A Little Late

Late to install the snow blower on the 11th of March but I figured it would be easier to park back in it's storage corner of the shed if it was connected to the tractor. So its on and I'm ready now in case we get a late winter snowstorm. Always a possibility here.

Its finally warmed up after a record cold February and beginning of March. We nearly hit the thawing mark today.
Its been a low snow winter adding to the concerns we are in a continuing dry spell. Somehow we grew an excellent crop last year on the minimal amounts of rain we got. I can't see it happening two years in a row.
Our most profitable crop, canola, has taken a serious hit thanks to China rejecting imports from Richardson Grain. Politics. Using the farmer as bargaining chips as usual. That represented about 40 percent of our export market. Prices had been mediocre prior to that and took a drop after the news hit. So its 1990s prices for our canola. Yet the seed companies are expecting us to pay 4 times what we paid for seed in the 1990s.
Got the 4 yearling calves hauled out last week so cattle feeding is a little slower here now with only 4 cows and the bull  left. They seem a little quiet and depressed. Missing the young ones I guess.
The recent warm weather gave me the opportunity to take the drone up for a short flight over the yard. And of course I shot a bit of video.

Cattle

Not sure what to title this one. I'd been dreading and stressing about this day for weeks. A mix of sadness and relief that the yearlings went away on the cattle trailer this morning. Glad to see those two little horn headed yearling bulls go as they were getting to be a problem. The two heifers, I could have kept as replacements at least one anyway. I kind of regret letting the best one go.  Maybe next year.
It went surprisingly well. I was out at the shelter in the dark shortly after 6:00 am. Could not sleep anyway so might as well get to work. Luckily it had warmed up to -5F or so and the relentless wind had dropped.
I got lucky, the four I wanted were still in the shelter/confinement area. Wearing my trusty headlight and throwing down some hay to occupy them, I was able to pull the steel gates in place to pen them up. Then wait til the extra cow and bull were ready to walk out and let them out of the gate. So far-so good. Now to clear the snow away so the truck and cattle trailer can get around. The 2090 started fine seeing as the block heater had been plugged in almost 24 hours. My half mile riveway was heavy going with hard packed snow drifts but they reluctantly yielded to the mighty 8 foot Cancade dozer blade. The yard took a little longer as I needed to clear a big "turn around area" for the truck and trailer. That goes slow with an angle blade pushing less than 8 feet. But not bad work with the heater blowing warm air and CBC radio to entertain and inform me what is happening in the rest of the world.
The trucker showed up in good time considering I was ready about 3 hours before the appointed time. No great drama or excitement with the loading. Only one of the four remaining cows seems to be concerned about her missing calf but its for the best he is gone. The last thing that old decrepit cow needed was to keep feeding a big calf. Now she can concentrate on getting herself back in good shape maybe.
No video from today. I just could not bother with a camera this time. Later in the afternoon these cats were sure enjoying the sun on the sheltered side of the barn so I took this shot.

March In Like a Lion

Once again the first of March has rolled around and we get to decide whether it is "in like a Lion" or a lamb. I was leaning toward the lamb this morning but by noon we had reduced visibility and cold NW wind. The temp had climbed to at least +10F but then started dropping making it decidedly uncomfortable.

Still, since I had planned a trip to town and the Blazer had been heating up with the block heater for a few hours ready to go, I figured give it a try. I soon decided it wasn't worth all the spinning and reversing it was going to take, even with 4 winter tires chewing up the snow. I was able to reverse back to the yard and call it off. Nothing I needed that badly in town that can't wait for another day or two. Looks like I might finally have to use a tractor on the driveway.

