Colonel’s Blog, Earthdate 12 October 2023…
Hey Y’all!
Good evening and happy Thursday from Air2Ground Farms! We continue to enjoy fall weather but are looking for the next rain. The animals are doing well on the farm. We moved the beef herd onto fresh pasture and they are loving life. This year’s calves are looking really good and the steers that will be next year’s beef are growing nicely. The dairy cows are also good and we’ve been getting around 3 gallons of milk a day. Betty is doing much better, not producing as much as she was but up to a gallon or so. Stella, the dairy heifer is growing and looks much more like a cow these days. The hogs are enjoying their last days on the farm, lounging in the woods and enjoying their fermented GMO-free feed. The piglets are also looking great and enjoying their paddock in the woods. The ewe flock is looking great! We’re going to put the rams in with the ewes a month earlier than last year. We plan to put them in at the beginning of November, which will put the ewes lambing the first of April. We’re trading the possibility for cold weather in April for the lambs being bigger/older when the parasites really kick-in mid-summer. The beef chickens are growing nicely and will be ready for processing Tuesday and Wednesday next week. The layer chickens are picking up a bit…maybe they’re coming out of their molt slow-down. The ducks continue to lay eggs steadily at a rate of at least 4 eggs per day. All of the chicks (beef and layer) are doing well also. The guardian dogs are all with sheep except for Tozer who is roaming the farm. Finally, the barn cats are steadily mousing and the tons of feed in the barn are free from rodents. Smokey barn cat’s kittens are growing with their eyes open and starting to stand.
Tuesday, we hauled the car to Springfield to the Ford dealership. It’s a 2014 Focus and they have had lots of transmission issues. This time, the transmission problem electronically locked the ignition. It wouldn’t even start. Instead of paying the $500 for a tow-truck to haul it, we rented a U-Haul car dolly for the day for $50, wenched it onto the dolly with a come-along, drug it to the dealership, and dropped in their parking lot. They had it fixed within 2 days! We hurried home and prepared for recording episode 11 of the Dust’er Mud podcast. We had our first guest! Mr. Tim Arbeiter (Auntie Fiat) joined us and we had an awesome conversation. I’ll paste a link below. Clicking, watching, liking, and commenting is an amazing way for you to support us in our YouTube journey. The only thing that would make it better would be if you shared it on your social media! Wednesday we moved the beef herd, updated our online prices, made a delivery to town, and edited/uploaded the podcast. While Shelley was in town making the delivery, the 2009 Jeep Wrangler shut off and she was able to limp it to the mechanic’s shop. I took the newest vehicle we own to pick her up, knowing that another breakdown would be an expensive event! They fixed it today…the spark plug on #6 was bad so they replaced all plugs and wires. Today, we replaced a leaking float valve in a cattle waterer, picked the garden, trimmed the ewe’s and ram’s hooves, and made a delivery to town. We LOVE this life!
Dust'er Mud Episode 11: "A Marine's Ark: Tim Arbeiter's Odyssey to the Ozarks"
Local Farm Report for 10 & 11 October
9 Chicken eggs
9 Duck eggs
6 Gallons of milk
Cheers!
Psycho & Shelley
So happy to see the milk production is getting back to normal!
I don't want to live without cheese homemade from Air2Ground A2/A2 milk!!
I just have to say you guys are impressive! Just the vehicle trouble would be enough to discourage a normal person. I’ve enjoyed the podcast and look forward to listening to this weeks episode.