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Goings on at a Kansas buffalo farm.
 The Bison Farm Visitors Center was used on Monday for a "think tank" meeting of Farm Bureau people, trying to figure out ways to best promote agriculture and the crops we grow for consumers.
So since I'm thinking about agriculture products this week, here's a photo of another crop grown in our area. This farmer was baling alfalfa this morning.
The 1 to 2 foot alfalfa is cut above the plant's crown when the crop is blooming with its purple flowers. It is raked into windrows and sometimes raked again to allow air to dry the plants out. The baler drives over the windrow, picking it up and rolling the dry plants into a tight round bale, and automatically tying baling twine around the whole bale to keep it together.  When the bale is finished, the back end of the baler hydraulically opens up and kicks the bale out. Alfalfa bales usually weigh around 1500 lbs. This dried alfalfa is a perennial plant that can be cut three to five times during the growing season, depending on the rain fall, and it will be used as winter protein feed for livestock. Our bison like to eat these bales too because they eat the fresh version in their pasture.
Here's a snapshot of our growing calves coming up to the water tank. Except for the two younger calves, they look like 8-10 year old kids- and act like it too. They now eat grass and drink water from the tank, and play as a group- but run to mom when she calls, and to raid her for a satisfying chug of milk.
 It's been a while since I mentioned the pumpkin patch, so here's a snapshot of the first blossom I noticed this morning when I turned on the drip tape system on zone 1. The plants are growing vines and slowly taking over the alleys between the rows. We'll be into fall harvest before we know it. Labels: agriculture, alfalfa, bales, Bison, Bison Farm, Farm Bureau, pumpkins, Smoky Hill Bison Visitors Center
 As I drove down the Visitors Center driveway this morning, I noticed that the cows had pushed the portable water tank up against the fence, bowing out the wire. That caused a big gap, just enough for a calf to walk through, especially if it gets trapped between a couple of cows and the water tank.
 I took some photos of the pretty front flowers around the Visitors Center when I got out of the car, thinking I could talk about them for my farm diary today. Dyllan came in early this morning to do some wall painting in the gift shop, so we chatted a minute after I walked in the door. I asked him to turn off the electric fence and move the water tank back into the pasture. As I said that I looked out the window and there stood SanDiego, the youngest calf, in the middle of the driveway with a look of surprise in her face. She got pushed out and didn't know what to do next.
"Let's go get her in," I said as I reached for the camera that I had just placed on my desk.
"Oh yeah, it's Farm Diary Day..." was Dyllan's reply. So here's the "story of the day"...
Labels: Bison, Bison Farm, buffalo, Smoky Hill Bison Visitors Center
 Loren and Dad finished wheat harvest Tuesday. Mom usually rides along in the grain truck to the elevator at least once during the season, so here's a photo documenting their 62nd wheat harvest together. And here's a photo of a neighbors field that says it all- a full bin of wheat in the combine, a full truckload and a harvested field of bright yellow straw. Kansas farmers have had some bad weather and luck with the past few wheat harvests, so wonderful to get a good crop off the field this year. Labels: Kansas, wheat harvest
 Wheat harvest is the main activity in Kansas right now.
It's a hot dry 97 degrees today and the harvest combines are going full blast, trying to get the wheat out of the fields before the weather turns to storms again.
Overall the fields have been averaging 50-65 bushels to the acre, which is a good yield. Last year we had a late freeze and the average yield was between 7-20 bushels to the acre.
The wheat price is currently up- which is good to offset the cost of fuel. (The combine will hold 85-100 gallons of diesel.)
Here are photos of my brother combining across the road from the Bison Farm, and my 85 year old Dad waiting for a full truck load of wheat to haul to the elevator.
 It's hot but very satisfying work to get the crop in!Labels: Bison, Bison Farm, buffalo, Kansas prairie, Smoky Hill Bison Visitors Center, wheat harvest
 Baby Alert! The highlight of this week was that Camille had her very first calf yesterday. It is so tiny, especially when compared to the calves born two months ago. I'm guessing it only weighs 40 lbs instead of the usual 50-60 lbs, but that can be typical for a first pregnancy.