Rant About Rabbits

No, I don't have a problem with rabbits but listening to the interviews and comments on the radio this morning did make me a little angry. Apparently jack rabbits are moving into the city and damaging people's trees. So opinions are divided as to whether it is best to trap and destroy or just live with it and wrap the trees. I would not complain if they wanted to release a few here as I have not seen a jack rabbit in a long time. We do have a few "bush rabbits" but the jacks seem to be at the low point in their population cycle.
What really annoyed me was a few comments stating that the jack rabbits have been wiped out in the country by "farmers" spraying pesticides on the fields. What a stupid comment. Farmers have been spraying their crops for longer than I have been around and we used to have plenty of jack rabbits. It was not uncommon to see road kill after they became mesmerized by vehicle lights at night and would do their broken field run down the road ahead of the vehicle sometimes resulting in their demise.
But it is the typical type of comment I hear more and more as the general population becomes ever further removed from their farming roots. All they hear are the extreme groups shouting about our pesticide laden grains and terrible gmo products. Not to forget the antibiotic laden beef and chicken we produce. In case you missed it the last paragraph was sarcasm. Our food is safe. If I didn't believe it I wouldn't be eating it.
Its been a long cold winter and I guess my tolerance for b.s. is dropping as time passes. There are far bigger concerns out there than this "first world problem".

Scenic but its the kind of day I really appreciate the protection of my trees.

Out And About In The Cold

I must be getting used to this below normal cold. Went out for a walk to the threshing machine on the hill after finishing cattle chores. Even at -30 it felt ok because the sun was shining and no wind blowing. Of course I am wearing my usual multiple layers of clothes. My hands got a little cold working with the straw fork but that is not unusual. Cattle were content to stay out by the far hay feeder and did not come to the yard for grain or water until late in the afternoon. They seem to handle this cold just fine. Guess its all the grain they are eating.
I wore the Gopro camera for some action video while I was doing all this so I had some new content for youtube. Not that I am making any money on youtube. They don't approve of me using somebody else's copyrighted music on a few of my videos and I don't want to give up the music so...

Cold In Saskatchewan

Its no big news being cold in February in Saskatchewan but this spell is going on for a while. Well below normal. I've been putting off a trip to town for a week now thinking tomorrow will be better. But each day seems to get a little colder. If it ever warms up to zero degrees (farenheit) it will feel like spring I think. At least the sun shines and the wind stays down (today). More to come. So its a bit cold to shoot video and my latest is brief.

The old Woody Woodpecker clock is likely almost as old as me and still works. Some of the time.

Weather Rant

I'm re-posting this weather rant here. I can't take credit for creating it but thought it was good enough I wanted to save it. Originally it was an audio clip from some unhappy Sask. guy on a CBC radio show a few years ago. The language gets pretty strong for those that aren't used to it but in this context it seems appropriate. This guy tells it like it is about some of our severe winter weather days. To some extent he is right. The weather folks read the forecast off a page and make it sound pretty nice some days. Meanwhile, those of us outdoors can tell a little different story. I can still remember the original audio and the sound of his voice.

sheila

please please please,

don't tell us how nice it's gonna be this weekend, because it's going to go up to -1.

ok?

please. because it's not gonna be nice.

because the frickin' wind is just gonna HOWL, ok?

every time it warms up, the w-, the hot air rises and the wind just howls.

so it ain't gonna be nice.

and being a person that lives rurally?

i can tell ya that when it's 30 below, ok. celsius.

you can take your mitts off for half an hour and do things outside.

ok. when there's no wind blowing, at 30 below.

but when it is zero or -5 even, ok.

you take your mitts off and your hands freeze instantly.

so i can tell ya ok, this weekend is going to be the physical shits, ok, because the winds going to be howlin, and then it's going to be only -1, so then it's going to melt and cause a bunch of hog slop, so knock off how nice it's going to be, please.

ok, it's just sickening, ok, this province is the ass-hole of the world and it will suck the life out of ya, ok, it will suck the will to live out of ya, ok, cause it's just a piece of crap with wind howlin' every day, and you're not hikin' or bikin or skiin' and you're not doing anything, ok, it's the a-hole of the world. and we pay to live here, we PAY to live here! super high taxes.

so please knock off the nice ok? i got, i get the funny feeling that you guys are just saying that so that people just won't end it, ok, cause then of course we wouldn't be able to pay their taxes to these lechers, right?

you know people go hang themselves in a god damned closet, ok, because this fuckin' place is a piece of shit, ok, so please please please knock off the how nice it's gonna be, because it ain't.

because the wind's gonna be howlin' ok,

thank you...

bye