Two bundles, 32 railroad ties, future corral.

I went over to Hermiston to find my corral chute gates and some railroad ties.  No gates.  I need them 24-26 inches wide and the smallest they had was 48 inches.  I asked about railroad ties and they said someone from the east coast is buying up all the railroad ties on the west coast and shipping them back east.  This is why we cannot find any locally.  I asked what their substitute was and he said six inch green treated posts but they were out of those also.  Luckily, right across the street was the outfit that got them in two weeks ago.  I had to look through the entire stack to find two bundles that were okay.  They managed to get them on the trailer and then I noticed both my trailer tires on driver’s side were way low!  It took them 30 minutes to find a tire connector for their compressor but they finally got me on my way.  My little compressor I keep in the pickup was at home after using it on the mule.  It did not get back in the pickup.  I stopped at home depot and got an outside flood light for the back of the chicken coop.  After installation we will be able to skin animals in the dark and not by pickup headlights.  It will be much easier.  I had to dig to find a light that did not have a motion sensor attached to it.  I will install a switch inside the chicken coop.

I was taking my sprayer tank off the tractor when I noticed that a bolt had come undone holding one of the tank straps in place.  I lifted the empty tank off the three point hitch and wanted to attach my quick hitch back onto the three point.  I needed to take off the upper arm but I could not remove the pin completely due to poor tractor design.  The power actuator arms needed to be lifted out of the way.  I started up the tractor and lifted the arms.  I heard a pop, then the upper arm fell to the ground.  I had not pushed the pin back into place and the actuator arm hit the pin and broke the cast iron collar.  It is part of the tractor, a large part, near impossible to replace!  It is horrible.  Now I cannot use the box blade or the sprayer or the mower or the most important post hole digger.  I am dead in the water.  I the tractor onto the trailer and took it over to Packy Doherty welding to get it repaired.  I sure hope he can fix it!  I also picked up 136 pieces of 16 foot long 2×6 boards for the corral.  My fancy screw/bolts will be here next week.  I need that tractor to pull apart the old corral and dig 30 post holes!  Then move gravel to the holes so we can set all the railroad ties into gravel.  I will be helpless without it. 

To top the evening off I lost five chickies!  I have no idea why they are dying.  I raised the heat lamp considerably.  Maybe I am over heating them.  A couple of them don’t look so good either.  I will check on them in the morning but I expect to lose at least two more.  This sucks. 

Broken three point upper hitch on tractor.  Tractor Dead!!!

Another dozen babies.

Well we did it again, more baby chickens.  I had to make up for killing ten of the first dozen by asphyxiation.  Saturday, Annmarie went in to town and picked up the babies I had ordered.  I brought the brooder back into the house and put it in the dining room.  The two live chicks from the first batch are now out in the chicken coop in the baby area.  They can even go outside into the baby Fort Knox grassy area if they so desire.  Basically, its a  baby chicken paradise.  I sprayed more weeds on Saturday, another 100 gallons of 2-4-D for a total applied this year of 425 gallons.  I had Annmarie pick me up some Milestone, which is a different chemical herbicide that will kill the thistles.  They are holding out and look like they might survive their chemical warfare battle.  I upped the ante and got a better poison. 

I need to let the 2-4-D work so I am taking a break from the spraying for a couple of weeks.  I am moving on to the corral.  I drove over to Hermiston today looking for 24 inch metal gates to go inside my cow chute.  No such luck, it is looking like I may have to have them custom made!  This sucks, but it might just have to happen.  I found railroad ties.  Amazingly Payless lumber still had quite a few.  I picked up two bundles for a total of 32.  I calculated the corral could be built with 30, not a lot of wiggle room but I think I can make it work.  I need to clear all the grass and break out the tape measure and string and mark the entire pattern out on the ground then I can use spray paint and mark all the gates and holes.  Once the holes are marked I will hook up the post hole digger to the tractor and dig them.  I want to disassemble the existing enclosure so I can reset all the posts in gravel.  This will also make it easier to shrink the chute width.  I have a friend coming over next week to help out and I would like to be able to set all the posts on that day.  I will need another load of gravel brought in also.  It will need to be ordered tomorrow so there is plenty on hand.  I stopped and picked up some flexible drain hose also.  I will get Phil to dig a drainage ditch in the barn lot by the horses enclosure.  This will necessitate some gutters but I think it will help keep the mud down immensely.
Zeke has a front leg injury and has been limping for several days.  We have been forcing him to be inactive and keeping him on the overhead run so he cannot roam the place.  He has not been impressed.  The limp is getting better. 

