2023, animals, Farming Update, Nature, pets, Uncategorized

Baby Kangaroo What?

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Today’s Farm Report comes from Ben

I got a farm magazine the other day and one of the headlines is: “Baby kangaroo poop may hold the key to reducing cows’ methane emissions”. Huh. I googled ‘baby Kangaroo poop’ because I was curious about how many hits there would be on that and how much research has been done on baby kangaroo poop. 2,070,000 hits. I didn’t venture past page 1, and most of the sites are what it’s like inside a kangaroo pouch and how to they stay clean? Which is a good question that I hadn’t thought about before. (The mama ‘roo licks it out to keep it clean. Plus, she produces antimicrobial substances which helps it all stay OK in there.) The things you learn.

And in regard to cows’ methane emissions, “… previous studies had already shown that instead of producing methane, the kangaroo microbes produce acetic acid. Further research revealed that the bacteria only occurs in baby kangaroos, not adults.” *

And the acetic acid prevents methane from producing. It’s been tested in the lab. The next step is testing in live cattle. And the hope is to add it to the diet of cattle. Hmm.

When does a dog start to shed? What triggers that? Bailey still has her thick winter coat and she’s not shedding yet. We’ve been brushing her, and she hasn’t lost much yet. I know other years, it was hot and well into summer before she started to shed. We should just take her to a groomer and get her a haircut.

The crops need a rain. We’re at 770 GDU’s; +245 over normal.

Oats is shorter than we’d like considering it was planted April 14. Corn is doing OK yet. And the soybeans… well, they need a rain to get going. If a seed is sitting in dry dirt, it won’t sprout. It’s hard to believe just a few weeks ago I had wet fields, but the top 3 inches are dry now and the fields are rough looking.

They always say to get seed in the ground ASAP. Beans that were planted two week before mine had the moisture and look good.

This year, just for the heck of it, when planting soybeans with the drill, I left two rows open, plugged one, left two open. That makes 2 rows 7.5” apart, then a 15” gap, then 2 more 7.5”.  Why not try it I figured.

We had a baby chick hatch in the incubator last Sunday evening. (S)he was a week early! I wasn’t expecting any until next Monday, the 12th! It’s usually 28 or 29 days to hatch baby chicks or guineas. Guess the mom had been sitting on this one a few days already.

Well, s/he did fine and it’s in the pen with the mail order chicks which arrived on Tuesday. Everyone is doing well so far.

 

I took some video our the new chicks and put it on YouTube. Here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tK2w-K4lzkE

Other projects at home this past week, I got the corn planter and drill cleaned out and put away, outside for now. The concrete guys are here working on my outside slab. I am VERY excited for this outside slab!

I’ve also got the new pump for the pressure washer, I’m rebuilding the fuel sediment bowl on the old 630 tractor, I’ve cut grass, I’ve ordered lumber and picked up some ‘re-stock’ windows for the shed project. I returned my extra seed, and I hauled that fertilizer wagon to the auction site. Normally, you can’t really exceed about 25 mph when towing a wagon. They don’t trail very well and will sway left and right. I could do 26 mph with the fertilizer wagon and only have a little sway. Any faster than that and it swayed crazily. Get that sway bad enough and it will flip the wagon over on it’s side and mess up your day.   

I was 15 miles from home with 5 miles to go and in the mirror, I saw a mouse climbing up the wagon frame. Wow! I thought, 1) Where did he come from; where had he been hiding?? And 2) he’s going to be so confused when we get there! But about then he lost his grip and fell to the road. He failed to scamper away for the few seconds I could still see him. Yeah, some trip. 

We had one guinea chick hatch on Wednesday, I could hear it cheeping before s/he even got out of the shell. Number one, he’s a crazy chick! Kelly calls him ‘Speedy’. I think s/he, the chick, really just want’s a friend.! Thursday another started to hatch, but s/he didn’t get out very fast, and that membrane dries up and gets hard and I finally cut him out. He took a long time to come around, but he’s doing real well now. And Friday morning we had 2 more. They’re all crazy!

And at the theater, we finally have working AC in the theater! It took 10 months from when we first moved the seats and painted ductwork.

Volunteers painted that in August and it got hung up, got beams on the roof in January, the rooftop unit arrived in May, and then it was just finishing the ductwork connections. And I’ll tell ya, that was far more complicated than I expected! It was really interesting observing the guys doing it.

But now it’s so cold in the theater, I may need sleeves!

*https://newatlas.com/environment/baby-kangaroo-bacteria-cows-methane-emissions/

 

EVER TAKEN A BOXING CLASS?

