Summer To Do List

Here is the list of things we need to do in the next two months.
1. Spread Manure
2. Change the transmission in the big dump truck.
3. Put together another dump truck
4. Finish Manure pump
5. Work on the 4-150
6. Build a trench
I am sure there are several more things but this is the majority of the things that really should happen on the farm. Along with milking and choring and all those other little things we try to do...

Weed Pulling

My wife and I were pulling some ornery weeds out of a flower bed this evening. My wife has an aversion to dirt. She always weres gloves when she is working with or in the dirt.
Sierra was playing with Aleya and she must of tired of their project, washing the swing set, because I heard her tell Aleya she was going to go help Daddy and Mamma. Sierra went in the house for a few seconds before coming to help us. When she arrived she was proudly wearing a pair of my wifes gloves. So I went on this little schpeal(sp?) about how much more fun it is to weed when you can get your hands all dirty and you can play in the warm dirt. Before I finished talking she was pulling here gloves off and gleefully pulling weeds... Rachel said Sierra told her that "I am gong to go wash my hands. I don't like the feel of dirt under my finger nails..." So, how many of you wear gloves when pulling weeds

Last Wedding

This afternoon at 2:00 Nathan Swarey and Elizabeth Gilbert will be tying the knot. Liz is a first cousin of mine. 14 years ago she was scared and nervous about being a gift reciever at my wedding. Wonder if she is scared and nervous about getting married...
Which makes me wonder this: Have you ever been at a wedding where either the bride or the groom has changed her mind? Changed his or her mind during the ceremony? That would be awful. Allthough, that would be better than getting married and then having the marriage be a shambles.
Anyway, I am sure that won't happen today.
Nate and Liz, enjoy your day in the sun and have fun....

Twisted

The vet was here today and we had him look at a sick cow. He was sure she had a DA but he couldn't here it. So I drove her over to his place this evening and we had some serious biology going on. We discovered she had a twisted abomasum (sp?) instead of the normally twisted stomach. The part that was twisted was about the size of a 30 gallon drum and was packed full of feed and things of that nature. Because it was twisted nothing would pass through. So we decided it was not worth trying to rectify this situation. I called a fellow from church and he and his brother are, as we speak, turning her into hamburger. Such is life...

ID System

The ID system is working. I am very excited about it. I spent all day on the computer at the barn. I was on the phone with Dairy Plan support getting help with some reports. I can enter everything in the computer now. All my herd check information, calvings, dry dates, cull cows, everything. So that is cool. I still have a few questions about how to do things but I think I will get it figured out with time.
Dr. Gardner comes in the morning so we will see how herd check goes....

Stuff

I finished planting corn today. I feel so relaxed now... I can move onto other less stressfull projects.
We also think we have the ID thing working. We will try it in depth in the morning...
Tootaloo

Weekend Report

I must say we had a very good weekend. It is always good to meet new people and renew old friendships. Let's see, I ran into Byron Smucker and his father-in-law, Ernie Weaver. Saturday evening we were in York and sang at Tidings Of Peace. This was great fun. Though the crowd was small they were very enthusiastic. Sunday we sang at Pleasent Valley in Ephrata. Some people are very easy to visit with and Stanely Fox and his family would fall into this category. We ate lunch with them and had a very good time. Last evening we sang at a Brethern church in Chambersburg/Greencastle area. After the service the other three guys headed home. I am currently sitting in my father-in-laws living room. My family and I will be leaving here shortly. It rained at home Saturday so I need to get home and plant my last 50 acres of corn.

Tour

We leave at 8:30 in the morning for a weekend tour. We were asked to sing at a reception in PA. A good friend and cousin of mine is getting married. Lowell Yoder is his name. Anyway, we are turning the weekend into to a tour. Check the VOP site for more information. Look forward to seeing you at one of those locations...

Finally

We finally finished chopping....
Next year this is going to need to be different. Some how, some way, it cannot take us so long to get the spring work done. I cannot finish planting corn till we get another rain. Tomorrow I have some odds and ends I need to get finished up. Changing inflations, cleaning out some calf pens and the prefresh pen...
I am so relieved to be finished with field work I could weep...
Today the reverse quit working on the 4-150 White. We finished packing trench with another tractor....

Still At It

We are still cutting silage. It is really drying down and will be straw and stubble soon. I don't think we will finish today but we will come close.
I am headed out for breakfast with a buddy of mine here in about one minute...
Tonight we have a birthday party for the Zehr cousins....
I am singing at a wedding in two weeks and we practiced for that last evening.
Well I better run or I will be late...
Have a good day everybody...

Fans

With the help of my two nephews, Korwin and Marcus, I got my 60 inch fans hung yesterday morning. They move alot of air and the cows really like them.
This evening we have cottage meetings. So our group will be going to visit an old black gentleman and his wife. I need to make a list of songs to sing for them this evening. Perley is a very nice and friendly fellow. He thinks the world of my father since he donated some land to his church. Their cemetary is beside one of our fields and is about a mile from the church. Well, it is not often you get a post as diverse as this one. I hope you enjoyed it... I must run or I will be late for church. Stay cool, drink lots of water, sit under a fan....

