ALFALFA HAY

When I first got goats, way back in the early 70’s, I read all of the dairy goat magazines I could find.  I subscribed to Dairy Goat Journal and Dairy Goat Guide.  One thing that all of the articles seemed to agree on was that to get good milk production the goats needed good alfalfa hay.  That was no problem then.  I was living in Southern California and the only hay I could find to purchase was alfalfa hay.  It was grown where it was irrigated and where they were able to get it baled without danger of rain.  All of the hay was baled to be shipped and was in 3-wire tied bales, averaging 125# per bale.  One got only 16 bales per ton.

When I moved to Illinois I could get alfalfa hay occasionally.  I fed some clover hay and some other poorer hay from time to time.  But, moving here to South-Central Kentucky I didn’t find much alfalfa hay being produced in the immediate area.  I was able to get some orchard grass hay which seemed to be pretty good but not quite to the degree good alfalfa would be.  The last couple of years we have been able to bale enough hay here on Cedar Ridge Farm to feed Darryl’s cows and my goats, but it was just mixed grass hay.  This year, due to the dryness, we were able to only get two cuttings of hay.  Consequently there doesn’t appear to be quite enough to feed all of the animals all winter.  Darryl found some grass hay, which will do fine for the cows, at a fairly good price.

I wanted to look around a bit and see if I could find some hay of a bit better quality.  Darryl saw the ad first and drew my attention to it.  A man was advertising some alfalfa-orchard grass hay.  I made contact and Darryl and I made the approximate 50 mile trip two weeks ago to buy 50 bales of this hay.  Even though it is getting toward the end of this lactation the goats have actually increased their milk production a bit.  So, the better hay seems to be doing what it is supposed to do, and the goats seem to like it.

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Four Letter Word

We got SNOW, that four letter word often associated with winter.  Our forecast was for maybe a half inch to an inch of snow.  We received rain on Saturday (almost an inch) and it turned to snow Sunday morning.  It snowed off and on most of the day with about what the forecast had called for, but it forgot to stop.  It snowed Sunday evening and throughout the night.  This morning (Monday) we had quite a bit more around than the half inch to a inch.


You can’t tell how much snow is on the van from this photo but I went out and stuck a 12 inch ruler into that on top of the van.


If you look closely you can see the green ruler stuck into the snow.  It is near the center of the picture.


In this close-up you can see that there was 8 inches on the van.  I measured several other places and the measurement was from 8 to 9 inches.  I believe this is the largest snowfall we have experienced since moving here in 2004.

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INFESTATION OF MICE

A couple of evenings ago as I was leaving the barn after finishing the milking I noticed movement near the goat’s feed pan.  I stopped to watch

and it was a mouse, no, make that several mice.  They were not bothered by my standing and watching them eating the leftovers.  I decided then and there I’d needed to declare war on the little beasties.  Yesterday morning I drove into town and purchased some new mouse traps and some cheap brand of peanut butter to use as bait. 

By evening I had caught 3 and I reset my traps.  This morning I had another 5.  But, the one thing that is a puzzle is that one trap was totally missing, carried away by a very powerful little mouse I assume.  It may have been the one eating Nolan’s cheese.

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We Now Have Power!

I had a bit of time last week and was able to get electric power run to my woodworking shop.  On Tuesday Connie and I went to the nearest “big” town to do some shopping and I went by the electrical supply house and purchased 85 feet of electric cable that I could bury between the house and the shop.  On Wednesday we had light rain about all day and Darryl and I didn’t work on his house so I was able to get my small 70 amp breaker box mounted and wired up in the shop.

Thursday morning I dug a shallow trench from the shop to the corner of the house in which to bury the cable.



After running the cable to the house and covering it with dirt I ran the cable I had fed under the house across to the area where I needed to connect it to the power in the house.  I drilled up into the wall and fished the cable up to the line, got it connected and then turned on the breaker to send power to the shop, all before lunch.  Then, it was down to help Darryl put siding on his house.

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What Have I Been Doing?

