Thursday, June 13, 2013

Wet

After a brief sunny respite yesterday, the rain is back.  It is pouring now and the forecast says rain tomorrow too.  Local farmers have crops in the ground that are drowning in all this water.  One of my dairy farmer neighbors is the postmaster in New Berlin.  She tells me she can't get her corn started it's so wet.  My fields are waist high in hay and Julia is ready to mow for me but there is no way to get it dry.  I've heard conflicting reports about baleage.  Baleage is wet hay that is wrapped in plastic to preserve it.  The hay is "pickled" and the sheep love it...but I've been warned about listeriosis, a brain disease that comes from wet leaves.  Humans sometime get it from salad bars.  With all these little babies running around the farm I'm concerned.  They are more vulnerable to just about anything.  I would love a repeat of last summer where Julia and her crew put 50 round bales in my barn over three blistering hot days.  Trouble is, that kind of heat might not happen until sometime in July.  With the waning sun I might not get a second cut later in the summer.   I'm hoping for 60 or more round bales to get us through the coming winter.  These and other things weigh heavily on my mind.  Right now the flock is getting fat on all the grass out there. When you live in the North Land you don't forget the chill of the last winter, and you are always getting ready for the next one. 


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