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The heat and humidity of summer is here, signalling the start of hay season. We finished up our first cutting this past week. Hay season is a community event around here. There are 4 families that work together to get everyone's hay done before the rain comes. Some of us need equipment and some need man power, but we all work together to make a pretty mean hay team. Each of us has different needs for our hay supplies and different storage options. Some need square bales, some need round bales, and we need both. Some make dry hay and some make wet hay. Some store all of their hay in the barn, some store all of it outside, and we store it both in the barn and outside. It can be a complicated game getting everyone and everything where it needs to be when it needs to be there. Add in the constant threat of pop-up thunderstorms and cranky machinery (everyone had at least one piece of equipment break down) and you have some pretty stressed out and sleep deprived people.  Between the four farms, a lot of hay was made and a lot of cows and horses will be fed this winter.
We ran out of hay this year and we are not about to let that happen again. We ended up wintering more cows than we had anticipated and by the middle of winter we were in major conservation mode. This year we are keeping at least 25 more bales than last year, just to be safe. We only have a small portion of our barn space that is available for hay storage. With so much hay, most of it has to be stored outside. Our solution...bales sleeves.
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When I was growing up, I had never heard of a thing call a boot dryer.
If our boots got wet, there was only one way to dry them. Put them upside down on one of the heating registers. Except...I grew up in the city...and the only time our boots got wet was when we were out playing in the snow. 
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Fast forward 20 years, and someone always has wet boots.
All year long.
I use two products on my hair.
Volumizing spray (because I was blessed with baby fine hair) and hairspray. That's it. When it comes to cows...there are countless hair care products. And you must have them all. From conditioners to multiple types of adhesives...the combinations are endless. If you look in our tack box, you will see rows and rows of spray bottles. 
But our new favorite product is Weaver's Natural Hold.
It's that time of year again. The spring calves are being weaned and it is time to start getting them ready for the next show season. Show season is just over a month away, so we have our work cut out for us. The first step in getting new calves ready for show season? Halter breaking..  The 4th of July weekend is a celebration of America and what makes America great. One of the tried and true American traditions is backyard barbeques. This weekend there will be plenty of fires burning...from fireworks in the sky, to grills a grilling and marshmallows roasting in backyard fire pits.  We have come to love our Holland grill and would never replace it with anything else. We bought a Holland grill about 8 years ago after seeing several demonstrations at our local county fair. We were excited about the unique features of the Holland grill, but little did we know how perfect it would be for us.
Laundry. Dirty laundry. Muddy laundry. Manure caked laundry. Smelly laundry. We've got lots of it!  Throughout our daily routines, we have come across some great products. Some of these products are common, some unique, some new on the market and some old fashioned, but they are all things that we love.  We are all familiar with dealing with stress and how it can affect our physical bodies as well as our state of mind. Cows can become just as stressed as people, but they can't talk about their feelings or tell us what is bothering them. As a farmer, you have to know your cattle and be able to predict stressful situations as well as identify the physical ramifications of that stress.
Throughout our daily routines, we have come across some great products. Some of these products are common, some unique, some new on the market and some old fashioned, but they are all things that we love.  Ohio can have very unpredictable weather. Earlier this week we had the largest snowfall of the winter (not much, but still the largest). Today we are expected to reach into the 60's and have beautiful sunshine.
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AuthorHello! I am Heather... the city girl turned mom to manure loving country boys. My husband and I both grew up in the city, but spent weekends visiting grandparents in the country. We are first generation farmers who learn best by almost always doing things the hard way. I hope you enjoy following along with our adventures down on the farm. Archives
December 2022
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