March stayed cold and the cold remained clear into April. By mid-March we had two-thirds of the cows calved out and they were all doing great. The last third of calving turned out to be exciting and stressful. On March 20 Gregory found a heifer calving but quickly noticed that the feet were not right. […] Read more
Tag Archives Eppich News
Foaling and seeding season still ahead
Last calf of the season from a reluctant mother
New baby boy joins the family
With calves also arriving, it’s a hectic time in the Eppich household
The temperatures were fairly mild at the beginning of February. Gregory and John were able to haul the last of the straw bales home from Landis. It worked out well because by this time we had pretty much fed all of the slough bales and the bales that were not quite dry when they were […] Read more
Year begins with roller-coaster temperatures
Hopefully weather will hold for late-February start of calving season
January started with a mild temperature that allowed us to do a few more out-of-season projects. Early in the new year, Gregory and John worked on the holding corral at the Landis pasture. Later we used the 4450 tractor and the post hole auger to put in nine more railroad ties for the back corral. […] Read more
Even with a few surprises, 2020 will be good
Eppich News: 2019 wraps up with the farm settling into winter
So far this winter as of early January, we haven’t had too much snow and the cold temperatures only last a short while. However, one constant has been the wind. It can turn a nice day into a miserable one, no matter what the thermometer says. In early December we put our windbreak panels into […] Read more
Putting new life into a used trailer
Eppich News: Beauty is in the eye of the beef hauler
Winter is a good time to stop and reflect on the past year. It is also a good time to start planning for the next year and working on projects that will potentially make things more convenient or safer. One thing many of us have to do every year is to plan how best to […] Read more
Getting hay and cattle home for the winter
Eppich News: Plenty of projects to complete before the snow flies
With haying season finished in early November it was finally time to start some winter projects. Gregory and John worked on cleaning the combines, swathers, and the baler and put them away for winter. They also had to work on the JD 4020, our feeding tractor, and get it ready for feeding and bedding the […] Read more
Harvest and haying are finally finished
Eppich News: Combining and last of the haying were a race against the weather
During the middle of October we were harvesting as much as we could. For the fields that were swathed we usually drove every grain truck and trailer out to the field in the morning, got the machines serviced, and then Gregory, John, and Joseph and I would drive the three combines. On Oct. 16 we […] Read more
Harvest continued through October, but slowly
The hailed-out hay and crop will make fall and winter feed
The end of September brought rain and then snow. Gregory and John managed to get all but two fields swathed before the snow. We had about five inches or more of snow, which Joseph loved. As it slowly started melting over the next few days, he was quite disappointed and was always wanting to go […] Read more
September rain interrupts harvest plans
Eppich News: It was a multitasking month with harvest, hay and cattle
September started with about half an inch of rain Sept. 2. There was service work to be done on the combines before we could start harvest however, so it didn’t hold up work. By Sept. 4 Gregory and John slowly started cutting ditches and swathing crop again. On mid-afternoon Sept. 6 we started combining. There […] Read more
Still plenty to do before harvest
Hail and dry conditions tool their toll
August was a crazy month of summerfallowing, cutting ditches for hay, baling, working on equipment, swathing the crop, and working in the garden. On August 4 my very good friends from the States came to visit: Lacey from Wyoming and Michelle from Tennessee. Michelle is Joseph’s Godmother, but they are both well-loved “aunties.” They had […] Read more