Sheep

Auction wins

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Blame Gingerman, he sent me a link to a local farm auction out of Hermiston and I needed a lot of stuff they had. It turns out that I did not need it as bad as other local people because I went from spending almost $6500 to only $1500 in the last thirty minutes of the auction! He had told me that everyone waits until the last minute to bid and he was not wrong. I really had my heart set on a mini-excavator! It was brand new with only 0.3 hours on it. Knew it would cost about $6k, I quit bidding after $3k and it sold for $3.5k. If I had kept bidding I suspect the price would have kept increasing.

I ended up with two, eight foot tall orchard ladders, two old round water troughs that cannot hold water, one new small tall water trough, a couple of hundred feet of brand new lay flat hose with irrigation fittings already on them and two self contained gates. The hose was the most expensive thing in the pile. We are going to cut the bottom out of the two large round troughs and use them in the garden area. The larger one is going to be solely for the growing of asparagus! We want the bottom cut out so the plants can dig down into the ground if they want. I am not sure what we are putting in the other one. The small one will go in with our backyard garden collection. It will get something edible planted in it. The two gates were necessary to get the barn lot set up correctly. The cows and sheep always go down to the spring area and hole up and refuse to come out. It is painful to get them through the gate. We have talked about a fence across the mouth of that area for years. So I installed two gates, both six feet on either end of the opening and made a large removable wire gate. So the entire middle of the fence can be moved for vehicle access. We can also just put the horse over there when we are sorting and she won’t be able to “help”. I spent Saturday morning getting the fence installed and the gates adjusted. The Gingerman helped me put a temporary repair on the back hillside gate so that it is a solid fence. This way the alpaca cannot get out and the sheep can wander around on the lower part of the hill and not sneak out. They would have found the hole, guaranteed.

We then had to drive over to Hermiston and take down the temporary fence we have to install on the decorative fence so the sheep will actually stay in the pasture. It’s Redbrand woven four foot fencing and a full roll weighs about 220#. It is hard to load safely in the back of the pickup alone, at least for me. It took us about 20 minutes and we will save the two precut sections for next year again. We attach it with zip ties so they can just be cut to remove it.

I had to feed the sheep as they had eaten everything in the barn and they are still a little jumpy. So I spent about 20 minutes sitting on a bale of hay talking to them. We always talk to them when we are out in the barn. It helps get them accustomed to humans and more specifically to us. In a month they will only associate us with food and all will be right. They get so pushy that we have to push them out of the barn, shut the door, feed then open the door so they can rush in and beat their neighbor to the good stuff. By Christmas we will be locking them up every night which means someone has to go out first thing in the morning and check for lambs and let them out of the barn.

We ate our Sunchokes for the first time this weekend. It is easy to see why they are a potato substitute. I added them to a stew with meat, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, yellow potatoes and sunchokes. It tasted very good. We will try a different version next time we eat them.

Sheep moved, projects advancing

Steve HardinLeave a comment

I went over to Hermiston and took the pregnant ewes with me. I unloaded them into their temporary pasture and then worked on setting up the electric fence just inside the vinyl fence. The sheep have never been around an electric fence before. It has been years since we used one on our place. I just keep cross fencing the farm so I don’t have to move any chargers or electrical wire around. I had to do the part directly across from the neighboring field first. As soon as the ewes came out of the trailer the herd across the driveway came running over to see what was up. So both herds wanted to stand next to their respective fences. I was afraid the ewes would just hop through the vinyl fence. I got it up and then hooked up the charger and ground wire. I forgot to bring a tester and I really did not want to grab the wire, luckily several ewes tried to scoot closer to the vinyl fence and it was readily apparent that the electricity was on! Before I could get the next section up and energized I had one ewe try three times to get to the vinyl fence. Everyone else had caught on to the consequences and was avoiding the outer edge of the field. I think she got the message after the third shock as she just ambled into the field to be with everyone else and ignored the herd across the driveway.

Winter is coming so I planted a bin full of garlic and looked at tossing the green beans and tomatoes over the fence for the chickens but they are not frozen down yet and I may get one last picking off of each one. My beets I started in the fall are growing but they have some weird brown leaf thing that is stunting them. I am not sure what it is but it is not a bug. I am hopeful we can go another month without a hard lasting freeze so they will continue to grow. I will pick them once the leaves wilt down. I dug up half our potatoes and got almost 20#. We did way better this year by switching bins. Next year we are moving every single type of plant to a different bin. We win also be testing the soil and adding nutrients as needed in the spring. I will dig up the other potatoes in the next 2-4 weeks.

I did disconnect all of our yard and garden hoses. I blew out the lines going to all of our garden and to the lavender plants. By the time I was done we have several piles of hose with 15 hoses total being used. The tree orchard is slanted one direction so I just opened up the drain plugs at the end of each of the three lines.

