With cooler weather comes shorter days and longer nights.  It also means doing chores in the dark, especially now that we are spending late nights in the barn getting cows ready for the fall show season.  

The older Daniel gets, the more light he wants.  The brighter the better! 

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I do have my limits.  Daniel is more than welcome to that LED ultra bright blue light in the barn, garage and basement, but I get the soft warm light in the house.  

Daniel found a new toy. 

You know men and their tools.  They can never have enough and there is always another one they just have to have.  

One of Daniel's co-workers brought in his new toy to show off and Daniel decided he just had to have one.

Amazingly...after I realized I wasn't going to talk him out of buying something he really didn't need...I am glad he bought it.  

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His new toy is a Milwaukee Compact Inflator.  

​What is a compact inflator?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  

The boys went tractor shopping this weekend and I stayed behind to do chores...and I really didn't want to go tractor shopping.  

As I was out in the barn doing chores, I was reminded of how much I love our white board.  

I know...it's nothing new and exciting...and most people already have a white board in their barn...

But, if you don't have one...you definitely need to go buy a white board.  

Isaac and Walker have been busy shopping for hunting clothes.  These growing boys realized that they have out grown all of their hunting gear.  Since hunting season is here, they need to be sure they have all the camo they need. 

Walker is at an awkward stage where most of the youth sizes are too small for him, but they skip the adult small sizes that would normally fit him.  We have had to get a little creative to make sure he is hidden in the woods while still staying warm enough. 

Walmart has been their go to store for hunting apparel.  It fits the budget, but doesn't always afford the protection from the elements that we are looking for. 

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Our solution...

​We invest in good base layers.

It's the end of a long day.

Daniel is hooking up the trailer and the boys and I are packing up all our gear.

It is a daunting task...one I am too tired to take on.

But...the sooner the trailer is loaded, the sooner we are headed home to warm showers and nice comfy couches.

We sure have accumulated a lot of stuff!

All stuff that we have to continually load and unload.  It's back breaking work.  ​

Not long ago, a new trend emerged in footwear at cattle shows.  It used to be that everyone wore square toed boots.

While boots will always be a fixture in the cattle industry, a new, more comfortable footwear item has stormed the scene.  

I wasn't going to write about this.

Everyone has their own dirt...why would you care about mine?

I am a mom who works full-time, mother's teenagers, runs a farm, writes a blog and tries to find time to spend with my husband.  I am also supposed to keep a clean house...but that is usually what goes by the wayside.

What does it matter if I clean today?

There will just be more dirt tomorrow.

​Except....I just found the perfect solution!

We have talked many times about hiring someone to come in a help with some of the cleaning.  

I just haven't pulled the trigger. 

I don't know why...there is just this nagging feeling that I should be able to do it all.  That Superwoman syndrome we all fight.  Maybe it is just that I would have to clean up in order for the maid to come.

One of the most fought over farm chores around here is whose turn it is fill the water troughs.

​It is the easiest job on the farm....but it takes FOREVER.  

​Especially when there are 4 troughs to fill.

​And, it never fails that one particular child gets easily distracted, finds something else to do, forgets to go back and check on the trough...and floods the barn or barnyard.

​Winter is finally over, and the threat of frost is past.  

​It is time to break out the summer watering system.

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Sometimes it takes us a while to catch on to some of those things that others have known for forever.

​Last year, we finally discovered the automatic stock tank float valves.  I had seen other types of float valves, but they were more expensive, required drilling a hole in the stock tank, and would break when the cows decided to play with them. ​

Then, I headed to the local farm store and discovered the Little Giant Trough-O-Matic Stock Tank Float Valve.  ​

When the water level goes below the float, the valvue opens and allows the water to refill the trough.  

​This means that every time the cows drink from the tank, the tank is automatically refilled...which means that we don't have to stand there every night watching the water troughs fill.  

All you need is a hose.

Invest in a good one...it will last you for years.

We put a 4 way splitter on our pump head. 

​This allows us to have float valves on several tanks as well as leaving us a hose that we can use to water the garden and clean the manure off of...anything and everything. 

​No need to hook and unhook hoses.  With a flip of a switch, we can have water to one individual hose or all hoses at once.  

The float valvue just slips onto the side of the water trough and is tightened down with screws.  

​You can see the red float.  When the water level is high, the red float is pushed up and keeps the water off.  When the water level drops, the red float drops down and allows water to flow through the hose into the trough.  

Turn on the water and watch the trough fill.

​Walk away...and it's ok.

​The water will shut off when the tank is full.

It may take a couple of days for the cows to get used to the new water system.  

​First of all...there is a strange new thing in their water trough.

​The first time they drink from the trough and the valve opens to refill...the cows will go a running.

​Don't worry, they will come back. 

​Once one cow comes back for more water, the rest of the herd will follow.

​Within a few days, the cows won't even bat an eye when the valve opens and the water refills.

​Actually...they may start to like it.  The sun warms the water in the trough all day, but the fresh, clean water coming from the hose is nice and cool because it is fresh from the deep well.  

 A few reasons why we love the float valves...

​You will notice that we use really small water troughs. 

These are actually old mineral tubs. We like the smaller size because they are easier to handle and move around if needed.  When the algae starts to grow or the water needs changed out, it is much easier to dump the water out of a small trough than the 100 gallon troughs.  

​Algae doesn't grow as quickly because there is frequent supply of fresh water coming into the trough and the water doesn't get stagnant.

​When the water temperature stays cooler (cool water from the deep well) it helps to bring the body temperature of the cows down, decreasing stress levels in the hot summer months.  

​Since the cows are out on summer pasture and the water doesn't need to be refilled each night, we can spend a few days away from the farm without having to have someone do chores for us each day.  

It took we a while to convince Daniel that the automatic float valves would work for us and be worth the money.  

Once he saw them in action, he was an immediate convert.

​I think he might have almost cried when the temperatures started to drop last fall and we had to take the valves out of the tanks.  

​He was chomping at the bit this spring to get them back in.

​We leased a new farm this summer and just moved cows over there this weekend.  Before the cows were even off the trailer, the float valve was installed on the tank.  We will check on the cows each night, but we don't have to worry about water, no matter how hot it gets. 

​I don't know why it took us so long to get on the bandwagon, but we are sure glad we finally did.  There is no point in wasting time doing chores that can be done automatically.  

​Now if I could just figure out a way for my glass of ice cold lemonade to automatically refill...

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Yep.

​We love cattle panels.

​The plain $20.00...available at any farm supply store...cattle panels.

Duct tape...

Baler twine...

Cattle panels...

​Every farm needs them.

O.K....so I don't really love ear protection.

But...

I love my hearing enough to like ear protection.

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Ear protection is a hot topic around our house.