Mother's Day Weekend in Review...

Mother's Day weekend was full of action for our little family.  It started off with a fairly quiet Friday night.  We just did a short family road trip to another Pioneer dealer to pick up some seed for one of our customers.  Roger and I started laying out our plan of attack for the weekend as soon as we got home.  Saturday morning would be off to an early start for all of us.

Things started by getting hooked up and ready to get started planting corn!  Roger was very busy at the seed store, and JM and I began with a trip to Spencer with the livestock trailer to switch things out.  Then home to change clothes and attend our niece's bridal shower in town.  Next, we went back to Spencer to pick up some plants for the flower bed and some pots.  I wanted to plant my Mother's Day planter to take to the cemetery and the pots by the garage.  After returning home, we took our carpet cleaner to our old house and cleaned the carpets.  The next task was to actually get the planting done.  With the help of my aunt, we completed our planting.  We moved all the new plantings inside since it was supposed to freeze Saturday night.  We were all finished in time to make supper and get it to the guys in the field.  Roger and I saw each other long enough to make a plan for Sunday......Mother's Day.

My wonderful husband managed to make a late Saturday night trip to get some flowers for me for Mother's Day.  Who knew that you could find flowers in our little neck of the woods at 11:00 p.m.?  We both knew that Mother's Day was going be a little hectic.

Roger's day started out with chores and heading back to the seed store.  JM and I started our day with church and making dinner for the guys in the field.  Between getting seed for customers and running back and forth to our own fields things were a little crazy.  JM and I loaded up the lawn mower and started mowing lawns.  JM has a summer job of mowing a neighbors lawn, and we started there.  Next, we moved up to Jacob's acreage (the guy who works for us) and mowed his lawn since he has been busy with field work.  Lastly, we moved to our old acreage to mow.  JM hopped on the mower, and I took the loader tractor to the garage and started cleaning!  Not fun, but it has to be done.  Our day ended with the corn planting finished, lawns mowed and a trip to the Taco House at Okoboji to pick up supper and meet Roger at home.  He managed to grab a quick bite with us before heading back to the seed store to load customers.

We had quite a busy weekend!  No pampering or being taken out, but we all got to do what we loved.....farming!!

Busy Spring is rolling...

The craziness of spring on our farm got into full swing this weekend.  It started at our seed store with getting deliveries done.  Then the elevator spread fertilizer on our fields which meant the field cultivators were on the move.  At last, the corn planter started rolling and got a few fields of corn planted.  Sounds pretty easy, right?  Well...this managed to keep JM and I on the run all weekend.  We made parts runs, delivered seed, got groceries so we could take meals to the field, went on a seed run to another dealer to have extra seed on hand, and managed to get a few things done at home.

JM and I took a few hours to clean up the yard.  We had some large branches and sticks down from our last ice storm to get picked up.  The yard got raked as well as cleaning out the window wells and around the retaining walls.  JM and I got to play with the big toys (a.k.a. the payloader, log chains, and skid loader) since the boys were all out in the field!

Before we had to make supper to take to the field, JM and I took some time to make a fairy garden for our front porch.  It was a really fun project for us!

The field cultivator gets a rest tonight since we are waiting for some more adverse weather to come our way.  We are expecting rain and snow for the rest of the week.  At least the seed that is in the ground will be tucked nicely in the ground until this weather event is over.

We also took the opportunity tonight to move some more dirt around our house.  Hopefully, we will have a lawn to mow yet this year.




Although I love this time of year, it does get a little crazy for our family. Some days it is hard to keep up with where everyone is or needs to be.  It just means that our family meals may be with the three of us sitting in a tractor.

4-H Field Trip

Last Thursday evening, Roger and I had the pleasure of accompanying JM's 4-H group on their field trip.  We traveled south of Hartley about 15 miles to the town of Sutherland to tour JTV Manufacturing.

JTV is co-owned by a friend of ours, Brent Thorn.  Brent was our gracious host for the evening's tour.  We had a fairly large group of  kids for the tour as well as some of the parents.  I think the big kids enjoyed the tour just as much as the 4-H members.  Brent talked to the group about how their company began.  They began as 3 partners manufacturing their products and have grown to have about 80 employees.  JTV makes parts for companies such as John Deere, Case IH, and AGCO.

 JTV manufactures parts from steel.  They use these big lasers to cut the parts from the sheets of steel.  It was very interesting to see the lasers in action.  The lasers that JTV use can cut through sheets of steel that are 1 1/2 inches thick.  They also have plasma cutters and a torch system that can cut through steel up to 8 inches thick.

The parts are cut with great precision, and there is very little waste on from a sheet of steel.  All the little "left over" pieces from the cut sheets is recycled and may return in a new sheet of steel.

JTV has computer programmed "metal brakes" that bend the steel parts to whatever angle is called for.  They also have the capability to machine the parts as needed as well.  Welders can also weld parts together prior to delivery. JTV has semi trucks to deliver the parts or they can ship out by UPS.

