Sidey Angus - May 1998 diary

May 05 - Still Wet

Got about 1.2 inches (3.05 cm) of rain in a fast moving storm last night. Nasty lightning too. Today is the first morning that we have had water laying in any of the low spots in the fields. Hopefully the moisture will aleviate some of the sinus headaches I've been having.

Our first field of corn is starting to be able to be viewed down the row. That's always nice to see. Turned the main herd out on pasture yesterday afternoon. It sure didn't take much coaxing. Unfortunately the pasture has small lakes in it this morning from the rain. The clovers are sure loving it though and the cows aren't complaining either. I'd like to get my rotation started in full swing in about a week.

We finally moved out into our summer kitchen this morning so it's nice to be able to watch the cows from the morning table again. The main farm house is over 119 years old and was constructed with both a summer and winter kitchen area in it.

May 11 - Very Nice

It has been beautiful these past several days here. The ground has still been quite wet but it is drying very well and we hope to start spraying some Roundup Ultra and Prowl as a burndown to prepare to start no-tilling soybeans later this week. We could really see the ditches working yesterday. The last planted field of corn for us was able to be viewed down the rows yesterday as well.

I am delivering a couple bulls this morning to breeders South of Dayton so it will give me a chance to check out the crop situation down in South West Ohio today too.

I peeled down the baby fuzz on a group of our Fall heifers on Saturday and want to start on some cows that we are offering for sale this evening if things work out. They always look nicer when I can get the old Winter hair off of them.

May 13 - Hard Rain

Had a hard and fast rain hit earlier this morning. We received right at 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) in less than 15 minutes time. Jay Clutter stopped by and mentioned that there were areas near St. Marys that didn't receive any rain at all and areas farther South and also to the North that received much more rain and had severe electrical storms with it. Jay lives just three miles straight East of me and is the local Purina Feeds Specialist and also Secretary of the West Central Ohio Angus Assn.

We have over 240 acres (97 hectare) of Roundup Ultra herbicide applied for burndown and the sun is back out, so we will be ready to roll hard when we get back into the fields. With the pounding of the rain I'm glad we didn't have much seed in the ground yet. It was just at 80° F (26.7° C) yesterday and very Sunny and is to approach 88° F (31° C) later this week. Normal highs should only be about 71° F (21° C) for this time of year.

Broke some of the pastures into even smaller lots yesterday. We have been on a three week rotation with our lots in past years and I want to get it down to 10-12 day increments this Summer if possible. The clover and Trefoil are extremely thick right now with all of the moisture we have been receiving. I am very pleased with all of the lots after walking them thoroughly yesterday afternoon. I do have a couple small areas that I want to hit with some Matua and a nice Orchardgrass a little more this Fall though.

May 15 - 10,000

Had the 10,000th visitor to the site at around 11:00 pm EDT on Friday evening. Actually there have been a few more than that but we lost the original counter back in 1996 and this one has been tracking since Jan 1st of 1997. There weren't just too many visitors back in 1995 & 96 anyway. Thank you all for visiting!!!

May 17 - Soybeans, hay

We now have over 260 acres (105 hectare) of Soybeans no-tilled in the ground. Another day of hard running and we will be done. It was just at 92° F (33.3° C) on Friday and 87° F (30° C) both yesterday and today. Very sunny and no clouds at all any of the past three days. I've got a good burn on my arms & neck. There have been some nice breezes today but this is quite hot for May.

Will probably start getting the haybine and balers ready by mid-week. The red clover is waist high and just starting to bloom. We still have a nice supply of last years hay left in the barn so it will be nice to perhaps build up a good inventory this year. With the rain and now warm days, the pastures and hay fields are the best I can remember in the last ten years or so. Several of the larger dairy farms nearby have filled silos already earlier in the week.

Have to take my truck in for repairs when it rains again. I picked up a nail in the front right tire today and also noticed a hissing from the gas tank. Probably the fuel pump is bad or heading that way as they are putting them inside the tanks now. It's been a good vehicle so far so I guess I'm about due for some repair work.

May 20 - Slower

We finished the soybeans Monday. It's still warmer than normal 93° F (34° C) yesterday and very sunny. Worked on minor repairs to the swimming pool water slide and diving board as well as some page updates. It is to cool back down about 20° F tonight to return to normal temperatures for around here. That means mid 50°s F (12° C) at night and low 70°s F (22° C) during the daylight hours.

Had a nice GAR Precision heifer out of a Ken Caryl Mr. Angus daughter and a really nice EXT bull calf out of a DHD Traveler 6807 first calf heifer. All of the calves are taking the warmer temperatures and humidity in stride.

We had a hail storm pass through about 9 p.m. last evening that had jawbreaker size hail balls. They were large but very soft. I had ran outside to put my truck under cover expecting to get get bounced hard a couple of times but was shocked when it felt more like a slushy snowball. I'm sure not complaining!!!!

May 21 - Laptop E-Mail

Got an e-mail from, and had an IM chat with a good friend last night who was trying out her new Toshiba laptop for the first time. I got to receive both the first e-mail and Instant Message™ she sent with it. Felt pretty neat about that. Also got to talk with another friend who was heading out with cattle for the Atlantic National Show in Timonium MD late last evening. It is to be a super big show number wise this weekend, but I expect her to be in the ring at the end of the show.

It rained a trace overnight here and has really cooled down. It was 51° F (11° C) when I did my feeding this morning. The calves were enjoying it quite a bit. I've noticed that the TC Stockman 365 bull calves are really starting to shine and the Sleep Easy heifers out of our 315 cows are really turning gorgeous.

May 27 - Slow

Major league headaches have really played havoc with me recently. It has been very slow here because of rain that we received over the weekend and the promise of more to come. The red clover is starting to head into about 1/3 bloom now and will be mowed as soon as the rains leave the picture.

Had several visitors drop by over Memorial Day Weekend to walk the pasture and look at the cattle which always is nice. The temperatures have been staying in the 50°s F (11° C) at night but is now heading into the 80°s F (27° C) for the day time. This is just a little above normal. There have really nice breezes everyday.

May 29 - Hot n muggy

Very hot and muggy today in the 90°s F (32-34° C) It rained tonight but very little came down here at the main farm. Areas just North and also South of us received heavy amounts.

The mosquito crop is definitely strong this year. I worked on new fences both yesterday and today in a wooded area and was swarmed by enormous numbers of them.

Sidey Angus Farm Diary - May 1998