I took a milking job this past Saturday and Sunday...........all in all, not sounding bad, right???
Ummm............they keep "unconventional" hours...........3 am and 3 pm. Staggered in the house about 6:15 this morning after the milking job. Took a shower and told the SU "wake me at 8 if I fall asleep" and then collapsed on the bed. Yes, I did fall asleep. LOL I "hired on" for Thursday thru Saturday of this week too. I hate to say no, as these are the $$ we use for campground fees when we go RVing. But, Gawdallmighty.........I HATE getting up at 2:30 in the AM, unless I'm going to catch the bus to the airport for a vacation on the beach.

She has switched things around for the milking from how she used to do it...........it's alot easier than the last time I milked there. Hours are still the same, tho.

A few guys have chopped corn silage (and you cannot begin to imagine how glad I am no longer in that group............). I hated chopping corn with a passion; to the point I made myself ill the last couple of years it was SO noxious. We had a 3 row corn head for the old Field Queen.........it was for "wide" rows (40 inch). We had 36 inch rows, and a 4 row planter. So, we only took 2. We had contour strips..........and if you weren't "right on" the row, you'd knock it down. That necessitated getting the corn knife, getting out, and cutting it off and putting it in the chopper. It was HIDEOUS............and the SU would admit, if you pushed him to the wall on it, that "conditions are less than ideal"............his words, not mine. So, you ask, why did I not "let" him have the honor of chopping??? That would have ME do the job of pulling up to the bagger and filling the bag..............ummmmm..................THAT'S not gonna happen, Bunky. Thank heaven that is in my past and will stay there. I have said that there is not enough money or booze to get me to chop corn again as long as I live. HOWEVER.........if someone came to me with one of those massive Klaas choppers, I might do a load. I've always wondered what it would feel like to be at the wheel of one of those Klaas Jaguars and a Kemper head that just sucks those cornstalks in the guts of that machine.

We need some rain............I haven't mowed yard for a week and a half, and it's not growing much. Enough to look a bit "ratty", but not really enough to justify mowing. I could do it if I have a fit of boredom, tho.

Weather looks to be lovely for the week; I hope so as the SU has a couple of corn silage bags to make for neighbors, and then I assume the guy that rents our land will want him to come and run a bagger when he makes high moisture corn. He doesn't use ours because it's not big enough diameter-wise and capacity-wise. He rents one, and has the SU run it.

Equity this afternoon; there have been quite a few calves the last couple of weeks. I suppose it was time to "clean house" in the calf barn, between haymaking and corn chopping. I don't expect a lot today, but then, you never know. Mondays are usually the heavier days due to the weekend, and the sales just on Monday and Wednesdays.

That's all I know..............

Ok, I see that there are 37 views...............no comment from ANYONE?????

I found it all very interesting, Anna, but it's mostly outside my experience. I'm glad you're retired, and just take extra jobs when you want to. It sounds like a tremendous amount of work.

Been busy working and groaning at my garden. Need to do so much but no time.

Good news is I went trail riding in Des Moines this past Sunday and had a blast. Downside was driving home right after so I was pretty sore until today. Today I have a couple spots that are a bit stiff but I'll have them worked out by end of week.

AnnaZ said:Ok, I see that there are 37 views...............no comment from ANYONE?????

Yep! I'll comment.

I grew up on a Minnesota dairy farm many moons ago. I enjoy being a farm voyeur and although I choose to live in a rural area, I don't farm so have little to contribute. I still work in town but love living in the country. Oddly there were nine of us children and none became farmers. Only two of us live in the country.

My livestock consists of one vintage Lab and five (non barn) cats. My farming consists of a greenhouse full of tropical plants and my summer endeavors to grow a few vegetables in three raised beds.

My inheritance was the pet collection as well as two smaller diesel tractors which I enjoy using with fond memories of growing up on a tractor. I use one with the bush hog and the other is 4 WD with a bucket and a blade.

My Christmas present to myself a couple of years ago was a pine straw rake. http://www.everythingattachmen... I have a fairly long drive and in the fall would rake the road to keep the ditches clear of pine straw and leaves. This helps keep the road from washing out.

