I guess the old adage “time flies when your having fun” is true. Hard to believe it has been so long since I last posted here. So much has happened I have no idea where to start. We are currently finishing up our second cleanout at Farm I. Farm II’s birds will be selling around the first of February. This time we haven’t seen the little inconveniences pop up like the first go around. The nests are the big improvement. So far the bigger S hooks have made the difference. I replaced all the old hooks with larger, stronger S hooks. We seem to have developed a much better strategy for the litter removal too. Instead of piling it and moving it again, this time we put it directly on a truck or in the spreader and sent it where it needed to be. I will say we need to be a little more careful loading though. We just need to be sure all the litter is getting in the truck or spreader not on the ground. We have enough trouble keeping weeds and grass under control as it is so no need to fertilize them.

Fall is definitely upon us here in Kentucky. Seems only at night though. Most days have been in the 50s and 60s. I’ve heard a lot of talk about a bad winter this year, but things are going to have to change drastically. I started replying to folks saying this toward the beginning of this month with a “we will see”, but lately I have been saying “you do realize this is the end of November”. Heck it’s December now and it’s forecasted to be 50+ degrees. Not that I am complaining. I’ll do my complaining this summer when there are tons of bugs if it doesn’t get cold enough to thin them out. At any rate we have a good stock pile of firewood and papaw John (my Dad) replaced all the fire brick in the old fisher stove. Papaw as we call him around here is always working on something. My mom tells me frequently I’m just like him, I always say “nothing wrong with that”!

We’ve had a lot of firsts this year. The farm has paid it’s way entirely; Garett has his first gun, and his first bow; Garett and I have taken our first hunting trip, we were featured in a national publication, and the list just keeps going. All the children are growing like weeds! Madison has become my little beauty queen all of a sudden. She was first runner up in the Winterfest pageant and won best dress. Kaylee is still cheering for the local high school team. She sure doesn’t have time for much else. Katie is with me full time now. She only goes to visit her moms side of the family.

Bj is recovering from yet another back surgery. We thought everything was good from the car accident in January, but she was troubled by the hardware they had put in. The doctors x rayed and said all was good, she could have the hardware removed. 4 weeks after the surgery to remove the hardware she was in terrible pain and knew something was wrong. X rays revealed her back was still broken. So the last surgery was to fix yet another break. The doctors went all out this time, burring her spine to get the bone they removed from her hips to fuse to the break. Please let this be the last surgery!

We finally got around to getting an equipment shed built . We also made some big improvements in the old broiler house we use as a barn. Hopefully this summer I can either build stalls in the barn or build a shed type series of independent stalls for the horses. Unfortunately with all that’s been going on Madison and I haven’t been riding off the farm a single time this year. We did pick up a new trailer. Although not what I really wanted for the animals I bought a new 16ft tandem axle utility trailer with stock racks. Atleast now I’m not depending on someone else to haul whatever I may want to buy. I still plan to pick up a 16 or 18 foot stock/horse combination gooseneck trailer as soon as I can afford it.

The tractors are all holding up fairly well. I say fairly well only because the 3316 HST developed a crack in the engine block. Mahindra was right there on the warranty though. They replaced the entire engine, not just the short block. While it was in the shop I had everything serviced on it. The 7010 cab has broken the loader cable and they don’t sell just the cable. Luckily for me KMW is sending me the whole unit and my dealer had a used cable to get me through til then. That will mean I’ll have an extra cable. Looking at the future of the farm I just don’t see how I will not be able to trade for a larger tractor soon. The 7010 is more of a compact tractor and it’s just more than it can safely handle when you put 8 or 10 tons of litter or lime behind it and try to spread in this hilly landscape. Word is the 8560 cab will be available real soon. I’ll make the 7010 work until they get the new model blues worked through. The 6000 is still the “proverbial bull in the china shop”. It’s always there to do anything that needs done, but is just too big to be much help in the poultry houses.  

Well as always there is tons to do here and I’m not getting it done sitting in front of the computer so I’ll close. Be sure to check out the pics I have added. Check back frequently, I’ll be adding more pics as time allows. Thanks for reading!

This entry was posted on December 3rd, 2009 by admin at 4:53 pm and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.