Half Way

We arrived at tha half way point in our triticale/winter peas removal. We will start again on Monday making a pile on the ground somewhere because my trenchs are full. This is a good feeling. However, everyone is ready to be finished...
This has been an incredibly long and tiring spring. We, well Rachel really, is having a yard sale again tomorrow. I will be helping them set up before heading home to help cover trench. I need to work on hanging some fans for the cows also. It is suppose to be brutally hot this weekend... It was very hot and muggy today....

More Progress

Due to the rain shower we had last evening we were unable to start chopping till noon. We did manage to cut 20 some loads. The peas smell like garden peas. They remind of shelling peas when I was a child. Hopefully we make a large stride tomorrow.
On an entirely different note: My wife went to the eye Dr. today and discovered her glasses were too strong. The Dr. wondered if she was pregnant when she went to the Dr. the last time. The answer was no. Anyway, makes you wonder if Wal-Mart knows what they are doing when it comes to eyes...
Her new glasses should be ready tomorrow. This may explain why she has had so many headaches...

Progress

Well, some progress was made today. The new well is hooked up and running. This is great. We started cutting the triticale and peas. There will be a lot of it. I think it will be good feed. It is raining as I peck on this keyboard. I am not sure what this will mean for tomorrows game plan. We won't grumble about the rain. I refuse to do that....
The ID system is not finished. The antenna wasn't working properly. The couldn't get it tuned for some reason or another.
Have a good evening everybody...

60

Daddy turned 60 today. It is hard to believe he is really 60. 60 isn't very old any more. We had a big party for him last night. People told stories about him. Very interesting. VOP had our first full program since Jon Alan's battle with sickness. It was an honor to have Daddy present. It went very well...

ID System

I have been slowly putting on the legbands or Rescounters as they are officially called. I have successfully attached 50 of these so far. I have 90 more to go. The antenna should be installed on Monday and then I will be able to know more things about my cows and how active they are. Today I plan to plant 40 some odd acres of corn. The early corn is up and is looking good...

FInished Wheat

We finished the wheat this evening. We cut 122 loads total. The trench is full so we will be doing something else with the triticale. It still is not ready. Very little grain in the heads. So, we will chop some hay tomorrow and then cover the trench. They may be coming to install the Electronic ID system tomorrow and the well man will be coming also... I hope. We are currently out of water and I seem to have trouble cleaning up without it....

Look Back/Look Ahead

Yesterday we cut 40 more loads of wheat. I was very pleased. I hope to finish the wheat tomorrow and start on the triticale. We may not get that far but you never know. We have cut 100 loads of wheat so far and have roughly 35 more to go. I have no idea how many loads of triticale there are. At least 100.
Tomorrow is Jayden's birthday. He is three. I can hardly believe it. Wed. is our anniversary. You tell me how many years we have been married... Bet you can't unless your family or were at church this morning...

Wheat

We have been chopping wheat the last two days and will be starting again here in a half hour or so. We have cut 60 loads so far. This has come off of 26 acres. It is producing more than I anticipated and I am not sure we will have enough room for it. We may have to make a pile on the ground...
So, how will you be spending your holiday weekend? If you need something to do let me know... I can put you in a truck for a day....

Water System

My well driller, Tommie Moore, called me yesterday morning and told me we had two options. We could go with a conventional well system or we could install a constant pressure system. The constant well system is relatively new. It has only been available for a year and a half or so. I don't know if you are aware of this kind of system or not but here is how it works, I think...
First, I told him before he started we needed 20 gallons a minute. He thought we would be doing good to hit 5. So he knew we were looking for a lot of water. If memory serves me correctly we are going to set the pump at 500 ft with a 1 inch line, it may be an inch and quarter line. From the top of the well to the pressure tank we are going to run a 1.5 inch line. This, according to the book, should carry 25 gallons a minute. The pressure tank will hold 180-200 gallons of water. The pump will be a variable speed drive 3 horsepower pump. If the well is full, 65-70 feet from the top, it will pump 30 gallons a minute but as the water level drops so will the gallons a minute. At 500 ft. it will still pump 20 gallons a minute. However, if we are pulling two gallons a minute off of the system the pump will only pump two gallons a minute instead of running wide open like a conventional well. Also, by using the constant pressure system with the variable speed drive pump you can cut the wire size back 3 sizes which saves us about $1000 dollars. We have the ability to set this pump at the amount of pressure we want in the system. 40 or 50 lbs. Oh we will be dropping a 1 inch line out of the pressure tank to tie into the old system. When we build the new facilities we will go back and drop a bigger line out of the tank so we can get the amount of water we need. Very cool, I think. The cost is something else Over all this well will run us about $12,000. This due mainly because of how deep we had to go. But in comparison to a the conventional well system it is still $1100 cheaper....
Such is life...
Donations will be accepted....

640

Well, it is a deep subject....
640 feet and 30 gallons a minute... I am in shock. I couldn't believe it... 30 THIRTY Three Zero amazing...

500

The well driller came today. Not good news so far. We hit 500 feet this evening and had a whopping 3 gallons a minute. This is a stressful predicament to be in. The driller told me the rock had really changed in the last 40-50 feet he drilled and he thought we should go another 100 feet and see what happens. He said he picked up some more water in the last 40-50 feet also. I was hoping to find 20 gallons a minute. Maybe tomorrow we will hit a lake down there somewhere....

