Calves, Spray, and Harrow

This morning when I walked up to check on the stock cows, there was a lovely little surprise in the barn - a cute black with a white face bull calf!  We've been waiting for this mama to have hers for a few days now, and last night was the time.  He definitely came late last night because when I found him this morning he was totally licked and dried off.  Mama and baby are doing well, though we will have to sort them out of the herd and put them in the calving barn with the other 13 sets in the next day or so.  I also noticed a red cow in the beginning phases of birth, so checked on her again right before dinner.  She hadn't progressed any further when I checked, but dad told me that between noon and 3 p.m. she had her bull calf.  I haven't seen him yet, but he is red with a white face (i.e. he looks like a Hereford).  We are now up to 15 cows and calves.  Almost halfway done with calving for 2012!

This morning was the day the guys from the elevator came with the nurse trucks full of liquid fertilizer.  Dad did the spraying with our sprayer all morning, except for one spot on our larger hills.  In those places, dad rides along in a heavy-duty sprayer that the elevator drives out (with an experienced driver, "no rookies for this terrain").  Because that is obviously a one-person job, I spent the morning picking up burnables around the barnyard and weeding around my yard.  After dinner, I came back and mowed my yard since dad still wasn't quite done spraying yet.

For the rest of the afternoon, dad assigned me a few patches to harrow with the same harrow and tractor I used yesterday.  This time, however, I wore ear protection since this tractor really growls (especially on the hills I was working on today).  It's pretty easy work and I could follow my paths better today than yesterday, but since I'm still not totally comfortable with machine or terrain, I drive in a low gear.  Thus, I didn't accomplish my task in four hours.  Dad came to relieve me at 6:45 and it only took him half an hour to finish what would have probably taken me an hour to get done.  I know he has forty years practice on me, and putting the tractor in high gear would help speed things up, but I was a little bummed that I didn't manage to finish my task.  I'm sure I'll have amply opportunity to practice and get a little faster, though.

It was a beautiful day even though the wind was around 25 mph.  However, all this yard work and sunshine equals more sunburn.  Yep, it is the season.