Dexter beef

Day of infamy

Steve HardinLeave a comment

This really wasn’t my day all week. We have had a plugged tub drain since Sunday. I have poured two different treatments of lye down it. I have used the plunger and unknown amount and then used an industrial concentrated size Liquid Plumber. I did manage to get the water to trickle drain after purchasing a $20 rotosnake to try and clean out the drain. I could not make the second ninety degree corner with the snake no matter what I did. So Annmarie and I each took a shower and the water did not drain. On Tuesday, I called for a plumber and was able to get a service time on Thursday afternoon. We both ended up showering at our mother’s houses. I even crawled under the house one evening and looked for a clean out to use the rotosnake in, there are none under the house.

Today is Thursday and the plumber came out early in morning while I was in town. He called and said it was fixed about 20 minutes after saying he was headed out to our house from Pendleton. The reason the water would not drain was because the tub drain lever had gotten moved to the closed position! I have not taken a bath in over 30 years and it simply never occurred to me to check especially since Annmarie was gone all weekend. I am grateful the tub drain works. It does work well as I had to clean it today after the mess I had made in it.

I proceeded to go outside and finish the gate extensions on the corral. The two cows that needed to go to the butcher tomorrow are wild and one is the crazy jumper. My helper is out sick so this was a solo job. I was able to sort the four cows in the ram pasture fairly easily. I left one in the back pen and put the other three out in the horse stall area so they could see each other. I was able to get the rest of the herd into the barn lot pretty easily. I needed to get crazy #34 into the trailer, that cow had jumped out of the corral twice in the last year and avoided getting slaughtered both times. Now that the corral gate and wall extensions were completed I figured it was a done deal. I figured wrong.

I had to call Annmarie to come help me and to bring the border collie. I guarded the area leading to the spring because the temporary panels I normally use are in two separate places doing other jobs. The spring area needs to rebuilt after the flooding and I just have not done it. After five tries the cows went into the back barn area. It still took us several more tries to get number 34 into the corral with eight other cows. The one cow I had already sorted off was too small. There were two huge steers in the corral now so we proceeded to try and sort everyone off. We got it down to just those two and then got them into the chute but one ran into the trailer, turned around and can back into the chute causing a pissing match between two angry steers. They ended up popping the gate into the third offset pen in the corral. I had not extended that small gate as the cows were not supposed to go in there this time.

By the time I got around Annmarie was hollering that the cow was stuck. Yep, #34 had tried to jump the gate and got his front foot jammed down beside the gate on top of the gate hinge. Despite the cow trying to pull down the fence, no amount of pulling was getting that foot loose. I had tried to push the foot up, then got a rope and tried to pull it up over a board. After about three minutes I placed a frantic call to my nephew who lives a couple of miles away. I think the only thing he understood was I needed help ASAP and it involved a cow as the cow was bellowing and shrieking two feet from me. I was able to pull back on the railroad tie while #43 was trying to rip it out of the ground. The cow was beyond all reason.

We ended up putting two ropes over its head, one was perfect and went over the horns but the other went over one horn and the cow’s neck. At this point not getting gored through the corral fence was barely possible. We tied off both ropes to separate railroad ties. I unbolted the gate and attempted to get it off the hinges. Crazy #43 managed to kick it off and then fight the ropes. We had to take a break and get the other cow in the trailer. That crazy cow kept trying to get over the trailer divider the entire time we tried to get #34 into it.

When we went to get #34 in, he got away and managed to get out the downed gate about three feet and now truly raising hell as he could sense freedom. I ended up using the tractor to push him back through the gate and then got one of the ropes stuck under a tire. Annmarie had to cut the rope. Luckily, it was the old rope, not the brand new one she had gotten out of the tack room. We managed to get the rope tightened down and the gate open to the chute. #34 ran down the chute by himself and Annmarie slammed the door shut. There are still two ropes around him that will not be back until after the steers get butchered. The trailer looks like a bouncy house with both steers in it. We put an extra strap across the back and left it backed into the corral.

This is a stupid problem. We are definitely going to be taking every single crazy cow to the auction in the next month. Once the calves are weaned. We need calmer cows. The corral is hard to jump from one area to the next. You have to climb a seven foot wall every time!

While I was moving cows I noticed that the white ram in Alcatraz had some abrasions on his forehead. I fed them then went around to the back of the pen and noticed that the gates were falling down! I did not have time to fix it so a little redneck twine was utilized. It only needs to hold for another day.

