The weather has continued to be wet and dreary. Not harvesting weather. We got the soybean yield results from our first field and were pleased. It's about fifty percent higher than the county average. The problem is that beans are worthless in the field and it's too wet to get them. We are getting anxious about those remaining to be combined.

The corn moisture is still very high so there will be no thought of combining it for a while. With the low prices available for corn, the cost of artificially drying it is unaffordable.

The cattle continue to do well. The calves are growing and well past weaning.

Mary and I took a day off Friday to go wine touring. For many years, we have gone with the same friends to visit some of the vineyards that abound near us. In the past, we have always gone on a Saturday. There is some difference on a week day. Yesterday, the wineries were very quiet and we had a chance to visit with the owners and ask questions. This compares with the weekend buses and stretch limos. Quite a large portion of the weekend clientele are there for a moving party rather than to enjoy wine.

We will be up early tomorrow for chores. After church, we'll go to the monthly pancake breakfast at the American Legion. This is a real pleasant opportunity to visit with friends and neighbors while eating pancakes with real from a tree maple syrup.

Since Tuesday is election day, there will be the usual crop of folks from outside the area running for some type of judge that we know very little about. It seems that their term is 10 years so they appear lperiodically ike some version of a locust. They don't eat much though as they table hop and exhort us to vote for them. It is very pleasant but bewildering since they are not local offices and we really don't tend to have much interaction with remote judges.

After that, we will load the calves and head for Minnesota. Since a lot of my blog seems like some version of Garrison Keillor, it seems fitting to take it on the roads to Minnesota. I don't know where Lake Woebegone is but we'll be about two hours north of the Twin Cities.

The diner has been very quiet lately. Probably the poor weather has dulled the conversation. One thing is for certain, the regulars don't think much of the new government health proposals or the politicians proposing them. It didn't take much effort today to decide we'd be better off to throw out the whole bunch and elect a new crop. The bad part was we all agreed that it wouldn't take long for even the most idealistic to become as corrupt and inept as the incumbents.

One of our regulars has a new business venture. He has started a restaurant. We all are instant experts and offer him lots of unsolicited tips. The bottom line is that we all wish him well and hope it becomes a great success.

We have continued on with our fall chores.

We have selected four fullblood lowline heifer calves to go to Minnesota and then on to the NWSS cattle show in Denver in January. A friend has a ranch there and he will fit them and prepare them for the show and sale. We sent one heifer last year and were very pleased. We have them in a separate pen and are working to halter train them.



We have purchased a herd of six beltie cows and a beltie bull from a farmer in the Northern part of the state. These are all exceptional animals that have had the same owner for years. Regretfully he has developed a health condition that required him to sell the cattle. We went and picked up the bull and three of the cows and brought them back to our farm.



We then delivered a lowline bull to north east Vermont. It was a wonderful location on a great day. The scenery was fabulous. The bull went into a pasture with a few steers to get adjusted to his new location. We heard later that he was now in with the cows and breeding them.



By coincidence, there is a belted galloway farm near where we left the bull. We were able to visit and look over the herd. There were about 70 belties together in one large field. It was a very impressive sight as we arrived as the afternoon sun was shining right on them just so. This farm specializes in breeding belties true to their original size. They clearly know what they are doing.



On the way home, we stopped and picked up our other three belties. Two of those are dun colored rather than black. The whole group is now reunited and in with our belties and doing well.



We have about one third of our soybeans harvested. The quality and yield look extremely good. We will be very happy when the rest are done. Then there will be corn to combine.



I have told you on other occasions of my part time job as a county deputy fire coordinator. Last Friday we had a very unusual call. An older barn had collapsed trapping about 100 adult sheep in the basement. Four fire departments responded and went to work. After eight hours of hard work, we had the last sheep out. Unfortunately about 10 had perished. The farmer was also glad that we were able to rescue his miniature horse. The men and women who responded worked hard, got the job done and showed a great deal of respect and care for the animals.



I will be away next week taking the heifers to Minnesota. So this week has been busy trying to get odd jobs taken care of before winter. We were actually able to cut some green hay for the cows today. They appreciated that taste of Summer past.

We are back from our road trip. We have been fortunate to be able to see lots of the country this fall. Between this trip and dropping Jim off at Iowa State, we have driven just over 6000 miles. We have taken our diesel pick up both times and averaged just over 18mpg which I think is quite good for a truck.

We never fail to notice how good the roads are and how relatively prosperous the areas we visit. It is amazing to see how little these states pay in tax in comparison to New York.

The cattle are doing fine as they switch from pasture to hay. We won't start baleage until later in the fall. The weather was apparently exceptionally wet and raw while we were away. It has been great yesterday and today. A neighbor cut some hay for baleage and we will be wrapping it for him tomorrow.

Several of our summer neighbors have left for Florida or will soon. It always takes a little bit to get used to the winter pace around here.

We have had very poor weather this past week. Almost four inches of rain in three days. Quite a contrast to the excellent weather all through September. Fortunately the ground was good and dry and the rained soaked in. We don't need mud for harvest season. The beans and corn are continuing to dry down. We are still a few weeks from the combine.


The fence line weaning went very well. There was the usual bawling but not as loud or long. We have begun to move the cattle around for winter. The brood cows will go into the pasture that allows them access to the coverall. Each group has their own shelter and dedicated year round water.

Mary and I have gone on a road trip to visit Eileen in college. She is doing well and is enjoying showing us around Nashville between classes. Jim has just returned to Ames from a road trip of his own. He plays on a club lacrosse team and they went to the University of Wisconsin last weekend.

We continue to get inquiries from potential buyers of our animals. We are also preparing to take at least two heifer calves to Minnesota to be prepared for showing in next January's NWWS show in Denver. When you are selling quality animals it is good to be able to show them at a high level.

I reworked our web site www.lakebreezefarms.com before we left. It is easy to let them get stagnant. Hopefully, I've freshened it up a bit.