Wanna buy some sprouted Rye??

[Joe-2]

I have about 150 acres of rye that is starting to sprout in the swath and no sunshine in sight!!It was all sitting up on the stubble real nice but between the 500 sandhill cranes,1000 Canada geese,and 10 bazillion friggin' ducks that have been on it,it is all punched down onto the ground and sprouting.I wonder what the wildlife people would say if I whined to them???No I don't wonder.They would say"That wildlife belongs to everyone and is there for everyone's enjoyment"....until it starts to cost EVERYONE some money,then it is no longer EVERYONE'S problem it is MY problem.
Sure would be nice to get kissed first at least once in a while!
Oh well,I'll put that sprouted rye through a steer and make a fortune....no wait...???!!!!
Is there any NEW money in that half a billion Mitchell announced today????
I didn't think so either!!!
Smoke and mirrors if you ask me.

[wd40]

Back in 1986 (if I can remember that far back) we salvaged 1000's of acres like that with a silage chopper and a bagger. The bagger creates a oxygen free environment so it stores just like it went in. We also added NH3 to some bags which addes nitrogen(protein) which make it more usable to the rumen and breaks down the celulose cells walls which make it more digestable. Sure worked for us.

[cakadu]

The description that you give Joe does not take away from the frustation at having all those birds snacking on their way south.

I hope that there is some way for you to salvage what you can from it.

I can't help but wonder what would happen if the local bird office came asking for a donation. ;-)

[ivbinconned]

Back in about 83-84 we got a heavy wet snow on October 15th ...and it stayed. With in weeks there were hundreds of deer climbing all over our round bales. I called the moose and goose department to see if we could get some compensation for the damage. They said no!!
I asked what can I do...they said bring in a bunch of hunters...I said that would not be much sport and that it would be like shooting steers in a feedlot. They said so what.
I then informed them that in two days I would have 50 shooters all lined up at one time and would have the CBC and other media here to record the onslaught........! They responded with a no no don't do that...we will call you tomorrow.

The next day...wala...they had a program, cash for damage, fence for the hay and a pellet feeding station!

[Horse]

A few yr ago I had a deer problem and it cost me app 120 bails second cut hay it kind of hurt but in all truth I have got more out of the wildlife than I have out of farming that is to say not having wildlife around would be a sad thing its to bad they do seem to pick out a certan spot to call home in tough times.

[Horse]

PS I have app 70 acres of greenfeed that the wildlife might just as well ate because some of its under water and the rest is about as black as it can get but I still will have to get it off the field.

[cswilson]

I'vebinconned you talking bout that Oct. storm twenty years ago brought back a ton of memories-I was an R.O.P. weighman and I weighed 500 calves in that blizzard at Twin H. My first set of calves were coming out of the pasture too but the truckers couldn't get them out cause of the roads. Remember being froze up and worried that night then waking up to my neighbor knocking on the door to tell me my Dad had just died in hospital(cancer). My mom had asked him to come down and tell me-kind of makes me think that we got thru that so maybe this BSE deal will pass too.

[CattleAnnie]

Yeah, it's a real interesting conundrum, isn't it?

1. The wildlife are the "property" of the Provincial gov'ts (correct me if I'm wrong on this,k?) : if you want to hunt one, you must first buy a licence and then a tag to do so. Should you decide not to follow their rules and regulations and shall we say "put one in the freezer a little early" (after all, they would certainly be better eating than all fired up from being in rut), if caught you would lose your firearms, licence, boat/truck/tractor(whatever you hauled it home with), trophy mounts, etc.:
shame on you!

2. But, if that aforesaid wildlife is in your crop or hay yard, eating up your property, so to speak OR if you should happen to wreck your vehicle while having an untimely meeting with one of those creatures :
sucks to be you!

Ain't that a kicker? Pretty crafty folks in politics afterall, I'm inclined to think. If it makes them money, it's theirs, but if it's going to cost them money, too bad - so sorry - act of God, etc etc etc.

Take care.

[CattleAnnie]

PS.
We got almost a foot of snow total accumulation up here this last week.

It's melted now, but not before it flattened all the oats. Greenfeeds gone out the door. Don't know if they can salvage them for silage either - like Horse said, fields too wet to move equipment on without bogging.

Even those poor souls who hadn't finished haying due to the wet weather here since mid August are "S.O.L."because the alfalfa fields are fairly vertically challenged as well.

On the brighter side for the farmers, barley stood up a bit better and wheat came through not too bad considering.

We sure do live in interesting times.
Take care.

[CattleAnnie]

Seems that every year the weatherman thows some real curve balls at us, but we do get through it. cswilson, you are so right, we have all been faced with personal challenges and managed to come out the other side of them, so we will get through the BSE crisis as well. Likely with a few scars, but hopefully we will have an industry that is stronger and more viable in the longterm.

[farmers_son]

Cswilson: Read your comments on your memories of that day. I have been in similar situations and like you we pulled through, but it shakes you up at the time. You are right, we will look back on BSE and wet falls as struggles we overcame. People are most important and family members even more so. Thanks for sharing your memory, brought back some of my own.