Motivation or Anger?

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Yesterday, I made sure and put a strap across the lower portion of the entire back gate on the stock trailer before leaving moving the trailer. I kept it backed up to the corral while I installed it. I am still not sure it is necessary but after the previous evening I am taking no chances. I headed out and got about halfway down the driveway when I realized I had forgotten the cut sheets and had to go back. The puppy was going to spend the day with grandma so he got to go with me. I needed to stop at the feed store but they let you take dogs inside and he is still getting socialized to all things different so it will be good for him. When I got to the college I warned them that the cows were crazy. Unbeknownst to me, the middle divider gate had not gotten latched against the back wall so at some point when I was making a turn it flopped into place and the latch actually worked. So the three cows were trapped in the front of the trailer when I stopped. The bad part about this is I have to go into the trailer to open it. I did and luckily the cows ran past me and into the college pen system. The cut sheets were handed off and only one of them still had an ear tag. The damn cows are worse at ripping them off than the sheep are.

Milo and I shopped for some cable and eyelets for the Gazebo. We want to install a string of light inside with a dimmer and light sensing system. I have the lights and control plug ordered and they should be here next week. He does great with doors, people and confusion, a real trooper. It helps that he is calm and cute. After he was dropped off at Grandma’s I headed home to install the cable.

Nope, I let the sheep out of the barn and promptly got the tractor to pick up all the lumber needed to fix the corral. I am unsure if it was out of frustration and the desire to not repeat the experience or just leftover anger at having to chase the cows for an hour and a half! I picked up the last of the 2×8 rough cut tamarack boards I had purchased years ago for building Alcatraz. We had them and some 1x12x16’ boards stored in Alcatraz on the old concrete granary foundation. I need to dig a little more dirt out of the foundation. The damn rockchucks have been digging and living under the board pile. So they kicked up dirt and caused a couple of the bottom boards to rot. But for the most part the lumber is in good enough shape to fix the corral. The boards on top are pretty twisted but a heavy duty construction anchor bolt straightens that right out. I used the rest of the lag screws leftover from the Gazebo. I had bought a bucket of 500, half were used on the Gazebo and a quarter were used on the corral. I had a box of 50 six inch lags that I had to also use on the corral as some of the locations needed a longer screw to get to the good wood. I was only going to do a little bit of the corral but the longer I did it the further I needed to get to completion. I used every single board I had and the last one had to be spliced together, there was just enough.

Once I had the corral walls elevated it was fairly obvious that three of the gates would need to be raised. I am going to use the 1×12 boards for this. I will be sandwiching them on each side of the gate to form two uprights then bolting another board across the top. I decided that I needed to use bolts instead of lags and I did not have 32 5.5” lag bolts and assorted accoutrements. I went back to the hardware store to get all of the needed pieces but it was already evening and time for chores again. I put away all of my tools and finished the evening chores.

When I was taking pictures of the corral I realized that the day was quite stunning and took a few extra pictures. I love the old grain auger and am always trying different pictures. I also made it a point to go out and take a picture of the crazy psycho cow that must go to the abattoir. He is not getting out of it this time, #34 I have your number!

Psycho cows

Steve Hardin2 Comments

Where to even begin, it started almost like any other staycation day except I knew I had to sort cows in the evening. I am taking three in to become hamburger and steaks in the early morning. Last time we ran over the hillside for an hour until the everyone was exhausted before they would come in off the hillside. Since I was going to be doing it alone this time I figured to outsmart the cows. I brought a big bale of hay around and put it in the old ram pasture. I had to push the main herd of sheep out first. This will make it so I will need to push the momma/lambs into the barn first and then move the Y gate and push the rest of the sheep through the barn lot and into the barn. In the morning I will have to do that in reverse. Otherwise, I will get all of the sheep mixed together.

Once I had the large bale in there I opened the gates onto the hillside and waited for the cows to let themselves into the pasture! I did this at 0900 so I had a solid eight hours for them to figure out where the good eats were at.

In the afternoon I worked on getting the Gazebo wired for power. I had to drive in to town last evening and get more conduit parts. I did not have enough to make three corners. Luckily, I still had some cable lube so I could pull 12/2 wire through a half inch conduit. It does not like to make corners or 100’ without any slippery help. I was able to get all of the conduit glued and the wire pulled to a box inside the Gazebo. I still put a wet cover on the outlet box even though it’s inside the Gazebo. I have a double outlet all wired up and managed to get the rest of the ditch all filled in. I still have one outlet to wire at the brick box before I can flip the breaker back on. That won’t take very long tomorrow to get it done then there will be power out at the machine shed again.

