Fall 2011

Fall 2011 in in full swing. A busy summer season. We welcome a new member to the family: Isaac, born in July. We baled alot of hay this summer both round and square.

The garden did well. We were able to preserve the bounty by canning. It was a constasnt struggle against weeds this year, though.

Winter rapidly approaching; we need to get more fire wood stored up. Barn is full of hay. Basement shelves stacked with canned goods. Freezer with meat-- and hopefully deer soon.

Jay started school this fall, he is growing so fast. Isaac is growing fast. More updates to come. Above are a couple of pics from this season.

And dont forget, check us out on Facebook; it gets updated more frequently.

Summer

All is well. Very busy. Please check out our Facebook page for weekly updates. All of first cut hay is done. Sold one cow; soon to sell one heifer (8-28); 2 beef steers for sale. Firewood is in progess; winter will be here soon. Barn completed soon I hope. Barn pics to come soon.

Feeding Winter Hay

Tractor

Our son, covered in a dust of corn and soybean meal that he was supposed to feed to the pigs (not throw, LOL!) But he had fun, as you can see above. Below is a photo of our tractor. Concord Mommy took this picture or she would be in it too. It has worked well so far, and will be a great asset to the farm.

This week we almost finished up hay season. The picture below is Concord Son and I traveling home from raking hay. He came over to the fields to bring Dad some water and begged to ride back with me. We have also been working on putting more firewood inside the wood shed and cleaning out the other half of teh shed for the tractor (to be parked out of weather). Monday morning was first of many firewood cutting parties to be had through the winter. The parties usal consist of myself, Matt and Andrew. We cut, split and load all 3 of our trucks with wood; many hands make the work go fast.

The pigs are growing. I am hoping to expand there pen this week to enclose our entire garden which is almost done producing for this year.

Another Tractor

Today we will be signing papers on the "new to us" tractor. It is a Massey Ferguson 255, a newer year model than the last and froma different dealership. Matt, my neighbor will be pulling home with his big truck and trailer. So tomorrow we will a new tractor to put up hay with. We have about 15-20 acres down still, that need baled. My barn is almost full, about 15-20 bales and it is there ready for winter.

Trouble With Tractor!!!

All was well, we were so excited... then a tractor was delivered.... and broke down before the delivery driver even left our driveway! Yes, needless to say, the delivery driver, un-delivered the tractor, right back to the dealership, LOL. The tractors motor will need a complete overhaul, adding $3000 + to the price... So, we decided this tractor and dealership wasn't for us. We have been on the prowl for a tractor, nothing is for sure yet.

New Tractor

Above is the newest addition to CMF. Recently we have been in the market for a 50-70 HP tractor. On Wedsnesday we test drove and made a deal on this tractor. It is a 1966 Massey Ferguson 175 Diesel, 63 HP with 3 point and remote hydraulics ( It will do everything I currently and in the future will need). This is big enough to pull my haybine (mower), and disk and plow. It is going to be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday. We are very excited.
PS- Pigs are doing well, will post on them soon.

July

Summer is coming right along. First cut hay is done. Fence is in progress. Next to do: firewood and barn roof. We have canned some, and will be canning alot more as more tomatos ripen.

Jay playing on his toy "trac-sher" wearing my old work hat. He has so much fun on that tractor, it has seen and will see many more miles.

Here my wife worked on brush hogging the pasture which has been grazed early on in season, but before weeds go to seed and spread, we mow, to stop the seed spread and help pasture growth. What a great job she did!

Fence is an ongoing project. This will keep our bull Travis from wandering to the neighboring farm when their cows are in heat. The light weight electric that shocks @ 4,500 volts did nothing to stop him 4 times this week, thankfully they're understanding and very helpful. We have finally finished the east side of the perimeter fence; it has been built in stages. It consisits of 4 strand barb wire and cow panels for gates. Big thanks to Kyle for his help!!!

This is our newest family investment: a pop-up camper. We are so excited to use it, we have planned to camp the first weekend of August.

