August 4, 2010

• The ebb and flow

  Yesterday morning I got a call from the neighbors, T-bone and porterhouse were on their lawn eating their ornamentals.  MK, Melissa, Layn and I went down to bring them home.  No problem these neighbors are not only friends but they found the incident somewhat amusing as did we.

  Later in the evening as I was coming home from town I discovered MK's calves in the road in front of our house.  Doug came out and helped capture the little brown one then the others came out and we got them into this old dog pen for the night until the fence problem can be found and solved.  This morning I was awakened by these two bellering to be let out of time out and the cow bellering for us to let them out so they can nurse.

  

  These two occurrances got me to thinking.  The calves getting out is something that I have come to expect at this time of year, after all it is August, we are nearly done with second cutting, and the nights are turning cool again.  In the life of a farmer there are jobs on the farm and little happenings like the calves getting out that seem to come just as surely as the spring follows the winter.

  As soon as the snow is off the ground in the spring and the ground dries up enough we start to make fence.  It has to be done, especially here in Upstate New York where the snow and the deer are in the habit of breaking down the fences in the winter.  (snowmobilers don't help either)  After the fences are built and repaired the animals are put out to pasture and we enjoy (imagine a lot of sarcasm) a few weeks of calves in the road and the neighbors yards.  As sure as the sun rises and sets those calves have to test the electricity to make sure that it is there and is still working.  They don't do it once and tell all their friends either.

  After that excitement is over then it is time to plant crops and make hay.  Fortunately by now the animals are used to the fences and they have learned to respect them.  Unfortunately, unless a farmer is blessed with extra hands or lots of money, the grass begins to grow under the fences as well as in the hay field.

  Along about the end of July or the beginning of August, just about when second cutting is winding down (if you have had the weather for it) suddenly you have a rash of phone calls from the neighbors saying that Bossy is in their yard, would you come get her.  Worse yet, you hear car horns in the twilight of the evening and you look out to see what those crazy teenagers are doing now and you spy your Jersey calf standing in the middle of the road.

  You know immediately that it is late summer and the fence has to be grounded out somewhere by all that grass that has been growing underneath them.  At this juncture I'll bet no one can guess what this family is going to be doing for the next few days.  We will be walking fence lines to make sure they are all up and mowing under the fences with the tractor and sicklebar mower and the hand scythe. 

  I like fall when the animals are all barned for the winter and there is no more danger of them being in the road.

  • 8:42 am
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