March 31, 2010 -- Last evening as the sun was setting I let the herd out on to 
pasture. I don’t know who was more thrilled, them or me! I put hay out for them as well. The heifers all went for the hay and most of the cows went for the green grass. With all the cold, cloudy weather we’ve had it seemed the grass would never grow.
I walked the fence lines before letting them go just to make sure no trees had fallen on the fence and broken it down. The only damage I found was two deer crossings. Even though deer can jump very high they always seem to break down the fence until its only about three feet high. I’ll have to string some barbed wire across those spots, but they should hold the cattle for a while. The damaged places all border the woods so the cows won’t see green grass on the other side.
As I walked the fence line I also checked the height of the grass. In most places it was over four inches high, just a few north facing slopes hadn’t filled out yet. Four inches was high enough, supplementing with a little hay for a while, to let the herd out to graze.
My only concern is the five heifers and two cows that have yet to calve. I’ll have a lot longer hike looking for animals in labor and won’t be able to move them easily to the barn. The trade off is clean pasture for calf beds.
February 5, 2010 -- Icy rain this morning at 6:00 am. It’s good we are not trying to haul steers to the butcher this morning. The boys are back on feed and content with their nice warm barn. 
Dark days are on the wain. We have more than 40 minutes additional light now than we did at Christmas. That means the hens are starting to lay more.
Still no calves. Heifers! I love raising heifers, but they are so nerve racking to calve. Soon they will all be cows with calves on the ground and I can breathe a little easier – that is until the coyotes get board and decide to attack again.
January 31, 2010 -- Sun, at last! We’ve had sun for three days in a row. Even though the temperature was 10 degrees this morning, I was warmly dressed and enjoyed working with the cattle in the sunshine. 
No calves yet, but Lucky is very close. She will be the first. I thought I had put the bull, Tommy Boy, out with the heifers the first of April, but when I checked back through my calendar it was actually April 15. That means no calves until February.
The steers broke out of their pasture at my brother’s place last Saturday and came to visit. They are now in the back of my barn with access to a nice grassy paddock. However, they have quit eating their corn. Up until this morning they wanted nothing but the good alphalfa hay! Did they know I planned to send them to their reward this Friday. Warm days, then cold days, and their little field trip means they are off their feed. They’ve lost too much weight this week. I’ve called Old Town Butcher Shop to reschedule the slaughter date. The first date available is April 15th.
My brother as taken advantage of the few sunny days to cut and split all the downed trees piled in my barnyard. We lost a bunch of trees in the September storm of 2008. George had split the long straight locust trees for fence rails – yes, he’s our own Abe Lincoln throw back – then used his log splitter to split me a cord of fire wood. By the way, one of my pet peeves is people who sell you a pickup truck load of firewood and call it a cord. A cord is a definite measure of stacked wood. It must be stacked tight and measure 2 feet deep by 4 feet high by 8 feet long to be a cord. Don’t let anyone sell you a pile of wood and call it a cord. Make them stack it then measure it. You want to stack it anyway and cover it with a tarp to keep it dry. A rick is half a cord.
Every year at least half a dozen seed
companies send me their catalogs. I’ve been working through them this morning trying to decide what to order and from which one to order. The shipping cost is so high that I try to order from just one. I love Cook’s Garden for the lettuces, but they are very expensive. Gurney’s and Henry Field’s have savings certificates which make them very attractive, but they don’t have the selection I’d like.
Jung’s and Burpee's have great selection but no special deals and the shipping is outrageous. I could just buy seeds at a garden center, but then again, the selection is limited. What to do! If all I want is a few things for my own consumption – like the lettuces – then it’s Cook’s Garden. But, what if I want to join a farmer’s market? I really like growing lots of things and taking them to market, along with my free range brown eggs. In that case… well I need to think about it a little longer.
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