Tractor mower deck repaired

I can tell it is almost summer by the time between blog posts.  I am slacking again and need to keep up.  I had attempted to mow the grass with the tractor on Friday when I heard this awful clanking.  It was so bad that Donna came out and met me to ask if I could hear the noise?  I have music ear buds playing and hearing muffs over that whenever I am on the tractor.  I could still hear the clanking but was hoping it would go away.  I took it back over to the machine shop and realized that an original weld had broke and the metal deck had bent inwards.  I spent ten minutes and bent it back into shape.  It lasted until I hit my first rock, about 2 minutes then started clanking again.  I headed right for Packy’s Welding shop to see if it could be fixed ASAP.  I made it just before they closed and they fixed it all up for me so I could start mowing that evening.  I have been taking every opportunity to get on the tractor and mow the cheat grass and weeds.  We have had enough rain to make everything grow very well.  The grass is almost two feet tall now.  I have spent three days mowing.  The only thing I have left is the roads going through the bottom pastures and the bottom pasture.  I would like to mow the back upper hillside and stunt the sage brush.  I had the sage brush mowed two years ago and it really put the hurt on it.  I think I can do it every five years and get better grazing off of the hillside. I have another two days of mowing.  I need to install both culverts so I can drive over the irrigation ditch with the mower.  Otherwise I cannot get the mower into the bottom without getting the tractor stuck.  After the last time I got the tractor stuck, I don’t want a repeat performance.
 

Mowing in progress

I can sure tell that we have been here for a few years.  I do not hit as many things in the tall grass/weeds when mowing as I used to.  Every year I try and clean up a section of the property by either burning the wood, scraping the metal or picking up large rocks.  It is starting to pay off. 

The lawn mower is broken again so I spent part of yesterday mowing our yard with the weed eater.  I did a pretty good job and got about 2/3 of the way done until I hit a hidden hand scythe near the fence and broke the head on the weed eater.  Luckily, I have a spare head already, I just need to install it.  I had heard the mower was broken so I fired it up today to see where.  It smoked badly, but ran.  I am going to fill it with oil and see how it does this summer.  I may just have to add oil with every tank of fuel.  I need to get the lawn under control.  Once the lawn is corralled and controlled, and the bottom fields are mowed I can work on the horse enclosure fence.  This weekend I am going to try and get the irrigation pump piping all lined up and working.  I think it is possible. 

All four babies visible

We had another baby calf this week, for a total of four.  There is one lone heifer holding out on us.  Unfortunately, we will need to get the bull away from the January baby girls by June.  So the plan is to sort the cows in a couple of weeks allowing us to gender check the two new babies, tag them and band them if necessary.  We will pull off the bull and the pregnant heifer and toss them in with the two steers.  We will move the other four heifers and babies down to the schoolhouse pasture.  This will put three fences between the babies and the bull.  I need to do some more fencing in the barn lot before anything else.  I need to install some solid wooden posts to keep the bull from leaning on the fence.  I also need to raise the barn lot fence on the wheat side, it is too low, the bull gets over it. He will need to stay away from the babies as they grow so we can eat them next year.  They are too closely related to breed back to him.  He is rough on fences so I will have to put woven wire top and bottom with no gaps to keep him from working his way through the fence. 
Our new ram, Oreo, has been doing his job, I see him out there milling around chasing female sheep nonstop.  He won’t be near as tame when we pull them back in a couple of months. No human contact time.  We will try and bribe him with treats to get him to remember we are nice.

I needed to mow the new alpaca enclosure area.  I installed a four foot gate so I could get through with the tractor.  I lined up on the opening and had to pay super close attention so I did not snag the mower on either railroad tie as the opening is barely wide enough.  I had totally forgotten that I had installed an overhead 4×4 to keep the posts from spreading.  I had my roll bar up and snapped the post in two and got conked in the head by the flying piece.  I always forget how tall the roll bar is and how many things I keep hitting with it.  I am not sure what I am going to do now.  I should have made the bar another foot higher and this would not have been a problem. 

I will try and call tomorrow to get the irrigation sprinkler parts ordered and I can pick them up on Friday. 
 

