Read the latest news from Essex Farm in the note from Kristin Kimball’s blog below:
Ninety degree heat this week, and we got lucky with the timing of the rain. The corn grew closer to harvest, and the hay rolled in like crazy. Mike, Taylor, Ethan, Scott, Ben and Jon got the field in Willsboro cut and baled. The last bales went on the truck just minutes before rain hit. All the farmers deserve huge thanks for pulling through a very intense six weeks of good weather. Ben managed the whole hay operation and we have more hay in the barn than we ever have had before. When I look at it I see future beef, lamb, and milk.
Most of the haymaking was done with tractors this year, except for some raking. Still, the horses have seen a fair share of work. We’ve been keeping track of how many times we hitch horses this year and so far it is 117.
On the mechanical side of things, the skid steer that was down for a month is finally up and working again. It had Mark banging his head with a wrench, trying to figure it out. This week, Joe V., our diesel mechanic, ripped the whole hydraulic system down to zero to reveal the problem: a bearing had self destructed and flung metal bits of itself into the hydraulic pumps.
The dairy cows are pastured far from the barn this week, on the north side of the Middle Road fields. It’s a good ¾ mile walk to milking each morning. I have been enjoying the fall colors at sunrise – the goldenrod, the aster – and the fun work of herding cows with an eager and talented two year old dog. Mary is much more confident in her own power this year, and has learned that it’s possible to move stock at a walk instead of a gallop. She would prefer the gallop, but she knows she’s not allowed…” Continue Reading this Essex Farm Note.
Related articles
- Essex Farm: Nor’easter Storm (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Farm: Haymaking Frenzy (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Farm: Annual Vet Meeting (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Farm: Milk Mystery (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
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