cows

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.

More babies

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It has been the season for babies. Our cows are now having calves and they are all coming fairly quickly. We have six calves on the ground now and I think there should be 1-3 more possibly. This means our bull did his job! Now only if the rams would learn from the bull, we have had the rams in with the sheep for almost two months now and Annmarie just saw them mounting a ewe the other day. We’re taking them out next week as we do not want to lamb for five months again. We will only have to lamb for two months this way. Which is a good thing as the rams are almost as wide as they are long. They are getting incredibly fat free ranging with the ewes. Everyone is fat and most of them have about half their winter coat rubbed off. The lucky few that have managed to clear their coat look great!

We did it again, and got another puppy. We have gotten used to having an ankle biter dog running around at the house. A dog with no job. We really liked the Brussel Griffin breed but the last two dogs have died young and had a lot of respiratory issues. Annmarie has been doing a lot of research and we like the terrier breed overall. We ended up getting a Border Terrier. He was over in Montana so we drove over and back in one day! Fourteen hours in the car is a little much. It has been a week now and Milo is finally settling in. He spends two days at each Grandmother’s house while we are at work. I have Fridays off so he is hanging out with me on Friday. The only real problem we are having is crate training him. We have been sleeping on the floor near the kennel in an attempt to get him used to the crate. It’s sorta working, we keep scooting the pile of blankets further away from the crate every couple of days. He does not appreciate the need for him to sleep alone. He is incredibly food driven. He can eat all of is food in about 15 seconds. So we have had to start figuring out how to slow him down. We were using a treat toy but we have to refill it three times for any meal. Our daughter told us about snuffle mats. I had no clue this was a real thing. Ours came a couple of days ago and it takes him about ten minutes to eat every meal now. This means he can actually breath while eating. Potty training is going well but going outside every hour is probably the real reason it is working.

Our lambs are doing well and we have been putting the sheep into the barn lot every night. So far, I do not think we have lost any lambs or ewes to the coyotes. I used the sheep to mow the front yard again. I am going to have to figure this out eventually after we redo the front lawn. The boom truck they are using to install the new siding is very heavy and we have large ruts in the ground now. The dogs had already been digging holes so the yard is a mess. We need to get the front rock wall completed and the short metal fence installed on top of it. On we get that done then we will kill the entire yard, regrade it, install underground sprinkler and then replant it. We want to go with some form of grass substitute that doesn’t need mowed or mowed 1-2 times a year. Once we do that the dogs will be kept out of the area around the house and can hang out on the front hillside. We are going to install the gazebo this year so the dogs can shelter out of the weather.

We want to install a drain in the center of the gazebo so that no rain or water can accumulate inside, it will also make it easier to clean out. I will put some lights and power inside but I will make sure the outlets are water proof so the gazebo can be washed down with a hose. I just need to order a couple of dump trucks of gravel to get this process started. We will be installing seven upright posts, installing the walls and then start pouring the concrete floor. We will concrete in the seven posts to provide stability and anchor the structure down to the ground.

It’s kinda warm

Steve Hardin1 Comment

Well it has been a long week. Since the tractor cannot be started I have been feeding the cows by hand. After pitchforking 400# of hay into the back of the pickup and then out again for the cows and after working ten hours and getting up at 0345 to go out first thing in the morning to take care of the sheep and lambs; I gave up.

I had a space heater going under the tractor with a canvas tarp over it. I put hotshot in the fuel tank and in the fuel filter and still cannot get the tractor to stay running. I have been trying every day, sometimes twice a day with no success. I went out one dark cold evening late this week in an ice storm and opened the gate to the hay pile. I went out threw pallets out of the way and cut away the tarp covering the front of the pile. It was weighed down with so much snow I could not pull it away. I cut the strings on two large bales and just let the cows have free range on the hay. I do realize this is not the ideal answer but it is my answer. It means the cows get to eat in this bitter cold and deep snow without me killing myself to feed them. I also have time to do other things.

We have a lot of cold, ice, snow and general hard to get around or get anything delivered weather going on now. I got my car stuck in the snow near my mother’s house in Pilot Rock. One of our nephews came and pulled me up a slight incline that allowed me to basically run my car into the deep snow in her driveway until it got stuck. My mother was worried because I did not lock the car up. I told her there was no way they could steal the car, it was stuck in the snow and until I get new tires it was not going anywhere. Annmarie had told me to invest in some new tires a few months ago, I failed to listen and will now be driving the pickup. Except the pickup defroster is kinda wimpy so if its an ice storm I am just stuck at home. I have a brand new snow plow for the tractor that should be in use but since the tractor is down it is still just sitting there! I will definitely remember to treat the diesel in the fall so this never happens again.