Mr. Thorn answered the kids' questions after the tour concluded.  His company makes and ships thousands of steel parts across the country every day.  Everyone appreciated the opportunity to see how JTV operates.  We are proud to have a successful company like JTV Manufacturing in our area!

JTV Manufacturing, Sutherland, Iowa

Snowy Day

We awoke this morning to beautiful snow falling and...................blowing!  The weekend began with rain on Friday night and all day Saturday.  No complaints here as we badly need the moisture.  The rain turned to snow overnight which also means that this beautiful snow also had a layer of ice underneath.  We had to take care as we traveled between farms and through the cattle yards today.

Our morning view!

Most people enjoy their relaxing snow days.  They tuck in under a blanket, watch a movie or just enjoy their family time.  For those of us with livestock, it looks much different.  We got right out there this morning and starting feeding the cattle.  Then we checked the cows and calves to make sure everyone was doing well, and also checked for new babies (who seem to like this type of weather to make their appearance.)  The next step is to bed all the pens so they cattle have a warm and dry place to lay down.

The view hadn't changed much when we went back out to do evening chores.  We have a nice grove around our house, and I was surprised at how much the snow was still blowing as we got past the yard.

In spite of the snow storm, the cattle were still glad to see the feeder wagon again this evening.  Even though we didn't get to enjoy our "snow day" tucked in out of the elements, we did have some good family time making sure our livestock were well taken care of.

Our cutie...

Calving season is notorious for it's surprise packages - whether they be good or bad.  This year we have a group of new heifers to calve out, and you just never know what the surprise of the day will be with them.  A couple of weeks ago, we were surprised with the first heifer having her calf two weeks early.  Since this was her first time becoming a mother, we just never know quite how the heifer will react.  Well...her reaction was not quite as we had hoped, and she did not take to being a mother very well.  When this happens, we keep them together in a calving pen for a few days, and usually, they fall in love with each other when they figure things out.  In this case, she had no intentions of changing her mind.  So, after a few days of milking her out and feeding the calf, we decided to just move our little Lucy to the barn and bottle feed her ourselves.  She has become a fun part of the family!  Anytime we go into the barn, she hops up and runs over to us.  She is just a little sweetheart!  JM is really enjoying feeding her morning and night.

JM even got a kiss from her this afternoon.!  Lucy has a special place in all of our hearts.  She is a wonderful new addition to our farm family!

Tucking in the kids

Our Iowa winters always seem to have a variety of conditions for us to work around, and this year is no exception.  We woke up to a nice little ice storm this morning.  Although we welcome the moisture, ice brings many challenges to chore time.  We are not allowed the luxury of waiting for the storm to pass before we go out to do chores.  Roger got right out there this morning and fired up the feeder wagon to get everyone fed.  We have pens of cattle at two other farm places as well as where we live so we started with the road trips first.  Traveling on the roads was the easy part - the hard part was making sure the tractor didn't slide into the bunks.  Fortunately, the temperatures hung right around the freezing mark today.  The cattle actually thought it was a pretty nice day - they were jumping and playing around as we fed.

We always make sure that the cattle have a warm and dry place to lay down.  That is especially important when the weather isn't at it's best.  So, this afternoon, every pen received fresh bedding to lay on.

We have a bale shredder that distributes the bales around the pen.  All the pens have mounds that we bed outside on, as well as having bedding in the sheds for them.  When the temperatures are as warm as they were today, the cattle prefer to be outside.

It doesn't take them long to start sifting through the fresh bedding.  After they finish eating their supper, they will make their way to the new bedding and tuck in for the night.  And...we will start our process all over again tomorrow.  This time of year takes a lot of extra bedding, but we want to make sure our "kids" are warm and comfortable.

Show Season Begins!

We officially kicked off cattle show season this past Thursday at the Sioux Empire Farm Show in Sioux Falls, SD.  JM got to "skip" school for the day in order to be part of the show.  Roger and JM headed to Sioux Falls right after morning chores were done.  They loaded Emily, the show box and grooming chute in the trailer and were ready for some fun!  They had to be checked in by 11:00 a.m., and the show was at 6:00 p.m. that night.  They had some free time after getting set up to check out the farm show.  I, however, had to work, but hopped in the car right after work to make the show.

JM was nervous for his first show of the season.  This was a new show for him, and he wasn't quite sure how things went at this show.  He was also a little worried that I might not make it to Sioux Falls in time to see him show.  But...as he entered the ring, he saw me and all was well!  I made it just in time.  He was in the third class of the show, and I made it there half way through the second class.

JM and Emily worked very well together.  She did a great job in the ring and so did JM.  Emily has been "in training" for this lead thing, but this was her first opportunity to show off  what she has learned.

JM has a great time in the ring.  He loves his calves and showing them.  We were very proud of both Emily and JM.  When JM walks out of the ring with a smile on his face, we know it was a successful show no matter what place the calf gets!