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I call this one “Two Chicks with Dogs”

Slow train

We were soundly asleep when the phone rang this morning.  It was Donna telling us that the steers were out of the corral.  I did not want to believe this as the bed was warm and it was early.  We got up anyways and I took the tractor down to Donna’s.  I was hoping I could just push the steers back real quick and we would be done.  Nope, one of the cows was in the old barley field.  I had to take the tractor all the way down to four corners, come into the field and drive down the dirt road in an attempt to push the cow out.  The other steer came into the field through the open gate, I slowly pushed them to the gate, until they got stuck near the gate and fence.  I had not opened the gate all the way and created a dead end which trapped them causing them to panic. 
They ran back out into the wheat field.  I went around for a second try but by the time I got back both steers had forced themselves through the fence.  I now had multiple holes through several fences. 
We went back into the house, had some coffee and breakfast.  Annmarie created a single syllable swear word by combining three other swear words.  It is quite impressive.  We drug Sarah back out with us again.  We all got walking sticks and we went down to the lower pasture to get the cows.  This time I went into the lower pasture and the girls stayed up on the hillside with both dogs.  I finally managed to get all the cows but the crazy momma and baby going toward the gate, about 1/3 of the way there the cows bolted toward the hillside.  Annmarie turned Zeke and Mouse loose and hollered at them to the turn the cows around.  They did, it was pretty amazing, then Mouse proceeded to push the bull all the way back to the far fence and would not listen to either one of us.  As he ran by me I had to make a dive for the 30 feet rope he was trailing behind him.  I managed to snag it as I was rolling around on the ground.  He is not quite ready to be off leash yet.  We worked the cows down to the barn lot and the first four through the gate had both steers so we quickly shut the first gate.  We then pushed them toward the corral and got them down to three.  I managed to let the last heifer out and trap just the two steers.  This time I chained both gates closed, after latching them!  They will not get out this time.  We went to put everyone back into the lower pasture and the bull took everyone down to the far cattle guard. 
I had to walk down, while the girls blocked the road to the steers.  We coaxed them into the lower pasture without too much trouble. 
I had to go repair all the fence that had gotten torn up.  The repair jobs took about three hours.  The fence looks much better and one small section needed a tune up any ways.  Mr. President came out to finish mowing the lawn as the mower had overheated on Thursday.  Nope, mower now spewing liquids from the wrong spot.  I think the mower may be dead again.  I will be picking up a weed eater from my mother.  They have one that is too large for her to handle. 
I attached the intake onto the pump and then primed it with a five gallon bucket.  I had to leave an upper prime valve open and when I hit the on button it created a huge fountain with water going every where!  I turned the pump off and tried to open the discharge valve and maintain a suction.  Not possible, I had to reprime said pump and create another fountain.  While getting soaked I was able to open the discharge valve and close the prime valve.  It worked!!  Now I just need to get our name on the pump power bill and get some new spray nozzles for the sprinkler pipe.  I want the ones that have a built in valve so you can turn them off.  We looked them up I just need to call Nelson irrigation tomorrow.  I let the pump run full out and the pond was slowly decreasing.  Once we get the sprinklers on it will slow down demand. 
After all this I decide that I need to mow the fields with the tractor.  While trying to attach the PTO shaft I notice a hydraulic leak on the tractor.  I just stopped, loaded the tractor onto our trailer and drove it into the dealer’s.  I parked it by the front of the shop and will call them in the morning.  This seems to be the year of the vehicle. 

Fence tightened and reinforced

IT WORKS!!!