Bored Wife

I have a very bored wife and buggy wife... She had to stay home from church this morning because several of the children have the throw up bug. So she is now feeling somewhat house bound and buggy. Cheerful but buggy none the less. How do you deal with a buggy spouse....

Fisrt Bank & Trust

We have officially changed banks. Well, we are in the process of changing banks. The bank we are switching to focuses on the ag industry. So, we should fit in a little better....

Planter Troubles

I have a John Deere 7000 corn planter. Every year we have had a different set of problems to work on. This year a belt has decided to malfunction. This planter is a six row planter so, naturally, it has six planter hoppers. Each box has one of these belts and yesterday they started breaking. I made three trips to Phillips Equipment for parts. I don't know why they are breaking... Wore out I reckon. Another belt broke today but I finished the field anyway. I pretended I was using a five row planter instead of six. The hopper that wasn't working was on the outside of the planter or one on the end. Another trip to Phillips before I start planting again.

Corn Planting

I have managed to plant 55 or so acres before getting rained out. I planted in the rain till 9:00 last night but I was unable to finish due to the falling darkness. Hopefully I can finish this evening or tomorrow. It rained this morning, however, the sun is suppose to shine this afternoon. We are having the wettest spring I can remember. Let me rephrase that. We are having the wettest spring since I started managing the farm.

Poll

It is time for another question.
What is your favorite scripture or passage and why?

Plans

It is always good to have plans so I try to make some on rare occasions. I plan to plant some corn tomorrow. At least I plan to try. It may still be to wet but all I can do is try... Next week we may start chopping again. I need to check and see what stage the grain is at...

New Well

Those of you who read my little updates are aware of our dwindling water supply. We have decided to drill a well and do it soon. I am unsure how soon but as soon as they, the health department, can give us the permit...

Burial

The girls have just finished burying the little mouse MIL was referring to in her comment on my last post. I am unsure when the mouse died but it has received a royal burial. The ladies are currently looking for a flower to grace the grave. I remember burying many cats in my time. How about you? Have you buried your pets?

The Boring Life I Live

I am currently sitting in a hotel room at Holiday Inn near Carlise PA. I just checked our email and we a 66 emails in our inbox for the last 24 hrs. About half of them were weather related. These emails were in regards to tornado and thunderstorm warnings. Out of the remaining emails there was one, 1, ONE email for myself. And this one email was in regards to work. It was my milk quality reports. If that isn't a boring life I don't know what is...

Gone

I left this evening for Grandpa Kauffman's. We, my wife and I, will be going to a homeschool convention this weekend in Harisburg, PA. Should be fun. I am exhausted and am loking forward to relaxing a little before a crazy week next week.
We have discovered we need another well also. Did you know it takes 4 lbs of water to make 1 lb of milk. Which means we were using at least 36,000 and some odd lbs of water a day. Our two wells were not and are not keeping up so a new well will be drilled soon...

Quick Word

A quick word here. I am sure you are all dying to know what is going on at Malfunction Junction. We are still hauling manure. I think 15 more loads will finish this task. Corn to plant. Might get to that Thursday...
Sierra and Aleya think the manure smells good. Isn't that funny? Most people hate it. I love my farm girls...

Work

Let's see, first I will mention the cows. Cows are interesting animals. They thrive on consistency. Since we have been feeding the rye we chopped this spring they are slowly gaining ground or milk in this case. We added 25 more milking cows and on cow calved this morning so we are milking exactly 130 cows. I am on an everyday pick up because I am afraid the cows will run the tank over. If we were not on an every day pick up we would have shipped 17546 lbs of milk tonight. The tank holds 17,717....
Now for this weeks working schedule. I need to cover50 acres with manure and plant 70 acres of corn before 6:00 Thursday evening. We also need to help Dwayne, neighboring farmer, finish chopping. Next week we plan to start chopping the wheat and triticale. Then we need to immediately finish planting corn....
I had off this afternoon and feel somewhat ready to face the new week. This past week was an exhausting one for everyone involved. This week looks exhausting as well. Time will tell...

Yard Sale

Our annual yard sale is tomorrow. She has more stuff than she has ever had before. The neighbors gave us a bunch of stuff and her mom gave her lots of stuff. We shall see...

Jayden

Jayden came up to me last evening and told me My fever hurts...
He didn't have a fever though and I think he was in a pouting mood.

More Purchases

What a day it was yesterday. A very long one... I arose at 3:30 AM and milked before heading to Harrisonburg. Walter McClure and I went to the herd sale of Daryl Heatwhole. A fine looking herd of cows it was of which we bought 28. We had them loaded and headed toward the home ranch by 5:30. We finally had them unloaded and headed toward the parlor by 11:30 PM. I finally headed to bed by 12:30 AM. I am nervously excited about this turn of events. Well, I better go make sure they are still alive....

More Rain

We are having an unbelievably wet spring. The clouds showered upon us 1.5 inches Saturday night. It appears that we may well have got another 1.5 inches last night and it is suppose to rain all day today. What a blessing....

