Month: November 2017

Babying the horses again

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Every once in a while we have to count the cows. I fed them a new bale on Friday. There are 13 cows in the picture. One is hiding behind the feeder and one is a baby hiding behind the bull. The cows think me starting the tractor up means meal time every time they hear it. This leads to a lot of disappointment. We will have two cows for sale in the spring if anyone wants to finish them off. We should have another 4 babies this winter, maybe 5.

The director from PAWS called us today. They had some reject cats for us. The only reason they are rejects are they don’t like people. This makes them very hard to adopt out to homes. We use two dog kennels and we feed and water the cats for a couple of weeks. Once they recognize us and that food and water come from us then we will let them out. We feed the cats every day when we feed the other animals so they can just live in the barn. There are lots of places to hide and to stay warm. The cats are all neutered so we don’t get kittens and the cats get to live life on their own terms. An added bonus is the cats control the mice in the barn so the hay does not get destroyed. Everyone comes out a winner, the cats, us and PAWS. We got three adult cats today. If you look closer at the picture you will see our other PAWS kitten on the steps, three cats in the kennels and look up at the barn door opening and you will see Mouse standing on the hay looking out!

The side barn area was muddy again. We have put gutters on the end of the barn, I have put in a drain line from the down spout to the front spring. I dug a small drain line over by the horse enclosure to catch the rain coming off the barn that was forming a mud puddle. That seems to be helping. What we really need is a long 80 foot trench running down the center of the back alleyway. This idea did not excite me but Annmarie had a hard time getting to the cats in her not mud boots. I started digging the trench today with a Polanski and a shovel. I was about 10 feet into it, down to my long sleeve shirt only, even had to remove my hat, it was too hot when I realized this decision was going to take me two days of back breaking labor. This concept tore at my soul and lower back. Suddenly, it dawned on me that this summer I had purchased a trenching device for my tractor! I had not had a chance to use it. I promptly gave up the shovel and jumped onto the tractor. Once I got the box blade off the back of the tractor I realized I needed three pins. I had to dig around the machine shop and came up with two and reused one from the box blade. I got the trencher on without too much difficulty. I just lined up over the area I wanted and drug that thing up and down the path. It doesn’t like to go through solid rock. There is a rock bluff just under the surface of the dirt about 6 inches down near the back of the barn for about four feet. I am sure this is why they built the barn here, a nice rock base. I still had to shovel the dirt clear but I had the whole thing done and filled with gravel in under three hours! Now to see if it works.

Gizmo has this perverse habit of watching anyone who is in the shower. I think he is afraid you might drown and he needs to save you. Who knows? He got a bath last weekend and the water was brown, he is a dirty dog. He has been sneaking out to the barn to play with the kitten, Soot (Annmarie named it this week).

Hay completed for this year.

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I had to work late on Wednesday so I decided to move the straw into the barn. The real problem with this is my $80 toy, it’s in the way. I really need to mount a pulley about 22 feet up near the middle of the roof so I can stand the hay elevator upright to store it. Unfortunately, when you get the “good deal” it always needs some work. I need about three pieces welded and to tighten a section and then run conduit to protect the wires. Now all of this will probably only cost a couple of hundred dollars more. I just don’t have time for it, Winter is coming! This meant rearranging all the hay currently being stored and moving it near the sheep entrance so it can be used first as it is last years hay. So I got all the hay moved and swept out the hay area. There was not a single mouse under the bottom bales. This is fairly unusual for us and hopefully an indicator that we are making headway on our barn mouse problem.

The straw bales are fairly light and were pretty easy to move around. I was having to pull them down then walk six feet and put them into the barn then stack them. After four bales I decided this was wasted energy. I got into the pickup and spent 10 minutes getting the front corner of the trailer within 2 feet of the barn. I then dropped two bales off the side of the trailer to create a bridge and just drug the bales into the barn. This was much more efficient. I ended up moving 5 ton of hay, 714 stones of hay or 10,000 pounds before going to work. It was a good day. Now we just need to not run out of hay this winter.

Punched his ticket

Ann Marie Hardin1 Comment

Well, the ram has punched his ticket.  I went out Friday morning to open the barn door and let the sheep out.  Part of this ritual is a walk through the sheep to see if any lambs have arrived over night.  None have as of yet, but that doesn’t negate the importance of the process.  The ram has been giving me the evil eye and thinking about challenging me, so I always have my handy dissuader (an axe handle we found at Grandma Lane’s house that we think was Grandpa’s interruder deterrent) with me.  Prior to Friday, simply taking a ready stance and reminding the ram that I was prepared had been sufficient.  Friday, he decided to test me.  Here’s the problem.    My bluff is exactly that – a bluff.  If hitting him with an axe handle broadside across his nose, ears and head is insufficient to deter him, he will win.  He won.

No, I didn’t go down, and he only solidly connected once, but this was only because he insisted on backing up half the length of the barn to get a good solid running start at me.  This gave me time to make sure my swing was ready and accurate, and also gave me time to keep backing up.  Yes, experts will say I should have stood my ground and humiliated him into submission, but really, when he is just coming right through good solidly connecting full force whacks to the head with an axe handle, I don’t have a prayer of actually winning.  My main goal was to minimize bodily damage, keep my feet, and get the heck out of there.  I succeeded in all three, emerging with only a very impressive knot and accompanying bruise on my left thigh and some muscle soreness, probably from adrenaline.  Yes, I was shaking all over by the time I got through the door.