They say time goes by rapidly when you are having fun.  I seem to have been having lots of fun since time has gone by quite rapidly since I last posted.  Well, what have I been doing?  Here is a brief recap of the last several weeks and months.

In early June Connie and I made a trip to Wisconsin to attend our grandson, Cory’s, high school graduation.  Our granddaughter from Illinois Tana, came back with us to spend several weeks. The last Sunday in June we made a trip to Illinois to attend a family reunion, returning on Monday.  My high school graduation class held its 50th year reunion the following weekend.  I couldn’t make it for all weekend but did drive up on Sunday, July 4th.  I was able to ride the class “float” in the annual 4th of July parade and attend an afternoon meal and visitation with a number of the classmates.

Our oldest son came the 9th of July and spent a few days before taking his daughter, Tana, back home.  Our granddaughter, Beth, from Wisconsin drove to his home in Illinois and caught a ride down with him.  We enjoyed having both of them here for a few days.

Later in the month of July we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary.  We just took a couple of days and spent them visiting antique shops, thrift stores and eating a couple of meals out. All in all it was an enjoyable couple of days.

The last part of September we went to the Lake of the Ozarks and spent about 10 days celebrating a religious festival with a group of about 450 people.  One of the highlights was meeting and getting to know a lady whose blog we read regularly.

As I have been reporting I have been working off and on building a small woodworking shop.  I haven’t done much on it for the last several weeks.  Priority has been on getting my son, Darryl’s, house closed in before bad weather.  We are making great headway.  For an up-to-date report you can read his blog, Cedar Ridge Farm.

  

The summer has been hot and dry.  Our garden didn’t do real well but we had plenty of tomatoes to eat but few to can.  As a matter of fact, I picked some tomatoes yesterday morning.  I don’t remember ever picking tomatoes this late in the year.  We have had a light frost but it didn’t seem to hit the garden.  I’m afraid that will change this weekend.

Anyway, that is some of what I have been doing.  I’ll try to do better at blogging.

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A Bit More Progress On Woodworking Shop

How can over a month passed since I last posted?  I guess time goes by fast when you are having fun, huh?  I’ve been helping Darryl on his house several days a week and attempting to keep up with the other things needing to be done has kept my progress on my workshop at a pretty slow pace, but there is a bit more progress to report.

I installed a door to the storage loft, using weights in the wall to assist in opening and closing it.  I wanted a door to help keep dust from the shop from going up and getting on the stored items.


Here is a view of the door as you start up the stairs.








This view is from inside the loft looking at the door in the open position.  You can see the green rope that goes over a pulley and down into the wall of the first floor.  Old window weights are attached to the end of the rope.


Pictured here is a small closet that I built to hang winter clothing in the summer and summer clothing in the winter.





 
I built shelves along one wall and, as you can see, quite a number of items have already been placed on the shelves.



  
On the outside of the workshop I have put on some of the corner and window trim.  Unable to be seen here is the trim that is also around the double doors.  The other side has yet to be finished.




I have most of the outlets wired and the boxes up for the lights.  I still have to run wire from the main breaker box in the house to a small box in the shop.


You can keep up with the progress being made on Darryl’s house and some of the work I’ve been helping with by clicking here.

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The Siding Is On!

I’ve only worked on my workshop a couple of days in the last two weeks or so.  I’ve been helping Darryl on his house plus doing some of the other things that need done.  We have been hot, humid and mostly dry here in South-Central Kentucky.  Although there has been a brief shower every few days they have not amounted to much.  Our little garden up here on the ridge is just burned up.  Thankfully, we didn’t have a need to preserve a great lot this summer.  And, we have had quite a number of things to eat fresh from the garden.

Here are a few photos of the workshop taken since the last post.


This side finished.

The metal on the backside of the shop.


Weatherboard, that I had left after the other 3 sides, installed at the very top.  Now, I have yet to put on some trim and work on the interior, as time permits.  I’m sure that much of my time will be spent helping Darryl.  It you would like to see the progress that is being made on his house check out his blog, http://cedar-ridge-farm.blogspot.com/

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