I decided that as I age, I couldn't keep doing that much raking so treated myself with the rake, now as long as I can still climb on the tractor... There are a few more attachments I'd love but will have to keep working for a while to justify them.

When I go back to MN to visit family, I drive through farming country and realize that my OCD comes from having grown up on a farm where the fields were laid out in an orderly manner and the rows were neat and kept weed free. I find a sense of peace when I look at them.

I suppose my interest in following your farming escapades is admiration for the determination of the farming community but Anna, I can't help but wonder why, when you are retired, you haven't moved to a more temperate climate. We chickened out on the cold weather in the early '70s and loved it.

Kristi.............right now we have too many responsibilities here to take off for 3-4 months in the winter. And the SU has "decided" that we will do that after we start collecting SS. And he has also "decided" that *we* will not do that till we are 70..........I am not happy about that...........and I will leave it there. That is 2 1/2 more years. You get quite a bit more if you wait till 70. We are both in good health, taking no medications or no other issues. yes, I know things can change overnight, but both our mothers lived long........mine was 85 and her death was a VERY unexpected ruptured brain aneuryism. The SU's mother was 94 and lived alone in her house until the last 3 months of her life. The SU's dad died at 61.........self-induced, as he was a heavy smoker and developed emphysema. Mine also passed at 61 from cardiomyopathy. Mom's Dr. told us kids that we NEEDED to get an MRI to check for aneuryisms because Mom's Mom also died from that. So, I went and got my head examined and I DO have a brain and it is fine. My heart is fine. So, I guess we are going to gamble.

Anyway, probably TMI, but that's where we are in the spending the winter NOT HERE for a couple of years. I think, from what the SU has said, that maybe we will take a couple of weeks in January and go west to see some of the RV parks out there. Since we are quite large...........a 44 foot 5th wheel toy hauler............not every park can probably accomodate us. So we'd like to look at a bunch of them and see what "fits" us, both rig-wise and clientele-wise. I think in some parks the shuffleboard set would no doubt have a coronary to see 2 "almost-70's" flop the back door of that toy hauler down and take out 2 Harley Davidsons.

We're thinking of Texas, around the Brownsville area, or Arizona, the Phoenix area. I'm also pretty sure that when we do go somewhere, we'll try and hook up with that Workamper website and see about finding jobs. There is no way the 2 of us will be able to sit on our butts every day for 4 months. Wouldn't mind some farm work; we're both competent, not afraid to make decisions, experienced, and not afraid to try. I can feed calves.........I've relief-milked in a double-8 parlor, a stanchion barn, a tie stall barn. We'll see what happens. I said we might be better off posting OUR resume on that site telling of our experience. That way anyone interested could contact US.

Hubby got back about 9 pm from the neighbors..........they started the corn silage bag. He'll have to go back tomorrow; don't know if they will finish it or not. I'll have Equity at 1. The milking job might start tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping not, but I'll go if I have to.

Here is the SU's silage bagger.........this was from a couple of years ago and not where he is bagging now; this is at our place. The only machinery that is ours are the bagger and tractor that is hooked to it. The guy doing the chopping has all the other stuff.

Ok, the pix were too big............I'm going to resize and make another post. Sorry.

Here they are................

Wow! Things have changed so much. Big investments in equipment as well as land. My Dad farmed 110 acres and raised and fed 9 kids off of it. It was hard work but we had a good life. Two gardens, an orchard, canning (no freezer), heated with firewood and stayed warm. Three small tractors, primarily had dairy cows, hogs and Moms' laying hens. She sold eggs to the hatchery for the money to buy groceries that they couldn't grow. We ate three big square meals a day with dessert at lunch and dinner, a snack after school. Now when I go back to visit, I see the few farmers own thousands of acres of land and have double huge tractors and equipment and hire a work force. The times ~ they are a changin'.

But enough nostalgia.

You and your spouse will be amazed regarding the Harleys in the retirement community. It is no longer grey headed folks hobbling across the shuffleboard court. You guys should take a winter trip just to test the waters. I think you will be surprised. I see many huge motor homes or trailers heading south for the winter with enclosed trailers holding their bikes/trikes. After all, winter in the south can be a good riding time. My Sister in law & husband rent a condo rather than travel with an RV as they spend the winter in the south from Florida to Texas.

