An Adventure of a Lifetime- Ireland

Hello All,

I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog, life has been busy with work around the farm but we did take some time for family. As most farmers know, it is very important to spend time with family and sometimes we are fortunate enough to take a vacation.

I have always wanted to go to Ireland for my Irish roots and just because everyone says it is beautiful. Well it is! Here are some pictures from our adventures to Ireland in August. We definitely will never forget this special trip!

Enjoy,

The Milkmaid

Round straw bales, we did get to see one field being combined
but I wasn't fast enough to take a picture. There was so much
agricultural on all of our adventures. Great place to go for an
Ag Tour.

Picking up and loading on trucks

Cattle

Large squares

Kilkenny 

Kilkenny Castle- one of the many we visited

It was always so green and beautiful every where we drove! 

Waterford Crystal- a must do while in Ireland!

Beautiful!

Dairy Cattle on top of the hill, there was many dairy farms along
our drives and we enjoyed seeing so many!

Tractor driving, everyone was very friendly to farm vehicles!

Beautiful Coastline drive

Sheep

Tractor driving on what we would consider highways.. crazy! 

Blarney Castle- and yes hubs kissed the stone!

Limerick

One of the many churches we visited

Cliffs of Moher

They were breath-taking!

Rock fences- I do not know how they keep the animals in!

Galway 

An Irish performer along the streets in Galway

Dublin- From the top tower at Guiness

Dairy Cattle!!

Beef Cattle

Narrow Roads! 

Working Hard and Hardly Working- And counting our Blessings.

It seems as though there is always some new project going on at the farm. Whether it is fixing fence or equipment or building something to help something else. March was busy with many different activities. We had some fun, we gave back and we worked hard.

A few things that went on during good ol' March. We sprayed numerous fields, dealt with many sprayer issues (frustrating and annoying is all I have to say about that darn sprayer), moved some corn and built a few things. But we also took some time off and gave back to the community.

At the beginning of March, Josh sold his corn that we stored in the new bin on the farm, so we got to test out the unload system to empty the bin. The guys hauled several loads of corn to a local feedlot.

Inside of the bin with the sweep auger moving through the corn

Coming from the sweep auger into the other auger bottom

And finally into the semi trailer

I was so lucky to help sweep the last bit of corn into piles for the sweep auger to carry out for the last load. At least farm work has some health benefits of making you sweat and keep in shape!

We got a new sprayer, I have nothing nice to say about it. I don't like it. It makes me frustrated therefore I am not going to blog anymore about that darn thing!!! However, it did give Handyman a good excuse to get out his welder and make a stand for the shuttles so that it is easier to unload the shuttles and switch them in and out when needed.

AJ welding in our garage the new shuttle holder thing

The finished product holding shuttles

Handyman really likes welding and wants to teach me but  I always tell him, "It can wait" I will learn some day but I kind of have a motto when it comes to certain things. If I learn it and no one else is around then I have to do it and well if I don't know how to do it, I guess one of the guys has too! -- I will just stick to milking cows, managing cows and breeding cows-- that's more my thing!


Those were just a couple of the things going on during March on the farm. Off of the farm, we went to Oklahoma with hubs parents and we went Spoonbill fishing. It was my first time ever catching that big of a fish! It was a lot of fun and was well worth the trip down there! I was lucky enough (and it was on St. Patricks Day! Luck of the Irish!) to catch the first fish. It only weighed 29 pounds so I threw it back and kept trolling on. I caught the second fish and it was a beauty! I kept this big fish weighing in at 62 pounds! After that I just enjoyed riding on the boat watching hubs and my father in law fish. They had a lot of fun and the best catch of the day was my father in law got a whole whooping 5 pounder! Boy, was it cute!! Overall, it was a great trip and nice to take a small break from working for some fun.

AJ and I with our catches

My father in law with one of his fish

Lastly and one of the most important days of March came where we, as a family, donated $2500, to the St. Anthony's Family Shelter in Wichita. It was a true blessing. My grandfather had his name entered into a Monsanto Grant Program where they generously give a $2500 grant in different family farms name to a place the family chooses. He was selected for Sedgwick county and my grandparents chose to give the money to a family homeless shelter. It was a privilege to be there as they presented the check and we got to tour the facilities. We are so proud that we can help others in need and it is very important for our family to give back to the community.

This program helps many families in their time of need and get back on their feet after so many different situations. I encourage you to go to your local homeless shelter or any other organization- ask for a tour, volunteer or just give back in any way possible. It is truly life changing experience helping others in their time of need. I know one of my many goals for this year is to do more volunteer work and I can't wait to get started with another program that I found in Wichita.

Many blessings to you and your family, we hope your March was a great as ours!


The Milkmaid

A Monday Morning Surprise!

This morning, I headed to the farm thinking about the mud, water and unhappy cows. Since it rained last night, I was a little late showing up for work in the first place and dreading the mess I would be after milking. The cows have a love-hate relationship with rain. While it cools them off, they also get messy and bring their little dirty hooves into my milking parlor and like to get me just as messy.

Little did I know my dad would find a nice little surprise when he went out to bring the cows up for milking.


Twins, again!

We usually do not have twins, even though there is a one in seven chance of twins, we haven't had a set in a couple of years. This year we have been blessed so far with two sets. You may remember reading, The Scandalous Cow and Tale of Two Calves, where we had a rare set of twins born from two different sires but from the same dam. Well this may look like the same situation but it is not!

The dam (or mother cow) is a Jersey/Holstein cross and Miss Brownie looks like her. The sire (bull/father) is a pure bred Holstein and Miss Penelope looks like him. They just happen not to be identical twins but sure are cute and fun to play with.

Brownie was born smaller than Penelope, not by much but she is the smaller of the two.After we milked No. 61 (their mother) this morning, I took out a bottle to feed them. They both did a really good job drinking for the first time and then they had their navals sprayed to help not get an infection.

Miss Brownie

Miss Penelope

Both little heifers are doing well and happy in their new little shed and each other.


Happy Monday!



The Milkmaid

Wheat Harvest is coming fast!

Wheat harvest is right around the corner. Therefore, it is really about to get busy around the farm.

Thankfully it has rained in the last week and we got some needed moisture for our corn and soybeans.

Yet, with the moisture we are still not done spraying and planting soybeans but we will not complain as rain is a tick more important!

AJ and Josh washed combines to get them clean again for this years harvest. Then, they cleaned out the cab and greased the circuits. Afterwards, they went through and check all the chains, belts and bolts. Needless to say they will be checking over every little part of each combine multiple times before harvest to make sure they got everything checked thoroughly.

Last week they worked on the headers to get ready to hopefully try to harvest some barley and wheat. They did get the barley harvested and attempted to do a wheat field but it was still too wet. Today, they are going out to try another field and see if it is ready to go. 

This week's plan... harvest wheat, plant soybeans, spray the rest of the fields, harvest some more, plant some more, spray some more, oh and milk! You get the idea, it will be a very busy week needless to say. 

Here are a few pictures of the combines being looked over and getting ready to go. Unfortunately, I still am in a bad habit of not having my camera with me so I take pictures on my phone and well my phone decided to see what water was like the other day. Therefore, I got a shiny new phone and I have not be able to recover my photos from my old phone, so I tried to take a few more of them. 

Working on a header

This is what it looks like under one of the covers 

This is the back end where the stalks come out

Inside one the cab of one of our combines

This is through the back glass of the cab, this is where the grain comes through an auger
and is held until it is unloaded onto the grain cart 

The auger which the grain falls from after being harvested from the plant or cob

Josh working on tightening some bolts on a header

Until next time,

The Milkmaid