#stewartcreeksomethings

Calves tagged and banded

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Mr Rainman brought out a friend (Mr Interested) who was interested in seeing us tag and band calves, one of our nephews came out and the Gingerman offered to help. I was dead weight but was able to provide directions. Annmarie had spotted a ewe last night that had an abscess on her neck so the sheep got locked in so we could deal with it after the cows. We had to push the cows down to the corral and of course they were at the farthest field. They actually went in fairly well. They only back tracked once which is amazing as this late into summer all of the animals are crazy. They get fairly wild since they don’t have to rely on humans for food. We ignore them as long as there are no issues also. There is quite a bit of green grass up in field two. It snapped back nicely after we cut hay. All of the fields need mowed to knock down the cheat grass, but now that Mr Rainman is off of vacation he will have that done in a few days.

Once the cows all got pushed into the corral the mommas were sorted off and only the seven calves were left in the corral. I forgot to have the dogs moved inside so they were right at the corral trying to help. This was not keeping the calves calm at all so they had to be removed. Chance ended up on the run hollering at us and whining as she wanted to help. We had the calf table all set up but the small calves don’t lend themselves to the table at all and since there were four grown men it was decided they could man handle the calves. Yeah, it went as well as you expected. This is something that you really have to know how to do to tip a calf fast and easily. If you do not do it correctly the first time a fight will ensue in which a lot of effort must be exerted and a few bruises obtained to get the job done. I sat behind the corral fence hollering instructions. The calves all got tagged and banded. The wrong numbers and colors were used but the job got done! They only had to cut off one set of bands and redo it as there was only one testicle in the first attempt. Everyone was pretty dirty by the time it was done. The Gingerman just started to finally tackle and bear hug them which resulted in a lot of cow poop and dirt everywhere.

The sheep got chased into the barn, for this Chance did get to help on her lead rope. Gingerman ran her, but the sheep are so tame that they will just ignore humans. Once in the barn we proceeded to catch every black sheep and could not find any with an abscess. We did catch and sort off the one with a limp but there was no abscess. So I did not have to lance and treat an abscess.

All in all a successful venture with the cows and we are done for another year, there were 5 male and 2 female calves. We had three calves die for unknown reasons. We have had two momma cows die and most likely it is due to old age. We have not been rotating off the older adult cows. So we may have to start doing that every 3-5 years now.

Four weeks left on the broken foot.

Cows can be painful

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The cows are painful sometimes. The teenagers are by far and away the worst! They jumped the fence on the back hillside on both sides and got out into the unfenced area on the back hillside. They have been there for about 2.5 weeks as they just run roughshod over the fence so it is useless to push them back. They want to hang out near the momma and baby cows so this was working. I say was because when I came home Friday the five cows were out in the wheat field down by our cattle guard. We have no clue how they got there. I think they walked all the way down the length of the farm and got out onto the gravel road then came back into the wheat field and walked down to the barn lot. I opened the gate into our house area in the hopes that they would come into it, nope, they walked past the open gate and headed back down the length of the property.

I discovered that I can indeed drive the Kubota tractor with a broken foot. I can use the hand lever on the left to set the speed and the tractor slows down well enough on its own that I don’t need to use the brakes. So I drove out around the field on the pavement and came in from the top and went back on the road alongside the wheat field. Annmarie came out and opened up more gates so we could get them behind a fence. We got them into the car area then pushed them out into a fenced field down by Mother-in-Law’s house. This meant that Mr Rainman and I were going to have to fix fence on the back hillside even though we have other things to do. Since I can drive the tractor I would do that so we can carry all of the fencing supplies. I can also do the splices in the fence.

Mr Rainman sprayed some Roundup in a few places around our back elevated garden beds. The gravel needs to not be full of weeds. Then we got ready to go fencing. We filled up the area behind the bucket with wooden stays but we can only carry about 15 stays that way. If we need a bunch of stays we will dump off fencing stuff then use the tractor forks to pick up a couple of hundred stays. As we were crossing the back creek we spotted another pile of wooden stays from a previous fencing job (common issue, as fencing extra stuff tends to stay close to an old job). This was noted in case we needed more we would not have to go to the machine shed. Mr Rainman was able to slap on fence tighteners and crank them down, cut the fence and then it was ready for me. I was able to park close to the site, hop off the tractor and put on my peg leg. The peg leg sounds cool, it is cool, as it allows me to use both hands unobstructed but it takes a ton of energy and effort. So I spliced the fence back together and Mr Rainman installed wooden stays and replaced any missing stay staples and T-post clips. The cows had a path through the fence down by the creek so it got extra wooden stays. The outer hillside fence is nice and tight!

We started to drive across the top of the field and realized that I had never installed stays along all of the top fence. So he started installing them when the Gingerman showed up with cold Gatorade and assistance. Him and I went and snagged all of the extra wooden stays from the bottom of the hill. We drove back up the hill and they started to install them into the fence separating out the CRP. They got all the way across the top except we were 8 fence stays short to make it to the gate.

