Today (Monday) I prepared the corral for the ear tagging. I removed the higher side boards to make it easier to reach down to tag the cattle. The higher boards were needed back in the days when the cattle would be loaded and transported using pickups and trucks. The boards prevented the cattle from going crazy and jumping over the side while walking up the ramp to the vehicle. I removed the ramp a few years ago as now-a-days most everyone has a stock trailer to haul cattle. Besides the loading ramp hadn't been used in years, was overgrown, and the boards were rotting. With stock trailers the cattle are able to step up into the trailer.
I still have the wooden stock rack I helped dad built many years ago for his pickup. I haven't tried to see if the rack would fit my pickup. Since I have my own stock trailer, and the livestock auction is way down in Missoula, hauling a few cattle in a pickup wouldn't be feasible.
I repaired a metal bar used to hold closed an inner gate in the loading corral. This Spring the cattle somehow got the nut off the bolt that held it in place and removed the bar. Bored, I guess.
I had to get another nut to repair it.The outer end gate is not much, and doesn't need to be much as it isn't necessary when loading cattle. But as we will hold the cattle in the narrow end of the loading chute, we need a substantial gate. With no time to make a better gate I got some 2x4s and slid them across the very end of the chute. That should be a barrier the cattle can't cross.
I also went along the loading chute and removed or pounded in any nails that stuck out.
One of my projects this summer (along with how many other projects?) is to redo parts of the loading corral. The loading corral has been patched and patched over the years and is quite old. It is functional but can be made better and easier to use. Some posts are wobbly and need to be replaced. When the cattle get bunched in the narrow part and balk at entering the stock trailer the corral sides do some moving as the cattle push and shove. I also can use some of the wooden corral panels I recently bought at auction to replace a few sections of the greater loading corral. I just need to find the time.
Finding the cattle were taking their mid-morning siesta in the loafing shed I closed the gate to the NE pasture and kept the cattle in the overall corral today. This would make it easier to gather them into the loading corral for their tagging.
Half the cattle have no fear of me and actually got in the way as they wanted to see what I was doing. Some would crowd in the narrow loading corral with me. For some reason a few wanted to lick my hair and I had to watch out for this when bending down. Carrying boards was like threading a maze as many cattle would stand and watch and not move. I don't want my cattle nervous and afraid of me, but they were getting in the way. I gave them some treats to distract them.
I again forgot the water was running to the cattle's water tank. Lately I had been taking to leaving the hay bale's twine around my neck until I turned the water off - no way I forgot about the water with the twine around me. But as I don't feed the cattle hay now - no twine, and I forgot. Fortunately(?) it was for less than an hour.
Garden
To protect my newly transplanted garden plants I got some sticks, boards and old roofing shingles and used them to shade my plants. My garden looks a little odd with all of the shingles and boards propped up on the sunny side of the plants.
I got back to digging to enlarge my garden. Another 5% dug today.
River
The river is at 806 CFS today; a rise of 33 CFS in the past 24 hours. The river is high enough I couldn't really tell any difference today. I did see a large owl fly from the large pine tree by the river as I neared the tree. A few beats of its wings then it glided to a tree in the north pasture.
Bees
Grant said he planned on bringing one set of bee hives tonight after dark. Apparently this hive is in a cranky mood, what with recently being moved south of town to pollinate a group of apple trees. The better to move them after they have gone to bed, and to place them out in the middle pasture rather than nearer to houses. I didn't pay attention if Grant did bring the hives tonight as the route I told him to use didn't come by the house. It rained lightly off-and-on this evening so I don't know if Grant postponed the move. I'll see in the morning.
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