Hi
FW, Are you winding that wire by hand? There is a simple cross shape with
holes and 4 pins which we use, but you probably have something already.
Stephan,
I tend to agree with F. W. on the conversion issue. I cannot comment on
the economics of dairying in the USA, but any change involves a learning
curve and the early stages of learning curves rarely show a lot of profit.
If you are stretched financially its not a good place to be.
As FW says there is a solution. Its not going to be the first one that
comes to mind but work through that one and use it as the springboard to the
next one until you find one that fits your goals.
You are better to tear an option apart properly before moving on so
that you will not be wasting time jumping back and forth. As well as that,
do the first option properly and it will give you a base for comparing the
following one.
Remember that as you go through each option you will get a deeper and
more rounded view of your goals; that goal forming is a critical part of
your option finding. Dont be too rigid in holding onto your goals while you
are looking at all the options. The front of your tractor differs completely
from the backend of it but it is still your tractor; the same with your
goals.
Look at the options not just how they compare financially but in what
they tell you about your values.
Remember you are the goal maker and it is you that set the goals that
fit within your values.
Conor O'Brien
Ireland
----- Original Message -----
From: "F. W. Owen" <fwo@bright.net>
To: <graze-l@witt.ac.nz>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 12:49 AM
Subject: Owenlea Farm update
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> I haven't written in a while. I have a lot of friends on graze-l ... I
> least
> I hope that I still have those friends. Anyway here's some news.
>
> As you know, the last cows left here in April. They were 3 old teen-agers
> all
> classified Excellent. I bitterly regreted selling them and didn't even
> look
> at that darn check for 4 months. I still feel very mixed about selling
> them.
>
> Our produce auction business is booming along. We just had two
> back-to-back
> years with over 40% increase in gross sales of local grown produce. You
> can
> check that out here: <www.homerproduceauction.com>.
>
> It's getting very big both in dollars and physical volume. We have built
> on
> to the building and loading dock 19 times so far, so it's well over 300
> feet
> long. But we sell more outside in a two lane drive-through than we sell
> off
> the floor. It's like a county fair midway.
>
> We now have over 400 growers selling produce here.
>
> The auctions, of course, are April through November but activity here is
> at a
> very high level right now.
>
> We have a huge pile of produce growing supplies dumped on the auction
> floor.
> It's five+ semi loads. I got the money from the growers, pooled it, and
> bought in the stuff. Right now, we are trying to sort out all that stuff
> into 79 piles for 79 growers who participated.
>
> What that stuff is: It's drip tape, plastic mulch, seeds, chemicals,
> organic
> chemical-like stuff, fertilizer, transplanters, raised bed plastic layers,
> cultivators, pumps, plastic pots, potting soil, and plastic for 18 new
> greenhouses (all in Homerville). We have enough drip tape and plastic
> mulch
> here right now to lay plastic to Columbus and back (200 miles).
>
> Last fall, I bought four old rusty Allis-Chalmers tractors. I'm working on
> them day to day.
>
> They are a B, a D-12, a D-14, and a WD-45. I intend to get them painted
> and
> farm with them in 2007. I already have a CA and a AC180 as well as 2
> Allis
> forklifts.
>
> We lit up the first greenhouse last week and are filling hanging baskets.
> I
> now have 5 greenhouses here in Owenlea Farm. I hope to have 5000 hanging
> baskets to sell as well as 1000-2000 flats of flowers and veg transplants.
> <http://www.bright.net/fwo/greenhouse/greenhouse.html>
>
> The greenhouse heat is very expensive. Of course my goal is just 33F
> rather
> than the 65F min that commercial growers feel they must have. I can sell
> a
> hanging basket for far less than their cost of production and still make a
> big profit. Much like grazing and conventional.
>
> I use only those round 23,000 btu, kerosene convective heaters. I have
> quite
> a few of them now and am getting pretty good at repairing and rebuilding
> them. I buy all of those that come up on ebay that sell for less than
> $80.00
> including shipping.
>
> I'm finally resigned to pulling out the high tensile fence. I need the
> land
> to grow peppers, watermelons, and pumpkins but the wire is a major
> inhibition
> to that. For several years, kept thinking that I would be milking again
> soon
> and delayed pulling out the fence.
>
> I had over 60 permanent paddocks and lots of lane. There was over a mile
> of
> lane and there is miles and miles of wire out there like maybe 10 miles.
> I'm
> rolling that up. I work a little bit on that every day and am making some
> progress.
>
> I have a system that's kinda working. I have a hook on the 4-wheeler
> hitch.
> I drive to the end of a stretch of wire and make a loop with a crimping
> sleeve. I just drop that on the hook and tow the wire end up to the
> buildings.
>
> That way, I can get the wire broken loose from the snow and ice and I can
> stand in a barn out of the wind, and wind up the wire. It's still a
> really
> hard, cold job. It's also a wet job. As cold as it's been I wouldn't
> think
> I would be wet winding up 10F wire but I get soaked every day.
>
> There was a lot of snow here since Valentines Day. We got 30 inches in 30
> hours. I plowed that snow off the driveway on both sides so that the
> driveway was between two 4-5 foot high banks. Then that blew levelfull.
>
> I had to abandon the driveway and plowed out across the fields. That was
> also
> kind of useless, as the temporary driveway I plowed across the fields was
> in
> far better shape than the state highway. We were snowbound, on and off,
> for
> about 5 days.
>
> I'm sure glad I didn't have to get the milktruck into here.
>
> Years ago, in a big storm (when we were milking 300 cows), the State
> highway
> dept gave up clearing roads claiming they were all too tired and all their
> equipment was busted anyway.
>
> That time, We ended up plowing open over 10 miles of state highway with
> farm
> tractors just to get the milk truck in.
>
> This go-around wasn't that bad but it wasn't good either.
>
> --
> Kindest regards,
>
> =======================
> F. W. Owen
> Owenlea Holsteins
> 9430 Spencer Road
> Homerville, Ohio 44235
> e-mail fwo@bright.net
> home page http://www.bright.net/~fwo
> cell 330/635-2287 (best)
> office 330/625-2369
> fax 330/625-2620
> =======================
> _______________________________________________
> Graze-l mailing list
> Graze-l@witt.ac.nz
> http://graze-l.witt.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/graze-l
>
>
> This communication - including any attachments - may contain legally
> privileged information,
> and is confidential to the addressee. If you are not the intended
> recipient you should
> delete the communication and contact the sender immediately.
>
> If you have received this e-mail in error, you must not read, copy,
> disseminate,
> distribute or otherwise use or disclose any part of this communication, or
> any information
> on matters or persons to which it refers.
>
> WITT reserves the right to monitor all e-mail communications sent through
> its network.
>
>