Caterpillers

How many of you or your children catch caterpillars and put them in jars in hopes of watching them do whatever it is they do? How many of them live? Sierra is working Caterpillar #2 as of a few minutes ago. #1, April, died or something so she found another one. I remember running around catching fireflies and putting them in a quart jar. Ah, to be a child again.... Life was much simpler as a child....

Online Shopping

How many of you do your shopping on line?

Work

Work is endless. There is always something that needs to be done and should have been done last week. Is this just poor management or what? I find it interesting, though, if I had no work to do I would go out of my mind. I would be so bored with life and I would probably get into trouble. Was working not part of God's plan?

Rain

It has been raining since Sat. night. Not solid but quite often. I was planning on chopping some more this week but that has been placed on the back burner. I am in the process of trying to tie up some loose ends in regards to more cows arriving on the premises. There is a sale in NC next Wed. We should be able to find the last 25 cows at this sale. I don't feel overwhelmed, yet, but I do see things that have got to be done, soon....

Games

What games do you and your family play on a regular basis? Board, card, word, pictunary, which I hate, etc. Do you and your spouse agree or like the same kind of games? I like Rook, Rachel doesn't. We do both like scrabble but we would not land in the genius category...

Fear

Our SS school lesson was on fear. The question Is fear a sin? was asked. What is your opinion?

Covered

We finished chopping yesterday and covered the trench last evening. I feel very good about our accomplishments this week. Next week we move onto other endeavors... It is raining this evening. I must say I feel very blessed. This is the wettest spring we have had in the last 4-5 years. The cows are milking decent considering all the ration changes and inconsistencies that have abounded in the last two months. The rest of my small grain crops are looking good. I don't deserve these blessings. My hearing is returning. My wife loves me. My children love me. I love me... God loves me even though I love myself more than I should.....
Anyway, Have a good night everybody....

I Is Tired

Funny I am so weary when I get home these days. When I was young long days wouldn't have really bothered me. Now I am bothered. I keep telling myself I sure am glad I don't have to do this again this fall...
Maybe I am just getting lazy in my old age....
We cut 36 loads today we have 30 or so left to cut tomorrow and hopefully cover trench. Well, it's off to bed I go...

Deception

I have been deceived. For the last two weeks or so I have been deceived. I have been living in a state of, I think the word would be, surprise since the truth has dawned on me. I was hopeful the truth would be truth. (Does that make sense?) Now that I have your attention I will tell you the boring details. Unless you are a farmer you will probably be tearful with boredom. The rye crop is really good. Not just good but really good. The neighboring farmer told me last night he has never seen a crop of rye this good. I looked at it all winter and wasn't overly impressed. I walked out in it and wasn't overly impressed. While I was gone last week it must of grew like crazy because now it is waist high, on me, and just pushing heads. It is thicker than hair on a dogs back. We start chopping today....

Question

I was reading in Genesis chapter one tonight and I am now wondering something. If I am not mistaken God created male and female. I think it was verse 26 or 27. If he created male and female why did he need to create or make Eve in chapter 2? Or is this male and female referring to the animals and fish and things of nature? However, I believe this takes place directly after he created man. I am sure someone can answer this or explain this too me...

Heading Home

Rod's and Carla headed for OH yesterday afternoon. Rachel, Jayden and MIL headed for a ladies retreat where MIL was scheduled to speak. Dad, myself, and the rest of my children stayed put at Grandpa's house last night. This afternoon my tribe will be heading for VA. I am so glad it is only a four hour trip instead of the eight hours we used to have. Whew, that always drove me bannanas.
We are planning a very busy week at work. We will start mowing rye Monday and then chopping by Tuesday afternoon, I hope. Time will tell...

Passed Out

I wasn't present for this odd occurrence but apparently a sip of a Frapachinno (sp?) resulted in a seizure late Friday evening in Hagerstown MD. Donna Kauffman wanted a sip of her daughters flavored coffee. Rachel Zehr reported that Donna, after sipping this frozen treat, complained of a major freeze headache before laying her head back on the headrest. After a few seconds in this position her eyes rolled oddly up into her head and Mrs. kauffman slumped over the steering wheel. This maneuver cause quite stir in Rachel's heart and she started trying to communicate with her mother. Mrs. kauffman was vocally unresponsive but her body did began to twitch and jerk in response to her daughters inquiries also her foot slid off of the brake pedal causeing the vehicle to twitch oddly and scaring the grandchildren. Sources say that Rachel frantically put the van in park and began waving at her sisters who were traveling in another vehicle. These ladies came running to the scene trying to decide if emergency services should be contacted. At this point Mrs. Kauffman revived and wondered where she was exactly. They filled her in on the details and removed her from the drivers seat. Family members report that Mrs. Kauffman had been under some stress a little earlier in the day and they wonder if the cause of the seizure like symptoms were a result of stress and a freeze headache. Sources also claim the family is unaware of these kind of symptoms at any other point and are unaware of anyone in the human race who has suffered a seizure from sipping a Frappachino. Family members are not overly concerned at this point, however, if another one of these freakish things takes place a Dr. will need to be seen.

