Farm update

They fill the wheelbarrow six times with corn silage 

As you can see the short corn did not chop very well.

That cute little red calf is # nine bull of ten calves born!

Last week when Andrei was gone (he and his older brother Ruslan were putting new windows in their parents house, they live in a village about two hours from Nikolipolia) Garry was feeding the cows a lot, so one afternoon I went out and took some pictures.

Tuesday morning Max came back to change implements

The rain last week really got the new seeding of prosso millet growing, Garry tells me. He checked it out when they started working up the nearby field to plant the winter wheat. He had hoped to use the cultivator with the harrow he put together behind it, but when Maxim tried it on Monday, they had to come back and switch to the disc. Disking takes more fuel to run the tractor, but the weeds had grown too big for the cultivator to work well. Tuesday Garry took over working up the field while Maxim went to the plant to pick up the sha-neat-sa (wheat seed). He ended up sitting at the plant for three hours while they waited for the office to confirm with the bank had received the payment, even though he had the paperwork to say that it was paid for. Business in Ukraine moves slowly, we have found.

Wednesday morning, waiting for drier ground- morning glories climbing the fence

There was a thunder storm Tuesday night, so the wheat planting had to wait a day so the ground could dry out a little, Maxim is doing it today. Garry says he has been told September 15th is the optimal time for planting. Last year only the wheat that was planted early got a good yield, it was in the ground already when we got the only rain of the fall. This year there is enough moisture in the ground already to get it up.

Right now there are about 30 cows milking, Garry went out and pulled a calf Wednesday evening when Yana came to the door and the smaller feet did turn out to be a heifer calf! He says it is not 2 out of eleven, but one out of one! So 100% heifer calves this week. There will be more cows and heifers (first timers) having calves this month. Garry tells me there will be 38 milking soon.

Right now we are making 500-600 liters a day, some we sell ourselves on Sunday and Thursday when Victor comes out (Garry sells it if Victor is busy) to the farm and goes to some apartment blocks and sells it. We get about 60 cents a liter for that milk, most is sold on the farm to people who re-sell it and make products- heavy smetana (sourcream) and low-fat cottage cheese from the rest. We only get about 30 cents for this milk, and sometimes the buyers miss picking up milk because their vehicles break down, or are short on funds,  so they get credit and catch up someday as they can. Right now they are behind and we are buying seed and fuel for planting, so funds are getting tight. Good thing bull calves are worth 125 dollars!


A new big problem seems to have arisen today- the person we have been selling us those big 27 ton trucks full of piva travina (brewers grain) for the last two years has had a falling out with the brewery of some kind- management change, we don't know- only that we can't buy any from him because he can't get it) There is enough left to feed our cows through the weekend if we don't sell any- they sold four tons to people in the village yesterday- but this is bad. We need to find some to buy somewhere and to be able to get it this winter, when less beer is made, or change our feeding big-time. We may even have to sell some cows or heifers, if we don't have enough  to feed them this winter (I did mention that brewers grain is a large part of what we are feeding the cows- the heifers are getting only brewers grain and straw right now a good diet for them, but we'd have to buy something to feed them instead, and buy moocooka (sunflower meal) to substitute for the protein in brewers grain.) Plus we won't be able to sell it to people in the village, who have come to depend on it, and need something to feed, with all the shortages from the drought.

Garry and Victor are trying to come up with a new source for brewers grain, for right away and all winter...tracking down some leads. You can't just drive to the plant and talk to someone in charge of selling it, you have to tell the guard who you have an appointment to see, so they are trying to find a way.