When it comes to having fun with your friends, there are always times when people whip out their phones. I personally hate when this happens. When people record, it is documented on the web and will never go away. The reason I don’t like this is because it can come back around and bite you in the butt. If the wrong person sees a video or picture that they may not like or offends them in any certain way or form, they will have problems with you and that’s never fun. So when it comes to the moment, just enjoy it and carry on, there’s no need for recording.
Spring or Fall which is the better season?
When thinking of Spring and Fall, you tend to think of which one you like better. Personally I have always enjoyed the fall more. When Fall comes around it means football games, snowmobiling is right around the corner, and most importantly, harvest season! Harvest season is the best season out there, all of the countless nights out in the tractors, semis, and combines staying up late getting the crops out are probably the most fun thing you can do. It really makes you sit back and realize how awesome nature is and what it has to benefit. So, with that being said, Fall is most definitely better.
New Toy at the Farm
Recently, we have been hauling a lot of manure in order to keep our heifers in a clean environment. We have been running two spreaders as I have mentioned before and we just weren’t keeping up with the amounts of manure that needed to be hauled. That’s when we decided to buy another spreader! Now that we have a third spreader, we are able to haul extraordinary amounts of manure and we are getting things cleaned up rather fast! To give you an idea on how much manure we have to haul, Friday 4-17-20 we hauled 15 million pounds and the day after we hauled 13 million pounds and that is only a minor dent into the rest that needs to be hauled.. Crazy!
Covid-19
For many, Covid-19 is a kick to the face, for me, not so much. Covid hasn’t changed my routine by much, I still wake up Monday – Thursday, go to school and then go to work. The only thing I haven’t done is hang out with friends, which is okay in a sense that I can make more money by working more. I have been feeling wonderful through this pandemic, but getting a little tired of all of the sitting around at home during school. I wish my teachers could assign the homework and have it all due by Sunday of that week. That way I wouldn’t have to sit at home until 2-3 o’clock in the afternoon before I can go to work, because by that time ya lose all ambition and the day is almost over.. Other than that, life is pretty good, not a whole lot to worry about.
Checking Feed
Hey fellas, been awhile.. I haven’t been able to get to many pictures of what I do everyday on the farm because we’ve been to busy, but I do have one! Today I am going to talk about checking feed! It is a very simple task that happens a few times a day where we simply take the skidder and push up feed. We push up feed so the cattle can reach it as they eat more and more throughout the day. When 4 o’clock rolls around we push up feed one last time to check what needs more feed, then we get the feeder wagon out and dump some more down for the lots that don’t have anymore feed.
Mechanic Work on the Farm
Here at Valley View Farms, we are pretty fortunate to have good mechanics. One of our mechanics attended LATI as a Diesel Technician. By having good mechanics on the farms we allow ourselves to save huge amounts of money because we don’t have to pay for a $100 shop rate on top of parts. The only expense we have to pay is the cost of the part and we handle the rest!
Feeding Heifers
The sole purpose of the feedlot is the cattle. The first thing we have to do everyday is feed and that normally takes about 2 – 3 hours. We try to start everyday around 6:30 – 7:00 and then feed until we’re done. The wagons we run are two Triolet’s and an NDE. A typical load consists of corn silage, haylage, distillers, wheat straw, water, and molasses. After we load everything into the wagons, we deliver it to the cattle and then start over.
Waste Management on the Feedlot
Waste management on the feedlot is a key factor in running a clean organization and allowing a healthy habitat for the cattle to live in. Normally we clean our lots out twice a year due to frozen ground: once in the spring and once in the fall. If the lots get really sloppy during the summer we will go in and box scrape them out down to a level, walk-able surface for our cattle. Otherwise we clean the barns out several times a year for our calves and re-bed them weekly. Every morning, two of our employees scrape the feed alleys and the alleys that our heifers stand in to eat in order keep the manure to a minimal and then we proceed to spread the manure when necessary. We haul all of our own manure with two spreaders. The two spreaders we use are a Degelman M34 and a Meyer 9520 which both hold up to the 30 ton range of manure. Keeping up with waste management can be a very difficult task because we can’t haul during the winter seasons, which leaves us to spread through the spring to fall seasons. So when spring hits the spreaders will be running!
Hauling Grain to Town
Another part of working at Valley View is the harvesting and hauling of grain. Today I am going to talk about corn harvest. When the corn is fully matured and ready for harvest, we take the combines, trucks, and grain cart to the fields and start harvest. When we load the trucks, depending on the moisture of the grain, we either take the grain to town or to the dryer back at the farm. If we have to take it to the dryer, we unload it into the holding bin that empties into the dryer. After it goes through the dryer it travels up the grain leg and back down a spout that is directed to a specific bin. Once it has landed in the bin it is cooled by fans on the bin and hauled to town. When all of the corn has been dried and hauled to town, corn harvest is over!
The Arrival of New Calves to the Feedlot
Taking care of calves the proper way in the first stages of their life is very crucial to their health. Here at Valley View Farms we get our calves at nine weeks old and we raise and breed them for our dairy farms. The first thing we do is haul the calves from Pipestone MN to our farm. We then treat the calves and put their second ear-tag in them. After that we place them into the pens they belong in, place new bedding down for them and then feed them. It can be a very easy process but difficult at times depending on weather conditions here in South Dakota.
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