Mountain Climbing

Upon arriving at grandpa's house for this brief vacation I was informed we would be going on a little hike Thursday. Another family had taken this hike and greatly enjoyed it and, naturally, we thought our family would as well. I must admit I was somewhat skeptical from the begining but managed to my thoughts to myself. We, four adults and eight children, were dropped off at the top of the mountain, or hill if you are from Oregon. When we were dropped off the grandparents gave us some pertinent information concerning the trail we would be following. Be careful, they said, the trail isn't marked very well. We have never gone down the trail so we don't know where it is or what it looks like... Great, I thought, this sounds exciting. Nobody has ever tried this but I doubt it will be very difficult. Well, our tribe wandered around the top of this mountain for about 45 minuets before finding a path we thought was correct. While we were doing our wandering, I was beginning to feel like an Israelite in the desert, the grandparents were coming to meet us from the other end of the trail. They had taken our vehicles to the exiting end of the trail. We discovered we had never found the correct trail. The only reason we found the correct path was because Grandpa met us back up at the top, basically, and showed us the way to go...
I am sure there are lessons to be learned from this little experience. One of them is the fact that the further you carry 40 lbs the heavier it gets...
It was a grand experience and I think every one should take there children on such a hike as this at least once. Who knows, maybe it will help your children develop a great desire to climb Mt. Everest someday.

Hearing

About two weeks ago I had a terrible soar throat. Couldn't hardly talk, it was awful. Apparently, this malady has moved from my throat to my ears. However, my ears don't hurt like my throat did. My ears also are hearing about as good as my throat does. Well, it isn't that bad. People will be talking all around me and I won't hear a word. This does have it's good points... I am finding it extremely annoying. So, I went to the Dr. He ooo'd and ahh'd over how badly infected my ears were and put me on some ear drops and amoxicillen. I hate amoxicillen... Anyway, this malady has made singing difficult as well. Sunday when we sang I could hardly hear Jon and he was standing right beside me. Josh and Ben should have stayed home as much as I heard them.... I am hopeful this will be improving in the next couple of days...

Off

I am leaving in the morning for 4-5 days. Rod's are home for several weeks so we will be spending some quality time crammed into Grandpa Kauffman's house. I think I am looking forward to it. I am, I am, it's just that, well, that's a lot of people/children in one house all the time. It'll be great....
Really....
We are planning on chopping rye next week. That will be a very busy week. I think it will be fun. You make a lot better time cutting small grain then corn silage I have learned...

Busy, Busy, Busy,

You get the idea, it was a busy day. Hoof trimmer was here. Trimmed 53 cows. I started milking before leaving early for voice. Was late.... I wonder if I am retaining anything in the vocal area...
So much to do so little time....
Whew....

John Sines

I had the privilege of meeting John Sines today. VOP was asked to participate in a fund raiser to for Operation Smile. Operation Smile helps pay for surgery to help repair cleft lips or cleft pallets.
Operation Smile targets individuals who live in third world countries. It is a very neat organization. Anyway, John Sines was participating also. I met him before the concert and chatted with him some. He is very down to earth, very nice guy. Easy to talk to and fun to be around. He is a dedicated Christian as well. He wrote a tribute Dale Earnhardt after his death. He also has the number one song on the Country Christian Charts for the months of Feb. and March. I am not a country music fan per say but John Sines is very talented. Has an amazing vocal range. It was cool to meet someone who is famous...

Installing Lights

I hung 7 lights in the parlor today and I have four more to go. I have not wired any of them yet but if it rains and I am unable to mow the grass tomorrow I may work on that. Bruce Thompson told recommended improving the lighting in the parlor. We are hoping improved lighting will help cow flow. Bruce says we should be able to milk 80-90 cows an hour in our parlor. So far I have come no where close to this rapid pace. I think I could cut another 30 minutes off my milking time if cow flow was better. We shall see...

Purchase

Five milking cows, one dry cow, one springing heifer and two far off heifers were purchased yesterday in my name. The cows and springing heifer showed up last night about 9:00. I am unsure were the other two heifers are at this point. I should know more today. Now that I spent money I don't have I can tell Mr. Phillips in our meeting today that I really need some money and his bank really should help me out....

Sale

Today may be a big day for me. I have a gentleman attending a herd dispersal sale in NC. He may or may not buy me some cows. I can't wait to find out. I should know something tonight or this afternoon....

April Fools

I would love to hear the best April Fools trick you have ever heard. I have always wondered what the point of April Fools was or is? Is the goal to bring laughter to the world???

Aggravating Email

We have been unable to receive email since Sat. afternoon. This is so annoying. Apparently the server is down. When I try to use web mail the server will not respond. If you have been sending us emails that are extremely important and we have not been responding it is truly out of our control. It has nothing to do with the fact that we don't like you or don't care about your emails. Really, truly, you must believe me....
Anyway and so forth....
Hopefully they fix this little problem soon.