ARE YOU USUALLY EARLY OR LATE?

WHAT ABOUT KANGAROOS?

31 thoughts on “Baby Kangaroo What?”

  2. Mama kangaroo has no womb. A few weeks after conception, the bean sized baby breaks out of a yolk sac in a semi-embyonic state and must crawl OUTSIDE its mother and get into the pouch to continue development. It takes about 3 minutes to cover the distance guided by smell as the baby has no eyes or ears. Once inside, it physically attaches to a nipple to continue development for many months.

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  3. I’ve never had the slightest interest in boxing, either in watching it or in doing it myself. But I can remember, when I was very young, that boxing used to be televised—Friday Night Fights?—and my Dad would watch them. They were sponsored by Pabst beer (Whadd’ll you have? Pabst Blue Ribbon. Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer).

    Last year I was reading my way through New Yorker writers—Joseph Mitchell, A. J. Liebling, E. B. White, Lewis Mumford, etc. A. J. Liebling had a particular fascination with the boxing scene and a lot of his stories were based there but since the stories were first and foremost character studies they were interesting nevertheless.

    When we had kids at home and thereby more individuals to corral, we were less punctual. These days we have to be mindful not to show up too early, which can be awkward in its own way.

    I’m in favor of kangaroos.

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  5. Ooh, thanks for the pics of the baby chicks!.. and this, Ben: “Get that sway bad enough and it will flip the wagon over on it’s side and mess up your day.”
    So when it’s this dry, the seeds will just sit there in the ground and be OK until whenever the rain gets them going, right? Is there ever a point at which they dry out too much before that happens?

    Boxing – are you kidding?

    Like Bill, I try to not be early, which isn’t usually a problem, as I’m often just a few minutes late. If I’m going to be 15 minutes or more late, I’ll try and call, largely because it allows me to relax.

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    1. Daughter has been taking a ‘fit-boxing’ class. The point is to do it fast enough be an aerobic workout. Lots of stretching exercises, kicking, punching, and other exercises. She likes the class, but not well enough to do it that fast. But having a standing punching bag at home has been a good idea; she takes her frustrations out on that frequently.

      Seeds. They *should* be OK. After all, weed seeds have sprouted hundreds of years later.
      In this case, it may not produce a crop if it doesn’t have enough time to reach maturity. Usually, the seed still sprouts, but doesn’t have enough moisture and energy to reach the surface.

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  8. no boxing lessons formally but i got into fights as a boy
    marquess of gueensbury didn’t always go home guys wore steel toed shoes and kicked as primary weapon

    i’m an early guy.if i’m with late people i implode
    if an early has something go south they can scramble if a late person has a problem you may as well skip it it

    kangaroos have always been a mystery
    everything about them is off just a hair to a whole lot
    i’ll bet they’d be interesting to study
    all the stuff we ever see is kangaroo reaction and interaction with intrusive fighting bouncing away
    what recthey like if you track them like wokves

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  9. No on a boxing class, but since my fantasy character-wannabe is Jack Reacher, some sort of self-defense class might be in order. But then again, I don’t hang with violent types or go to the wrong neighborhoods at night.

    Kangaroos? Unique in the animal world, I suppose, for their hopping ability. Cuter than most adult animals. I can’t help noticing how much they look like T-Rexes with those short front legs and huge back legs & feet.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  11. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I am resting up today after a taxing trip to Iowa yesterday with my son and husband to make what was probably a last visit to my mom. She had dramatically changed since my last visit only 12 days ago. She did recognize us and said the flowers I brought were beautiful, but other than that she just wanted to sleep. So the end is upon us. Our puppy stayed with a friend for the day. Today she also is sleeping and lower energy than usual. A neighbor looked in on Bootsy who just stayed home in puppy-less bliss.

    Ben the chick pictures and reports are so interesting. We drove home through a lot of rain yesterday near Owatonna—I hope that means that the dry field is now damp and germinating.

    I am pro-kangaroo and I find them interesting. People I have met who have lived in Australia describe them as like deer here. Maybe I would not enjoy actually living with them in my backyard like our deer, but they are appealing from a distance. There is probably an endless source of baby kangaroo poo in Australia, so I hope they solve the bovine methane issue. No boxing of any kind here.

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    2. Sadly, no rain here. Almost chilly this morning, and a cold wind all day.

      One other thing about planting; you want the seed deep enough to develop good root structure and use the available moisture down there.
      But then if the rains are all brief showers, it doesn’t soak in enough to reach the roots.

      There’s also an old saying, “Plant in the dust and bins will bust” followed by “Plant in mud your year will be a dud”.
      I don’t know, we’ll see.

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