The barn is silent and empty.......

+1 Well said.. Cows are such docile creatures I just hope the new owners treat them well..

Ray

Just an idea for ya quads ;-P

loon

Quads, Sorry that you've lost your friends. I hope things end up better for you.

Loon, Where's the wood stove and where's Quads gonna keep all his wood on that thing?

quads, I don't think it is so much the uneven floors as much as the cold cement floors. It does take a toll. It also sounds like you might take the path we did. We got great enjoyment from our motor home and still miss it but the price of gas is a bit scary now. As for the bike, that will be good for the knees is you use it right. The big thing is to have lots of gearing on it. Keep it in a low enough gear so you don't put a lot of pressure on the knees. I also had to graduate from the old style bike to the recumbent when my body really started objecting. The tennis elbow was bad but not as bad as the carpal tunnel thing. Then there is the shoulder problem but the final thing that drove me away from them is the neck problems. That hurt bad. So, I graduated to a recumbent bike and it is amazing the difference. Now I can see the road and all around me rather than spending most of the time looking down at the front wheel and the pavement. Here is a picture of one of my bikes:

Backwoods has a got a point on the knees. Also, take time to get an opinion from a doc or a qualified PT on your joints. Need to rebuild in the right direction.


FWIW--i have been a self employed Milk hauler for 20 yrs. Seen a few situations like you had. Heartbreaking to say the least. Sounds like you got a great family.....we've seen worse, but still rough.

Start goofing around more with the camera. you got the touch. Now with digital it's takes the bite out of some of the cost.

You get bored, come on up..... you drive this when you get here....

HA! That camper bike looks neat, but I'm not sure if I'd have power enough to move it! My old bike is just a single speed, and coaster brakes. HAHA! Maybe that milk truck could double a s a motorhome for me. Make money and go camping at the same time.

Not sure about the stacks yet flatbed? BUT!! ;-)

And to think back to when we used to put our milk in cans rather than the bulk tank. I still laugh when they made us switch and said no more cans after (date). Then we found out the milk would be picked up every other day and most farmers around just shook their heads remembering the times the milkman had to stir and stir until the milk reached temperature so he could haul it. My how things do change! I think about this every time I see today's milk haulers.

Funny you mentioned cans. The last few yrs i am getting a number of Amish moving in. Mainly from NYS,Ohio,Ky. They are what i term"old school" Amish. They milk by hand, pour over into milk cans that are submerged in ice water. When done milinmg all the cows, they transport the cans(by horse and buggy) to the community milk room. Usually 4 tanks in each modern house. 1 tank for each family. They pour the milk into a modern tank. So far they're quality has been exceptional. i can give them a decent rate for hauling by making 1 stop with the truck. interesting people to say the least.

The Amish family in my area that runs a dairy farm are a little more modern . . . while they do not do the electricity thing in their homes, harvest ice in the winter and do not have the farm connected to the power lines they are keeping the milk chilled with the use of a generator. And yes . . . very interesting folks . . . and wicked friendly and accomodating as they have allowed us to continue to use their land for ATV and snowmobile trails.

My uncle, that used to own the farm before my cousin, had a milk hauling business many, many years ago. He handled a lot of milk cans! The only milk cans on the farm these days were setting in front of the milkhouse with flowers planted in the lids! HA!

I am so making that out of pallets !!

Pete

Enjoyed the Pic's Quads. Sorry about the farm. Hope you and your family are well.

Thanks! I got the papers from the estate's lawyer yesterday. I am officially an heir, one of......27! But it isn't about inheriting anything to me, I don't care about money and possessions. I just thought it was odd that after I was the only other relative to have anything to do with the farm and cows all these years and suddenly there are so many other relatives, many of which I have never even met, are heirs to the farm. HAHA!

Ya, well, I haven't seen any money. I might actually be an heir of bills! HA!

HAHA! Exactly BeGreen!

Too bad it did not work out different so you could have kept farming, its a way of life that can be hard to let go.

Yes, but my cousin neglected the farm quite a bit. It's rundown enough that without some serious upgrades it's really hard to make any money at it. Especially with so few cows in a barn that is 100+ years old. And I'm too old to start all over again......HA!

I know what you are going through. We just sold a 40 acre farm that had been in the family since about 1920. The guy that bought was in my class at High school and gave us a more than fair price and lives about a 1/4 mile from the farm and has farmed my land at my house for about 20years and is honest as the day as long.
He called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that the fire dept. was going to burn the barn down for practice at no charge to him. About 45 minutes later he called and said things had changed and a guy was coming to take the barn apart and then he sells the siding and beams. I would have hated to see it go up in flames. Plus this way maybe part of our family legacy can live on as a mantle or room siding in somebody's house.

Now we are moving on to selling a 80 acre farm that has been in the family since 1868! I am having real issues about this but I know that life has to go on. The kid that is buying this is a Grandson of the guy that was farming it after my Grandfather retired in the 70's, so I know it is going into good hands and he is buying just 70 acres and I am buying 10 acres from my 4 sisters which is basically the old house,barn,sheds,some swamp and woods.

Hang in there I think we are both old and tough enough to survive. Sometimes a good crying time by yourself helps also.

Take care.

Gary

Thanks Gary! This is a total of three old family farms that my cousin owned. All will be gone. I'm not even sure exactly how much land is involved yet, but what I could think of off the top of my head is 575 acres. Plus he owned an old store in the tiny town up the road from us, which he sold auto parts out of years ago. And he had an auto-body repair shop which he no longer operated. 5 houses, and I don't know how many sheds and other buildings. To top it all off, he was a hoarder. Large collections of various things, mostly antiques, and a huge collection of old cars, tractors, and whatever else, and lots and lots of junk. The cows went first, the rest will follow suit probably within a year or so.

I come from a family farm of 1500 acres. Has there been any talk of renting out the farm? Capital gains taxes will eat your family up if you decide to sell. I hate to see family farms be dismantled for the almighty dollar. It takes so many years to put them together. Sweat, blood and memories. Good luck to you and your family.