Two steers sold

We haven't have rain or snow for a long time. It is getting dry and the grass is shorter than normal for this time of year.  I'm concerned about there being enough grass for the cattle.  I told the people with the horses I couldn't pasture them this year.  Earlier I told Dan I could only take his two cows.  So I am sticking with that.  He had eight other yearlings but I don't have room for them this year.  So he called Evan to haul them to the livestock auction in Missoula for the auction on Thursday (today).

I decided to sell two of my steers now instead of waiting until Fall.  I would have liked to have kept them till Fall but I don't trust I will have enough grass.  The other steer still has his one horn so I am keeping him until that horn falls off.

The long hair must be from Buddy's tail.

Since Evan was hauling Dan's cattle to the auction on Wednesday, along with another person's bull, I shipped my two steers with Evan.

I had to haul the steers to Dan's corral.  I wasn't planning on shipping steers so the bale of hay was in the way in the corral.  It would be hard to maneuver Evan's long trailer around it.  And Evan was short of time anyway as he had to go to Libby to get the bull.

One steer was with the cows, the other steer with the bulls.  Separating them may take time.  Me maneuvering my stock trailer around the hay bale would take time.  Donna offered to help me sort and load the steers.

We started shortly before 9 am Wednesday.  The one steer was the first to run into the loading corral and I closed the gate.  That was easy!  I then easily got him into the far end of the loading corral ramp.  Then we got the cows and calves into the loading corral to keep them out of the way.

It took a few more minutes to separate the steer from the bull.  That steer didn't want to leave the bull or the horned steer.  He kept running back to be near the bull.  With the excitement Buddy started to get excited and began to jump up and down and buck.  We calmed things down.  After a few more tries I got the steer through the gate and quickly closed it before the horned steer ran through it too.

I have a second gate to the loading corral ramp and we herded the second steer in there from the corral and not the loading corral.

We were done herding by 9:30 am.  That was fast.

Waiting to be loaded into the stock trailer.

Yes, you guys are going for a ride.

With Donna giving me directions it didn't take me long to back up the stock trailer to the loading corral ramp.

Backed up to the head gate.

View from above.

We were to Dan's place in plenty of time.  Evan was running late so Donna and I left as she had an appointment and I had fence work.  The auction was today and I will know in a few days what the steers sold for.  This week was a regular auction.  Next week was the last larger feeder auction sale.  It would have been nice to have sold my cattle at that auction as there could be more buyers at that auction.  But one rolls with the opportunities they are given.

Nursery sale road trip

Memorial Day weekend is the annual Lawyer Nursery retail sales event where the nursery wholesaler sells to the general public. I have been to two of these sales in the past and bought some trees and shrubs.  Donna never had been to one of these sales and was up for a road trip to Plains, MT to see what they had and possibly buy some plants.  She bought a few.

Here is their web site.  At this site you can look at what items they have for sale and prices:  http://www.nurserystocksale.com/plains-sale/

 Outside the nursery.

After the rush passed.  When we got in line for the checkout, we were where I took this photo.  The line went to the far end of the room and round the corner into another big room.  This photo only shows maybe half the plants on sale.

 
In the past I found the event sold out of some popular plants by the afternoon of the first day.  Donna is an early riser and wanted to be there when they opened at 9 am.  That meant leaving around 7 am for a two hour drive.  Early for me as I don't usually get up until 9 am.

We arrived right at 9 am.  The doors were not opened yet and a long line of people were waiting outside.  Once inside most people pretty much knew what trees and shrubs they wanted and quickly got them and a long line at the checkout formed.

The plants had colored tags indicating prices from $1 to $12 in $1 dollar increments.  The checkout lines had employees to count the items and mark a form with the number of items at corresponding dollar amounts.  The cashier then added them up.

I generally had an idea of what I wanted, but I also browsed for items that caught my eye as they had photos of the plants by each bin that contained the plants.

I bought 12 trees and shrubs for $65.  I bought two varieties of plum trees to replace the ones that had died a few years ago.  I bought a half dozen pine and fir trees, several dogwood shrubs, a black walnut tree, a variety of serviceberry bush I hadn't seen before and a few other trees/shrubs that caught my eye.