$450 irrigation pump part

The part is done!  Sarah and Annmarie picked it up on Thursday.  I had them make it out of stainless steel.  It looks identical to the cast aluminum one but this one will not break when I tighten the bolts. 
We decided the steers really needed to be separated from their mothers.  The newborn baby calves are coming.  We had one born on Thursday, the crazy cow with a green ear tag.  Luckily, this was the one cow without a yearly steer.  So on Saturday we all three went out with two dogs to bring the cows in.  Its never as easy as it sounds.  We had to open multiple gates and get things arranged so that the cows would have a straight shot to the front barn lot.  I took Mouse on his lead rope and Sarah and I went up on the back hillside.  The new momma and her baby were at the far fence in the first lower pasture with everyone gathered around.  The cows wouldn’t move so Annmarie and Zeke went down to push them toward the gate.  The cows were not having any of it.  Annmarie didn’t want to move forward but I hollered from the hill, so her and Zeke started creeping forward.  She got within 8 feet of the momma and sicked Zeke on her.  The cow went bananas and started charging the dog and Annmaire.  There was some high pitched screaming emanating from Annmarie.  This went on until the cow backed off.  We ended up leaving that momma and baby alone.  We pushed everyone else up to the barn lot and managed to sort off the two steers.  After the fence fiasco, it was decided we would leave them in the corral for a few days to let them lose some attachment from their mothers.  We set up the 35 gallon water trough and I brought 1/4 of the cow feeder over and belted it into one of the corner spots.  I cut open the last 800# bale of alfalfa and filled the feeder.  I was feeling sorry for the cows so I thought we should open up all three areas of the corral for them.  This would let them get away from the dogs.  We still had to push the other cows back into the lower field.  This did not go smoothly.  The crazy mother had come down and her baby squirted through the vinyl fence into Donna’s back yard.  The mother promptly followed, there is a reason that vinyl fences are not made for animals.  I now have to replace a section of the fence.  We managed to finally get the cows in the right spot, shut all the gates and went to bed.  There was much noise as all involved parties were not happy. 

Momma not in the right spot

Cook top ready for repair

upper gate tight and rock jack filled

I had a plan.  It was a good plan.  Mr. President was coming out to the house today at 0800.  We were going to sort out the two steers and move them into the upper prime pasture, then sort off all the butcher sheep to the same pasture.  This would then allow us to turn the new ram in with the ewes.  Plus, we were going to sort off the no scrotal sack ram, Easy Peasy, then the front lawn could be mowed.  The repair guy was coming at 1300 for the cook top.
So at 0500 it started going South. It started to pour down rain, then after having a conversation with Annmarie it was decided I would need to move the horses and alpaca before I could move the cows and then I needed to move the ram before sorting the sheep. 
Mr. President arrived and we went out, Annmarie had let the horses into the front yard.  We then moved the alpaca into the orchard, this went fairly smoothly as both dogs were in play.  Mouse was on the 30 foot leash. He does better and we were going to move sheep and cows so I figured it would be better to start off with the leash.  I threw out a few leafs of hay in the front barn lot for the cows to entice them into the barn lot.  The only thing left was to go get the cows.  We went by Donna’s house and opened the gate for the cows.  As we passed the irrigation pond I noticed a bunch of moss in the pond.  This was guaranteed to plug up the intake on my pump screen.  I need to get some kind of chemical to put the hurt on this situation.  We went down and I attempted to get the cows.  I walked all over the lower field and hillside.  Zeke thought he knew better and had the cows going every which way.  The bull just wanted to holler at the other bulls across the road and not move.  Mouse wanted to chase every thing.  I kept stopping and making each dog listen.  Each command had to be preceded by the dog’s name.  I keep getting them used to working independently with different verbal commands for each dog.  It’s a difficult concept to get used to.  After Zeke screwed up a few times I had to take Mouse off the safety leash and turn him loose in the trees to go after the cows.  He does much better, he is far more aggressive with the cows and takes no crap.  He will grab their tails and bite them on the backs of the knees when they don’t listen.  We finally got them through the first set of fences and out of the school house pasture.
  We stopped to lower the creek crossing and install the ground level cable.  The bull should not be able to lift the panels out of the creek.  We shut the lower gate and went on top of the hill to close that gate.  I had not filled the rock jack yet so we had to spend 45 minutes walking large rocks back and forth to the jack to fill it up.  The rocks kept getting heavier the longer we went on.  Now the cows are locked out of the lower pasture.  The cows have left the lower pasture and are in the vehicle area on their own.  As we stop by the irrigation pond I come up with the brilliant idea to pull the irrigation dam out and let the moss get washed away.  It took two of us to pull the metal gate out of the way.  The water roared through the 2 foot culvert.  It cleared out 75% of the moss in the pond and took almost 10 minutes to empty the pond.  We meandered up toward the barn lot and pushed the cows into the barn lot, it only took a couple of tries.  We sorted off the steers within ten minutes.  It was not too awful, but we needed a spot for the steers so we placed them in the area with the horse stalls.  I called the ram into the back barn lot then we dropped both panels over each end of the ram pasture.  We went and got the sheep and placed them in the ram pasture,  Mouse and Zeke did very well.  It was already 1130 so lunch was in order.  I told Mr. President we could move the steers after lunch,
as it seemed reasonable. 
While eating lunch Sarah calls me to say there is a cow in the front yard, as she is talking to me it runs by our living room window and I hear an exclamation from my partner!  As we were figuring out how to tackle this problem, the second steer leaps into the front yard.   The horses got moved into the third area of the sorting corral and the cows chased into the other two areas of the corral.  We then moved gates around to get the cows into the barn lot.  We tried multiple times to get them into the upper prime field without success, until one finally jumped through the fence.  Damn cows!  I took Zeke and ran down half the field trying to cut the cow off before it joined up with the herd.  No such luck.  Momma found her 12 month old big baby boy!!  So now we had to spend a couple of hours patching and restretching the fence.  We added wooden stays and two more metal T-posts and made the fence animal proof.  I would be surprised if one animal of any kind could get through the fence now.  Repair guy called at 1330, he could not make it and needed to reschedule. 
Annmarie had taken Zeke and Mouse to get the sheep into the barn and start the sorting process.  I went to help after finishing the fence and paying Mr. President.  Halfway through the process our local metal fabricator appeared in the barn to look at our back garden gate we needed made.  I asked him how he knew we were in the barn.  He said he could hear us from the driveway.  Annmarie took him so he would know what we wanted.  Sarah and I sorted.  The no scrotal sack but two testicle boy is too small to wean off  of his mom yet.  We kept 38 ewes to be bred and the other 50 lambs got sorted out, that is a lot of lamb!!  The new ram was so happy!  He just kept running around trying to find a willing ewe, none of them were having any of it initially. 
So this weekend we will have to redo the cows.  Most likely we will put the steers in the corral for about a week with food and water to get them used to not being with their mommas every day.  Hopefully that will help.  I also changed out two of the gate latches with new horseshoe latches.  Our lawn is incredibly high but Mr. President said he will come tackle it on Friday.  I sure hope the weather allows this miracle to happen. 

