Knee high by the 4th of July

Knee high by the 4th of July - this is a well known saying in the farming community.

It is an important saying too.  It tells us how the growing season is going so far and is a general measuring stick for all crops.

we're talking about corn - if the corn in the farmer's fields is knee high by the 4th of July the growing season is on track and doing about average, and that is good. 

Over the past 5 years there have been times that the corn was only anckle high by the 4th of July, those were years of flooding, very cold springs or drout.

Well, 4th of July is less than a week away and the last couple days I found myself checking out every corn field I passed on my way to and from work.  I have a 37 mile drive one way so I do pass many corn fields.  And this years report looks good - On average the corn is between knee high and WAIST HIGH.  Now granted I did not get out of the car and walk up to the corn to check it out, but you can get a good idea as you drive by and there was even some that looked like it would be more than waist high on a short person like me, I am only 5 foot.

So, so far it looks like we will have good growing seasons for most crops.  I cross my fingers that nothing changes for the worse.

Finishing cattle

The term finishing cattle refers to how the cattle are fed to fatten them up the last couple months before butchering. Some growers will push the corn to them during those months, But here at Venneford Farm we do it differantly.
We feed our cattle 80% (more like 90% during the summer) grass and hay and only 10 to 20% corn.  They get the same ration of corn every day of their life.  This little corn on a daily basis is what gives them their wonderful rich mellow beefy flavor. 

The cattle put on their weight gradually and are ready to butcher in 26 to 30 months.  This is how we keep them lean even though they are partially corn fed.



Everybody wants to get in the picture.



Clintonville Earthquakes

Many have asked, do we feel the earthquakes by us?  no, we don’t.  we are to the south east side of town and out 4 miles.  We have not felt or heard anything.

Click to the right on the link to my farmers market pages.  This weekend is the last day of the winter market season.

What's Up on the Farm

Cattle can be like children.  They like to play with things they are not suppose to touch.  When the temperatures where above freezing we still had the automatic shut off on the water tanks.  Some cattle can find ways to disconnect the hose and then we have a water mess to clean up.  This happened twice in the last month.

Now it is cold enough that the tank heaters have been put in to keep the water tanks from freezing.  Now some of the cattle are finding a way to pull them out.  Lucky it is not cold enough to freeze completely but they did have a nice layer of ice on top.

WHAT'S UP ON THE FARM....

We are coming into the time of year my husband dislikes the most.  The summer may be a lot of work and long hours with all the field work and making hay.  But, in the winter my husband has to pull out hoses, fill the cattle water tanks, drain the hoses and pull them back to the house to put into the basement so they don't freeze up.  You see, our barn is old.  When we bought our farm the barn had a dirt floor with hitching posts in it.  It is not a dairy barn with a milk house so there is not a heated water system.  And pulling hoses to fill tanks is my husband’s least liked job on the farm.

Natural Raised Pork - NO hormones, NO antibiotics......

We are butchering a pig this week and will be restocked at the farm market this weekend.

This week on the farm

I love living out in the country.  Going to the farm market Saturday morning I saw a doe and her twin fawns in the road playing.  When I looked to the east as they went back into the field, I saw the sun coming up and shining on a golden wheat field with the silhouette of 3 long necked does bobbing above the wheat.  Very picturesque.

We have 3 new calves on the farm, Jack, Jill and Georgie.  Georgie lost his voice mooing the first couple days, but they are all well adjusted now.

I hope the nice weather holds out for a couple more weekends as we do all of our outdoor winter prepping.
Sunday the water tanks go patched and sealed.  Equipment was pressure washed. But, there is so much more to do yet.