The nursery provided plastic bags to hold the items. The trees and shrubs were sold bare root. The roots were wet in the bins.  I also got some newspapers I brought along wet and placed them on the roots to keep them moist.  We took a scenic drive home and a few of the roots did start to get dry by the time we got home.  It was a warm day and Donna's car is black.

Once home I filled a few pails with water and placed the roots in them.  Daisy of course had to sample the water before I put the roots in the pails.

Now to find a place to plant everything.

After visiting the nursery we drove up the Clark Fork Valley to the Noxon Dam.

Then back down the Clark Fork Valley and near the Bison Range to Hwy 93 to head back to Kalispell.  We had nice views of the Mission Mountains as we drove.

We planned on eating at the Hot Spot Thai Restaurant again in Polson, Montana but discovered they were closed from 2:30 pm to 5 pm.  It was now 3:50 pm.  So we ate at another restaurant in Polson.  The food there was average.

We got home around 7 pm.

Cattle fighting

No cows must be in heat today as Buddy isn't moaning about the cows and is more relaxed.

Today was time for another large bale of hay for the cattle.  The cows had been taking three days to eat a bale, then 2.75 days.  This last bale they ate in 2.5 days.  I like to get them a new bale in the late afternoon so I fed them a small bale in the morning, then another in early afternoon to tide them over till late afternoon.  Being used to an all-you-can-eat buffet they would complain to me that they wanted more hay whenever they saw me outside in the yard.

Dragging a bale of hay into the corral went smooth for once.  The cattle were a distraction though while they were in the loading corral.  The large red cow was head butting a small calf into a corner.  Several times and hard, until I came over and chased the cow away.  The cow went on to fight another cow.

After letting the cattle out to eat the hay I left to work on a fence and gate.  When I came back to get another post the red cow was fighting with a black cow,  Really fighting.  I went into the corral with my sorting stick to whack them on their rear end to break it up. I had to follow them around as they would rejoin their fight.  I almost had gotten them broken up for good when Mama came running at me.  She stopped when I heard her and turned to face her.  I am not sure if she was coming to join the fight or stop me from whacking a cow on its behind.

By now I had all the cows attention and they were milling around and then stopped to watch me.  The red cow and number 7 finally quit their fighting.

Females with their grudges. 

Cows in heat, the next day

What a difference a day makes!   Thursday morning the bellowing cow stopped bellowing and is happy and content.  I also let Beulah out of the loading corral and she went to work on eating hay from the hay feeder.  No more signs of her being in heat.

I think cow #60 was in heat Thursday as she often stood next to the fence near the bull.  Once in the afternoon she had a look on her face that made me think she was asking me for a little alone time with the bull.  But, while she can bellow her instance on getting more hay (she positions her throat just so to make a loud piercing honk), she was quiet today.

Buddy is getting blue balls.  Most of the day he stood along the fence moaning to the cows.  Poor guy.


Daisy spent all night outside last night.  Never came when I called for her at 2m when it was time for bed.  I checked at 6:30 am, 7 am, 7:30 am, 8 am and 10 am when I finally got up.  She came at 10:30 am and chewed my butt for not being around when she wanted to come in the house.  Then the food in her dish didn't completely cover the bottom.  So I heard about that until I filled her dish up.

The females on the ranch have been giving me griefly lately.


An added bonus...  several items in my homeless collection line of pants.

Cows in heat

This afternoon the red cow was bellowing ...and bellowing  ...and bellowing.  So I had to go out and see what was up.  She was eating hay and between mouthfuls was bellowing over at her calf laying in the loafing shed.  I checked on the calf and she was ok.  She got up and walked over to drink some water.  Her mother followed her bellowing at her.

I waited and watched.  The calf ignored her mother.  She lazily walked around the corral.  When her mother wasn't stuffing her face she was bellowing at her calf.  What's wrong?

Donna stopped by.  She agreed both mother and the calf appeared to be fine. Her opinion: the mother was coming into heat. Why she was taking her frustration on on her kid and not paying attention to the bull is a mystery.

