[dominiquer60]

Power was out for a couple of hours, the barnyard, chicken yard, greenhouses and low vegetable field flooded bad after 7″. Glad we didn’t seed fall greens because that 1/3 acre would be wasted seed, it is still running, hoping that there is some top soil left when it recedes. Many culverts and small bridges washed out on back roads in the county, streams are flooding worse than the old timers ever remember and my home town will be under water the worst since 1914, they have already closed the interstate across the river.

The rain was the worst part, the wind never really got above a strong breeze here so we consider ourselves lucky. The roof sprung a little leak and we had to pump the spring room in the basement before it flooded the egg room, but that was it, so other than the loss of soil it was just a lot of water.

My thoughts are with the farmers in the Schoharie Valley where the Gilboa Dam is threatening to release a entire reservoir on some of the most prime soil in the country. Several villages, dozens of dairy farms and a few vegetable farms are in the path. The entire valley has evacuated or is still trying to find a place for the livestock. I hope that the dam stays together until the water goes down and they can fix the dam again.

My best to you all,

[dominiquer60]

Trying to find the positive in such a storm.

This evening I was up on the hill over looking the farm where we have all of our tomatoes. I was busy adding a couple more strings to the tomato trellises when the first band of Irene approached. It was just a dark line across the southern sky, and the contrast with the sun trying to burn through an overcast sky on the hill was magical. The Grafton Hills to the south were dark masses with sun dappled forests in the foreground. The air was very still, birds gathered in flocks centered around the lone oak in the hay field below me and the storm literally rumbled closer. Sheets of rain eventually consumed the hills and blanketed them with a grayish white. Even when the breeze hit I did not rush, sure that I would finish in time. I was even able to harvest a few heirlooms that had ripened in the last 24 hours since our Friday harvest. With hardly a front end left in our field vehicle I slowly descended our hill to meet the wall of rain in our little Pine Valley.

I enjoy watching the the weather radar, but when something with such magnitude approaches me, I like to watch it in person on a high spot and take it all in.

She is a beauty, but will be more beautiful once she is done and gone.

[dominiquer60]

Thanks guys,
We are expecting to run the generator a bit and to have some repairs to do on Monday when it is bright and shiny. Our major concerns are that the greenhouses and coverall building are still in one piece and that the corn doesn’t go down. High corn prices are bad enough, but when you have acres of it waiting to be chopped and picked seeing it lodged and down with animals waiting to be fed, it may get a little ugly around here. My thoughts are with those south of us and on the coast, batten the hatches its going to be one heck of a time.

[dominiquer60]

Similar intentions, new name! Animal Disease Traceability
A watered down more state involved version of NAIS, it does seem to be less one size fits all and does appear to exclude animals for personal use and custom slaughter, I don’t see it effecting me like the old NAIS proposed to.

://www.swhorsetrader.com/2011/08/usda-seeks-comments-on-animal-disease-traceability-proposed-rule/
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=NEWSROOM&navtype=MA&edeployment_action=changenav

[dominiquer60]

You have to do what feels right to you, if others truly love you they will get over it in time.

[dominiquer60]

Her talent is certainly appreciated, go for it!

[dominiquer60]

I know we talked about bringing my steers and the implements that I have, I wanted to add that I also have a small cultipacker that I could bring for after you crop is seeded. It may need a little weight on it but it worked fine for our needs this spring.

[dominiquer60]

Dennis,
I agree with Vicki. A Hereford cross is a good bet, we run up to 50 head of Hereford and modern Baldie (HerefordxAngus, with some BaldiexBaldie too). They are easy to deal with and “thrive on negelect,” not to say that they are neglected, but that they don’t always have the best pasture or get moved a couple days late and yet a single strand of hot wire keeps them in check. If there is going to be a trouble maker 9 times out of 10 it is a Baldie heifer, you can tame the Angus with red genetics, but you can’t cover it up completely.

There are a couple “grassfed” guys around here that are really getting into crossing their Angus type cows to Beef Devons and Beef Shorthorns, they seem to be nice herds as well.

Best of Luck with your beef project,

Erika

[dominiquer60]

When we clean our big chicken house we pitch it out the windows into the manure spreader in the barnyard where we have cattle out quite often. I don’t know why but some of the cattle think that this stuff is the best and hang out there while the barn is cleaned. My off steer is fond of cleaning up any spills, and some cows clammer to get it out of the manure spreader. It has never bothered any of them.

On another note, my steers will stand or lay in the sun next to the chicken coop on a hot day to avoid the flies, the chicken smell seems to keep flies away and what few venture into the coop never come back out.

[dominiquer60]

Tom,

You can certainly blame the heat and humidity for some of the butt kicking, we are Lyme free here and still dragging our bottoms in this weather.
My best to all of you.

[dominiquer60]

Fracking is taking the main stage here in NY, tons of speculation, not allowing it in the NYC watershed but anywhere else is OK, and it is “perfectly safe.” The real aggravating part is that it will not be for domestic use, these gas wells that threaten our clean underground water will be serving Asian markets.

[dominiquer60]

I understand where you are coming from. I knew when I took on my first team that they were destined to have other purposes at some point because they were not really mine to keep. I was initially prepared to turn the heifer out with the bull and watch the steer willingly load onto the trailer to the auction. I had posted an ad here on DAP for them in late winter, and I didn’t get a response until may when we where starting to think about clearing the “pets” out of the barn (this includes my current team, some ready to butcher steers and the lawnmower calves) so that we could wean last falls calves. I feel very fortunate that a nice young farmer purchased them and they are being used on a new farm just a couple hours south of me.

Could there be a working museum or educational farm that might be able to use your steer, if only as a friendly steer? It is a tough decision to make. Working draft animals is as practical a we make it for our selves, and sometimes we have to make decisions that are in the best interest of the whole farm and not necessarily in our emotional or certain animals best interest. I know with my steer I was mentally prepared to visit him in the freezer when I was planning meals, at least then I would have seen him to the end and known he had a good life. Just glad he still HAS a good life.

Be prepared for the worst and hope for the best,

[dominiquer60]

I would think that the least we can do (if we want to be involved) is to provide him with contacts that are most local to him or drum up some interested presenters at NEAPFD, if we know it will be a quality event we can have our name attached to it and hopefully gain some membership/volunteers from the experience. I assume they would be able to do the physical part and we can help facilitate the presenters and spread the word.

[dominiquer60]

Just what we have all been waiting for, RR Bluegrass by Scott’s Miracle Grow. Vanity GMO’s go unregulated???

http://motherjones.com/environment/2011/07/usda-deregulate-roundup-gmo-tom-philpott
http://midwestagriculturallawguide.com/2011/07/roundup-ready-kentucky-bluegrass-great-for-weekend-warrior-bad-for-anti-gmo/

What will be thought of and allowed next?

[dominiquer60]

I stand corrected “the bows are mostly supposed to hold the yoke in place.” The three yokes that I know of that have broken all had sound bows coming out of the malfunction of the yoke. I can see where the bows can be stressed or pushed against, from my limited experience it seems that it would take a bad bow or an unusual situation to break a bow. I am not saying that the bow that Wolfgang made for his friend was bad, just saying that a bad bow is a possibility of a situation in which a bow may break.

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