The cows fell for my ploy! All the edible cows were in the ram pasture eating on the hay. I snuck around and locked the gates shut. The cows ran around crazily but did settle down after I left. Once I had the wiring done I hooked up the stock trailer and backed it up to the corral. I was all ready to go. I used to try and sort them and then leave them in the corral overnight. I have had a couple of escape artists in the past so I opted to wait until right before dark to sort and load them. I got them into the corral pretty easy. The five I wanted to sort off all had horns. There were ten of them and one was the largest. This is the one that jumped out of the corral last year and avoided a trip to the butcher. I was able to sort off two and then ran them into the trailer. I have a divided trailer so I shut the divider to keep them in. Next I managed to sort off the large one and two small ones. I got everyone else out of the corral and then sorted off the two small ones. The crazy big steer was in the wrong pen, it was in the further one where we had the horse trough. I tried to open the gate and get the cow to circle around and go into the chute. Damn thing bum rushed me and I had to jump into the chute myself and slam the gate closed. The cow just went crazy and jumped into the water trough and managed to get its front legs on top of the corral fence. It kept trying to climb the corral fence. I did lots of swearing and in about 30 seconds the cow got over the corral. By the time I grabbed the dog and jumped into the pickup the steer had jumped the fence again and was in the wheat field. The dog and I went to the far end of the field, she was following the pickup. It went down hill from there. The dog went for the cow and refused to be called off. We almost had the steer out of the wheat field when the dog got in front and turned it back away from the gate. I currently have a voice like a toad from hollering. Eventually, the dog went into the pickup with me but despite me trying several times to herd it back with the pickup I was unsuccessful and the steer ended up jumping the fence into the pasture with the mommas and calves.

I gave up and drove back to the house. I still had the rest of the edible cows in the back barn lot I just needed to sort off one more and I would have my three. This is exactly why I do not keep a rifle in the pickup. I was at the point where shooting the steer was a great option and fine choice. It is so infuriating. I parked the pickup and am headed to the corral to sort off one more when the two in the stock trailer start trying to jump the divider. I had not closed the back of the trailer as I still had one more cow to load. Yep, those bastards ended up pushing the gate open and running back out into the corral. It turns out that I need to fix the spring that is supposed to hold the bar that locks the closed gate in place. It is not working at all and the entire thing needs some lubricant so the spring can actually hold it closed not halfway.

At this point it is becoming a joke. I managed to sort off one more crazy horned cow and get all three into the corral. I opened the chute and got them to run down the chute into the trailer. It’s like I know what I am doing. I run down the chute following the cows so I can pull the gate closed. Nope, the last cows jumps in the trailer and then turns and tries to get out. I holler and end up having to jump out of the corral as all three cows come barreling out. I kept them in the corral and tried to get them back into the trailer. Not happening the lead cow keeps trying to climb the corral sides. I had a large stick and that just made the cow madder. I figured out that I could put the stick across the corral chute to prevent the cow from climbing out. This further enraged said cow. Finally, I just opened the gate, let everyone back into the corral then chased them back into the chute. This time I did not jump into the chute, I ran alongside it and as soon as the last cow went in I just slammed the door shut. I promptly got into the pickup and backed the trailer against the corral. There is absolutely no way to get out of the trailer now. We will leave at dark, early in the morning. I think I may have to put a strap across the back of the trailer in the morning before heading out. I think the stops at the bottom of the trailer may not be present but I cannot tell and honestly I need there to be no cows in the trailer before I explore that hypothesis.

Mr Rainman and I will be raising the corral walls another two feet next week so the crazy steer can be sorted off. This is a stupid problem to have. The horned cows we have are crazy! As soon as we wean off all the calves from this spring we are going to take most of the horned cows to the sale. It is not worth this much hassle and hazard. The polled cows we have are very mild and calm.

Lambing continues slowly

Steve HardinLeave a comment
Moonlight barn picture, phone picks up a lot of light!

The sheep are kind of having babies at a glacial pace. We have had one more single born since the twins last week. We have moved the sheep to the upper fields now and it makes it a lot easier to check on them. We can just hop on the tractor and drive up the fields all the way to the end. This is not even a slight possibility on the lower property due to the creek and fences separating the fields. I spotted the new mom when I was bringing in the sheep one night. The baby had just been born and was still warm and wet and messy. I grabbed the baby and used it like a lure to get the mother to follow me into the barn lot where we are keeping the mommas and babies.