Beulah, on the other hand, was humping other cows when she could.  Otherwise she would stand near the fence or gate to tease the bull.  The bull could get his head through the gate if he turned it sideways, which he did.  Beulah stood far enough away that the bull could barely reach her to take a sniff.  I was afraid he would break the gate.  I walked over and found the gate was bowed. 

I got a short section of field fence and wired it to the gate to prevent the bull from getting his head through the gate and bending it further.

Beulah wasn't interested in going into the loading corral.  When Donna stopped by we 'got lucky' (as Donna says) and quickly got Beulah and her calf into the loading corral for the night.  Let her cool off in there.

Meanwhile the red cow keeps bellowing.  I have a headache now.  I hope she is over this by morning.

Don't ya just love females in heat? 

Harrowing done

Finally.  FINALLY!  Finally it is done!!!  Finally I finished harrowing the hayfield and all the pastures.

I started way back on March 24th.  Naively I thought... "I hope to get most everything harrowed this week."  (http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2015/03/harrow-start.html) It took me almost two months!

Since I got an earlier than normal start I decided to do some extra stuff.  First off I decided to really harrow the hayfield.  That meant after I drug the harrow once around the hayfield I then went over the entire hayfield again this time driving in tight circles to ensure I went over the ground multiple times.

I only went over each pasture a single time.  But once I was ready for the pastures I decided to clean up the pastures a little bit to have less stuff to drive around.  That meant combining some piles of branches into fewer piles.  I also decided to de-limb a few fallen trees and to cut the ends of some fallen trees to make their footprint shorter.  I also trimmed some lower branches from live trees.

As I moved from the south to the middle pasture, then to the north pasture my efforts increased.  While I had partially de-limbed a few fallen trees in the south pasture, I de-limbed all the fallen trees in the middle and north pastures. I hadn't planned on de-limbing the last tree to fall in the middle pasture last year, but when trimming a few branches I realized now was the time to de-limb the tree.  The tree was partially dried, but not completely dried.  If I waited until later the branches would harden as they completely dried.

For lower branches I also trimmed more and more trees as I moved from pasture to pasture. From a few trees in the south pasture, to half or more of the trees in the middle pasture, to almost all the trees in the north pasture. Part of this was because the cattle had eaten needles off some lower branches in middle and north pasture trees.

For weeks now I thought I would be done in a day.  Some days I got no pasture work done due to other events.  Sometimes I only got a few hours of pasture work.  On days where I got a full day of work done I still didn't finish.  I kept thinking only a few more trees to trim, but then I would find more trees and branches.

I used a step ladder to reach some branches at the tree trunk for branches that hung way down.  For some trees I started to climb the tree as I found dead branches.  For a few trees I was way high up in the tree following dead branches.  I was so high I could look down on a roof of a two-story house.

Finally I trimmed my last tree Tuesday afternoon, and two hours later had the harrowing completed.

Here are 13 photos of some of my pasture work: https://plus.google.com/photos/109566462412251958234/albums/6150831503157229137?authkey=CLfYu6vL3ZelNA

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Turkeys, geese and eggs

Odds and ends of Spring photos...

In April a flock of wild turkeys wandered through the yard, out to the hayfield and then to the pasture and towards the river.

Also in April a goose had eggs on a small island in the river. Several other times I had seen a lone goose wandering around the middle and south pastures.

When kicking some clumps of old hay that the cattle didn't eat out in the pasture I found this very large egg under a clump of hay.  Donna has turkeys and she said this egg is larger than a turkey egg.

Later, when digging up and cleaning the manure and hay mix in the corral I uncovered another egg.  While a large egg, it was much smaller than the previous egg I had found under the clump of hay.  I was surprised the second egg was in one piece under the hay and manure muck in the corral.  I left the second egg sit in the back yard and a few days later it was gone.  Most likely a magpie took it.

Relaxing cows

While I brought in a hay bale for Buddy and the steers, the cows and calves relaxed in the loading corral.

Mama

Oreo

Oreo

A 33 second video of the cows relaxing.  On the right side notice the cow rubbing her neck on the grass.  Then number 7 starts rubbing against the calf table.  Mama is in the foreground.

https://youtu.be/HfhqHqjkB8Q

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Hay for Buddy and the steers

With all the cattle in the corral it is tricky moving the hay bales for the cattle.  For the cows, not too much.  I easily get them in the loading corral before I pull a hay bale into the corral.  I brought in another bale for them yesterday.

