Last fence work in 2021

A while back I had mentioned that even though I wasn't posting often I was still doing stuff and was waiting to post about it when things were accomplished rather than a day-by-day post about the project.  Even though I am not done with my latest fence rebuild, the end of the year is a good time to post about what I did accomplish so far.

Earlier I had posted about the fence rebuild between the yard and pasture after it was done.   I also worked a few times late this Fall on the rebuild of the driveway fence.   I only got two sections rebuilt.  It snowed the day after I had completed the second fence section.  I worked hard that day as I knew the weather forecast of snow.

Before the start.  What got done this year.

The rest of the fence rebuild is a project for 2022.

Bad leg

One of the reasons I chose to sell cow #60 this past Fall and not Maria was that #60 would get a limp each Winter.  Or twice.  Why?  I don't know.  And I would have to put her in the corral for a while so she didn't have to walk much to eat and drink and could recover.  I thought I was over this situation since she is gone.

Yesterday when I let the cattle into the corral for hay, and to get out of the cold wind, I noticed Diamond had a bad limp in her front right leg.  She was the last to walk into the corral.   Her leg was angled out a little bit when she stood.  It looks like she may have strained a muscle in her shoulder as I don't see swelling in her leg or ankle. I don't know for sure.

This afternoon I put out a large hay bale into the pasture, as while it is cold (temperature in the single digits) no wind was blowing.  I noticed Diamond still had a limp, and while better, she needed more time to recover.  So I had to make sure she and her calf didn't get out of the corral when I opened the gate to let the cattle out.  Diamond and her calf wanted out and mooed after all the other cattle left the corral and she was still in the corral.  I put hay in the feeder by the barn for her and her calf.  Eventually she came over to eat the hay after I made an effort showing the hay to her.

It was dark by the time I was done.  I then heard mooing out in the pasture and saw a cow by the middle pasture gate.  I had closed that gate after I thought all the cattle had gone into the middle pasture to the hay bale.  This cow, the last one I let out of the corral, must have gone past the gate and further into the north pasture.  I went out and let her into the middle pasture.  I closed the gate again.   Then in the darkness I thought I may be seeing another cow halfway down the north pasture near a tree.  Yup.  I opened the gate and walked a little way to get the cow's attention.  She came and went through the gate.

Always something with cattle.

Winter really arrived

Winter really arrived this morning.  The weather forecast had predicted the cold front would arrive around 4 am.  At 10 am it hadn't arrived.  No snow.  Wind not too bad.  Maybe the forecast was wrong.   I went out and checked on the heifers in the south part of the corral.  After 10:30 am the wind picked up and snow started to fall when I was checking on the heifers.  The cold front arrived!  I decided to let the rest of the cattle come into the main corral (the heifers are still separated in the south corral). The cattle had eaten all of their large hay bale in the pasture.  I hadn't fed the cattle from the long wooden feeder yet this Winter so I had to put the boards in the floor of the long wooden feeder.  I then put small bales of hay out for the cattle in that and the north barn feeder. 

As the wind really started to blow, and it was cold and predicted to get colder, the cattle can stay in the corral and loafing shed for now.  Tomorrow is predicted to be better and then I'll probably put out a large hay bale then and let the cattle back out to the pasture.

Yesterday's frosting

Yesterday I had a post with a photo showing the frost on cattle hair on a fence wire.  The trees also were frosted.  Today the high temperature was in the low 40s (yay!) and the frost is gone.

Photos from yesterday.

The tree without needles is a western larch (tamarack) tree.  It loses its needles over Winter.

I didn't think our recent weather has been that cold, even if the overnight low temperatures sometimes were in the single digits.  But there is some ice on the river.  Usually it had to be pretty cold to get ice on the river.

Next week I'll see what happens with ice.  The high temperatures are predicted to be in the single digits.

Pushing snow for the cattle

One of the heifers must have still been drinking from her mother as she was mooing for her mother quite often today.  The mother would come to the closest point in the middle pasture to moo back - usually when she saw me near the gate.  The calf was born last February so past time to be weaned.  The mother is Speckles, who is an exceptional mother, and one who didn't 'kick her calf off her udder'.  The other three heifers must have been "kicked off by their mothers" as they didn't make any noise calling for their mothers, nor did their mothers call for them.

Time to put out a large hay bale for the cows.   I also put out a large hay bale for the heifers in the corral so I don't have to put out a small hay bale each day for them.

Since I had the tractor started I decided to put the bucket on and push some snow away in the pasture.  I don't like to put hay on the snow and every time I put out a large hay bale I would move the feeder so one area is not overdone in manure.  I would shovel snow away from where I pushed the feeder to its new spot.  As we are getting snow most days now the shoveling is taking longer to do.   I used the tractor to clean a larger area that should be good for several weeks of movement.  I also cleared a route out to the feeder.  Makes it easier for me to walk out there even though the snow is not that deep.