Struggling Well

We have two wells on the farm. They are tied together with a valve in between them. This valve is closed unless a well pump goes bad and we need water. The well that feeds the barn has been really struggling the last year or so and is slowly getting worse. It has been fine in the morning but in the evening it has been a real joke. No water to wash down the parlor. Takes the vat 45 min. to fill up to wash the system. Things of this nature. (The vat should fill in less than 5 min.) Also, the well that feeds the house is not a very good well either. If I open the valve so the house well will feed the barn also then the house doesn't have water when you are washing the parlor down. This is very annoying. Especially if your stuck in the shower.... Anyway, yesterday we took a 300 gallon tank I had placed strategically in the back room several years ago and put it to good use, finally. This tank catches all the wash water from the milking system except the initial rinse cycle. I also plumbed the wash machine discharge into the tank. Currently, there is no water going into the tank from the well. Last night it was full again after all the cycles had run. Hopefully this will take a lot of stress off of the well. Also, I am going to try to open the house well to the barn and see what happens. Hopefully, we won't lose water at the house because we are not pulling water out of the well to wash down....

Busy Day Ahead

I have Bruce coming this morning to discuss calf housing options. I have 17 cows to breed right after lunch. Darrell Carrol is bringing a gentleman by the name of Dean by this evening to watch us milk and help us on our routine some. He will also check out the milking system and see what can be done to help it wash better. He is a sanitation specialist. Also, Rachel is going to pick Aleya up today.....
What a day.....

I Backed Out

Yep, I backed out on those 19 heifers. Here is why. #1 They were not willing to test them for Johnes or BVDPI (Bovine Viral Diarrhea Persistently Infected). #2 They had the parentage information on only a third of the animals. So the more I thought about it the less inclined I was. BVDPI is a mess. I know it can be passed through the fetus but that is really all I know about it. Dr. Gardner told me not to buy anything that hadn't been tested. Johnes is a mess also. most people have heard of Johnes. Our herd has been tested Johnes free for the last 3 years and I intend to keep it that way...

Snow

It is currently 35.1 degrees and there is snow falling gently out of the sky. It feels like it will be a very damp bone chilling day. I am so ready for warm showers or spring showers and spring dampness instead of this bone chilling, damp, cold weather. I guess we have been having beautiful weather, spring weather, but then spring forgets it has sprung and reverts back to winter. Is that why spring is called spring? Because it bounces back and forth?
Okay, what a rambling post. I shall take myself off and find my book, For One Moment, and see how that ends....
Very good book, you should read it or reread it or rereread it... You get the idea...
Wait, I said I was going to stop....

Wedding # 2

Myron Yoder married Heidi Schwartz this afternoon in Honea Path SC. Beautiful wedding... I felt like I was marrying off one of my sons or my brother. He is a very good man and he found a jewel for a wife...

The Beginning Of The End As We Know It

Yesterday I chatted with a gentleman about buying 19 heifers due to calf between the end of April and the first of June. When it comes right down to pulling the trigger on spending money it's not so easy. At least for me....

Mexican Tales

Kassie said to Aleya, Um ,when Kyle bugs you , you just have to tell him PLEASE STOP! then he stops! Aleya leaned real close and whispered, nah, I will just CHASE him! And Kassie said well, okey ,fine ,you can chase him, but he wont stop until you say PLEASE STOP!
So this is the way cousins relate to each other in Mexico....

They Arrived

From what I am hearing Aleya loved flying also. She firmly informed Grandma that she wanted to sit by the window on one of the flights because she couldn't see what was going on outside from where she was sitting. The luggage got lost somewhere along the way I guess they will find it eventually. But they are there and loving it I am sure.....
I will post some pictures when I get some....

Tired

For some reason I am very tired tonight. Tomorrow is a huge day again. Herd check in the morning. Guys from VA Tech coming at 1:30 to give there opinion on my expansion ideas. I am afraid there will be no lunch tomorrow and no nap. Oh, I forgot, the Md/Va field rep. is coming too chat about my expansion. I need to see how long they will pick my milk up once a day after I buy cows so I don't have to buy a new tank.... Tanks are expensive.....
Now, I am tireder then everer... whew...

Aleya

I can't believe it.... Aleya has gone to Grandma Kauffman's and will be traveling with them to Mexico for a week of visiting and playing with her cousins. She is excited about seeing cousin Alyssa. She told me she would have to play with Kyle and Kassie too. I am sure she will... Will be interesting to see what she thinks of the trip.

LLC

Can someone tell me exactly what an LLC is? Is it a partnership or is it not? I always thought it was some kind of corporation, is this correct or not?

Expansion

Bruce was here again today. We talked for several hours, four-five to be exact. We were pushing some numbers. He showed me that I could go get a $150,000 loan to buy 30 cows, an electronic ID system for 140 cows. At 8% interest on a five year loan, after feed costs and a loan payment of $3100 a month I would still be profiting $1000 a month. In two years these numbers would change because I would then be milking offspring from those initial 30 cows....
Low and behold I thinks I am going to do it..... In some form or another.....

Fun

Rachel and I had a date tonight. Left the chillens with Uncle Ben's and went to Altavista for some alone time. Very short but much fun....

Quote

My wife found this quote somewhere.... I think it was on adoption blog but I don't know which one or where.

"Adoption is created through loss; without loss there would be no adoption. Loss, then, is at the hub of the wheel. All birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees share in having experienced at least one major, life-altering loss before becoming involved in adoption. In adoption, in order to gain anything, one must first lose--a family, a child, a dream. It is these losses and the way they are accepted and, hopefully, resolved which set the tone for the lifelong process of adoption."