And the SU has "decided" that we will do that after we start collecting SS. And he has also "decided" that *we* will not do that till we are 70.......... You get quite a bit more if you wait till 70.

I understand ~ at 67 I am not drawing and as long as I'm able to work I will hold out till 70. I see so many retirees that are amazed at how their retirement funds are eaten up. And I have too many loose ends to wrap up before I go to the house.

Off to earn cat food money.

Well, there is this....................he will not take the RV and truck out on salted roads so that would mean we would have to go BEFORE the heavy snows and come home AFTER the salt is all off the roads............that is why we would just go in the car for a couple weeks to do the "checking out" of resorts in the areas we might be interested in.

I told the SU last night when I got home later than usual from the milking job (after he asked "Did you have trouble??") that it would be really nice if he could come over about 6 so I wouldn't have to bust my ovaries with stuff that about kills me............scraping out the barn floor, scraping the aforementioned away from the door, pushing feed up out in the loafing shed area.............by jove, he showed up! We'll see if he thinks this is a one-time thing.............I have 3 more milkings.

Blasted milker pump quit on me last night. After a call to the dealership, it was an easy fix. Hmmmm...........did it again this morning. I think maybe they will need to make a trip out of it. I'm CERTAINLY not wanting to deal with this every milking.

Sounds like you're having a full moon week.

The nice guy from the local Surge store came and did a couple of things to the pump/motor. It is fine now. I got there about 2:30 and was chasing the 2nd group of cows up to the holding area in the barnyard.............Oh, my.............we have a blessed event in the cow lot. And I was told "there are 3 heifers in with the cows..........they will not freshen while we are gone". Obviously one heifer did not read the memo. Said heifer belonged to the gal's uncle. Uncle came and got her, the calf, (she had a son......LOL) and one of the other heifers that was also his. Truth be told, that one's calf is almost waving..........she's pretty close. Wouldn't be surprised if she had hers in the next day or so. The 3rd heifer DID read the memo...........she won't be in for a few days. The SU came over and helped me finish up. When we were done we sorted those 2 out. Uncle came while we were getting them into the empty loose housing shed. I pushed that damn calf about 40 miles to get it up there...............well, it FELT like 40 miles. I said "pretty sure you ain't gonna be ready to run with the herd in 2 hours..........." Both heifers walked right in the trailer. More luck than we deserved, I guess.

I had the pleasure of staying with our friends on their goat farm recently. They have evolved over the years from running a dairy farm, to producing goat cheese, to now producing primarily whey based supplements. It was quite an education to tour the farm, milking parlor, and processing plant. And, the added bonus was they had 10 Great Pyrenese puppies at the adorable age of 4 weeks - bouncing all over the place! They keep 4 guardian dogs busy with about 500 goats.

Wow, some activity on this forum. Anna, every financial adviser I've ever heard, says start collecting SS as early as you can, you will never recoup what you loose with the small increase you get by waiting. If one doesn't need it, then stock pile it and wait till later to use it.

One of my good friends is the farm manager for a large dairy operation. They milk around 400 cows, 3 times a day. It sure is a far side from milking in a conventional barn like I grew up with. They have a work staff of 7 people at each shift. Some in the parlor, some keeping the cows coming through the system, and some cleaning out the barns where the cows stay. It's difficult to find people to hire now days.

The cows residence is quite interesting. They have sand for them to sleep in free stalls, and food in front of them all the time. When the temperature gets over a certain level, tiny sprays of water come on and the huge fans are always blowing to keep them cool. While the cows are out to be milked, they come in with large scrapers on skid steers, and push the manure into a huge slurry pit.

Tom, OUR financial advisor told us to wait till we're 70 IF we were in good health.....which we are. I still am not happy about it........

tveguy3 said: It's difficult to find people to hire now days.

