I am finding the days going very fast and the weeks are passing me by quickly. We are still organizing seed, trials and weighing out seed as I can. The weighing goes quite quickly it is setting the trials up that takes the time. All our seed that is in our smaller trials are weighed out in small coin envelopes. You can imagine how many envelopes we go through! Then making the markers. We go through a pile of those as well. I am still a bit nervous on our drainage issues and am nervous about jamming too many trials in. A fair number of dollars are spent on trials and the last thing you want is bad data or no data at all. We have still only found one summer student and would prefer two so if you know of a student looking for work, have them reach out.
We had a busy lambing week. Still waiting on one ewe and one cow. I was proposing some sort of pool to determine who will finish first. One of our ewes popped out quads. I have likely mentioned this many times – I would prefer two and would even be happy with one! One of the quads was extremely small and ended up not making it despite our efforts. We are supplementing them with a bottle, but they are all nursing their mom. The biggest issue is once you have started it is hard to quit. Sheep don’t allow lambs to nurse anytime they please and they only stand for maybe 15 seconds so with only two teats if you miss out on the window you are out and better be first in line the next time around. We had lots of company throughout the weekend with people coming to visit the new arrivals.
It is Emo Spring Fever week! Though it looks like the weather is going to change and maybe not be as warm as we’d like – it is still a great time to get to Emo. Rainy River Meats is hosting “Street Meat” Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. We will have a different special each day. Things are tight again at the Abattoir and Rainy River Meats. Live cattle prices are higher, and this challenges all small abattoirs across Canada. The board is getting tired and come the AGM they will be looking for new faces.
Since our Spring Cattle sale is quickly approaching on April 27, the RRCA board is planning a “Clean Up” day at the Sales Barn this Saturday beginning at 9:00 a.m. There are a few smaller tasks that should be completed before the sale. James has been rounding up cattle and the numbers are looking very good. If you are interested in working, please reach out to James.
Kingsford Vet Services is hosting a producer night this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Emo Legion. Looks like a great agenda with some knowledgeable speakers.
I have been getting plenty of comments on the new building at the Research Station. The building doesn’t belong to us. Rainy River Future Development owns the building, and it will be used for storage of the hops harvester, baler and the events tent. The hops harvester is not a big machine, but it has a large conveyer system that makes if difficult for storage. We are maxed out in our shop. This will also make it much easier for others to pick up the harvester when they want to use it.