-Deborah N. Silverstein and Sharon Kaplan

I was thinking about this in regards to our spiritual adoption. Did Christ lose something? He experienced pain and trauma. Did he lose something? Did he lose a dream? Did he have a dream? Maybe this cannot be applied to our spiritual adoption. Something inside me says it should apply but I am not sure. What do you think?

Garden

So, how many of you have started working in your garden? I tilled mine up this evening with a shovel.... Our garden is rather small... So, what you planting this year?

Out Of Feed

I ran out of silage today. I am currently purchasing 40 tons from Uncle Delvin. I am hopeful this will be enough to last us until we begin chopping Rye in a couple weeks. According to my math: If we feed 5000 lbs a day 40 tons will last for 16 days. That may be long enough.... And then again it may not.... It might have to be.....

Big News

I have hesitated to mention this because I/we were unsure what our actual time frame was or is. Isn't that a confusing introduction. Ben, due to busyness/family/church and things of that nature, has decided it is time to end his illustrious career as the bass for VOP. This has put us in the search mode. We asked two gentleman who both declined. Now we are pursuing some baritone options which means, yeah, you guessed, I would be switching to bass. This is a big move for me if it actually happens, although I am somewhat excited about it as well. I have begun taking voice again as well as singing bass at every oppurtunity.
Ben will be sorely missed, not only musically but socially as well. I hope the new dude will fit in as well. We have an audition scheduled for one evening this week.

The Routine

Here is what we were doing or what I was doing.
Step 1. Dip the teats and pre-strip five cows.
Step 2. Clean five cows.
Step3. Put milkers on five cows.
The new routine is this.
Step 1. Dry strip and dip five cows. In other words I am dipping (foaming in my case) the cow after I strip her.
Step 2. Clean and attach the milker. In stead of cleaning five cows and then going back and putting the milker on I am attaching the milker as soon as I finish cleaning the cow. You have a 70 second window to get the milker on the cow. From the time you first touch her till the milker is attached. I am being told that it is extremely important for everyone to do the same thing every time. I believe the cows will begin to understand what is happening. They will get into the routine which will make a happier cow. Happier cows make more milk....

Amazing

I was told by my expansion consultant that I needed to change my milking routine. So, I did and here is what happened. The first thing I noticed was how I cut 30 minutes off of my milking time. The second thing I noticed was how the slow cows were not quite as slow. The third thing I noticed was milk in the tank or the amount we actually shipped. On Monday we shipped 13,500 and some odd lbs. On Wed. we shipped 14,600 and some odd lbs. The only thing that changed was the milking routine. I don't know if the cows will hold this production. I don't know if they would have jumped if we hadn't changed the routine. I don't know.... It is very interesting to say the least...

Custom Chopping

The last several years I have begun to dread the harvest season. The corn chopping nightmare. Yesterday I got to thinking and did a little math. I discovered that if I make 2 more lbs of milk per cow per day for the year it would more than pay to have my corn silage custom harvested. I would supply the trucks and pay for the chopper. I am thinking we will be able to cut 130 acres in three days at the most. 16-20 hrs should easily cover it. I am no longer dreading the harvest season...

It's Here

For those of who have been asking for Quiet Understanding or Send The Light on cd you are now in luck. We took these two albums, had them digitally remastered, and put them on cd's. Here is the really cool part. We are still only going to charge you $12. Oh, did I mention these two albums are combined on one cd? I forgot? Well deary me!!! How could I forget such a thing. If you are dying to purchase one please visit our website or shoot me an email and I will gladly place one in the mail for you....

Flavored Water???

How many of you have grabbed a bottled water at the convience store and discovered it WASN'T WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WAS!!!!
That happened to me tonight. I wanted water not some fizzle saturated, unfulfilling, tasteless, fruit imitating water.... Anyway, I think they should kindly consider marking the bottles differently. You know, make them look different so the ninny's like me wouldn't pick up the wrong bottle....

Misc.

First, I was privileged to have Mr. Byron Smucker singing under my direction on Sat. I have to admit that in some ways this made me nervous. I didn't know him or had never met him. I heard a good bit about him and his involvement with AHQ. He has sung under quite a few really good directors and in some very prestigious choirs. So, naturally, I was somewhat nervous. However, I soon realized and am of the opinion that Byron and I could be really good friends if we had the opportunity. In the midst of our discussion he informed of some rather interesting developments in the life of MR. ITF....
In other news, My wife and children have left me for a few days. They should return sometime on Tues.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with my expansion consultant. That should be interesting.

Wedding Complete

I was afraid the singing was going to be a real struggle. We hadn't had time to practice together as a group. The songs were somewhat difficult. So, I was pleasantly surprised at how well things came together. There were two problem spots that continued to be issues during the wedding. However, I would say we did quite well. I was pleased...

Wedding #1

Wedding #1 is upon us. Karlin Schrock & Susan Martin. Tonight is rehearsal. I am somewhat scared of this. Jon Alan was going to help until he got sick. He still tires quickly and will not be joining us. Half the singers are from a different state which means we haven't sung together. Twill be interesting....

