Just another day of farming

Tuesday was just another day of farming- Garry got up at 4 am to pick up his milkers- they are still at the other farm and have not moved in yet. Then after milking- and selling his first milk (Matt you can put $60 on the plus side for Project Ukraine) to a buyer, he and Maxim went to pick up the first load of loose alfalfa hay he is buying. Looks like really nice stuff, the cows like to eat it even better than the straw ( they didn't like the corn silage much the first day- but most of them had decided it was edible by Tuesday night.)
This was a herd of 25 cows, that began as Russian Red but most are black with a little white as they have a few generations of Holstein breeding. There is also a red and white bred heifer. One of the milk buyers told Garry that they are one of the nicest herds around, and no one knew the lady who owned them was thinking of selling. They were not quite up to the production level they had before coming here by the end of the day, but everything looks good as they are eating and drinking well. They are getting buckets of water offered to them when the cows are tied up in the barn. Garry even rolled the side of the barn partly up - he attached pipes to them this summer to increase airflow when needed. Garry decided to dump the load of hay on the cement behind the barn while Maxim and Victor went for another load after lunch. Garry headed off to the city for a new water pump- we ran out of water in the cistern (for the house) Monday during the night and when the water delivery truck arrived and he started the pump up, it didn't work. We had a little thundershower come up in the morning- barely made puddles on the road, so not much when we have not had any significant amount of rain in weeks.
Meanwhile the boys and I were busy with algebra tests and our first biology review. Just as Garry got back a real thunderstorm was threatening to let go with that big pile of loose hay outside so he came in and got the boys and they started forking as fast as they could.
Just as the rain started to come down Victor and Maxim drove up with the next wagonful of hay. They unhooked from the loader tractor, and used it to push the rest of the pile in before putting that load inside the barn (all where the heifer pens are going to be) The rain continued to fall and the power went out for more than a hour. Maxim moved his stuff from the summer kitchen into the yellow room, I think the milker ladies are moving in the little house Wednesday.
Garry and Maxim went and bought two cows from a man whose wife had died. He works in the city, and now there is no one to milk them. It was still raining so Garry got soaked as he worked on getting the new pump hooked up(when the power came back on line), but by 7 pm I could wash dishes and Garry warmed up with a hot shower. He went out to the barn to feed the cows a little more, Victor went home with some fresh milk and Max drove the ladies back after the evening milking (about 9 pm) and then Wednesday morning, Garry and Maxim got up at 4 am.............