Look at that beautiful fence repair!



Our new Dorper/Katahdin cross 1 yr old ram

Today was the day we went to get our new ram!  All three of us loaded into the pickup for a three hour drive.  I had to spend 45 minutes unloading tools and trash out of the pickup before we left.  Plus making the pen in the back of the pickup for the ram to ride home in. 
His name is Oreo, this is the second ram named Oreo we have owned and we did not name either one.  He is hand tamed and we can rub all over him he is so friendly.  The people we bought him from were great.  He got wormed just before going into the pickup.  The ride to our house was stress free.  He rode great.  We did get some funny looks on the freeway as people passed us.  You would think they don’t know what a hair sheep looks like.  Unloading was a breeze, I just backed the pickup up to a sheep compost pile, dropped the tailgate and opened the fence up and he walked out.  We are going to leave him in the barn lot for a few days.  On Wednesday we will sort the sheep, we need to take out the one nutter baby ram and a couple of whethers to keep him company.  We will stash those guys in the back barn lot for a few weeks.  We are going to sort off the baby girls we are going to sell for meat.  They should be old enough to wean off their mommas.  All of the meat sheep will go into the upper prime pasture.  We also have to sort off the two oldest calves.  They are over a year old and are still stealing milk from the mommas that are getting ready to birth their new calves.  Those two steers will also go in with the meat sheep in the upper prime pasture. 

Sheep got out for a stroll

Herbicides are a glorious thing

I am going to have to hook up the mower to the tractor by this weekend and mow the entire property.  Their has been so much rain that the entire place is growing into one big grass patch. 
My herbicide spraying is starting to become visible.  It looks like I should be good for another couple of months before the next round of spraying. 
I really want to get some fence built but it just keeps getting pushed back.  I have been spending most of my spare time getting grandma’s house ready for Sarah.  I just about have the vinyl floor installed in the bedroom.  The painting is progressing well. 

I have still not mowed our front yard!  On the plus side I did pickup our mower four days ago from the repair shop and it does actually run.  I tested it today when I pulled it out of the back of the pickup (so we could go get the ram).  It had not been there very long!!  Now the mower just needs to chop down the 2 foot tall grass that is populating our front yard.