For the bull and the steers, not as easy.  First I put the cows into the loading corral.  Two days in a row this went smoothly.  Then I put some hay into the wooden feeder by the barn so Buddy and the steers would eat there.  Then I put up three corral panels to keep them in that part of their corral.  I did a little wiring to hold the panels up and to the fence.  If Buddy wanted he could have easily pushed the panels over.  But he didn't.

Then I was free to pull a bale through the corral and into Buddy's part of the corral.  I was able to remove the baling twine and get the feeder around the bale without interruption.  Most of this went smooth.  The only problem was pulling the bale.  First, the wood pallet twisted cock-eyed.  I redid the chain on the pallet so I would pull the pallet straight to lessen the chance the bale would roll off.  To no avail as the bale rolled off once I entered the corral.  With some effort I was able to push the bale back onto the pallet.  The bale wanted to roll off again so I wedged a wood block under the pallet.  Then I was able to pull the bale the rest of the way to Buddy's corral.

Unlike when I pull a bale for the cows - who make a racket, Buddy and the steers quietly and patiently waited for me to prepare the hay.

It will be so nice once I get a tractor to move the bales.

Calf table

Did I wake up Thursday morning thinking I would buy a calf table?  Nope.
Did I even know I wanted a calf table?  No.
Did I even know what a calf table was?  No.

But I knew my friend Tim wanted a calf table.   Thursday afternoon I saw in the Mountain Trader two calf tables for sale for $100 each.   I called Tim but he was in South Dakota.  He was really interested in a calf table and asked if I would check it out for him.  I called and learned the tables were still available and were in Pablo, Montana, about 70 miles away.

Donna was up for a road trip so she came with me to look at the calf tables.  While Donna wasn't familiar with calf tables, me not knowing what to expect a second opinion would be useful.

The place where the tables were located was a shambles with junk, old tractors only good as scrap iron, and pieces of machinery everywhere.  What did I get myself into?  Donna wasn't sure she wanted to get out of the pickup.  She thought would have nightmares that night about the junky place.

This was far from the worst of it.

While the owner, Zon, was 85 years old, he looked and acted ten to fifteen years younger. He had about 150 head of cattle. He knew about cattle.  We talked de-horning methods, cattle and calf nutrition, prices, and about a cow he had that hadn't gotten rid of all her placenta after giving birth for the first time.  He tied a weight to the placenta thinking that would help pull the placenta out but the cow went crazy so he took the weight off and penned the cow and calf to keep an eye on them for potential problems.

He had two calf tables, one he has used before buying a newer one, and a spare he never had to use.  Both calf tables worked.  They were different.

I preferred the calf table he has used regularly. I carefully drove into the corral to load the calf table.

Here is a 3 second video of Zon lifting the table.  I didn't have time to take a longer video as I had to grab the calf table to make it stop spinning and swaying and to guide it into my pickup's bed.  When Zon first started to lower the table into the pickup bed the loader dropped suddenly.  The rest of the lowering went slower and smoother.   I held onto the table as I had visions of it swinging into my pickup window.

The tractor is an old "put-put" tractor: https://youtu.be/rDIMGnPdXh0

The other calf table I left for Tim.  Zon will hold it for Tim until he gets back from South Dakota in  week.


On the way home Donna and I ate at the Hot Spot Restaurant in Polson, Montana. It is a Thai restaurant. Yum!  I had:

The portion was so big I didn't eat it all. I took some home to eat later.  The spice level was perfect for me.  Spicy enough for flavor but not too spicy, although if I rushed eating the curry the spice level would increase.


Once home my next challenge was unloading the calf table.  I was able to move it by hand, but I didn't want to slide it out of the pickup and drop it to the ground.  On Friday I asked Wyatt and he lifted it out of the pickup with his tractor. 

I put the calf table in the loading corral for now.

The front "V" section is a head gate to hold the calf in place.

Then you can see one side can be moved in to hold the calf's body.

Why it is called a calf "table".   The whole unit swivels on its side.

The view from the back.