Mama standing in the cleared area.

We had frost today.  In the photo below that is cow hair on the barb wire that got frosted.

Haynes the bull and cow #110.

Haynes the bull

Diamond wasn't walking on the cleared path.  Her calf was.  But when the calf saw me trying to take her photo she got off the path and ran through the snow by her mother.

Calf in heat already

Just before dark today I went out to check on the feeder and then give the cattle a few small hay bales.  We had snow today so I shoveled the snow from the ground in an area as I don't like putting hay on snow for the cattle to eat.  While doing so I noticed the bull was very interested in one of the calves.  She appeared to be in heat and he wanted to mount her.  She wouldn't stand when he tried to mount her.  She wasn't in standing heat, but getting close I think.  Still she often would raise her tail, so maybe she is in standing heat and was just serviced.  Another time another cow mounted the calf in heat and rode her a distance before I put a stop to it.

So I wanted to separate her and the other calves (other than Diamond's calf as she is still too young for breeding).  Before I put out the hay I tried to get the calves through the gate and into the north pasture so they could go to the corral.  The cows wanted to go through the gate, and Maria briefly got through the gate before I herded her back.  The calves did not want to go anywhere near the gate much less through the gate.  I tried and tried to get them through.

Wait.  What would Donna say?

Get some hay to convince the calves.

So I did.  And I fairly quickly got the calves through the gate. It was getting dark now so I had to be careful not to also let the bull or a smaller cow through the gate.   After the calves ate the little bit of hay they walked to the corral and then I got them into the south part of the corral and to the hay I had put out for them in the feeder next to the barn.  That's where the calves will stay for now.  In case one of them is still drinking from her mother they will also be weaned as it is past time to stop drinking from their mother.

After I put out a few small bales for the cows to eat I then put water in the water trough.   There was some water in the trough from earlier this Fall and now the water was a complete block of ice.  The trough was 2/3's full.  I got an axe and chipped out some ice.  Then I filled the rest of the trough with water.

I knew I would have to separate the calves from the bull at some point but I thought I could wait until January.  Now if the calf had already been bred she could have her calf next September.  I'll see if I got them separated in time.

Hay bale for the cattle

I put out a large hay bale for the cattle this morning.

Because all the cattle can't eat from the feeder at the same time, when I initially put out a hay bale I also put some of the hay into three extra piles on the ground so all the cattle can eat hay in the beginning.  Later they can take turns at the feeder.

Tree / shrub trimming near the house

The end of November and the beginning of December I spent time trimming the trees and shrubs that are right next to the house.  Two emerald green arborvitae trees grow in front of the house.  I have a western arborvitae shrub in front of the house between the two emerald green arborvitae trees.  Also there is a another variety of evergreen (juniper?) shrub between the south emerald green arborvitae tree and the western arborvitae shrub. This variety doesn't grow tall.  South of the house is another evergreen variety tree.  I don't know this one's name.  This grows tall, like the emerald green arborvitae trees.

Arborvitae trees video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmsSAEueQ1I

Here are some old posts from back when I trimmed these trees and shrubs over the years.  You can see I had really cut down the height originally.

https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2009/11/shrubbery-then-and-now.html

https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2009/11/shrubbery.html 

https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2012/01/more-trimming.html

Now it is time to trim these trees and shrubs again.  I had planned to do this a few years ago but in 2019 I had my accident.  In 2020 I waited too late, and it snowed.  I stand on the house roof to trim the trees and I don't want to stand on a snow-covered house roof.  One would think this should only take an afternoon or day to do, but it takes longer for me.  I would only spend an hour to hour and a half each day to trim.  I trimmed the trees down to the 2009 level.  That was where the main trunks had been cut.  I wanted to cut the trees a little shorter.   So I spent time cutting them (the trunks) down about another foot in height.   And then I spent time touching up my cuts and also making sure each tree seemed to be the same height.  A day or so after I finished my tree and shrub trimmings, it snowed.

Standing on the ground the tree still looks too tall.  Standing on the roof, it seems ok.  I may trim this tree lower next year.  I tend not to want to trim too much from the trees each year to overdo the trimming and really set the tree back.  The same for the shrub in front of the house.

Red ornament

Earlier I was asked by an uncle what the red object was in an earlier photo.

