Winter like conditions continued with no respite in sight. Tomorrow's forecast is for considerable snow. I mounted the snow plow on the 6415 so we're ready for heavy weather if we get it.

I usually check the animals first thing in the morning and then head up to the Village Diner. There is a group that has been meeting over breakfast for years. We manage to discuss all matters of importance ranging from local to global. I'm sure that there are similar groups in every small town in America. It's strange when you consider that we feel that our solutions to a problem are practical and almost always different from those posed by the politicians.

During winter things slow down. The main project is to get the animals fed and check that the water hasn't frozen. We're just about finished moving the baleage over from Fire Lane 11. This is deer season and there are lots of hunters around.

The vet came after lunch to check Rochester's TB test. He passed. We expect to get the Brucellosis test results tomorrow. So, hopefully, we'll have the health papers by the first of the week. It looks like we are about 4 plus hours from his new home. While he was here he preg checked a few cows. We have had one cow that has failed to settle for some time. She was in heat yesterday and Remote Control worked diligently to insure that she gets pregnant. The vet checked her and couldn't find any apparent internal problems. We'll watch her carefully to see if she cycles again in three weeks. If she does, she might be facing a future in the food industry.

Our neighbor continues to work with the pet steer. She has him wearing a halter again. He is literally head and shoulders over the others. They eat through the spaces in the sides of the feeder and he eats over the top. I'll try to get a picture of him posted.

Well, I think you can say winter is here. It was snowing right along when Mary and Jim came home last night. This morning, there was the better part of eight inches on the ground.

You might have read recently that some scientist has determined that cattle like to face north. When I went to check them this morning, they were,in fact, all facing north except for those eating. There is always an exception to every rule.

It takes longer to do chores when it gets cold. But everything started and worked.

Our summer neighbors stopped by unexpectedly and we enjoyed morning tea with them. He is a retired farmer and his wife a retired school teacher. They are looking forward to going to Florida for the winter. They are not looking forward to it being cold in Florida as it apparently was today.

The vet is coming back tomorrow to read Rochester's TB test. I have two cows that I'd like to preg check. They were not interested in coming down to the main barn. I'll have to try again in the morning. Our bull was very interested in one of them so I think it is safe to say she is open at the moment

After lunch, the sun came out and I was able to clean up a bunch of manure and hay from a feeding area. I like to keep these areas clean since I don't like it to look like I have short legged cattle.

We had an excellent dinner tonight of our own grass fed beef. It's nice knowing where your meal comes from. We also had a nice bottle of wine that our friends brought from Minnesota when they brought our most recent group of Lowlines. Living in the Finger Lakes wine region, it's a little different to be drinking wine from Minnesota. We don't usually think of it as a wine state. It was excellent and we thank them for it. We do have a friend down the road whose daughter is married to a wine maker from Minnesota. There might be something to this Minnesota wine.

The forecast for later in the week is lots more lake effect snow. I think I'll take the loader bucket off the 6415 and put on the plow tomorrow. Winter can get old real fast. We are just under a mile from the main road and there are five other families on our road. Between my tractor and an neighbor's old town plow truck, we are able to keep the road open all winter.

Our trip to New jersey went very well. We spent Friday night in Scranton. The hotel used to be the DL & W railroad station. The lobby was quite ornate. We were quite impressedwith Scranton. We had done a piling job across the street some years ago when Jim was younger. I bought him a train for Christmas one year at a store next to the hotel that billed itself as " the world's sixth largest Lionel train Store." It was sad to see that they had gone out of business with just the Lionel sign remaining.

Mary's sister lives in a home she rents on a farm. It's quite unique to find a several hundred acre farm surrounded on all sides by suburbia. They run grass fed Herefords and always have a Jersey dairy herd. They sell beef and make and sell cheese. They are completely surrounded by localvores so they were doing a brisk business while we were there.

It was 70 degrees with severe storms forecast.We went on further to visit my sister and her family. She had recently had unexpected major surgery. She seems to be doing quite well. We had dinner with them and headed home. We didn't run into any storms and were glad to be home.

Sunday morning, the weather had changed back to nasty grey clouds, cold and raw. Jim and I did chores and rearranged the bulls. We now have five yearlings all in their winter quarters.We got Rochester all set in a pen for Monday's vet visit.

Monday, the vet came and Rochester very amiably walked right into the chute so the vet could draw blood and give him the TB reactant. We had enough snow to cover the grass but not the road. Monday night, I had a County Fire Board meeting. It was snowing full bore on the way home.