So, the ram has punched his ticket.  This will be his last season on the farm.  We are planning to keep a ram lamb from one of our gentle friendly Kahtadin cross ewes.  They have consistently mellow temperaments.  As soon as that ram lamb is about 9 months old, this ram is going to go in the freezer.  He’ll make very nice sausage.  In the meantime, I don’t go out to the barn without the dogs.  He’s still afraid of the dogs.

Benevolent dictatorship

Steve Hardin3 Comments

Today was the day to pick up straw for the barn. We usually use 25-30 bales a year for the sheep and horses. I like to buy 60 bales at a time and just store them in the barn. The nice thing about straw is it just gets drier! Therefore it works better at absorbing moisture.

Unfortunately the new toy, hay elevator, is in the way. So I will need to move the old alfalfa out of the way, the grass hay to the other side of the room and then pile the straw into the previously occupied corner. A whole 60 bales equaling 2.5 tons of straw costing $150. I of course used my fancy 7500lb capacity trailer. It only had 5000lbs on it and it looks like it is crying every time I load it. I had to beat out the tire fender on the left side again. I keep hitting stuff with the trailer, maybe. I never feel the trailer hit anything. I think something is attacking my trailer with a hammer. I think its gremlins. I noticed a second new dent while the trailer was being loaded. I am seriously considering airbags or an extra spring leaf to stiffen the trailer. It’s on the list to do something about. Annmarie reminded me that I need to advertise the enclosed trailer so we will have the cash necessary for a used stock trailer. We want a decent one 10 feet long. I would like a stock trailer as they are sturdier than a horse trailer. The dogs and I had a discussion about our ruling style while we were feeding last night. I started out with the democratic process and told them we were going to the barn to work. They seemed super excited and came running. Then they did not want to stay in the hay area while I fed the horses. So we switched to a benevolent dictatorship model. This appeared to work until they got bored then they tried to sneak away. I finally put them in the sheep area to hold off the sheep so I could feed. I have not had to have a clubbing match with the ram yet this fall and am attempting to hold it off for the entire winter. The dogs are my solution to him wanting to be macho man all the time. I was in the hay room, the dogs were in the sheep area and the sheep started to come in. I cannot see anything but I hear much commotion and start hollering automatically at the dogs to stay still. When I came around the corner both dogs were laying down but Mouse had advanced another 10 feet closer to the sheep. We had to switch to a strict dictator model and I gave them both a severe lecture about the politics involved and why it was necessary. Usually, we operate on the benevolent dictator model and the dogs do fine.

Catch up

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Today was a day of little tasks. Those last few pesky things that have been bugging me all summer long and I had just never gotten around to dealing with them.

I had taken the outside corral gate off its pegs a couple of months ago. It was dragging severely as I had tried to stay too close to the ground and it opened up on the wrong side. When you kill a cow in there and try and drag it out the gate is in the way. So I had planned on switching sides the gate hung on. It took drilling two new holes and then finding another nut to use as a stop nut on the inside of the hinge. I finally got the gate on then had to run to the hardware store to get a chain link so I could add a section of chain to the existing latch so it would fit all the way around the railroad tie. The gate opens very smoothly now and has a couple of inches of clearance.

I moved onto the chute gate since I was working on the corral. We were going to run the cows in and tag the baby cow and potentially band it if its a boy when I got done fixing the corral. I ended up screwing a 4×4 onto the outside of the latch area and drilling into it. I also used a couple of pieces of metal to go alongside the bottom lock. No more chain to hold it closed, you can use the locking slide mechanism for ease of use.

I went and got Annmarie so we could sort cows. I brought the dogs along so they could work. We got the cows into the barn lot fairly easy. I was running the dogs as Annmarie’s voice is still tender. The dogs were working but being stubborn. Annmarie got a ahead of me and was over by the old granary concrete pad. She was hollering for me to put the dogs away and why did we bring them. I always work all the animals with the dogs. The bull was very angry and was snorting, pawing at the ground and throwing dirt into the air all while staring at Annmarie.

So I put the dogs in the old chicken coop and then we tried to herd the cows into the back barn area. Nope, they would not leave the feed area. We tried to throw out some food but they would not come. I ended up grabbing a flake and walking up to the cows and enticing them into the corral. The momma and baby we wanted were the first ones into the corral so we shut them in. I went to go get the ear tagger and the banding pliers. It was a boy. By the time I got back with the tools she had them separated out into adjoining pens in the corral. The calf is one month old, he is huge. We should have done this two weeks ago. I missed jumping on him the first time and just ate dirt for my troubles. The second time I went for the neck and got a good grip around it and proceeded to get drug around the corral. I could not tip it over and I could not get a hold of one of its legs. My ride was over 20 feet long and finally I managed to get the opposite front foot and pull it toward me causing the calf to tip onto its side bawling for all its worth. I managed to get the ear tag into the the right ear as we are not keeping this calf. I needed to trade places and get Annmarie to lay on the calf so I could attempt to band him. Oh Boy, we need to do this at 2 weeks for more reasons than just catching them. I messed around for a good 15 minutes trying to get the correct angle and both testicles into the scrotum. No matter what I tried I could not get it. I needed a third hand. I finally had to put one band on at a time so I could open the pliers far enough. He is a mighty fine looking animal. It is real hard to get pictures when its only two of us and we are both working.

After lunch I went into the barn and bolted on the old front door latching system. This worked great and now that we will be locking the sheep up every night it is necessary. I also installed a couple of eye bolts inside the door so we could attach tension bands.

The cows are all mixed together down below now so we can start watching their hay consumption. I gave them a 1300 pound bale seven days ago and it looks like 1/3 of the bale is left. Its going to be tight on hay.

We have started looking at micro hay equipment already. It will work with our small tractor and will only make 50# round bales. I just need to get the upper prime squared field burned and planted.