The inner hillside fence was in shambles. They had torn off the top three rows of smooth fence. So Mr Rainman again slapped the tighteners on it and I jumped down and spliced it together. Honestly, fencing takes practice and after all the years on the farm I know how to fence. While I did that they worked on T-post clips and Mr Rainman pulled wire for us to add a higher wire to the upper 2/3 of the fence. It’s the flat section of the fence and the spot where the cows and sheep like to jump over the fence. The fence is over 50” now and very tight so I am hopeful the cows cannot jump it, or it at least appears to be an actual barrier. I ended up walking downhill halfway putting on clips. This was a huge mistake! I had to peg leg it up half the hill and thought I was going to die by the time I got to the tractor. My good leg and hip were killing me and I had to keep stopping to take a rest.

Mr Rainman had been using the DeWalt Fence stapler the whole time. I had expected him to trade off with the Gingerman occasionally but he was not having it. The machine is amazing. They stapled 30 posts in under 30 minutes. It is a definite time saver, but it beats you up! It has a kick, it’s heavy and awkward. He kept using it until his hand cramped up and he could not move his fingers! The Gingerman got to finish up with the stapler.

By the time we got down to the house I parked as close as I could to the gate, got off the tractor, installed the peg leg on and came into the house. I sat down in the kitchen, polished off the chips and dip from the 4th (we only make chips and dip on the major federal holidays and the Super Bowl). I showered and then crawled into bed for an hour and a half nap. I was exhausted. Milo has learned to take naps with me since I have been home so he sacked out with me for that time.

Haying is progressing with a little help from my friends

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The big obstacle after breaking my foot was going to be getting the rest of the hay baled and then put up in the barn. The day after I broke my foot the baler broke, it is skipping a drive chain due to all the wear on the gears, the gears need replaced, adjusting the chain length and tension is no longer working. That same afternoon the John Deere tractor blew out seal and quit moving due to a malfunction in the front right steering mechanism. Turns out this is a common issue and a design defect that eventually rears its ugly head. The tractor is over ten years old and has been used hard, It has over 2000 hours on it. Due to it not being able to move they had to come out and pull off the assembly. This took about a week to fix but the cost went from $2000 to $4100. This is a lot cheaper than a new tractor but not pleasant. Especially, when you consider I had to order parts for the baler.

The baler is an Abbriata, made in Italy and really only one dealer carries parts in the United States. When I called to order parts the first time I learned that the company no longer sells this brand small round baler. Abbriata was sold recently and the prices jumped almost 50%. So my $13k baler is now $20k. This made it easy to order replacement parts. I got roller gears and chain ordered then the next day remembered that we forgot to order the small gears. I called back and got the same service representative and those got ordered, I now have $2k worth of spare parts coming for the baler. On the plus side, I will be able to sit in a chair and help direct the baler repair. I am getting used to working on it even if I don’t like it.

The Go Getter, Mr Rainman and the former Gimp, now called the Mermaid volunteered to help me bring in bales. (The Gimp made an argument for a name change. Normally, I don’t do name changes for the blog but she was compelling and she stated that a Gimp could not pickup hay and that currently I was the Gimp. It made sense in a convoluted way and she was correct as I was wearing the walking boot not her.) This made me the designated driver but since we were starting first thing in the morning and I could only use one foot to operate the gas and brake simultaneously the first trip was a little jerky jerky and I killed it about ten times before the engine warmed up and I did not have to keep my foot on the gas 100% of the time. We managed to pickup four loads (by we, I mean that the puppy, Milo, and I watched while everyone else did the hard work). It was a Friday so he had to come with me so the siding guy could use the boom without fear of driving over the puppy.

Luckily, the Gingerman offered to come down the next weekend and rake and bale the hay we had down. It took a solid day but he was able to bale around 150 square bales equivalent to 6 tons of grass hay.

Mr Rainman, the Go Getter and Mr Second Career came over during the week and picked up more bales in an attempt to get them out of the fields. Mr Second Career had borrowed the Kubota to mow down weeds and volunteered to help pickup hay. The Go Getter just feels sorry for me and volunteered to bale me out. They got most of the hay into the barn or lamb shed. The square bales are a lot heavier so they went into the lamb shed as they are easier to load and don’t get stacked as high.

The Gingerman tells me there are about 70 round bales in field one still to pickup. He thinks he can do it on Monday. Once that is done we will only have the orchard to mow and rake. I think we will just pick it up loose and feed the alpaca. The last bit down by the school house is about 25-35 bales only. But we have to have the round baler working and the small sickle bar mower working. Both spaces are very small and tight and need the small equipment to be able to fit. This won’t happen until after Fourth of July. I am unable to help with this issue.