What I like is the "ribs".  Once can give shots through the openings.  Each rib can be opening for more access. For example if you want to brand the calf.   The bottom wood section flips down for easy access to the hoofs and lower legs.

What a useful piece of equipment.  And to think that before Thursday I didn't know that I could use one.

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Buddy and fence

This afternoon Buddy was taking interest in the cows across the fence.  One may be coming into heat.  I couldn't tell which one.

This cow is not in heat; she was in heat last week.  Is that smile on the cow's face?   Buddy... what are you doing?!

Buddy has some big balls.

You looking at me?

For a while Buddy stood next to the fence and me.  I scratched his head and around his ears.  Then I moved to his neck and side to his front shoulders.  Some of his winter fur easily was scratched off.   Buddy liked it.  After a bit he turned around so I could scratch his other side.


If you look at the first photo you will notice no wire on the top part of the fence.  Too reach the cows Buddy turned his head sideways and stuck his had through the opening.  The fence post is not the most solid and I was concerned Buddy would get too excited and carried away and the fence would break. It didn't, but I added wire to the top part to prevent him from getting his head through the fence in the future.

Calves and hay

Since the cattle eat a large bale of hay in three days instead of five days now that they are always in the corral, I need three more bales of hay that I planned to get me to the end of the month.  Johnny had hay left even though he has sold a lot since I was there last week.  Donna rode with me to get the hay.  The trip was uneventful.


Here are 18 calf photos from April and May so far: https://plus.google.com/photos/109566462412251958234/albums/6148221212697924545?authkey=CJSzubqeyYj76gE


Here is a 16 second video of a cow licking her calf: https://youtu.be/sl-Cnse8gnM

Cow in heat

I was concerned about this happening.  That is, the cows and heifers coming into heat while in the corral with Buddy in the next part of the corral just across the fence.

Late this afternoon I noticed several heifers and cows mounting and bothering another cow while she ate hay.  Number 7, who gave birth five weeks ago, was in standing heat.  Donna said that cows will start cycling into heat about six weeks after giving birth.

Buddy seemed attentive on his side of the corral but relaxed.  A short time later he was next to the gate by the water trough.  He was mooing in a low tone he seldom uses.   It must be his bedroom voice as the cow walked from the hay feeder over the gate.  A heifer was right with her.  This heifer may be coming in to heat soon as she was unusually attentive to the cow in heat.

The cow in heat turned around and Buddy tried to reach her through the gate to take a sniff.  I went in and broke it up before Buddy got too excited.

I tried to herd the cow into the loading corral to put some distance between the two.  She didn't want to go into the loading corral even though I herded her right to the gate.  The heifer following her didn't help matters.

The cow was getting agitated due to my herding her and the next I knew Mama was getting agitated and walking towards me.

Time for Plan B.  I called Donna for help.  She came over and after a little effort we herded the cow into the loading corral.  Then I wanted to get her calf into the loading corral with her mother.  I tried to grab the calf to walk it into the corral.  I had a hold of the calf but the next I knew Mama was charging me.  Mama had been relaxed the past few weeks as I have not bothered her or any other calves.  This calf wasn't her calf but Mama was concerned, and unlike the other cows, was going to take action.

It took a little more effort but I herded the calf into the corral with her mother without other cattle coming in along with her.  Donna put that down to luck and not skill on my part.  At one time I had to warn Donna as Mama started walking towards her and not me.

I'll let the cow out tomorrow once she is past standing heat.  Buddy is a little calmer this evening but he does moan a little as he can smell the cow in heat even if the cow is not immediately on the other side of the fence.  I told Buddy he needs to wait a month before 'getting with' the cows but I don't think he wants to wait.  It has been around nine months since he last got some action.

I wonder if the other twelve cows and heifers will be similar when they come into heat?

Calf in feeder

Sunday the hay in the feeder was almost all eaten.  One calf took the opportunity to crawl into the feeder.

Mama, her calf from this year, and Rose, Mama's calf from last year are all at the feeder.

Donna and her daughter stopped by in the afternoon to see the baby calves.  Donna helped me bring in another large bale for the feeder.  Since Donna was here the enterprise went smoothly and the bale did not fall off the pallet as I pulled it into the corral.