new one’s for full ones. Unfortunately, he doesn’t stock them that small. Back to TSC it was then, to exchange them there. We were actually in the process of physically handing the TSC guy the tanks, while he handed us the full ones, when he realized that he can’t exchange them, ’cause they are not PraxAir tanks (the gas company they use)! They actually sell tanks that they have no idea how or where they could be filled!
A few hum’s and haw’s later, we bought the praxair tanks, and returned the entire torch set and purchased their regular torch kit (that comes without tanks). It ended up being a few dolars more, but it actually included the gas, which is a bonus.
….Unfortunately…..
The torch kit comes with the regulator that fits on a big tank, and we had a small tank! Of course this was not noticed until we were home again!
At this point, I had to go move pigs, so John headed back once more, first to Eric’s Auto Body, who can order an adaptor that goes from the little tank to the big regulator, but no, he didn’t have one, and then on to TSC ( we were now on a first name basis with both the cashier and the manager!) who, low and behold, didn’t have the adaptor either. They suggested Impact Auto, who had a spot on the shelf for one, but it was empty! John then returned home and gave me the part number, and was able to watch Germany win over Argentina, so perhaps the day wasn’t a total loss in the end!?! (and once we get the part, and are actually cutting metal, we will be very happy that John started the whole process! honest! Thanks John.)
The old saying that a good crop of corn should be knee high by the 1st of July is a good rule of thumb. Last year, the corn wasn’t quite knee high by July, and it ended up being a poorer quality, late maturing crop.
This year, however, most of it has been knee high since the middle of June, and some of it will be more than waist high by the 1st of July, so hopefully, we’ll have a great crop!
The other crops are growing very well too, so although it hasn’t always been a great summer for outdoor activities, the fields are liking this weather!
For a farm that never had a lot of cats and kittens for years, we seem to be on a kitten binge lately. The one mother from last year, and one of the kittens from last year, each had kittens this spring. Although we couldn’t find them amongst the hay bales for at least a month, they are out and about now. They were a quite leary of people at first, but a little milk has convinced them that we’re not that bad. (although a few of them still sneak out for a few sips before scampering back to safety… we’ll convince them yet!)
There is about 8 of them, so if anyone wants a kitten…
We finally took a moment to weigh a lamb or two, and they are market weight already! We will send one in next week to see how good they are!
So, I need some people who know something (anything!) about lamb to tell me how to cut it up, and whether or not it tastes like it should!