It'll be a day like today

rrlund

Well-known Member
It'll be just like today the day that I decide I've been farming long enough. I don't think I could take another one.
The forecast yesterday morning said rain Tuesday night and Wednesday,but good Monday and Tuesday. So I spent the whole day cutting enough hay to be pushing it to even get it all raked and baled in two days. I got home for supper last night,checked the county forecast on the DTN site again and they said rain Monday night and Tuesday. Not just a 40% chance either,a 70% chance now. So even if Monday's decent,there's more hay on the ground than I can probably get up in a day.

What do you do when you have cattle and nothing else to do? You haul manure. I loaded two loads out of the back feedlot this morning,got on the loader tractor to load another one,started backing up and had a big stream of oil in front of me. It was pouring out of the transfer case around the front driveshaft. I cleaned that up,got a jack under it,dropped it out and there was a snap ring broken that let the shaft slide ahead past the seal.

I had that fixed by 3 o'clock,finished up the back lot,loaded one load out of the other lot,came back to load another one and a front tire was almost flat on the loader tractor. A 9.5 24 FWA tire. I pumped it up,thought I could get the load out that was pushed up I front of the gate and it was half flat again by the time I got it in the gate. I ran it out,took the pressure washer to it and by the time I got it up to the shop,the bead broken down and sheared the valve stem off the tube.


I'm getting too darned old to give a rats backside enough to keep this stuff up If I have a day like this again any time soon.
 
I guess you just joined my lucky day club. Other than feed the animals all I got done today is to give the dog a bath.

Dixie said she was going to do a treatment and then start breakfast so I said I will cut enough hat to feed this morning. Went out and with the rain last night it was sopped. Came in to eat breakfast and it started to pour. Waded water in the yard to get to the loader tractor after it stopped raining. Hooked onto the rake and with the hay so wet I was able to get a little more than half in a windrow. Dropped the rake and picked up four loader buckets and dumped it over the lot fences for the horses. Went out to feed grain a little after six, gassed up the mower to mow the yard in front of the barn after I fed. I came out after setting with the little ones while the eat to make them back up, step forward and shake after they are done eating. When I came out a black cloud was headed my way on the horizon. After feeding the next three lots it had started to rain.
 

If that was most of the rest of us the forecast change wouldn't have come out until mid day Monday so that we wouldn't have all of Monday to get 2/3 of it rolled. The FWA shaft would have ruined the casting. The tire would have rolled right off with a full bucket and ruined the bead. You lead a charmed life!
 
You are lucky. You are able to fix all of those things yourself and continue on. A good day no..... but you still are lucky as you have the skill and ability to handle your problems.
 
I was already in a little bit of a bad mood when the D I L got here this morning. I asked her if she wanted to be a farmer. She said no,and I told her neither did I. She was helping me on that transfer case and I told her to pay attention,it'd all be hers some day. She said "It'll all be Jon's some day,I've got a job.". She knows where the tools are and what the inside of a transfer case looks like now anyway.
 
We all have ?those? days now and again. Mine were this spring trying to feed cows and calf in the mud snow and cold. It all got better.
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I have hay down too. Just wish I could get it dry enough to bale. Already gave up on one field, leaving it on the ground. Raked a second field yesterday. Was a little too soon and it didn't dry any today. 1/2" of rain forecast for overnight. What's worse this is fair week. I get to stay home and baby sit the animals. That and run all the errands. Tomorrow I transport the animals. Monday take grandkids to the dentist. Tuesday, wife's friends from Indiana are dropping by. I can see loosing this field as well.
 
I haven't rolled any since a week ago yesterday. Haven't lost any yet,but I might now. This isn't a good year for me to even be loosing a single leaf or stem after last years drought.

I'd forgot it's fair week. I checked the schedule too. No rodeo this year,so other than maybe going to the pulls Friday night,I don't know that I'm even going at all.
 
We just came back from D.C. last night- our area got over 6 inches of rain the other afternoon. Church parsonage has four feet of water in the basement. Feeling a vibration on the way home I went to the tire shop first thing this morning expecting a broken belt and a new set of tires. Balance and rotate and it drove like new. Went with my Mom to pick up some household items she bought at an auction, and came back to her place to find water in the basement. First time since they moved in 1968 to find water (sand hill subdivision). It is soaking out between the wall and floor and right up through cracks in the floor. Spent six hours cleaning that up. Came home and climbed on the lawn mower, mowed most of the grass without getting stuck once! Two hay fields yet to cut, several days from being dry enough to drive on. It will be there when it does dry out. Last week Wednesday, I ran into the Father-in-Law of our local BTO, they have 2000 acres yet to plant. Boy, I feel lucky, should go to the reservation!!
 
Hopefully tomorrow will go better some days sometimes even a whole year nothing goes right breakdown after breakdown weather won?t cooperate nothing wants to go right but it usually gets better
 

I have not visited YT in over a year,..it appears i didn't miss much.
Same complaining and bi''''ing as always.
Be glad you guys are still kicking.lol
 
I got lucky that there was such a wind yesterday (fri) and just enough sun. I wsn't going to even bother looking at it then the sun started peaking out so went and looked. Got baled what was down. It had rain on it the night I cut it but none since. I still have the last third of the field to go. Not looking very good this week.
 
well Randy I hear you loud and clear ,That Is Our Life Style We used to LOVE and Hoped our Children were thrilled and inspired to take over from us . It sounds like your loader and At least your front wheel assist Works ,you are able to finally get to hauling out manure and Your Manure Spreader will Work , Your pressure washer and well works, Your air compressor and hose and chuck works . you have a hydraulic jack that works and you found it , But you have hay getting wet ,I do too , and i have beans yet to plant ,and more hay getting wet. I killed 4 acres of corn that was knee high because i grabbed the wrong jugs of chenmical waste water. i still need to haul manure ,fix my front wheel assist and my loader.Right Now ,it seems my sons could not care less. But next week they will probably redeem themselves .. Dear Gawd , i Miss the Thrill of the 1970s . i was just getting a drivers license and everything made sense and was so full of hope and promise , especially the gal that yanked the blanket off her momma's wash line so we could snuggle at the drive-in movies. Just trying to make ya feel better ,.if you ever get this way we might tip a few.
 
Well,you hit on one thing. I replanted corn Wednesday. I checked it Friday and it was sprouted. So far we haven't had enough rain to flood it out again,so maybe I'm about out of the woods on that. I just can't take a beating and get right back up like I used to.
 
I try not to do that very often,but I guess I'm just so good at it that when I do,it's memorable. lol
 
When it rains, it pours. If you have neighbors or friends, you have a phone. If you have the money, another tractor is but a phone call away from the salesman. Would I do orange? Good question. How much does it weigh? The other one weighs how much? Tractors were not meant to float like a butterfly and more weight is more steel in there somewhere. As for giving up, Your running up to the end of the selling season. Spring time is the best time to sell.
 
When I do quit,it won't be a sudden impulse thing. When I sold the dairy cattle,it took a couple of years to phase them out. I don't even know yet how this'll go. If I'll sell the cattle and keep cash cropping,if I'll quit feeding out my calves and just sell the calves in the fall,or if everything will go and I'll go cold turkey.

A few years ago,I was just running out the clock and couldn't wait to quit,but my health is so much better than it was then and I've gotten my second wind,but days like this sure bring back the peace of mind I was feeling when I thought it was imminent.
 

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