Tuesday and Wednesday were quite nice by early winter standards. No sun but no wind and highs around 40. As I have mentioned before, we are now into our winter chores. They are quite simple and repetitive: feed baleage, take care of the bedding, remove manure and make sure the water works. All our bales are now over at the barn from the fields down the road.

Tuesday, the technicians came by from an Ag Consulting firm we've hired. They will be taking soil samples, map the farm and provide a Nutrient Management Plan. Hopefully, this will give us a good baseline of where we are and some idea of what we need to do to get the most out of our land and animals.

I was surprised to received my soybean check within four days of calling the grain elevator and asking them to sell the beans. It is amazing how interconnected agriculture is. The beans were at an elevator in western NY which is owned by a Pennsylvania COOP and the check came from Perdue Chickens.

I mentioned that we had gotten our turkey, as usual, from a rather famous farm across the lake. It looks like it will be our last. They were bought out last year by a big conglomerate. They announced yesterday that they were moving the operation to Pennsylvania. All the usual talk about how difficult it is to do business in NY. They are laying off 90 people here. They claim they are going to start up again here in the Spring doing Kosher turkeys. We'll see what happens. We liked buying a non frozen local turkey. If we want a mass produced frozen turkey, there are lots in the grocery store.

The warmer weather was a bit of a bonus for the new calf. She has had a few days to get accustomed to her surroundings without having to worry about staying warm. She is doing well and the cow seems to be a good mother.

Wednesday night, Jim and I went over to a neighboring Counties Beef Producer Meeting. This is a monthly potluck supper at a farmer's house. We each bring a dish to pass and then talk about beef. Our County is sorely lacking in this regard. They just don't do much for the beef farmer.

Last night, they had a local vet present to pass out a checklist and lead a discussion on things to work on and think about through the winter. She recommended giving animals tetanus and rabies shots as a preventative measure. I am going to speak with Verne about this and get his opinion.

Interestingly, the farmer that hosted the meeting does small scale turkey raising. We spoke with him a bit and we might try raising our own turkey next year along with a few for friends and neighbors.

When we got home, I had an email from a good friend's wife that he had a hopefully successful surgery in Florida. They are from here but winter down there. He has gone through a lot with his ailment and we all hope that he will soon be his old self and pain free.