Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Rain, Rain...

Much of the nation has been experiencing drought conditions the last couple of years. In fact, two years ago, because things were so dry, hay production was very low. Due to the shortage of hay, it became a very “hot” commodity. We had to buy a lot of hay during the winter, and it was very expensive! (Supply and demand—capitalism at work!) The large, round bales of hay that historically cost $25-$35 a bale, were selling for $55-$65. We even heard of someone paying (well, charging) $90 a bale!

Last year was a little bit better, or we were a lot more prepared. We had enough hay to feed the cattle through the winter, and we still have a few bales leftover to feed cattle that are put in the lot for various reasons.

We are not out of the drought conditions, yet. In fact, our farm sits in an area that the old-timers used to call Dry Branch--possibly because the rains seem to keep going around us. At times, we see a storm moving in, and then it begins to clear up and looks like a completely different weather pattern.

During the last couple of months, we have been praying for rain…the situation was getting serious. The fields were thin, the grasses were not growing, and we were wondering what we would do for hay for the coming winter. But thankfully, this month we have been blessed and over-blessed with rains, here on the farm. Now The Farmer has another problem…the rain is keeping him from cutting the hay!

He only needs three straight days of good sunshine to cut a field, rake it, and bale it. Unfortunately, the weatherman keeps predicting “chances” for afternoon, morning, or evening showers. His latest prediction looked like this:




So understandably, The Farmer is a little hesitant about laying any grass on the ground. But like all ventures here on the farm, he’s going to eventually just take a chance and hope for the best.





















Monday, March 25, 2013

Missouri Weather

We went into winter 2012 with just enough hay (fingers crossed) to make it until Spring. Well, as many know, Missouri’s weather is very fickle. In fact, rightly quoted...

"If you don't like the weather in Missouri, hang around until tomorrow and it will be different”. 

True to its nature, March came in like a lion with strong winds and an illusion to warmer weather,
but took an erratic turn when a spattering of sleet was covered by 8” of snow.

We could use a little global warming right about now!

Needless to say, we did not have enough hay. Fortunately, with a quick search on craigslist we found hay for sale at the Koch Farm in Washington. Looks like a great place to live. They have a farm that runs 100+ head of cattle, no more than 5 minutes from McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, and Schnucks! Some people have it all. :) (Ahh...I pleasantly digress)

You can see by the pictures below that we got the hay just in time. 


Saturday, when I took the pictures of the Farmer unloading the hay, it was 50+ degrees. 



Sunday afternoon we had a new baby boy being born in 6" of snow.



Well, for now we have enough hay for about a week... 
So, Old Man Winter, please get out of the way so Spring can be Sprung!




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