How'd it go today?

Where ya heading?

I'm just getting comfortable with 2-3 weeks of quality jobs scheduled vs 6+ weeks of ho hum work.
 
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MT

Well, I guess we are now in a stage 4 drought. There is no stage 5!

Reservoir that feeds the river our town is on is about mud. The earth quake we had a while back damaged the diversion we use to fill the reservoir.

Irrigation shut off next week. Town moving to severe water restrictions. Possibly shutting off bulk water plant used buy stock water haulers and people hauling drinking water to cisterns.

We are hauling 8000 gallons of water a day to the cows. 1500 of that is coming from our well at home. The rest is coming out of a drain ditch next to to town. Which should be going to dry up when they shut the canal off. Not sure what I will do then. Maybe start pipelining again.

Grazing hay land. Should have enough hay to winter on....or should have had enough. Can't get our bred heifers sold right now, or a split load of calves.

Don't have the extra grass to feed them and can't afford to buy hay....if you could find any to buy. Not sure what to do about that.

People are liquidating herds. Cant afford to feed em this winter and people are out of grass. Market depressed.

Crops have failed. Safflower will be grazed I hope. We are going to try to cut the lentils. Very short and very few pods filled. Maybe get our seeding cost back?

Wheat did not fill, or very little of it did.

Garden failed. Crab apple harvest failed.

Well at home failed....but I got it going again! The well house is infested with snakes though.....sucks.

Dogs killed all the chickens again....so chickens failed. No eggs or meat.

Getting to where I don't like those counterfeit.....

Boat failed, but they closed the lake any way. Was going to teach daughter to water ski.

On the bright side my dad's dog is doing better.
 
Wow, Stephen and Jim, feeling for you both, here's praying for a good break for you guys, at least enough to get your feet back under you instead of scrabbling for air.
Wish there was something I could do...
 
WOW! That is some shit Jim! Crop insurance?

Not very much.

That was one of the risks involved in going "sustainable". Instead of fallowing the land we planted cover crops. The year after you plant cover crops, this year, all of your crop land is considered "re-crop".

Your insurance premium is double and your coverage is less than half. Of course, with sustainable practices you did not need insurance! You were going to have so much money left over you did not need it! :)


I knew last year that the only thing that could screw us was a terrible drought.........:|:
 
Shit, Jim.
This is starting to sound like something out of the Dust Bowl.

This really sucks.........big time.
 
20170725_usdm_home.png


Driest damn spot in the nation. Good thing no one lives out here!


This is the second damn time the dogs have wiped out the chickens Butch.

Both the dogs and chickens have value, not sure which is higher.
 
Are you seriously comparing dogs to chickens, man?

Go have a large Jack Daniels, let it hit the system, then take a look at your dogs.

Them chickens will seem like nothing in comparizon.
 
Jeez, Jim.
I can't begin to fathom how hard that must be.
Being stuck in a place and slowly seing it go down the drain, from factors that you can't control.
I ain't the praying kind, but my thoughts are with you.
 
Ha, thanks Stig.

Its pretty bleak, thats for sure.

We have huge pastures with grass in them, but no water now.

Some bright spots however. We bought a water tanker early. People are scrambling now for tankers and places to fill them.

The bank and wife have been after me for years to sell off excess hay. Turn it into cash. WTF am I going to do with cash? A couple of days ago my wife apologized to me, indirectly, in a conversation with someone else, for pressuring me to sell.

I have lived here a long time, and the old Conrads have been here 100 years before that. I listened to the stories of disaster from the old timers. Always be prepared.

The old men talked more about the disasters than they did the successes. Usually there was more disaster anyway.

You dont learn from success, you learn from disaster. At least thats how it on the dry prairie.
 
Hard times make hard men. Unbelievable shit storm you are going through, Jim.

Stephen, you too. I can only hope that these hardships end soon and that things improve as fast as they can.
 
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