Lamb productivity is easy currently. one set of twins, one single born to two mothers = 150%.

The child and her now official Beau are bringing us apples that have fallen off their fruit trees and we are feeding them to the sheep at night. Every evening I toss out a bunch so when the sheep come in at night they are rewarded. It is starting to pay off, the sheep are coming in 2-3 times a day to check for apples. This makes it much easier to put them in at night if they are voluntarily coming in. There a bunch of ewes that look like they are going to pop any time and several that have full udders already. We are hoping they get with the program and pop them out soon.

No one is related

I needed to match a cow/calf pair as we are selling one this fall. I spotted two cows and two calves off by themselves so figured I would get some tag numbers so it would make it easier to sell them. I was headed down to clean up field one of the old hay bales that had not gotten removed. I drove up to the cows and the calves jumped up and ignored the cows that were right there. They started to run down the fence line and all of a sudden the cows that were 75 yards away started hollering and running at the fence line. Turns out the adult cows were just baby sitters and not the actual mothers. I was able to get a picture of the mother cow with calve #24. This same person wants a pregnant cow also. So Mr Rainman and I sorted cows today.

Sorting cows never goes smoothly. I know this and yet I seem surprised when we are running the cows for a solid hour on the back hillside because the cows refuse to go down through the gate that is in the middle of the hillside. It took us two hours to push the cows into the corral and sort off two, a female cow and an eater for this year. The same person that wants a cow/calf pair wants an eater so we are hoping that by putting the eater in with the family pairs it will learn to be calm. Running with the teenagers all summer has not made any of the cows calm. We had two of them leap the fence. The fence on the hillside that we had just tightened and reinforced! They jumped it without even hitting a strand of wire. We are just going to leave them for now. They will stay outside the fence with the mommas/babies and knock down some of that tall grass. They won’t run away with the cows on the other side of the fence.

Lambing Summer 2024 begins

Steve HardinLeave a comment

It has begun the first ewe has had her babies, a set of twins.
This happened four days ago and we have had to go down to the school house every night and push the sheep back up to the barn lot. We need to make sure that no new babies get left down in the lower fields at night. They will be coyote food if they don’t come in. We have isolated the twins and their momma in the back barn lot. She has to be fed every day and the horse has to be fed every day now. This is probably a good thing for the horse as she is not at the old hay pile we just dug out of the barn doing an all you can eat buffet. We had to buy a new water trough for the corral. The horse cannot reach down into the spring directly behind the barn, it’s too steep. The old trough was torn up and leaking. So now we have to water the horse every other day also.

We only kept the rams in with the ewes for two months to limit our lambing length but these twins are pretty small, we think she may have been a couple of weeks early. The bull needs to go in with the momma cows also. That will be this weeks project, to get our other female and one steer in with the bull and the heifers.

Mr Rainman worked on the gazebo pad this last week. Gravel, water and compactor is starting to make a really nice pad. He thinks two more passes and he should have it all leveled out. Then we can put up the lower ring of the grain bin. Once that is in place we will measure and mark out all the spots to drill holes for the concrete pillar footings. I ordered the 6”x6”x10’ posts and concrete anchors on Friday. They will be here this week. Once we have the spots marked we are going to use the tractor to drill the holes. I have enough Sackcrete left over from the back bridge footings to pour these footings. The plan is to get the building up and a roof on it before winter. I still need to get the part that goes over the middle of the roof. They did not sell me that part. I may have to wing it while I look for a replacement.

I spent most of the day trying to get the front porch lights installed. I thought it was going to be easy. Nope, I am really unsure why I thought that but I sure did. First, the fancy siding piece was not lined up with the electrical box. Plus the box makes the hole very deep and there needs to be some kind of extender. I went to town twice in an effort to find the correct parts and screws. After five hours on two lousy lights I got them installed. I still managed to break a glass pane. I hid it. The only real problem when I flipped on the power was I had a 50/50 chance of wiring the one light correctly. I did not do it right so now the light is on 100% of the time. I will need to get some wind shock resistant light bulbs and to tear apart the one lamp and wire it to the other black wire.

I did manage to get all of the 1/4 round needed to finish off the porch and the pressure treated boards needed to redo the trumpet vine trellis. The hope is we can get the porch and trellis completed this week and the holes dug and concrete poured for the gazebo.