Sunday, September 01, 2019

Day quickly went downhill

It was a nice day today until this evening.  As I was finishing the move of the second irrigation line I noticed Diamond and Maria were at the hayshed and hay bales.  They had lifted up the corral panel blocking access to the three hay bales outside the shed.  They had pushed the bale spear inside the corral panel into a hay bale.  They lifted one end of the corral panel up onto the bale spear and also the hay bale and were eating hay from the bottom of on bale.


I chased them away, straightened the corral panel and set it back down on the ground, and then pounded a couple of steel posts in the ground and wired them to the corral panel to help hold the corral panel in place. I'll see how well that works tomorrow.


As I was walking back to turn on the irrigation line I thought I heard Toby moo in the north pasture.  After turning on the irrigation line, and as I walked over to turn off the third (transition) line it looked like Toby was in Calvin's field.  Then I had problems turning off the third valve.  It wouldn't turn, then when it began to turn the valve was leaking badly from the bottom.  The collar had come loose and undone.  Nothing seemed to be working.  I lifted the valve up and the whole thing came off.  I had a geyser on my hands as the valve cap had somehow unscrewed completely out of the valve.  So much water was coming out I had to open the next valve in hopes of reducing the pressure.  By the time I finally got the valve cap/screw back in the valve and screwed shut, and also closed the extra open valve, I was soaked head to foot.  Completely soaked as water was running off me.

I still didn't have good sprinkler pressure.  I had to go get my sorting stick for herding Toby and when I did I found the second line's end cap had come off and water was rushing out of the end of the pipe. I had a lake in my back yard.  I was already soaked so it didn't matter much by the time I got the end cap back on the pipe.

I closed Calvin's driveway gate and went to look for Toby.  He was standing in the pasture corner near Calvin's house yard and my pasture. He was looking over to the cows in the middle pasture and also over to the corral at Maria and Diamond.  I walked down to open my gate to the north pasture.  Toby watched me but he did not move.  I went to encourage him to go to the gate.  But he didn't want to move.  Since Calvin's fence is not easily climbable I didn't want to be where I couldn't get away in case Toby got mad.  I reached over the fence and tapped him on the head with the sorting stick but he just closed his eyes and stood there.

Okay.  He'll knows where the gate is and that I opened it.  I'll let him come back on his own time.  No sense getting hurt rushing him.  Calvin wasn't home so I called to let him know where Toby was.  I didn't want him to be surprised when he came home and went out to see why his dogs were barking and being annoying. It is difficult to see a black bull in the dark.

Calvin was worried Toby might rub on one of his pickups sitting in his field.  So I called Donna and asked her to drive my pickup while I searched Calvin's field for Toby.  The pickup's headlights should find him in the dark while I looked among the vehicles and other stuff in Calvin's field.  When we found Toby he was in my north pasture by the fence where the rest of the cattle (except Diamond and Maria) were  located in the middle pasture.  (Toby had walked way up river from the middle pasture to the north corner of Calvin's field where his gate to the river is open.)   I closed the gate from my pasture to Calvin's field.  Tomorrow I will put Toby in the south corral.  I am not putting up river walking even if it means more work by now having to feed Toby hay early.

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