The Gingerman and I removed the old dishwasher and installed and leveled the new one. I thought this would be a quick process. If you call a solid two hours to remove the old one, clean up the floor, change out the electric cord to the new dishwasher, install the new one, level it and then attach it to the underside of the countertop so it doesn’t rattle around fast then yeah it was quick.

We then set up the table saw and ran all of the bathroom cabinet pieces through it so I could hopefully take some of the wow out of the pieces. It helped. I won’t really know until I start the assembly but now I can actually start the assembly. I will be finding my Kreg tool that lets me drill pilot holes on an angle so I can glue and screw the pieces together.

I hav two main projects left, the gazebo floor and the greenhouse. It’s a race now to see what gets done.

I did finally capitulate and find a varmint rifle for the tractor. I needed something that could just be beat up. I ended up getting a single action break open 243, one shot with a Vortex scope and synthetic stock. I have a waterproof ammo carrier on the stock of the rifle. The entire setup was around $500. Now I just need to weld the holder onto the tractor and get it mounted. I bent one of the bucket support arms a couple of years ago and kept it thinking I may have a use for it in the future. I am going to cut it in 14” lengths, weld them straight up the arms of the bucket and put a piece of angle iron across the top. This way I can bolt the rifle holder directly to that angle iron. We will see how well it all rides soon.

It shoulda worked

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Last week we did get a lot of stuff done. I was able to “mow” the front hillside with the animals. Normally one would think our new front fence would be sufficient, but it is not. Both the young Border Collie and Border Terrier can get past the fence, one jumps on top of it and drops just past the fence in the little spot before the rocks, the other just crawls through it. This meant we needed to get them locked up in the back garden area. They can run out into the orchard, lavender patch and back garden area. Chance, Border Collie, figured out how to jump through gate so we blocked that, then she learned to jump in the corner next to the post so she can jump on top of the gate, this requires a little scrambling but the upright post helps her stabilize. Once settled on top she just jumps down. Gingerman and I installed a cattle panel onto the top of the gate that raises it another two feet, she cannot jump it now.

Once that was done it was safe for the animals to come into the front hillside. I didn’t count on the cows liking it so much that they came in every day. It took about a week for everyone to knock it down sufficiently. Of course there were consequences, the cows broke a part of the plastic irrigation pipe that took me a few days to figure out. I could not figure out why there was a swamp in the making in one area and that same side was not getting watered. The dogs loved the swampy area, it’s cool and muddy.

We sold the last horned brown Dexter cow we owned. She was the nicest of the batch but compared to the black ones she was the craziest we had on the farm. She was very pregnant and a proven mother about six years old. We sold her for $1800. The price of cattle currently is crazy. We have of course cut the herd down dramatically last year. We will only have three cows for slaughter next year. We only have five female cows left. Our bull will come off the group at the end of the month. We will pull the rams off the sheep at the same time.

The fruit continues to come on at an unrelenting pace. Gingerman went up with me to pick yellow plums. Using the tractor as a platform is more efficient than a ladder. Plus, I get to steer and not pick fruit! We picked about 40# of plums and Annmarie made jam. We gave a large portion away and will just let the rest drop to the ground. The sheep will clean them all up.

Catch up weekend

Steve HardinLeave a comment

We keep trying to get ahead but it seems like the chores are winning. I am sure they are piling up faster than we can get them completed. My helper is busy and I have been doing a lot more general keep up so I have not made any movement on any project. We have been processing fruit nonstop. The tall upright freezer is full of six types of fruit. Annmarie has canned plum syrup and jam. We want to make apricot butter and maybe some pear butter also. We are still having to pick tame blackberries every four days and are getting at least 20 cups every time. I am waiting till the season is over to tally up the amount of blackberries that were harvested this year, it is a lot! We are still seeing a lot of bunny rabbits!

We are going to be moving our sheep back over to Hermiston the first week of October. They will be able to hang out for two months eating green grass and then come back just in time to start having lambs. We will take the lambs and cull ewes to sale as soon as they come off the green grass. They will have the most weight and best conditioning then. I have no idea what the sale price will be. I heard this week that feeder calves (500-600#) sold at the LaGrande auction for $4.25/# live weight! That is a crazy high price. We already have all seven of our yearlings sold for $4.25/# hanging weight and are going to stick with that price. Beef prices are going to leap up in the next 3-4 months.

