Two Sparrows Farm

Rainy day baby 🌧️
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Jolene dropped this gorgeous bull calf *just* in between a the rounds of rain yesterday 🤗
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We had the perfect amount of time to scoop him and get him into a calf hutch with fresh straw, get mama milked and a calcium pill before going right into evening chores. 👍
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1st cutting of hay is pretty much in the books…kind of 😅
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Due to a number of equipment issues and the variable drying time that happened this week, most of our 1st cutting was made into dry round bales (not the high-moisture wet wrapped bales we normally make!) so we have quite a bit of work still to do moving the bales up to the barn and getting them put away. 😬
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But, all of the first cutting is done on the home farm 🙌 And, we now have new rear tires on the tractor 😜 We also may need to replace the thermostat/temperature regulator on the tractor😢
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We still have to cut our rented fields in June, but we have a brief pause for now. 😊 Mainly, to fix the tractor and get our dry bales under a roof before it rains. 🤷‍♀️
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The good news is that Dan saved a turkey nest while mowing 🥰 We have an amazing stretch of dry weather to work with, and, it’s peony season 😍
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Happy Earth Day!! 🌎
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Our pastures are READY to graze but the cows are still, unfortunately, confined the cement still. 😕
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The ground is SO saturated with water that allowing any amount of weight on them will cause issues - hooves punch holes in the ground causing bumps and compaction. 😳
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Since we don’t till (ever) we don’t have a lot of options to fix soil compaction beyond planting an annual like daikon radishes and letting them rot in the ground - as they break down they create space to battle compacted soil.
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That’s not something we’re really set up for so we are waiting until the ground is ready for 20 - 25,000 lbs of pressure in small areas (just for our lactating herd!) 🌱
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It’s likely that we will start grazing and begin our first cutting of hay around the same time - the grass will be tall enough to mow around the same time the ground dries out to run cows and equipment on. 🐄
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In the meantime we are all loving the sunshine and warmth!! We’ve waited so long for spring!! 🌷
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