The two survivors.

I finally went and picked up the two surviving chickens from my mother’s house.  They are very big and would have gone to the coop sooner but there is only two of them.  My dozen new baby replacements should be here this week.  I needed the brooder box for the new babies. 

I sprayed more weeds today.  I got the upper prime pasture finished.  Now I just need to spot spray a few places and start working on the lower pastures down by the school house.  Two more days might get it done.  Unfortunately, my paying job is going to get in the way again of my home job.  So I will try and squeeze it in as soon as I have some time off.  I spotted all five female cows today but no bull.  Annmarie, myself and the dog jumped into the pickup and drove down to the school house pasture.  There he was standing next to the fence near the road hollering at the pasture full of bulls.  We left his small dumb self down there.  He is lifting the fence over the back creek.  I need to put some anchors on each side of the creek and join them with a large board and then tighten them with cable.  I can then make a rigid crossing out of panels as they will have something they can be attached to stiffen them.  Until that time, the bull just uses them as gates.  I sprayed another 100 gallons of spray today for a grand total of 325 gallons used so far. 

 

Back barn lot still kinda tractor accessible.

I am on a spraying marathon.  NO other chores on farm are allowed to interrupt the eradication of noxious weeds. My tractor is only four feet wide and I thought I might be able to get it through the first gate into the back barn lot.  I made it with inches to spare on each side and sprayed the little spit of land.  I used a whole piece of one inch plywood when I made that bridge, it is exactly four feet wide.  I drove the tractor over it with the tires hanging off of each side.  I sprayed the whole barn lot.  There is a hill just across from the stream and it made it very hard to line up on the bridge to make it back across.  I need to put the box blade back on and chew into the hillside to make the lot more tractor friendly.  But that cannot happen until the spraying is completed. 

Second gate into back barn lot.

I got the entire barn lot sprayed and a small amount of the four acre weed plot. 
I did manage to find our wild honeybee hive.  One of them ended up in a hole in our walnut tree in the barn lot.  I still think there is one more wild hive somewhere on the place yet undiscovered.  The weeds are dying.  Another 100 gallons of spray on the ground, total used so far 225 gallons.

Honeybee hive found!

Sprayer up and going.

Another burn pile up in smoke.

I had this plan, go outside and just lift the spray tank up with my quick connect 3 point hitch, wire in some power and spray.  It was a great plan, flawed but a great plan. I tried to lift the tank and the quick hitch would not lower enough.  I lifted the tank onto the bottom two points then realized I needed to raise the upper hook on the three point.  It was stuck and took some work and choice words.  I got it in the correct position and tightened and then the tank would not fit.  The pump kept hitting the quick hitch.  I had to take the quick hitch off and manually put the tank on, after I reattached the quick hitch upper hook back into its original position.  I did manage to start the couch burn pile on fire.  Annmarie was tired of the eyesore and I was tired of hearing about it.  The wind switched directions away from the house so we would not fill up with smoke.  Thirty minutes later it was a small pile of ashes.  I had to fill the tank with water and mess around with the nozzles and valves for another hour before I could make the sprayer work correctly.  I only had two joints and the pressure valve leak, all of them were fixable.  I managed to spray 100 gallons of 2-4-D today for a total of 125 gallons.  I am going to try and keep track of how much spray I use this year.  I have a lot more spraying to accomplish. 

We had another baby lamb two days ago!  The sheep are multiplying at an amazing rate.  I have 15 of them lined up for local customers.  My mother still has the last two living chickens at her house.  They are very big about 8 inches high already.  I need to get them out into the coop as the new babies should be here on Monday.