Provider: Ryan & Hope Pjesky
Profession: Farmers/Ranchers
Hometown: Goltry, Oklahoma

Fall 2006 Diary Entry

September 2006

During September we plant wheat.  We usually begin planting on or about the 10th and try to be finished by October 1st.  We stay very busy performing this one task.  We must also take care of the new cattle that we have gotten, and pay close attention to their health.  Late in September we sell more big cattle.  After we complete wheat planting, we clean and park our tractors and machinery.  We also winterize all of our tractors, trucks, and vehicles.     

We shear our sheep toward the end of the month.  We have a professional sheep shearer come and actually do the shearing, but we help him with the process.  We have attached some pictures and we will bring some wool with us to our Provider Day.

Planting wheat in September

Shearing sheep

October 2006

October is the single biggest month for buying light cattle.  During this month, our weeks usually begin on Friday and Saturday when we process the cattle that were purchased on Thursday and Friday.  During the rest of the week we feed the new calves and check them everyday to ensure that they are not getting sick.  If the calves do get sick, we separate them and treat them with antibiotics until they are well.  We also sell yearling cattle in October.

During the afternoon, we put up electric fence around our wheat fields that don’t have permanent fence.  We also separated our ewes into groups and turned them out with the rams so we will have lambs in March.  We took time to attend several Oklahoma State University football games this fall.  Ryan is a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan, so he was really excited when they won the World Series.

November 2006

As always, we have cattle and sheep to take care of everyday.  We sold some more large cattle at the beginning of the month, and we continue to buy small cattle throughout the month.  Ryan hauled many loads of hay that we had bought from another farmer in the next town back to our farm. 

Beginning in mid-November we start turning cattle out on wheat pasture.  In our area, the climate allows us to graze cattle on wheat from November to March, and still harvest the wheat grain in June.  The wheat plant is high in protein and is a very good feed for cattle. 

We attended the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Tulsa.  We also went to visit our friends in southwest Oklahoma.  They are cotton producers, and Ryan helped with cotton harvest on their farm.  We enjoyed our visit with them and learning more about cotton production.  At the end of the month, we experienced a winter storm with some snow.  The cold temperatures made it necessary for us to break the ice on the water troughs so the livestock could drink water.

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