Today I took photos of it.   The way the hanging hook is made the ornament can spin completely around, and around in the wind without having to unwind.  I don't remember the history of the ornament. I've had it for a number of years now. I don't think I bought it. I think somebody else did.  My neighbor Jan?  Or was it my ex-fiancé, Tammy?  I remember that I bought the hook stand at an auction, and that I only bought one stand and not both hook stands being sold.  If so, then I think Tammy bought the ornament for me.

More snow photos

Mostly sunny today. The temperature was mainly in the 20s with a high temperature of 31 degrees.  So not much melting went on.  I shoveled more snow off the driveway.  I also shoveled half of the backyard driving area.

More snow

It snowed overnight and into the morning.  Lots of snow.  4 inches or so?   So I spent part of the day shoveling snow off the driveway.  I have more snow shoveling to do tomorrow.  Late this afternoon I put out a hay bale for the cattle and ended up shoveling snow in that area as I don't like to set a hay bale on snow.

The snow was forecast so I spent the last few days working outside in the yard and not riding my bicycle in order to get some stuff done before the snow arrived.  So I may have a few photos to post about that in the future.

Here are a few snow photos from today.

Some rocks I found this year

Today I got an email asking if I was ok as he hadn't heard from me in a while.   I haven't been posting much lately as I'm not getting as much done these days as the daylight is getting very short.  It takes me long to get stuff done, and I'm trying to wait until I am done before posting about it, instead of doing "progress" posts and photos.

And I am still riding my bicycle.  I know last January I said I would try to ride less miles this year, and I have, by only just a little bit.  I have ridden 6740 miles this year so far.  680 miles in November - the third highest amount for that month.  Today I rode my bicycle for a dental visit, and since it was warm outside - 62 degrees, I rode for a while after my dental visit.  30 miles today.  Then 3 miles from home I quickly got a flat rear bicycle tire as apparently, I had ridden over a small wire.  I found the wire sticking out of my tire and tube when I got home and was fixing the flat tire.

Anyway, here are a few photos of interesting rocks I found this Summer.

Tractor frustrations

Today it was time to put out another large hay bale for the cattle.  The morning was cold so I plugged my tractor in to warm the engine.  The tractor started, then quit.  I was raising the loader arms with the bale spear when the engine had quit.  When I went to restart the tractor, it wouldn't start.  The same problem I had in the past where it seemed like the engine wasn't getting the diesel. I pushed the button on the fuel pump and it had fuel.  I tried and tried.  The engine was starting to get weaker.  So, I put a battery charger on the battery.

I tried off and on for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.  A few times it seemed like the engine was starting, but when I released the key, the engine immediately quit.  Hours later the tractor finally started.  Now when I tried to further lift the bale spear the hydraulics weren't working.  Before the tractor initially quit in the morning the hydraulics were working.  Now?  Nope.

I drove the tractor out into the sun.  Hydraulics weren't working for the steering either.  Ok.  I'll wait because maybe the hydraulic oil needs to warm up as it had been some time since I had plugged in the engine heater.  I waited and waited.  No hydraulics.  Last week I had poor hydraulics but that was due to low amount of hydraulic fluid.  Back then I filled the tractor with fluid.  I checked now.  The hydraulic fluid still seemed to be there.  I waited.  And waited.  Then I added a little more fluid as due to some foam I couldn't completely see how high the fluid was. Did some air get into the hydraulic fluid and was causing the foam?  I also turned the steering wheel as the tractor sat there.  Over time it was a little easier to move. Maybe turning the steering wheel would help get air out if that was the problem.  

After an hour of the tractor running the hydraulics finally started to work normally.

I was able to get a large hay bale and take it out to the feeder in the middle pasture in order to feed the cattle.  They were happy to finally get hay.  I had started this process after 10 am and now it was after 3 pm when I finished putting the hay bale out for the cattle.

Speckles, another cow, and three heifer calves were in the south pasture.  Speckles saw me put the hay bale out and she came walking up river to get back to the middle pasture.  After I parked the tractor I saw the other cow had done the same.  The three heifers were standing along the fence watching the cows eat from the hay bale.  So I walked out and opened the gate for them.  Two heifers walked through.  I noticed the cattle needed another salt block so I went to get one.  I figured the other heifer, who saw the gate was open, would walk through when I was gone.  After I returned with the salt block, I closed the gate.  Then I saw the third heifer had walked down the fence line to the west instead of coming through the gate.  It was standing along the fence looking at the cattle eating hay.  So, I had to open a gate and herd the heifer through the gate.

What a day.  So much was wasted.  And, it was sunny for once, the temperature had warmed up, and the snow was melting, so I could have gotten stuff done outside. But I didn't.

First snow

Today we had the first snow of this Winter.  Not a lot.  Maybe an inch.  The high temperature today was 36 F so most of the snow did not melt.

The cattle are waiting for me to bring out another hay bale.