Up and down

Monday was a gorgeous day and one of the few we had this Spring that was above normal temperature wise. The temperature reached 82 degrees. It was sunny with no wind. I shirked my chores and went for a hike in Glacier Park.

Today is different: cold, cloudy, windy, and wet. The temperature is 55 degrees - below normal. The forecast was for a chance of rain in the afternoon. I woke up to rain. Then just before noon it poured again.

The good news is that between the recent warmth and the rain the grass is growing. I am feeling better about the transition later from hay to grass for my cattle.

The cattle sure do eat. I am going through the hay fast. The recent bales I got are touch lighter than my bales. Also I end up tossing out parts of many bales due to mold. And being older rained on hay the nutrition content is less so it seems as if the cattle eat more to get the same benefits. And I still feel bad feeding them some bales as some bales look and smell bad. Dan said the hay he feeds his cattle now is also old and not the best.

Yesterday I had spread out some of the old bales in an effort to dry them better in the sun and warmth. Bad move as it rained on them today.

24 hours after I set out my pocket gopher traps and I caught five gophers, had one trap buried in dirt, and one trap was untouched. A good days effort.

With the nice weather the regular gophers worked on opening up a closed 'village' as they opened three or four previous closed holes. I moved some traps to these holes.