Monday morning Maxim and neighbor Serosia worked on getting Serosia's little tractor fixed up for a new job- (it cut the 16 acre rye field on Saturday)- raking it into rows for chopping into silage. Garry finished getting the chopper ready by sharpening the knives (a job he has done more times than I can count in the 29 years we have been farming. Serosia spent the winter putting this tractor together from pieces- it has some creative parts,(like pop bottles) and he was using the same battery for it as his car- I think that they got a second one for it yesterday. Garry spent the afternoon bouncing across the field raking yesterday, and told me this morning that he was surprized his back was not sore again. Little Seroska was assisting- mostly playing with the kittens.
This morning there was a 90% chance of rain in today's forecast- not looking good for getting that rye in the silage pile. Garry started chopping as soon as the cows went out at 7 am, with rain drops falling (and mosquitoes buzzing) but somehow the sky cleared and the noon thundershowers stayed away. Maxim drove the tractor and empty precept (wagon) out to the field, and helped Garry get started, while I waited in the car- I had been drafted into following them to the field- just as I was getting into the morning Carribean workout- didn't even get to sweat today. We even got to drive through the middle of the village herd at the corner and passed one lady who must have gotten her cows out late today- she was leading one cow with a rope tied around its horns (the most common way to lead a cow in Ukraine) with a second cow and young heifer following along. She was wearing shorts- the first middle aged women I've seen in shorts this year (I have seen lots of young guys in shorts and a few shirtless men working in the gardens.) Today the vets were out in the village blood testing the milk cows and any heifers that go out with the village herd.
Somehow Max dropped his fancy cellphone in the field- luckily someone called him just as he was heading toward the car- he said he heard music and started looking for where it was. Garry was wishing that Max had finished welding the second wagon, as he spent a hour on each load- mostly unhooking the full wagon from the tractor and chopper and then hook up the wagon to the loader tractor which he would drive back to the yard, dump it and go back to the field, unhook the wagon, and hook it back on the chopper. Maxim was unable to finish welding it because the electricity/ power was out from 10 am until 3:30 -today was the day they were doing maintenance. Victor and Max located a wagon to borrow later in the afternoon, and then Garry got finished fast, by four the rye was all chopped in a pile, and the Serosias were back with the big payloader to pack the silage pile down so it could be covered with plastic. The wind had picked up and it seemed like it might be thunder storm weather but none came. Rain would be a good thing, even more since that silage is done! Now Garry plans to spread manure on that field and plant corn there.
Maxim and Victor went to buy some grain around three o'clock. Garry and Max had tried to buy it yesterday (they were told the place that had some grain for sale would be open on the May 9 holiday- the end of WWII- but when they got there the guard told then it wasn't. The cows were giving less milk- it was not noticable when they were getting 5 pounds a day but as it dropped to three and one as the grain ran out, production dropped. Garry says the grain appears to be a mixture of millet, wheat, and other grains, and not the best quality, but it is probably better than nothing!
We had a little heifer calf on Sunday morning- Garry had pulled it as it had a leg back (calves normally come out two front feet first with the nose following)and sadly it died overnight. However, Monday morning there was this very healthy little girl (much to Victor's frustration- he has promised someone in the village the next bull calf and we have only had heifers born since then!)
Tommorrow I will answer questions from readers- sorry I was under the weather yesterday- I think I had the flu everyone else had Sunday. Still time to get in more questions!
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