Hay on the head

The cattle like to bury their head in the hay while they eat.  Here they are coming up for air.

A side effect is that sometimes they accidentally push some hay out of the feeder and then step on it ruining it.

Mountain sun

Monday we had a brief break in the clouds and got a little sun...

February women's expo

On Saturday Tammy held her first women's expo in 2013 for direct selling home based businesses.  She and I set up the tables Friday night and Tammy was down there before 8 am on Saturday to open the door to let the women in to set up their tables.  The expo started at 10 am and ran until 5 pm.

Also at the fairgrounds was a Prairie Sisters vintage collectible show that ran from 10 am to 4 pm, and a Bridal Expo that ran from 10 am to 5 pm. Tammy's expo was in the smaller Country Kitchen building and the other shows were in the expo building and trade center respectively.

Tammy had 31 vendors including her own Tastefully Simple table.

I came down a little before 10 am and set up the five wooden sandwich board signs and also hung a banner on the building.  I came back after 4 pm and took everything down at 5 pm.

There were lots of traffic at the fairgrounds.  Most of the traffic were at the other two events as they have been around for years.  Tammy is trying to think of a cute catchy name for her events as some people here think a "Women's Expo" is a health fair.  Tammy needs some sort of name with the word "shopping" in it.  Any ideas?

Missing board

This is what I found when I went out to feed the cattle Friday.

Ya....   the board was missing.    Where was it?   I had to look around to find it.  The board was laying inside the feeder.   How the cattle - with no hands - slid the board out of  its holder and then got it into the feeder is a big mystery.

Here the cattle are eating.  Just look at those angels.

Relaxing in the loafing shed

Thursday morning I found the cattle again played with my feeder board.  Here you can see the board slid partway out.   On the right you see the cattle relaxing in the loafing shed as I fix the feeder board.  I can just imagine one of the heifers snickering at me behind my back every day when I find the board slid out.

Sliding out

The cattle are playing with me...

Lately I've noticed the new board on the hay feeder had been slid partway out.  At first I thought I forgot to slide it closed after adding hay to the feeder.  But it happened a number of times.

Now I know it is not me.  Today I found the board completely slid out of the holder and laying in the mud and manure a yard away from the feeder.  I guess it is better than the cattle breaking the board and holder.

That's what the cattle think of my attempt to keep them out of the feeder.


This is the board I am talking about.

Cattle and deer

Some deer passed through the hayfield late one afternoon when I was in the corral with the cattle.

The cattle were standing around watching me work.

Momma passed some gas.

There go the deer.

The video showing the cattle and deer is 53 seconds long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-G-obJOPPk

Loading corral gate fun

When I was fixing the hay feeder on Wednesday one heifer and Baby were at one of the loading corral gates and figured out how to open it.

If it's not one thing it's another.

Here is how the latch works on my homemade gate.   I had added a wire to hold the latch as cattle in the past pushed on the latch and opened the gate.  These cattle got the wire off then moved the latch to open the gate.

When "kids" have too much free time on their hands they get into trouble.

As soon as the heifer and Baby got the gate open Momma noticed right away and went over there.  That is how I found out as Momma was watching me work at the feeder then suddenly lost interest and went over there.

There is no harm in letting the cattle in the loading corral runway other than I had added some dirt near the header gate to make the incline more gradual.  I don't want the cattle walking on the wet dirt and messing it up until it dries and grass starts to grow on it.

I closed the gate when the cattle came out to eat the hay I added to the feeder after I finished my work on it.

More feeder fun

The cattle are testing me.  How patient am I?

Yesterday I found the heifer had tried to break my last repair job on the feeder.

So I fixed it.  I redid the broken side and added more and bigger boards and added another supporting board on the other side.  That seems to have done the trick as today the board is as how I built it.

But then Momma decided to be naughty this afternoon.  I guess if one can't get in the feeder from the side they will do it from the front even if there is not as much room.

The previous photo on the right also shows how I beefed up the previous board yesterday.

To stop the cattle from stepping in from the front I added a board across the front.

Baby and Momma

Now if I can get Momma to stop burying her head deep in the hay and moving it around.  When the feeder is full of hay she spills some over the side which goes to waste after they step on it.

Momma

After I finished working on my feeder board Momma tried to check out the inside of the barn.

Trying to stop backwards

I had to do something.  Since I first found the heifer standing in the hay feeder (see previous post, "Backwards"), I saw her climb in the feeder another time and found manure in the corner another time.  Monday morning I found manure in the corner and late Monday afternoon the heifer climbed into the feeder with her front legs.  When I entered the corral to chase her out of the feeder she completely climbed into the feeder before stepping out as I continued coming towards her.  She won't step out backwards.

I didn't want to block my access for filling hay so I came up with a removable blocking board.  To gain access all I have to do is lift the board up to remove it.

I went to help Bob back into his house after his dental appointment and then a short three mile bicycle ride.  When I returned I rode around the back yard to look for Daisy and saw the heifer was standing in the feeder once again.

What?!

  She put her head and neck under the board to eat and then moved up to raise the board up to step into the feeder.  And I had placed the board a little high to begin with.

Back to the drawing board...

The solution:  I lowered the board.  Then on each side I added a small board above the long board.  That way the board can't be raised by the heifer.  Now to add or remove the board I have to slide it in and out.  More of a pain, but something I had to do.

Here the board blocks out the faces of Momma and the problem heifer.  Just like in the crime photos so you don't recognize the guilty.

My fix where I added boards above.  With effort I can slide the board a bit, and pulling it to me, work it out sideways to remove it.

Tuesday morning... 

I had to go bake a batch of pumpkin muffins and bread so I put the board back up for now.

When I came back from baking pumpkin muffins and bread this is what I found.  The heifer is now challenging me... "you build it, I can break it."  I think I am going to call this heifer "Princess".  I'm going to have to ear tag the cattle someday so I can physically tell her apart from the other heifer.

A side note... this is also the heifer that now waits until I leave before she pushes Baby away from the feeder and takes her spot.  She used to try this when I was there but I scolded her.  Now she waits until I leave the corral and can't see the feeder.  Sometimes all it takes is for me is to walk around the corner or the barn.  Then I hear a commotion and when I come back she has taken Baby's spot.

Why is it that it is usually the female cattle that are the bossy bold problem cattle?

"Princess" shows me what she thinks of me and my camera and my efforts to stop her from getting into the feeder...

Yes, the raising of the tail means...

After cleaning the feeder, I took my "structure" apart and rebuilt it once again.  I lowered the board once more.

I have blocks all around the boards on each end.  So to remove the board I have to slide it completely out one end.

As you can see it was dark by the time I finished.  Baby was checking everything out and I had to keep an eye on her that she didn't take or break any tools, or sneak into the barn as the door was partially open (she tried).

With such small pieces of wood I split some, bent nails in other dry wood, and lost nails on the ground.  Oh yeah... hit my little finger with the hammer.  The finger bled and bled and bled.  Blood can be seen on wood in a previous photo.  When I got back in the house Tammy held her nose and said I smelled like "cattle".  My pants had blood and manure on them.

I just took some apple cores out to the corral for the cattle.  The cattle are chewing their cud in the loafing shed and my board is still up.  Maybe the third time is the charm.