Month: July 2014

Fencing and barn work.

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Machine shop hay gate installed.

Milk lean to old opening on barn.

Today was HOT!!  106 F for most of the day.  We worked for 12 hours to get a jump on needed tasks.  Mr. President’s brother is still helping me out.  We started at 0600 in an attempt to beat the heat, but it did not stay cool long.  We installed a hay gate on the machine shop.  I used a pressure treated 4×4 and also drilled a hole into the concrete on the latch side to install a permanent latch attachment.  There is no way the bull is going to get in there now.  All that tasty hay just out of reach. 

Milk lean to, barn end view.

Milk lean to with new siding and repair job.

New end opening on milk lean to.  Just needs some gates. 

Horse snack time.

After the gate was done we moved down to the cattle guard.  I wanted to get the woven wire and barbed wire done on the left side of the gate.  That way when it is safe to weld we can just install the iron tires and weld them in place.  The fence works great as an initial stabilizer and allows us to wire the wheels in place until they are welded.  I don’t want to leave the rims out by the road without them being welded into one massive immobile fence.  It was getting very hot so we cleaned up and went in to eat lunch.  I ate 30% of a watermelon.  It tasted so good.  I had plans of going out to the road and installing the two 18 foot gates but it was too hot.  I did not want to stand out in the sun.  So we went back to the barn to move the milking lean to access.  This way when we shut the green gate the animals can just run out to the square pen without us having to wire in the cattle panel to make the corner. 

We ended up ripping up some of the floor and changing out the entire corner beam as it was rotten on the bottom.  It did not help that it was the west side of the building in the hot afternoon sun.  It was hot!  I drank over a gallon of water today. 

We had to move the pickup into the barn lot as it had all our tools in it.  It only took the shop one day to the fix the pinion bearing in the rear end.  I got some twine wrapped around it when picking up the hay and it ruined it.  Not too expensive and very timely.  We had to keep chasing the horses away as they wanted to sample the paint job on the pickup.  I missed them once.  The pickup has two bite marks in the hood.  I have no idea why they like the paint off of vehicles. 

 

Hay epic has begun.

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First day progress
I want to thank my wife and Sean T from T25 fame for giving me the motivation to keep working out!
Last year, we moved 7 ton of hay with three people and I thought I was going to die.  I was sore for four days afterwards and couldn’t function for the first two.  This time around there were only two of us (Mr. President’s brother) and I.  We loaded 12 ton of hay in two days (15 hours).  All neat and tidy in the barn and ready for winter, 250 bales.  The horses had a great time today trying to eat grain only all day as we were unloading.  
I had the .243 just in case we saw any coyotes, we didn’t because I was prepared.  I did thin a rock chuck every day.  They hid after the first one of the day vanished.  We saw a small covey of baby pheasants and a baby deer today.  The bees were so thick in the thistles that the whole field was buzzing.  I am sure there is another hive out there somewhere.  Our hive in the barn has split twice already.  We are pretty happy with that.  I need to cover the access to the barn hive back up.  I may try sticking my phone in the wall and taking some pictures.  Last time I tried to get close pictures I got stung!  
We had a guy call and reserve 10 pregnant ewes.  He mailed us a deposit to hold them.  Our deal on the 43 sold fell through as the guy did not call back.  Tonight after my nap ( I said I could do it, not that I was not tired!), he called again and said he had lost his phone.  I told him there were 25 sheep left.  He said he would be here tomorrow.  Annmarie and I had to go out and sort the sheep.  We pulled off 8 ewes and four babies attached to those ewes.  There are 29-30 sheep left.  I called him back and said 29 sheep and if it’s 30 he can have it for free.  We sold five on Saturday. After next week we will have sold all our extras!  I will line up our lamb customers for next year in the late spring.  We will be selling lambs twice next year.  It will be great to get things under control.  We should have 10-15 tons of hay for sale next year also.  A hay elevator is on the list for next year!  Dragging bales to the top of the stack is tough work!  
As an added bonus it rained tonight and the hay was all in!
All done 12 ton in and ready for winter.

Farm 4, Predators 3

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It is only fair to give credit where it is due, I let the predators count the three baby lambs they snagged off the back hillside.  Gannon killed another possum so we get credit for that.  We are still not happy about the loss of the lambs. 

