Provider: Ryan & Hope
Pjesky
Profession: Farmers/Ranchers
Hometown: Goltry, Oklahoma
Fall 2007 Diary Entry
September
September is a really great month. During September, we continue to
buy cattle and get ready for wheat pasture in November. My Dad and
I bought over 200 cattle during the first part of the month. The cattle
have had a smooth time in the starting and weaning process. Fortunately,
we have not had any sick cattle. During September, we also continue
to feed 300 older, bigger cattle a protein supplement to help them
digest the dry grass in the pastures and continue to gain weight.
Caring for the Cattle
We began planting wheat in mid-September. During planting season,
we cultivate our land ahead of the drill and use the other tractor to pull
the grain drill. While planting, we usually cover about 100 to 150
acres per day. This year, due to uneven moisture, we planted about ¾ of
our acres and then quit planting to wait for rain. By the end of
the month, what we have planted is up and really looks great.
One thing I love about fall is college football. Since I am both
an alumnus and a huge fan, Hope and I attend every Oklahoma State
University home football game. It is one of the things we do for
entertainment.
October
We spent the entire month waiting for rain so we could finish planting
wheat. We also had to re-drill wheat that didn’t emerge because
the hard rain we received made a stiff crust form on top of the ground. We
spent our time putting up electric fence around a pasture that we rented
earlier this year. We also gathered and sorted cattle. We
sold the bigger cattle and split the rest into three groups according
to size. The cattle that we purchased in early September were moved
out of our receiving pasture to other pastures so that we could begin
buying more calves.
Planting Wheat in Oklahoma
After we finished planting wheat, we cleaned the drill and packed it back
into the barn. We also washed the outside of the tractors, cleaned
the cabs, checked the antifreeze, and parked them in the barn for the winter. Each
day still includes checking and feeding cattle. We were also busy
buying hay; we made arrangements to buy over 350 big round bales of hay
(over 260 tons) to feed over the winter.
For entertainment we continued to attend Oklahoma State University home
football games. They are really starting to play better this month.
November
During November, taking care of cattle and getting fences
ready to turn cattle out on wheat pasture fill our busy, but shorter, days. Each
day begins with feeding and checking the cattle in our receiving
pens. They
must be fed at feed bunks daily, and then any calves that do not
come to the feed are sorted off and taken to the chute where we check their
temperatures and give them antibiotics. We keep them separate from
the other cattle until they are healthy again. After taking care
of these cattle, we then go around to our other farms and feed
and put out hay to the cattle there.
During the afternoons in November, we put up electric fence and fix permanent
fence. We also clean, winterize, and park our equipment for winter. We
have continued to purchase additional cattle and boost their health
so we can turn them out on wheat pasture. The fluctuations in temperature
have caused our new calves to have respiratory problems. A couple
days before Thanksgiving our high temperature was 80 degrees, and
the day after Thanksgiving we received our first snow of the year. Having
highs in the 80s and then lows in the 20s is very hard on the calves
systems.
Our hay that we purchased earlier this year is also being delivered. A
semi-truck delivers 30 big round bales at a time, and we unload the bales
with a loader on the front of a tractor. Each bale weighs 1500 pounds. Recently,
we bought a new cattle trailer for our semi-truck. It allows us to
load and unload from the ground without using a separate loading chute.
Read Other Journal Entries
