Outdoor chores near end

Another week of beautiful weather across Rainy River District. Hard to believe it’s already approaching mid-November!
My helper at the Emo Agricultural Research Station (Chantelle) and I were busy this past week with the bio-mass grasses. The miscanthus has a very tough stem but the hedge trimmer worked awesome.
The crop dryer is full of our grass samples again and as they dry we will be calculating yields.
I still have to go out and swath a few switch grass plots but other than organizing and getting all our equipment stored in the shop, we are nearing the end of our outdoor jobs.
Our lab looks like a tornado went through it, however, so we will be addressing that as soon as all our seed and samples are cleaned and weighed.
• • •
Marlee was out for a sleep-over at Grandma’s on the weekend and she was ticked with my boyfriend/partner and me.
I guess we “made her feelings hurt,” according to her. Luckily, she didn’t hold a grudge too long and she was helping me farm on Saturday.
We were tattooing our heifers and she was the gate holder, keeping the heifers calm while I worked on them. This was a change since her big sister was at a “big girls’ sleep-over!”
We also made it out to visit Grandma Grace and all her company from Dryden. Sydney and Chelsea (Clayton’s great-nieces) were down on a hunting trip but “Mar Mar” was too shy to visit.
• • •
The Rainy River Federation of Agriculture held its annual meeting on Saturday. This used to be a big night, with good attendance, but it was a pretty quiet night this year.
Supper was delicious, however, so those who chose not to attend missed out. It seems people only come out when there is something controversial going on.
Bernie Zimmerman will continue on as president for another term.
• • •
We installed the ground rods and wiring for my new high-powered electric fencer over the weekend.
I like to run a hot wire in the winter yards as I find the cattle tend to respect all fences this way, especially calves. If they get a good zap right off the bat, they tend to respect everything a lot better for the rest of their lives.
I also hope that with the sheep, it might keep the predators out, as well.
I keep thinking about that big ugly wolf that I had seen and hoping he isn’t still close by!

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