The puppy is trying to wear me down. She punctured a hole in her ankle above her paw. We tried to get it healed on our own then had to take her to the vet. The course of antibiotics has helped drastically. The vet told us the cone of shame was needed at all times. Well when it is 2 F outside the puppy uses the cone to beat and thrash on any hard object within reach. I have resorted to duct taping the cone back together. So far I have almost a half a roll of duct tape used to keep it together. She has managed to split it in half twice already. I have 1.5 rolls of duct tape left, I will win.

The chickens don’t really like the cold. But more importantly the starlings really don’t like the snow. We have about 50 starlings in the chicken coop now. It’s a mess, they are eating and pooping everywhere. Now I have holes in the screens and one wall paneling is coming down and I believe there is one hole to the outside eave that is also letting them in and out. We have had subzero temperature for over a week so every night I have to shoulder open the door then chip the pile of frozen bird poop away from behind the door. If I do not do this every day I cannot get into the coop. It took me over 10 minutes one evening and I almost broke the door down. I am focusing on the mud room and the starlings are getting a pass for one more week.

Mr Rainman came out today and we worked on getting the mud room walls up and the pressure treated boards down. Unfortunately, none of the walls are square so each individual upright had to be cut a different length. Over a distance of seven feet the height changed by over an inch on both sides! We are building around the two steel upright pipes that hold the roof up. Those are not even welded straight, so it has caused some interesting adjustments to be made. I have no clue when the door will be in, they are supposed to contact me and said it could take 4-6 weeks and since no shipping company has hardly moved anything in the last week we can just add some more time to the arrival date. The hope is we can get the mud room sheeted and the window installed tomorrow. We will see if the weather cooperates. It was not horrible working in 20 F weather, not great but still doable.

Winter came late but it did come

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Well it is officially winter and to top off the snow we have had subzero (F) weather. That does mean that to go to the barn now requires insulated coveralls, boots, knit cap, neck warmer, heavy coat and insulated gloves before going outside. This is doable as we keep all of that out in the laundry room for just this occasion but I forget how brisk the weather can be until my runny nose/breathe causes ice to form in my mustache and beard. It adds a whole new dimension to getting “thawed out” once you are inside the warm house. I had great plans for working on the mud room walls despite the cold. No way, once the cold hit I realized that I did not want to be outside working on a stem wall.

There is always one thing I forget (well maybe more) but it does come back to bite me. I did not add diesel fuel oil treatment to the diesel storage tank this fall. I have not needed it even when the temperature got down to 10F. The tractors have always started. The tractors will not start at below 0F. I had to go to town on Saturday and buy treatment for the storage tank and special “hot shot” treatment for a diesel that is already gelled up. You remove the fuel filter and fill hallway with this stuff and pour a bunch in the fuel tank. I then tented the Kubota in a canvas tarp and put a oil heater under the tractor to try and heat up the entire engine. I also had to purchase a Lithium external jumpstart battery as the cold has really stressed the tractor battery. Not enough cranking power for any extended starting effort. I left all of that overnight and today tried to start the tractor. I got it turned over and going no problem. I had it on low idle as every time I tried to give it a lot of power the engine started to sputter out. My plan was to just let it run and heat up on low idle. Nope, that did not work. The tractor kept shutting down until finally I could not start it again.

So instead I backed the pickup up to a large alfalfa bale in the machine shed that had popped open and hand forked about 1/4 into the back of the pickup. I had dropped off two large bales just before the storm came. I was planning ahead. I should have planned better and put out three large bales! I may have to feed the cows every day by hand until the weather warms up enough to let me fire up the tractor. Not exactly ideal but another lesson learned. Now hopefully I can remember it. I think I will just keep treating all of the fuel that goes through the large storage tank so this is not an issue. I only used about 300 gallons last year. This is just too painful to want to repeat on a regular basis.

My external chicken yard auto door is frozen shut. Luckily, the chickens hate the snow and only come out far enough to eat the snow. They will not get down and run around in the snow. So its not a big deal currently, we will see what happens when the weather warms up. I sure hope the door works after that as it is brand new.

The back porch cats have been moved but we put their food on a ledge next to the root cellar entrance and built a roof to keep the rain off the food. The food is not getting wet but it is getting covered in snow. I am going to have to make a food box enclosed on all sides but the front so the food dish can stay dry. This will have to be added to the project list.