Summer Update

Times are busy as always! Since we are both working off them farm jobs and around the farm, days are long. Good news: all puppies have new homes; the garden is filling with fresh veggies (above picture) and we are late yet again splitting firewood but we have some done. There has been massive amounts of hay baled, stored and sold this season- possibly one for the record books. Everyone is doing well. Jay is growing by the day, its unbelievable; he got a pet Ki-Cat (kitten) for the garage/ barn/ outdoors... Mouse catcher... would be great for the feed storage area. Both calves are doing well putting on weight. adapting the pasture life.

Photo Update

Morgan and Jakes litter of puppies- going on 3 weeks old- some mobile creatures now.
Travis of Hollifield resting in the shade- what a bull he is!! Were gonna fix those horns though!

Sally and Abby calf (Left, left)......... Big Momma and Chloe (right cow and center calf)

Hay mowed at Wolfe Farm- Andrew mowed on saturday, hot sun + wind = dry hayHay raked by your truly on Sunday afternoon, baling by Andrew Sunday night

We have more ahy down, Matt mowed hay Sunday while we were busy.... Happy Fathers Day to Dads everywhere!

Another Calf

Yesterday Big Momma gave birth to a red heifer "Chloey" (Above). She had no difficulty and let me carry it to the barn. We are now at 5 head of cattle: 1 Bull- Travis, 2 Cows- Sally, Big Momma, 2 Calves- Abby, Chloe.

Above is Sally and her calf Abby, in the pature this morning.
This is an older picture of our bull Travis of Hollifield.

My brother got new tires on his Jeep and had to try them out. After a long day of fence building ( Thanks guys) he got to try them out on trails. Fun, fun.

Yesterday Andrew, Cayla and I baled hay and hauled it to the barn. The new sqaure baler worked great.

Happy Birthday Cayla!

Happy Birthday to my wife Cayla! We had a wonderful cookout last night, with family and cake. She got some peach trees, yummy!, that will be planted very soon; also received flowers and an iron plant hanger.
Kenny, Kyle and I nearly finished putting the haybine back together, thanks to them for the assistance. The reel is in place, belts need put back on, bolts tightened and everything needs a final check over. Then we'll be ready to mow with it. Pictures will be posted soon.

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

The old sang "Make hay while the sun shines" is hold true this week. Wow how the seasons have changed, the hot sun is out and its hay season again. Andrew (neighbor) and I have been mowing hay this week preparing to bale. Above is Matt's tractor (neighbor and Andrews brother), that we have been using to mow the hay. Below is a close up picture of raked hay rows in the above pictured field. Make sense? Anyway, we have had frost 2 days this week so far, lost a few seedlings to it, but thankfully nothing else. We're gonna shoot for firewood hauling and fence building after all the fields have had the first cut of hay mowed off of them.We did get a chance to plant our new apple trees. They are doing well. No calf or calves yet! Is the Vet right? are we crazy? Both? We'll keep you updated. I was recently looking at Mother Earth News online and read an article about Athens, and it made me think Isnt Athens County such a beautiful place to live? Link to the article: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/2006-08-01/Great-Places-Athens-Ohio.aspx

Hay Baler

Our most recent investment pictured above. A Massey Ferguson #12 Square Hay Baler. This was bought in share with our neighbors the Sayres. It should serve us well, its in great shape, well cared for by 2 older gentlemen that always stored it indoors. Im excited to use it this summer. This was a local purchase from an Ebay auction. We will have it home tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend.

Hay Day

This winter we have been feeding a combination of round bales of hay- available to cows all the time and small square bales- which we feed at night. The small square bales are of higher quality ( higher protein) and have been stored inside. This is one of my neighbors tractors, for green and yellow it gets the job done somewhat well. We also went to look at cows this weekend and have decided to purchase one- a yearling heifer, the other two- 2 y.o. cow and yearling bull are headed to the Sanders Farm, another local couple.