9638 replies to this topic

[MH81]

You're a full 10 degrees hotter there. Sorry Daniel, hope the winds shift a little and get you some cooler weather and a little water to go with it.

[olcowhand]

I'll have to check my mercury thermometer to find the true temp, as my electronic thingy is saying 109 right now. I figure 105 or 106. Getting ready to head out the door for feeding/milking chores, and man do I dread it!

[olcowhand]

Mercury is 106 in the shade!

[Cvans]

I'm surprised the shade hangs around when it's that hot. Any hope for a break in the hot and dry?

[olcowhand]

I'm surprised the shade hangs around when it's that hot. Any hope for a break in the hot and dry?

Tomorrow supposed to be 100 to 101, then high 90's the remainder of the week. Got some small rain chances back in the forecast! 20% Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Here's to hoping & praying! If we can get some rain this week, we may pull out a 1/2 decent crop. Some neighbors down the road a couple miles got their corn out earlier than ours, and it's about too late for them already.

[olcowhand]

They put a 30% chance of rain on us today, but not looking like it's gonna happen. I went to the shop for a while, hoping to get things straightened a bit before it got hot. Started out getting some done, then I was spending 90% of my time sitting in front of the fan, so I came on in. Just don't feel like fighting the heat on my day off, so gonna relax the rest of the day.
I did get some tools put away & the like, but not what I'd liked to have gotten accomplished.

[Texas Deere and Horse]

With this heat, it's good to just rest inside a day every once in a while, it allows you to recharge your body.

Still PRAYING for rain and cooler temps. up your way Daniel..

[KennyP]

Everyone needs a day to recharge. Relax all you can, Daniel! Enjoy the AC, take a nap, or whatever.

[Cvans]

Sunday is the day of rest. You've earned it so do it while you can.
Burning the candle at both end will just get you a permanent piece of ground.

[olcowhand]

Milked this morning, then sawdust bedded 64 free stalls. May put a couple sheets of siding on after dinner, so I can put the top set of shutters on. Teresa loves the shutters, so I want to get them hung asap. James, our logger neighbor may go get the last 30 blocks today that we need to finish our 2nd silage pit. We were going to go ahead &* start stockpiling the 120 more block we need for the 3rd pit, but economics (reads "broke") means we have to wait at least till this Fall, and that's only if things turn around a lot. We're not going to pour a new floor in this pit this year either, as that is another $7,000. When things get better, then maybe a new floor, but for now we have to survive......which we will.

[olcowhand]

Thought I'd update the silage pit work. On the upper end of this pit, the ground has eroded away, as it's a wet zone (not this year!). So we've laid a row of blocks cross-ways, and we will be pouring a ramp for the payloader to enter. When filling the pits, we start out backing into the pit from the open end. Then once enough silage is there to form a ramp up the upper end, then we back our truck to where this ramp will be, dump the load, then push it in & pack with the loader. Between the loader driving over this edge and natural erosion from rain, this area got so low it was getting hard if not impossible to keep rainwater from entering under the plastic silage cover. Won't be a problem any more!



Here is a view from the lower end. We still have to finish laying the top run of block on the right.



Hated to have to remove them, but there was a Maple tree on both these spots at the end of the pits. Gave good shade for breaks, but the roots would eventually damage the pit walls, so I had to dig them out.



The pit area is starting to look more professional these days with these heavy block. On the far side of the pic, you see wide spaces between some of the blocks. These gaps allow water from the gravel drainage area to escape. On the other pit the end walls indeed ended, but when we get to it, that far wall will be extended into our 3rd silage pit to the right. Both pits will drain excess water through these gaps. So the gaps were needed to be put in now.



This is the pit we rebuilt last year. I LOVE IT! I used to spend countless hours cleaning the old dirt walls, then piling up all the bad silage & the dirt that would scale off during winter's freeze/thaws. Almost no wasted silage now, and no dirt & rocks in the cow's ration. And NO cleaning the walls. They self-clean. Just scrape the floor now & then to only get 1/2 a bucket.

[MH81]

Daniel, that a great looking system you have there. Glad to hear last year's project is working well for you.
sounds like the "Loading Dock" has been a thorn in your side and needing an upgrade for a while. Good for you that problem is now no more.

BTW, Did you get any shifting or settling in the other pit?

[olcowhand]

Did you get any shifting or settling in the other pit?

Thanks Alan, and not any bad settling or shifting. In fact, the wall blocks actually tightened up & looked better after a time. They also developed an even better "lean" than we started out with. I had figured it in while stacking that they would settle back a little bit. The bottom runs didn't move a lick!

[KennyP]

Glad the new pit is working well. Second one looks great. That will be a nice solid place to dump now with the concrete pad. I like your drainage between the blocks, too. Good idea!

[olcowhand]

Scheduled concrete for the unloading pad for Thursday morning. Gotta get it ready, because it's looking like we'll be chopping super early this year in order to salvage what silage we can before the sun bakes it to a crisp. The corn is just about to the point of rain not making a difference, and if we wait too long, the silage will be of little value at all. Depending on the feed analysis of the silage we harvest, we stand to lose between 60 to $100,000.00 (40 Grand of that just in cash grain). I've been trying not to let this all get to me, but it's getting pretty depressing. Yes, I will still have a job, but will I have income? We're going into survival mode now. Sorry for my mood, but this is the "bad & ugly" as in the title of this thread.