Sidelined the hard way

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Fridays the puppy and I hang out, do some housework and then eventually go out and do some other things. The siding is still being installed so the puppy cannot be running around the yard with the overhead lift being used. So we worked on installing two more eye hooks on the green bean bin so we can tie up the bean pole evenly and keep the wind from bending it under the weight of the bean vines. We also had to go out and drill about 25 holes in the asparagus/strawberry bin. It was holding water again. The drain hole at the bottom is working but its slow and it cannot keep up. I have holes at all levels now so it should drain out just fine now.

The correct siding came on Thursday, the wrong kind had been delivered, so on Friday the base row needed to be set. It takes this special metal hanger that is installed first then the siding sits on it. The worker was having quite the time finding a way to run a level around the base as in some corners there was a 2” difference over 10’! He spent a lot of time getting it set in the correct spot. The first piece of horizontal siding went up on Friday. I was able to leave the puppy in the yard so I could go work on the sickle bar mower. It looks like they just need to get the horizontal siding on and then caulked and they will be done with the siding job.

There is a piece at the outer edge that pushes the outside edge back into the middle. It got bent so I wanted to take it off, beat on it with a hammer and decide if it needed anything else. I was working on it with the sickle bar in the upright position and it was slow going. I opted to lower the sickle bar to make it easier to work on. I undid the bar holding it upright then just dropped the bar. There is this chain mechanism that usually catches it. Upon later reflection that chain only engages when the three point hitch is elevated which it was not. I dropped that bar directly on top of my right foot. To say that I may have said a few choice words after a solid howl is an understatement. As soon as I could catch my breath I went on a verbal rampage against the sickle bar. It took about 15 minutes before I could move or feel my toes. Once I could move my toes I was pretty sure I had broken my foot, the pain and swelling were getting localized.

I had called Annmarie, she was still at work, to come get me. I considered driving but it was my right foot and I could not walk. My car is a standard and I was certain I could not drive with my right foot. I made such a raucous that the siding guy hollered out and asked if I needed any help. I yelled back that I had just broken my foot but was fine. He went back to siding. I ended up in the ER, I broke a metatarsal in my right foot. I am on crutches, wearing a boot and am 100% non-weight bearing for the next eight weeks! This totally sucks! Luckily, Mr Rainman is chugging away at the hay. He has another 300 bales done and two more fields cut. There is hope that he can be done with haying by the end of the week. Once the haying is done then the gazebo is the next project. I have a new throttle cable coming for the compactor and once that is installed we can prep the pad for the gazebo.

This is really going to slow down my summer. The hardest part of the whole thing is just sitting around. I hate it already and its only been two days!

Farm 3/ Predators 2

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There tends to be an optimism that persists whenever you are talking about predator control. Maybe it’s hope, maybe it’s bragging rights but whatever it is it does happen. I have had to decrease the farm score this year as last night a raccoon killed two chickens. It was most likely the same raccoon I saw at 0200 when I took the puppy outside to potty. I was of course in a robe and slippers without any glasses on. No way it was a cat as it jumped out of the large wild rose bush and proceeded to run down the creek and under the fence and then down the creek. It was very noisy. I was ignoring it until Mr Rainman sent me pictures of two dead chickens today with a third one injured. If the stupid chickens would go inside the coop this would not happen.

So now I am going to have to go out, check on the chickens and then just stand around looking for frogs to see who can out wait whom. A classic game of prey vs predator.

Since the farm is ahead of the predators I decided I had better be proactive tonight and make sure all of the chickens went into the coop before the automatic chicken door closed. All of the chickens were inside and the only animal I spotted was the grey barn kitty down by the creek. I was standing by the coop looking into the back creek with my spotlight trying to find the noisy frog that I know was right in front of me when a damn raccoon jumped out of the bush next to the chicken coop. It was running over the overhead soon to be roof supports. I had my trusty suppressed 22 pistol and started flinging lead into the sky. I for sure hit it at least once if not twice. By the time I got around the coop and into the ram pasture it was running toward the barn. I am a firm believer in more lead matters, so I continued to fling it. I managed to get off nine rounds and had to search the barn. I was unable to find the raccoon in the barn. Annmarie thinks it is living over the tack room during the day.

Mr Rainman came out today and repaired the sickle mower for the Kubota tractor. Later he went out and finished cutting field one. I think there is about three acres left to process in that field. I really need to focus on repairing the u joints on the John Deere tractor tomorrow. I had to dig out some grass on the driveline on Sunday and the U joints are bad! I have all the parts to repair it but have not taken the time to actually do it.

We had to take a break today to unload the antiques we won at an auction. One of the local antique stores in Pendleton was having multiple clearance online auctions and today was pickup day. I had to make two trips with the pickup to get everything. Now I will need to wash and polish everything up. We are going to rearrange our living room and Annmarie’s office to fit the new furniture. We are actually going to get rid of three items and replace them with three new ones! I scrubbed the bronze book ends and small brass sculpture tonight. Plus, I managed to score some more old marbles!