So true in everything these days. I refuse to hire anyone at work. I wear all the hats in a smaller retail business which my husband started 40 years ago. If I can't handle the business, it won't grow any larger. I can not imagine dealing with the youngest group of workforce. They can't hold a conversation without glancing at their electronics.

I know many older retired friends and customers that are being hired at various jobs as they are dependable and can pass the drug test. Sad times.

Anna, your milking escapades have convinced me that my DH was right... after growing up on dairy farms, the only cow he ever wanted to see was on his plate. I am glad folks are still doing that work ~ and work it is!!!

I did the previous post on my iPad........didn't feel like typing any more on that. However, last night there was an "incident"..........you would have had to be there to appreciate the dumbness of it. I went to make my 3rd "switch" of the milkers..........opened the door and let out group 2.........I looked and the stupid little shorthorn bull she has in with the cows had his nose ring caught on a metal "tab" on a gate opener. One of these deals where you lift the tab to unlock the gate. It's about 4 inches long. Good thing the guy that mixes feed was there or I never would have gotten him "off". Jeez...........how hard did he have to try to get himself hooked on that??? He certainly wasn't cooperating with us either.........pulling back as hard as he could...........I was afraid he'd either bust the post or pull the ring out of his nose. Luckily he did neither......just bent that tab. I think the SU straightened back after he came over. Dumb animals...............

Oh, that had to hurt!

If you ever listen to public radio, Joy Cardine has a program called On Your Money. It's a financial adviser who takes calls from listeners. She's retiring soon, so I'm not sure if that show will be continued.

If both of you retire at 62 and got about $1200. each per month, that's $115,000 each by the time you turn 70, or $230,000. combined. You can adjust that figure based on real estimates. I'm not sure what the difference is between your SS benefit at 62 and 70, but I'm sure it's not double. If it were double, you'd have to collect for 8 years to recover your losses. If it's 25% more, it would take 16 years to recover what you lost. I know it's not rocket science, but it's food for thought. Also, you can earn as much as you want once you're 65.

My Dad died one month before he turned 62. I wasn't going to take any chances.

With our present administration (that's all I'll say about that), I grabbed my SS the day I turned 62. Who knows what's in store for the future? I also figure this next decade or so my husband and I will be more mobile than later on and I'd rather have a slightly smaller SS cash-flow now than wait for a larger amount when we may be less active. But, each person's situation is different. I don't think there is any right or wrong answer.

My day yesterday.................



A hell of a day today............After I told the SU that he really needed to clean out the pile of old soybean meal on the floor of the back of the shed and dump it down in the manure pit, he decided to do what I suggested. Nothing but a rat self-feeder. The feed has been there since we quit milking...........7 years. There was crap piled up in front of the pile, we had to move all that. Then moving other stuff because there was shell corn on the floor. I think the wretched coons got up in the wagon and were spewing it all over. So, we were doing all that..........the feed stank because it was old and some of it was rotten............what was there had to have had rat pee in it because it smelled ammonia-y. Oh, and during all the time we were in the corner of the shed, the SU is running the truck trying to gas the rats. Had a hose over the exhaust pipe and into one of the holes. Had to be at work at 1........well, about the time I had to leave I started feeling SO tired, could hardly put one foot in front of the other and I had a slight headache. I deduced it was from the truck fumes.

When I got home I was feeling better, so it was back to that corner, clean where the wagon was; he decided that he was going to get the mixer mill and see if it worked. If it did, he was going to grind off that 200 bushels of corn and take it over to the neighbor so he could feed it to his steers. Oh, the mill is hemmed in by the grain vac on the upstairs barn floor. Which is a disaster to even WALK on because the floor is so bad. Got it out, it worked. Then it was pull the wagon out and get that set up on the sidehill so the corn would all run out. What a cluster****. It was 2 mills full. In the semi-dark we had to get the mill back up on the barn floor (that went much better that I expected or we deserved) and put the empty wagon up in the building where he keeps "stuff" that's the other end of the g'house. He had to push the wagon back where he wanted it with the tractor bucket and I had to steer it with the tongue. I told him that he was NOT going to push it clear back against the wall, because that is where I go through with my hose for filling the water tank in the g'house and I was NOT going to walk sideways to get through there for 6 months.