Thought I would write another blog, since I now know at least 6 or 7 people read it. Had a sure sign of spring yesterday, the seed corn was delivered. You can't tell spring is on the way from the weather. We had 4 good days in a row, Thursday through Sunday, Saturday and Sunday were in the high 60F range, but very windy, 30plus mph all day. Sunday evening we got a hard rain, over an inch, and then some light snow. Monday the wind blew from the northwest at 30plus, and we had a high of about 35. Today we are suppose to get into the low 40s, with strong winds.
The calves are coming along nicely. I have been shutting the likely cows in an empty haybarn because of the weather, but my ability to tell who is about to calve is lacking, as each time I do a sort, one of the cows I let out calves. The flip side is one cow has been shut up now for 16 days and still has not calved, even though she looks like all I would need to do is tip her up and the calf would fall out.
Another sign of spring, or at least a sign I need to sell last springs calves, is the fact that when I open the gate to drive in and feed them a number of them escape while I am driving through. Monday I did quite a chase through a field on the tractor. About 35 gave me quite alot of grief. If I can put up with them until the end of March I will sell them the last week of the month, one more rain and more mud and I might sell them next week. On the subject of cattle, as grain climbs the price of feeders falls, looks like the cattle are going to be a real challenge as far as making money goes for a while.
As I have posted on the forum, our wheat is not looking good at all. I think there is absolutely no way we can hope for more than a very average crop at best, and probably a below average crop, at least on this farm. Too much rain, too much cold weather, and I am beginning to suspect seed with below average vigor.