We have started to process our nectarines. I did not think there were very many on the tree. There is probably 100#. I have been selectively picking them half a box at a time. Taking just the ripe ones off the tree. The golden plums are starting to come on and there is a solid 100-200# on the tree and the Italian plums have at least 100#. We have started to just pick fruit and take it into the hospital. There is a communal produce table where you can donate garden produce to other staff, free shopping. It is quite nice and most stuff disappears in 1-2 days so it does not go to waste.

I spent a day weed eating the yard and garden. The Gingerman helped me string wire up into the top gap in the side gate so the Border Collie could not jump through it. It seems to be working so we will be letting the sheep onto the front hillside to knock it down. It is starting to get out of control.

We did manage to get a single piece of oak plywood down on the saw horses and the saw rest assembled. I need to get a new blade for the skilsaw before I cut the cabinet pieces. I need to get that cabinet done.

I did take a couple of hours and cut all of the dead branches out of the nectarine tree. I will be cutting all of the fruit trees this winter. They need shortened, thinned and shaped. It cannot wait any longer.

I really need to get the sand and bricks installed in the gazebo but I have to repair the throttle cable on the compactor again. The thing vibrates and cuts the sheath. Once that is done the greenhouse is next. It is all a work in progress. The parts came this week to fix the little John Deere tractor so that will need to be done this weekend so I can dig out the barn.

On top of all of that and our daughter just had her first baby today and we are now grandparents. So we have been moving things around and setting up an area for the baby as the kids come down and see us almost every weekend. Both the baby and mother are doing well.

Within the next month I will need to hay again! I will be cutting a neighbor’s field that he was been watering since the first cutting. It is going to be a loaded fall season.

Sheep sorted

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Mr Rainman came out on Saturday to help me out. He is only coming a few days a month now. So I had some things planned out so we could get as much done as possible. He brought a new helper out a young man who was excited to come out to the farm but has never really been exposed to farm life. He will be forever known as the Rambler. Great kid but is prone to large amounts of nonstop prose. We pulled the cracked grain 55 gallon drums out of the barn and took them around to the chicken coop. The Rambler had to move them a bucket at a time into the back of the chicken coop. The plan is to get about 2000# of cracked grain done up for the winter. We now have three 55 gallon drums and three metal trash cans out in the back of the chicken coop. I think I can fit at least two more 55 gallon drums, maybe three. That should get us at least six months, probably eight months.

The plan was to have the Rambler crack grain all day. I had to buy a new grain cracker for $200 as I could not just buy the mill half of the contraption. We have saved over $2k in feed so $200 is a great investment. I have sorted the rocks out of four drums worth of grain so the Rambler was going to be able to go nonstop for hours just grinding grain. Unfortunately, someone in Pilot Rock hit a telephone pole and knocked out the power. Before we figured that out I had brutalized the outlet in the machine shed and played with the feeder breakers. When the power came back on the outlet did not work. We will move the cracker and grain over to the chicken coop area so the Rambler can just crack it all in place.

So instead of doing that we went out and picked our rose plum tree. The thing was loaded and sagging down. It only broke one branch but I had about 8 2×4 branch supports in place to keep them from breaking. We picked about 150# of sweet tart plums. They are pretty good, but the tree next to it had these huge round blush plums but there were only about 20 on the entire tree, they were there last week and there were none this week. The yellow jackets have been eating them once they sugar up.

The tree growing in with the apricot tree that I thought was an apricot tree is a plum tree. I think they grafted the apricot tree onto the plum roots and the suckers that came up are actually plums. We were able to pick two plums from that tree and they were very good. This late fall we are going to butcher a lot of the trees to shape them and top them. We ran out of boxes and had to start using paper bags. We finally gave up and left about 15# to the yellow jackets. They were too hard to get to and we already had more than was needed by a long shot.

It is time to put the rams back in with the ewes so we can have lambs the end of December. But first, we had to rearrange the barn so we could sort in it and then we had to get the sheep up into the barn. This ended up causing us to use the dog to get them back into the ram pasture. She did great then we got them behind the barn and needed to push them inside. The dog was not a lot of help. She got too excited and did not listen, we had to put her back in the yard.

The Rambler had never worked animals and was surprised when we grabbed the sheep by the neck to sort them while inside the chute. He thought we were being mean. There was a long calm discussion about how this is how you sort them. He finally got it and ran the second chute gate while we sorted. We made two herds, keepers (ewes that need bred, 29 total) in one. The second one carried the cull ewes (16 total) and all the lambs (62 total, some will end up as replacements when we sort for market) They will hang out on the lower portion of the farm while the ewes hang out in the top portion. This will give the rams time to do their job. We found one chicken out in the barn with one little black chick. We found her nest in the barn and it looked like she had hatched out 10 chicks and only one was left. The chick was only 2-5 days old. We left her out with the chick. It was a 50% chance it would be a rooster so I just left it with her to see if she could keep it alive.