Funeral

It was a very large funeral.
It was sad...
It was hopeful...
I cannot possibly empathize with the family...
I can only imagine how rough it is...
I can only imagine the pain of trying to adjust to life without one of my daughters present...
Lori told me she hopes I never have to experience this pain. The death of a child or my wife. I hope I don't also... Don't we all? I wish sometimes I could see God's blueprint or his plan. You know, the big picture. The picture that shows me why the pain we face or endure is a good thing...

Funeral

We will be leaving this afternoon for Melanie's funeral. The funeral is Wed. morning at 11. We are planning on coming home Wed. evening sometime...

Aleya

I took six steers to market this morning and when I returned home to eat breakfast Aleya told me this little story.
"Mamma put my Sunday school papers in the fire! I wasn't mad but I was a little frustrated!"

Sad News

I learned that Melanie Miller passed away this morning at 11:30. I was thinking about how young she was, 13, and how she had her whole life ahead of her. I pondered the pain her parents, siblings and cousins are facing and was trying to put myself in their shoes. I trust they see God in this time of sorrow. I feel quite certain they do....

Feed Consumption

I have been nervously watching my silage pile disappear all winter long. We have incorporated dry hay into the ration to slow down the rate of corn silage consumption. However, I have a strong feeling my supply of corn silage could dry up in the next ten days. I was hoping I would have some rye to chop before this occurred. Now I am not sure. I am afraid feed will need to be bought...

PR Trip

My in laws are on a PR trip for Heralds Of Hope, HOH. I am wondering if any of you have gone to hear what he has to say. HOH has quite a ministry using a 30 min. radio program. I am not sure of all the details but I do know they have to pay for all the air time they use. So I am wondering if: One, are you familiar with HOH?
Two, have you heard the radio program?
Three, did you hear dad on his current PR trip?

DHIA

The milk tester was here this morning. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the cows tested at 76 lbs. This is the average for 94 cows. I asked her what the deviation was like. I was expecting it to be off quite a bit. She said it was right on. You can't get much closer than it was. The goal is 100 and ours was 100.9. To find the deviation they enter the last three milk pick ups in the computer. Then the computer tells you how close the test results are to what you are actually shipping. I like these kind of surprises...

Herd CHeck Results

I always get nervous when I haven't bred many cows and herd check day rolls around. I assume I have missed many heats and all the cows I have bred will be open. Well, today, we preg. checked 15 out of 20. Not bad if I do say so myself. Of course this doesn't count the cows I managed to catch in heat and rebred....

Clean Up

More clean up occurred today, although you probably couldn't tell. I started hauling block away from the old shop. I am hoping to make a good stride at this project this week. Sonny is attending SMBI's Minister's Week. Tomorrow is herd check and then Wed. or Thur. I need to make a run to Don's and drop off some heifers as well as pick some up.

Wal-Mart

We are bored! We decided, at the last minute, to go to Wal-Mart! We are bored! We have been stuck in the house for a week. Haven't felt like going anywhere. So, it is off to Wal-Mart. How many of you go to Wal-Mart when you are bored?

Expansion

I went to Rustburg today and met with the NRCS fellow. Don Yancy is his name and he is a very nice guy. Anyway, their is a federal program and a state program and both of them deal with manure storage. I think the state program is a little better then the federal program. Now I need to figure out where I want to put stuff and how many head I can have. After this Don will bring an engineer out and we will look things over and decide what needs to be done. What a process....

Clean Up

I spent most of the day cleaning up. I moved my salvaged parts into my storage facility in the shop. We saved a bunch of axles, some corn chopper header parts as well as some chopper parts. I am also in the process of cleaning up where the old shop was. I have some stuff to go through. I need to take some more junk to cycle systems. They pay more for copper, aluminum, and stainless steel if it is separated. Tomorrow morning I go meet with Don Yancey, he is the NRCS representative. I want to find out what kind of cost share programs are available to help with expansion. These cost share programs would have to do with waste management. Manure pits or lagoons...

Valentine's Day

So, what you doing for your sweetie this year?

Expansion

Let's see, on Feb. the 7th I had a meeting with Westfalia/Surge representative. Bruce Thompson, Darrell Carol, and Rick Warren came. My dad was here as well. We met for 2-3 hours in the afternoon discussing what my goals are and what I want to do. In a perfect world where money isn't an issue what would I do? Well, I said, I would milk 4-500 cows and put in a 24-26 stall rotary parlor. They say rotary parlors cash flow very well. They made a few suggestions and I liked what they had to say. Going into debt doesn't scare me too much but it could. It will be a very interesting process. I haven't decided what I am doing for sure. I know now that if I expand I will have to buy cows to support the expansion.

Home & Still Sick

Jon is home tonight. It has been a long 16 days or so. So far we have canceled one tour and several local programs. Today I called the studio and told them it didn't look like we would be able to record the beginning of April. Such is life....
Here in our Zehr house I thought I was doing so much better till this morning but before I could blink twice I was running a fever and feeling extremely ill. My wife has decided to join me in this feverish journey. She has been quite ill today also. The children are improving and bouncing off the walls and things of that nature....