Otherwise it's been a quiet week at the Bison Farm...which is fine by me. No tornados, floods, hail, buffalo breakout...Oh, except that the tractor has a flat tire, but Dyllan is taking it off now to get fixed...
 The long season pumpkin varieties are planted, three new grazing paddocks are seeded, and now we have a little lull before we start getting ready for the fall season.
So now's the time for me to work on the website, get new products up, tweak here and there to improve traffic and sales.
Labels: babies, Bison, Bison Farm, Smoky Hill Bison Visitors Center
 First thing at 9 am Patty was walking by the office window and said "Why are the buffalo running down the alley?"
"WHAT!?!" was my reaction as I whirled my chair around to the see the last of them galloping by. They just blasted through a five-wire gate!
Running out to the porch I see Dyllan scrambling to close a back gate he had just opened to drive down to check water tanks.
Takoda and the cows stopped just past Dyllan, in the alley across the fence from four "next for the freezer" bulls and jumped, snorted and carried on, having a blast at their antics.
Buffalo!! We had all these orders to pack and the calves and yearling heifers were playing Tic Tac Toe between paddocks! (This was the first sign that there was no voltage in their electric fence.)
I drove the pickup into the pasture yelling "Come Esther!!" out the window, with Dyllan sitting in the back shaking the "treats" bucket. Esther (and the reluctant herd) was obediently following behind me until a group of visitors stepped out on the porch to watch their move. That set the herd off and back down the alley they ran. I tried one more time, but they knew they were supposed to go back and just didn't want to.
I decided, heck, they would come back when they were thirsty and we went back inside to get the Father's Day orders ready to ship.
About 2 pm, they came moseying back, and as I shut the gate, here was a broken wire on it that was too tempting for a calf or heifer and that, with no voltage, started the whole scenario.
Dyllan fixed the gate, got the voltage back up, and we got the orders done before UPS and FedEx picked up at the end of the day.
It's never a dull moment when you live with buffalo!Labels: Bison, Bison Farm, buffalo, Smoky Hill Bison Visitors Center
 I didn't get my email out yesterday due to the storm preparation, and having the computers off.
Wednesday the National Weather Service issued a "very significant weather alert", saying conditions Thursday would closely resemble those of June 8, 1974 when 36 tornados touched down on the Plains, costing lots of damage and lives. They were also predicting large hail to the mix too.
Yesterday morning was super windy and hot, with clouds tumbling constantly in the sky. We prepared for the storm that could cause damage to our farm on top of the hill.
Porch tables, chairs and anything that could fly in high winds was moved into the shop out of the weather. The car and pickup were parked on the Visitors Center porch to be protected from the hail.
We cut the ropes that held on the tram tarp and took it off so it wouldn't be torn by hail, and cause the tram to be picked up and slammed against the building. (We've had that happen in the last little tornado we had...)
I had emergency things in the center bathroom and we were ready. The tornado sirens were activated in local towns when the temperature plummeted and the storm hit late afternoon.
Of course my big worry was what would happen to the buffalo herd (and the babies). There was nothing we could do but watch. When the storm hit, they laid down (which is their typical response to lightning), then got back up when the rain slowed down.
The photos (taken from the porch) show the herd in the distance- one when the storm was moving in, and the second when it was just steadily raining. During the worst we couldn't see the herd at all, let alone the van on the far end of the porch.
 Locally we got two heavy downpours and little hail. There were a few reports of tornados before the storm left the state and still some flooding of creeks and rivers yet today, but overall we were lucky this time.
Today it's a calm beautiful 78 degree day. What a wonderful contrast from yesterday! Labels: babies, Bison Farm, buffalo, Smoky Hill Bison Visitors Center
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When the bale is finished, the back end of the baler hydraulically opens up and kicks the bale out. Alfalfa bales usually weigh around 1500 lbs. This dried alfalfa is a perennial plant that can be cut three to five times during the growing season, depending on the rain fall, and it will be used as winter protein feed for livestock.
It's been a while since I mentioned the pumpkin patch, so here's a snapshot of the first blossom I noticed this morning when I turned on the drip tape system on zone 1. The plants are growing vines and slowly taking over the alleys between the rows. We'll be into fall harvest before we know it.
