Last weekend I was able to get some much needed spring work done. Annmarie’s number one project is getting the irrigation pump up and going. Honestly, we need it but I am going to have to crawl down into the mud and dig out an entire section of filled in mud and weeds and it is not making me excited.
Instead, I broke out the brush hog and proceeded to mow the entire area around the houses, barn, machine shed and grain bins. I also mowed the fence lines alongside the wheat field and the corner property. I have to mow the fence lines to keep them cleaned up. I do want to get down to four corners and get that entire corner fenced in but it keeps getting moved down the priority list. Instead I mowed it so maybe I can get to it later in the summer. I was able to mow around the CRP edge and alongside the paved road to knock down the weeds. I will need to spray those areas in 2-3 weeks with a broadleaf spray, probably mix some 24D and Milestone to knock down anything trying to creep in from the road and fence lines. I did not see any bunny rabbits, in the fall they were all over the place on the edge of the CRP.
The county got a grant to eliminate a specific type of invasive weed that has been emerging in our area. We are going to participate in the grant. Invasive weeds are the worst! It took me about two days to finish all of the mowing and I only had to crawl under the hog once to cut out some fencing I had sucked into the mower. Okay, twice I had to crawl under it but I only had to cut the fence out once. I did not see a single coyote the whole time I was mowing. I also have started to pick up the big rocks I hit with the mower and just toss them in the tractor bucket. I need rocks down at the house so I might as well collect them with purpose. Next time I won’t have to worry about a big rock being in the way.
Our cows should have had calves by now. I obviously did not count accurately. They still don’t have any calves. The price of cattle at auctions are crazy. They are up to $5-6/lb for small 300-500# feeder steers. The price of beef next year in the grocery store is going to be crazy. We charged $4/# hanging weight this spring for beef. We are obviously going to have to raise the price of our grass fed 100% natural beef.
Before I could dig out the irrigation inlet area I wanted to decrease the amount of water flowing though the ditch. So I went into the orchard area and dropped a 50 gallon drum lid over the culvert intake. This backed it up a little but it just went around the lid. I ended up having to dump eight loads of mud in front of the inlet to slow down and displace the majority of water out into the orchard. The cows were unsure what I was doing but did not seem to mind the water flowing through the orchard.
On Sunday I had no more excuses to not dig out the irrigation ditch. I really wanted an excuse or two but the delay returns were not worth the cost. I really thought there was a concrete floor between the concrete sides. I am unsure why I thought it but I did. The mud and weeds had filled up the entire opening and channel except for a one foot wide shallow track where the water was actually moving. I started digging and tossing it over onto the low side of the concrete. It was nasty dirty and the mud kept splatting when it landed and if it did not splat then I had to beat it off the shovel by banging it on the concrete. I was covered in mud in no time. As I cleared the area out I decided to find the concrete bottom and started to just dig downwards. There is no concrete bottom. But I did dig it deep enough that the water started running over my knee high waterproof muck boots. I just gave up on being clean and just kept digging the mud out. I dug it down till the water went over my boots then quit going down. It is all cleared out now. What I really need to do is create a large wire gate that can be pulled down and a backhoe brought in to clean out the ditch and pond area. I am going to try this as is and then decide later if we need to bring in a backhoe. Now I have to start ordering parts for the pump inlet and get the manifold built. I also need to put some all thread through the support beams. Plus, I need to create a pump bracket so the well pump can sit up on its nose. Lots of stuff to do before it is ready!
Mr Golfpro is coming out every week and keeping up with the yard chores. This is helping out immensely. Our flowers are starting to really bloom.
Stewart Creek Somethings 