Feed prices?!?!?!?!

There are lots of headlines on the dairy websites about flood and drought and fires and high corn prices and possibly corn shortages.  I don't know what other crops have been affected, but I know that I'm feeling the pain already.  My high protein dairy mix has gone up $143 a ton since the last time I ordered.  It is now $544 per ton.  (Sad face.)  I worry about what the winter will be like.

By Special Request: FEED

During Spring Break, I did not get to take a vacation from my animals, but my mom did let me sleep in.

Picking up our feed order in the rain

On the first day of break, at 8:00 A.M. - opening time - Mom called the Livestock Nutrition Center (LNC).  She placed my order of 750 pounds of Hi-Protein Dairy Mix.  It was ready for us to pick up around 3:00 that afternoon on our way to go do chores. 

LNC has huge facilities where they process all kinds of feeds.  They also have huge grain trucks that deliver grain by the tons!  I’m a 4-Her that doesn’t live on a farm.  We don’t have a tractor with a front end loader.  We have to do all our work by hand. 

We take our pickup to LNC, and after we pay in the office, a forklift brings out a mega sack and lowers it into the bed.

We drive to Windy Hill and back up into the barn.  On the back wall is an old lariat (lasso/rope).  It is looped around the center upright of the barn, and we use it to tie through the top loops of the mega sack.  With the tail gate down, mom drives out from under the mega sack, and it falls on the floor.

We each grab a loop and “one-two-three-heave”  it a little bit at a time to get the slack out of the rope, and set the mega sack upright a little better.  Then we open up the neck of the bag, get the storage bins and hand dip all 750 pounds of feed.  To cut down on rats and mice (which attract rattlesnakes) I keep all my feed in thirty-nine gallon lidded rolling garbage barrels. 

I have to order feed about every two weeks.  The current price is $401 per ton.  That makes my bill $152.38.  My parents finance parts of my projects, so they sign the checks, but they make me fill them out so I know how much things cost, and so I learn how to fill out a check properly. 

I also had to swing by Willoby’s Feed and Outfitters to pick up some beet pulp.  It is around $15 for a 40 pound bag.  I bought three.  (Yeah, I know I could get it cheaper somewhere else, but you have to support your local businesses whenever you can.  They are really nice people, and they are always ready to lend a hand or visit and they are always smiling and they look you in the eye to talk to you!  You can't find that in just any store.)

Grass hay is another important part of my animals’ diets.  They must be able to eat hay at their leisure all day long.

I buy hay in the round bale since I have three heifers ranging from one to three years old, a nurse cow, and two beef calves.  I have to have it delivered one bale at a time to two different hay rings on the farm, because, like I said, we don’t have a tractor.

I’ve been very blessed.  For a long time I paid $40 a bale before it bumped up to $60 when school started, and now, thanks to the drought, I’m paying $110...but still that’s a blessing.  Other people are paying way more than that, and they don’t get it delivered. 

One of the hay rings I use in the east pasture belongs to the landlord, but the other one in the south pen, I got off Craigslist for $50.  It is beat up and looks like it’s been through a tornado, and my dad had to weld a couple panels back that someone had ripped off so baby goats could get inside, but it’s mine.

Diet changes depending on the age of the animal.  Calves don’t eat the same as older heifers, just like toddlers don’t eat the same thing or same amount as teenagers.

365 days a year...

Pulling up t-posts to expand heifer pen (2011)

 

Weekdays:
Drive to Windy Hill on the way home after school.
Weekends/Holidays/Breaks/and all summer long:
Drive 25 miles to Windy Hill from home/25 miles back.
Chores:
Hook up east pasture hose.
Fill east pasture water.
Fill dog water.
Unhook and drain hose.
East pasture:  (Temporary:) Catch Posey/doctor

In the barn:
Fill Posey's bucket.
Fill Ayan's bucket.
Fill Juicy's bucket.
Fill Faith's bucket.
(All are custom portions and custom diets.)
Evaluate when to place next feed order.
South pen:
Pour Faith's feed.
Shake Juicy's bucket to get her attention so she doesn't go to eat Faith's feed.
Pour Juicy's feed.
Hook Juicy's halter to the chain.
Hook Faith's halter to the chain.
(Thieving nibbler prevention)
Hook up south pen hose.
Fill pen water.
Unhook and drain hose.
East pasture:
Pour Posey's feed.
Pour Ayan's feed and immediately stick bucket between Posey and Ayan to guide Ayan to her own feed.
Check creep levels for calves on nurse cow.
West pasture:
Hook up hose.
Fill water tank for landlord's heifers.
Grainery:
Fill two buckets for landlord's heifers.  Fill feed troughs.
Wait for Juicy and Faith to BOTH be finished eating before unhooking their chains.
Pick up rocks to fill in low spots in the driveway while waiting for them to finish eating.  (Battling wind/water erosion of the sandy ground.)

Add in show ring practice, extra chores, and unexpected problems/temporary chores (landlord's chores while out of town, wounds, flipped troughs, heat check, etc.) as needed.

Repeat DAILY, 365 days a year.

Down time:
Endlessly question and discuss with my breeder and parents...
Plan breeding schedule.
Order sexed semen.
Schedule artificial insemination.
Plot heat on calendar.
Make plans for a visit to a bull if necessary.
Schedule fetal sexing.
Order/pick up feed.
Re-configure pens.
Order hay.
Plot calving date on calendar.
Figure up how many entries will need to be paid for OKC and TULSA STATE FAIR and the total cost.
Figure up what days of school will be missed for County Fair, OKC, and Tulsa State Fair.  Work ahead in math and any other classes possible.  Get remainder of makeup work.
Decide names for new calves.
Check fence.
Evaluate show supplies.  Re-order when necessary.
And, and, and...