We caught the cows again on Thursday and doctored them.  Three of them had runny eyes so we squirted powder medicine in their eyes.  The calf we had treated earlier looked better but we doctored it again and put a patch over his eye.  He looks like a pirate now!  You squirt this glue, looks like rubber cement then slap it over the eye, ensuring no glue gets in the eye.  Said pirate ran into the fence several times before managing to get out of the square pen.  Obviously, he can still see out of the injured eye.  We ran all the cows into the square pen and then the chute.  The cows no longer want to go into the square chute!  It took a little while, three tries and some gentle pressure.  The one nutter kept getting in a fight and causing the cows to jump around.  
Annmarie got us some halters for the calves and they worked great!  Calf just leaned into them trying to pull away and then stayed still, way better than wrestling them to the ground and trying to pin them down
The end barn door was in sad shape.  I fixed it and added a wire panel so the sheep would not jump over the bottom section.  

It is coming…

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We broke down and did it, a sheep sorting system has been purchased. The best place in the country for sheep and goat handling supplies is Premeir Equipment.  We want to make a one time purchase that lasts the rest of our lives. It was not cheap, but one person will now be able to sort the sheep.  It cost $1800 for the system pieces but weighs almost 900 pounds so the freight shipping cost is another $600.  The sale of the sheep this year is going to cover the cost.  Hopefully, it arrives in the next two weeks. 

We are getting ready to catch the calf with the eye issues a third time today.  This has prompted us to start looking at cattle handling equipment. We have decided to build our own chutes from railroad ties and cattle panels and two more pens on the far side of the barn. We think we can get all materials for under $2000.  This is a next year spring project.  We still need to take measurements and draft out a design.  
I loaned our trailer and tractor out for two weeks and now I need to pickup hay.  So we purchased a ball assembly to go onto our fifth hitch rail.  We will now be able to borrow a gooseneck trailer.  I spent yesterday getting my parents trailer to a point were it is usable.  It’s not very big, but it will work.  I need to look at a set of forks for the tractor so I can pick up the hay all by myself.  Another convenience, necessary item, as it is sometimes difficult to line up help for a day or two only.  I will have to get a price quote on that from RDO.  They have been great and easy to work with on equipment and add ons. 
Our sheep deal fell through.  The guy called back once and said he was still interested just needed to make transport arrangements.  I called on Monday and left a message.  I have had three more calls this week. The new rule is a deposit is now required to hold any sheep.  I am going to update my craigslist posting to reflect this additional reality check.  It is an amazing tool, but I have sorted the sheep multiple times and people just don’t show up.  I did my second minivan load!  A tarp was thrown sown on the floor in the back of a minivan and sheep were loaded in!  It makes me chuckle every time they drive away.  
Our hay is baled and ready to be picked up.  It did very well and we bought an extra 1.7 tons so we should have almost 13-14 ton this winter.  Plenty to get us through any type of winter.  Next year, with the additional acreage we will probably have to sell a few tons of hay.  
It really does seem like we are gaining ground and making progress.  The ultimate goal is to get it set up so one person can easily and safely handle every animal type. There is enough subdivided pastures to run two cow herds and two sheep herds.  Pastures are weed low and growing edible grasses.  I think we can be there in five to seven years.  It will have taken some time but it is doable.  

Sheep sorting.

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Sarah and I had to go out last week and sort all the sheep.  We needed to figure out which ewes we are keeping and who goes away.  Plus all the females over one year old or who are pregnant needed a scrapie tag applied to there ear.  Getting them into the barn is easy with Zeke.  Sorting them while they are in the barn is terrible.  It took us three hours to sort, catalog, tag babies and scrapie tags on 70+ sheep.  At one point early on, the leaping animals head butted Sarah in the mouth trying to escape through the gap in the feeders she was guarding.  It almost worked, but Sarah stayed upright and kept the opening secured. 

I also installed a switch for the front creek pump we are using to irrigate the orchard.  Now, you don’t have to pull the extension cord in and out of the outlet to get the pump to turn off and on.  Just move the switch.  Plus the covers are both water resistant so hopefully the GFI will quit tripping all the time. 

I had to clean off the inlet cover to the front pump as the creek has dropped a couple of inches and the output had dropped.  I cleaned out the cover and redug out the creek near the pump.  It did not help so we switched out sprinkler nozzles for one that can handle a lower pressure.  I will probably have to install a dam soon to get the pump head back up to reasonable levels.  Our orchard looks good this year. 

Now that we have officially lost two lambs the coyote war is on.  I am going to have to take some evening strolls up the edge of the wheat field to check in on the predators.  They need to get thinned out a little.  I may even have to get a predator call to put on the back hillside occasionally.  I am going to have to start practicing with my .17 HMR. 


Irrigation pump switch.