Once the scurs got the Weather Eye dug out of the snow, it was time for this week’s forecast. Will they be digging out of the snow again or will it be mud this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Thursday, sunny with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the low 20’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance for evening snow. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy Sunday with a slight chance of forenoon snow. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Monday, mostly cloudy with highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the low 30’s. Cloudy for Tuesday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. At the halfway point in the month on Friday the 15th, the normal high is 42 and the normal low is 25. The scurs are starting to wonder when Indian summer will make its appearance. Apparently it skips a year or several.
Snow stopped corn harvest in its tracks last week. With wet snow amounts in the 4” range common locally it hung up on ears and leaves in the corn. It then proceeded to hang on for a couple days. Anyone who has ever plugged a combine full of snow knows that it’s simply not worth trying it until it comes off the plant at least at the temperatures we had. Corn dryers can be heard running almost constantly amidst rumblings of LP shortages. That was the one positive about the harvest delay: it allowed LP supplies to catch up at least temporarily. There are folks in this area drying with natural gas in places and there are more this fall now that the gas company has decided to run lines to several of the turkey barns and allow people to hook up on those lines. Natural gas is plentiful and cheap at this point so it only makes sense if you can get on the line. Many rural homeowners along those new lines were also allowed to hook up so it might be interesting to see if this trend continues.
With snow farmers keeping their distance waiting for the snow to come off the corn, tillage became the order of the day. With memories of last fall’s incomplete primary tillage there was a constant roar as the ground was worked. Unfortunately tillage was hampered in places not so much from the snow as from the cold. Ground froze fairly solid with low temperatures sliding into the single digits overnight on the 7th and 8th. That meant varying degrees of tillage success depending on cover particularly before and after corn was picked. For the third fall in a row there were tales of woe as primary tillage equipment came back to the yard with parts missing. The frozen soil also put a damper on some anhydrous ammonia applications as the ground wasn’t sealing properly in some fields.
The snowfall convinced me it was time to move bale feeders and round bales into their winter positions. Small square bales are tight at the ranch so feeding the more plentiful round bales would seem the prudent thing to do. Thursday morning the ground had frozen solid and kept me from rutting it up while transporting the bales and equipment. The sheep were well down in the pasture so I left the gate open as I started. Within a matter of minutes they smelled the open gate and were running across the yard for the road. That made me long for Mom’s good old Fudgie, the Border Collie who ruled open gates with iron jaws. After a lot of on and off, closing gates, assembling feeders, hauling bales etc., the sheep seemed appreciative, at first. Within a matter of a few hours though they were back out in the pasture consuming plants that still had anything remotely resembling green tissue. Fussy.
At the ranch we’re getting closer to ready for barn cleaning although first we needed to get the sheep back from the kindly neighbors’ pasture. Sunday was looking like an unlikely day as the temperatures made the soil surface greasy in the early afternoon. Picking up screenings at the kindly neighbors’ it was apparent that the temps were starting to fall as the afternoon wore on. A tractor was parked where we needed to get into the pasture and when it suddenly moved that was our cue. I fed the sheep, locked them in and took the screenings wagon home. Mrs. Cheviot and I returned a few minutes later with the pickup and trailer to pick them and their equipment up. They loaded fairly easily and within a matter of a half hour we were down the road with them.
The ewes and one ram had a decent run from early June until November 10th. For several years it was tradition that we’d pick them up around Thanksgiving weekend. Weather being what it’s been it was logical to get them while the getting was good. Last year they came home in early December so their stay was shortened this time. It was still well worth it even though the fence seemed to be grounded out just about the time one needs to get home. The flying biting insects can make it a little more daunting as well. The bluebirds that inhabit the nesting boxes temporarily make one forget about that, gentle little souls that they are. Every year a few more broods are produced and make the summer’s passing more enjoyable.
At home the birds continue their winter behavior. Recently some goldfinches have returned to the feeders, dressed in their winter olive drab. They’re not numerous yet although their numbers are increasing. The downies and hairies have latched onto the suet feeders like it’s the middle of winter probably because the temperatures are like the middle of winter. The red-bellied woodpeckers compete with the squirrels for kernels of corn on the ears supplied to their feeder. I’m doing another squirrel experiment this year. It’s cheap entertainment and I’m easily amused. Last year it was white cob vs. red cob corn. This year it’s organically produced corn compared to conventionally raised GMO corn, alternating its placement in the feeder to see if there’s a preference. So far, regardless of which type is placed where, they eat the corn off the ear on the right first. About the only conclusion I can draw from this is that we have right handed squirrels.
See you next week…real good then.