Tammy and I went on a fly-in to Washington DC sponsored by South Dakota Farmers Union.  There were about thirty people from South Dakota and around three hundred Farmers Union members from across the country on the fly-in.  We attended briefings on the current status of the Farm Bill.  Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addressed our group one morning.  We broke up into small groups and went around visiting the offices of many Senators and Congressmen.

As we flew home Wednesday evening through Denver we got a view of the flooding east of Denver.  We flew through a rain storm on the way to Rapid City.  It was a rough ride for a bit, but we made it safely.  The next morning I went out and started baling sorghum.  The bales were really thick.  Four bales an acre.

All the haying we had done this summer we got about one bale an acre.  Once the sorghum was baled I moved to the millet and baled that field. Then I went up and stacked the bales into hay stacks to be moved with the stackmover.  I started moving stacks from Ryan's to over here.  A fifteen mile trip one way that take about two hours to complete.

Last April I got seven baby chicks.  I have taken care of them all summer.  They have just started laying eggs.  I had been checking the nests every day thinking there would be a surprise one morning and about two weeks ago I got my first surprise.

Now there are about five hens laying eggs every day.  It is kind of fun to gather eggs, but we need to find someone to help us eat all these eggs.  Tammy and I can only eat so many eggs.

Here is what was waiting one morning after we had gathered early one day and later the next day.  So more than 24 hours had elapsed.

Yesterday we started vaccinating the calves with their fall shots.  We brought the cows home from up north and sorted off the calves to give the shots.  We then sorted off the bulls and hauled them to Ryan's.

Here the calves await their turn at getting a shot.  We purchased some cows last year so that is where we got the Charlois calves. These calve for the most part are April and May born.  With the late summer rains and the pastures greening up they are sure doing good.

After we were done working the calves we headed back to the pasture.  They stopped for a cool drink of water on the way back.  The wind was blowing forty miles and hour making the ripples in the water.  The water was a nice clear blue color making a nice picture.