Business Plan .... For a FARM????

Yes .... 

I have always associated Business Plans with BIG, industrial farms which work with companies who supply food for your grocery store, feed for your pets, or ethanol for your vehicles ...

But according to our tax guy .... Yes we have a tax guy ..... We need one for the IRS 

Here's the reality of things .... But I don't think the IRS would accept it:

We buy ssssssssssstuff ..

We grow stuff ...

We sell the stuff we grow

And eggs too

That's it .... In a very tiny nut shell .... Or an acorn cap I suppose

But that's it

Do you think they'd accept a four line Business Plan???

Flu season ... for Chickens?

Well ... Birds in general.

There is now a THIRD reported Avionic Flu virus found this year ...

H5N3

It's HIGHLY pathonogetic has been found in two farms in Taiwan ....

H5N8 & H5n2 are the current strains that have been found

I'm wondering if this isn't some biotech from China that has gone astray and they just aren't saying anything ...

But ... I haven't found any proof ...

Just a lot of cases being found over in that region first before anywhere else 

Well ... Well ... Well...

Grrrr ...

This weekend we had quite the surprise

We knew we were having issues getting a good fill on the water tank ...

Oh, for those that don't know how a well system for water works -- you no longer have to get buckets from a hole in the ground ... Now there is an electric pump which pulls up the water and stores gallons and gallons of it in a tank.  From the tank it gets distributed around the farm ... The house, greenhouse, fields, chicken coop all depend on a working well system.

So, we knew there were issues ...

Not unusual really ... We've had to replace the pipe once because of a hole that worked its wY into the draw pipe allowing stones up into the tank/filter system ... Once we thought we had a similar issue but turned out to be a small stone blocking the shut-off valve which allowed the water to flow back down into the well causing a vicious cycle of fill/empty - had we known we could have fixed it by banging on the pipe instead of paying to have the Well Guy to come pull up the pipe ... As long as he had it up, we replaced the piping.

Well, we've been having troubles with the well filling up several times while it's being used ... Not in between uses so we figured it wasn't an issue with the valve ... Hubby drained the tNk and refilled it this fall and that seemed to fix it ... For a while ...

This weekend though ...

Wash machine was going in the basement ... Filling as normal.  Hubby wanted a glass of ice water so son #2 went to get it from the fridge door -- yes we have one of those fancy things that give ice/water from the door -- when NOTHING came out ... Hmmmm

So he switched to the faucet on the sink ... tap water - hubby hates it ... Again NOTHING!

Oh oh!

This could be a major issue!

But the washer was still getting water - just no where else.

Crap!

Our first thought?  Filter issues

When the filter gets overly clogged -- when we forget to change it every other month or soner - our water pressure drops.

Hubby was too tired to do it Sunday night ... So we would have to wIt for Monday night ...

He came home and decided that he would add air to the tNk as well ...

Changed the filter ... Dirty but not too bad for being two months ...

Air is added to the tank so that ... Well, you have to understand how a water tank is built.

We have a tank from the 70s but I can't imagine that things have changed that much ...

There is an outside wall - ours is metal, but there is PVC types as well - in side that is a bag to hold the water ... When the pump draws, the water fills that bag and then pressure is built by compressing the air surrounding the outside of the bag (I think) - this pressure pushes the water though the pipes.

Well when there isn't enough air, or if the air has been used up, there isn't enough pressure to push through.

Well it seems to be working now ...

Of course ...

I haven't done anymore laundry since Sunday night ...  We will have to see what happens.

 

Early Birds???

Well it has begun ...

It's a couple of months earlier this Saxon, but the seed catalogs have been coming in fast and furious!

So far I've gotten catalogs from Johnnys Seeds, Gurneys, and a few others ... Generally ones I don't order from

They must all be hurting from the poor growing season  this year ... Despite what the FDA/USDA say!

Haha to them though ...

Hubby has announced that we will not be buying seed this year ...

Of course that's mostly because we bought seed last year and never got it planted since the weather was so lousy ...

Most people don't realize that seeds are good for YEARS!

You will still get 90% germination some 3 years after it gets packaged if you take care of it ...  75% after 5 years ... 45-50% after some 10 years even ... Okay maybe not that high, but it can still grow.

It of course depends on thelant too.

Annuals/flowers don't seem to last as long

Veggies may need hydrating over night to break the dermis a bit ...

We will see though ...

I want to grow me some potatoes again ...

Reds, whites, and sweets ...

Of course ... I'm gonna have to figure a way to stir them though ... But that's a different post.

Anyhow ... The receiving of seed catalogs is how a farm wife tells the passing of the seasons ...

 I guess this means Spring will be coming early this year ...

Good ...

Maybe we can get in two corn crops ... One for selling & one for preserving!

Numerology Class

50,000 farms

Dairy herds of LESS THAN 100 head

(About 17%)

1800 farms

Dairy herds OVER 1000 head

But the number is still significantly lower than 135,000 farms some 20 years ago ...

I'm sure part of this is the fear of diseases beng wider spread by mixing milks from different herds ...

But then ...

 There's something to be said for diversity ...

20 years ago I started having issues drinking milk too ...

Hmmmmm

}:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  

(Do those look like cows?)

1,800 Farms

Dairy herds MORE THAN 1,000 head

This number has tripled during the last 20 years ...

Interesting ...

I wonder where their milk goes?

I mean that's a LOT of milk every day ... Each cow will produce about 10 gallons a day with those automatic milked machines ... 

What can you do with 10,000 gallons of milk?

They have to be using it for making cheese or butter ... 

}:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  }:0  

(Not sure those look like cows) 🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮

Wonder how much milk is drank daily in the US ... 

Wonder how much is dumped because it past the "sell by" date ...

Hmmmm

Bringing in the sheaves

I have gotten the new crop numbers for winter wheat

Montana 73%. (last year it was only 53% at this point)

North Dakota 67%

Idaho 91%. 

Oregon 37%

Washington 23%

there are concerns of North Dakota about the winter frosts now doing damage to the crap that remains on the stalk - A good snow cover will help with this

And as you can see, the further west you go the lower the oats

These numbers are for the good/excellent category

I do not see any numbers for the fair/port category ... I guess AGday just doesn't want to share that information

Cotton Picking Crop

Bit of TRIVIA TIME

WHICH STATE PRODUCES THE MOST COTTON?

A) Mississippi

B) Alabama

C) South Carolina

D) Texas

E) Oklahoma 

Answer in a moment ...

First lets look at the progress of cotton harvest

77% Nation-wide

DOWN 6%

83% is the 5-yr avg

TX 57% in (down 22%)

OK 56% in (down 12%)

I would assume that the drop can be linked to the cooler/shorter summer & early winter-like weather so far this season.

Cotton -while it does make a great yarn & thread - is one crop I have never wished to plant.

Maybe it was the Sally Field movie where they showed the damage cotton picking does to the hands ... more than likely it was the American Girls book "Meet Addy" where they describe what it's really like in the fields.  

I have no desire to stick my fingers amongst a bunch of nails to pull out a tiny bundle of fluff -- I'd rather pay for it!

Okay - now that question above

TRIVIA TIME ANSWER

D)  Texas 

Produces the most cotton in the USA ...

Imagine that!

I thought it would be one of the "Confederate" states