Tuesday, I did chores and went through my first winter freeze drill. It had gotten down into the low 20's last night. I was glad to see that all the water works was working well except for one waterer. A piece of dirt must have gotten into the float valve and the waterer was overflowing. I took off the cover and flushed it out. The cattle all seem comfortable with the weather. All the weaning noise seems to have ended. It's snowing again as I write this with 4 to 6 inches likely by morning. By winter standards, that amount is negligible but at this time of year it's a good reminder of what's to come.

Friday was another amazing day, 67 degrees and blue skies at lunch time. We had a flurry of phone calls and emails with a gentleman in Pennsylvania who has agreed to purchase , Rochester, a full blood yearling bull. He comes by the name in an odd way. The day he was born, I had some surgery in Rochester, NY, thus the name.

I was looking over his weight records. He sure has gained on baleage and looks great. his picture is on the sale page of the web site.

Since the bull will be going out of state, the vet is coming Monday to do a TB and Brucellosis test. He'll have to return Thursday to read the TB test site. If everything is fine, as we certainly expect, he'll give us health papers to bring with us when we deliver.

Mary and Jim and I will heading off in the afternoon to visit both of our sisters who live near each other in New Jersey. A friend will come by to feed and check on the cattle. Feeding is pretty basic for grass fed animals. Just make sure that there is hay baleage in the feeders so they can feed free choice.

Today was a typical fall day: heavy , cold rain in the morning and clouds and blue sky in the afternoon.

We moved several pieces of equipment indoors for the winter. The calves and cows have pretty much stopped bawling and decided to get on with their lives.

I went to Syracuse in the afternoon and met Mary and Jim for dinner. My oldest daughter called from New Hampshire to discuss her new job. Then, my youngest daughter called from college to talk about her new found interest in geology. Then, my second oldest son called from Florida.

All in all, an easy but satisfying day.

The weather was somewhat better today, partly cloudy and around 50.

We moved baleage from the next lane. We don't own the land between us and our next fields. So that means we have to go out and down the main road . When the weather is decent, we bring over wrapped bales. There are only about fifteen left there now. We are feeding two bales a day plus some square bales to the bulls. We will probably be feeding until early May unless global warming really kicks in. It looks like we will have enough.

Our neighbor really enjoys Peter the Brown Swiss pet steer. She stops every day to pet him and give him a treat. She has horses and keeps kidding about putting a saddle on him. I see that he now is sporting a red halter. Maybe the first step in getting him saddled up. We have heard of people saddling a cow but never seen one. I'm trying to figure out how to include a picture. When I do, Peter will be one of the first to appear.

The calves and cows are quieting down a bit. They were quite loud all day as they become used to being weaned.

Late in the afternoon, a friend stopped by to look at an Allis-Chalmers Model C that we restored last year. The picture shows Jim getting ready to hook it up to tow to our shop. it's a little hard to see details but the tractor was really ready for a makeover.

It's an excellent tractor now but a little small to play much of a part in modern agriculture. It has a sickle bar mower and we used it a little to mow under the fences. It's kind of fun to operate.

You have to know that this tractor bridged the gap between horses and today. It must have been quite a thrill for a farmer to take off plowing with it after walking behind a horse or mule. Lots of older farmers have told me that this model was the first tractor they ever drove as a child. Imagine that they used to let youngsters drive a tractor. Hard to imagine in the context of today's society where there is always some government agency looking after your welfare.,

The dingy weather continued today. We are located just south of Lake Ontario. This time of year, the lake is relatively warmer than the air. When the wind blows over it, it picks up moisture which drops out over the land. Now it's rain, later it's snow and lots of it.

Jim had a day off from school for Veteran's day. When I was in school, it was called Armistice Day. My father was a World War II veteran so we always celebrated the day. It was also my aunt's birthday 11/11.

We went and looked at some concrete bunk feeders. We found a good bargain and ordered some. We'll get them next week. We stopped at the Walmart of the farm world to see about having some feed through panels made so we can attach them to the bunks.

Soybean prices took a good sized drop today. We're going to continue to store ours and hope the price goes up.

In the afternoon, we finished weaning the calves at the farm today. We are doing something similar to fence line weaning. The calves are in pens and their mothers are free to come and go in the barnyard. The theory is that it is less stressful for both if they can see and smell each other. It doesn't seem to cut down the noise as the calves are bawling for their mothers as usual. It should quiet down in a day or two.

Cattle sales are picking up. We have a man coming next week who has a serious interest in a bull. We also spoke to another man that is interested in a few young cows and heifer calves.