Two salt feeders repaired

Today I fixed two of my three wooden salt feeders.  The third salt feeder is fine.  The cattle are hard on the wooden feeders.  I also pulled the rest of the yarrow weeds growing in the middle pasture.

North pasture feeder repaired.  The legs on the left had been bent out.

Here is a photo of the middle pasture feeder taken back in the middle of June.  The feeder was in worst condition today when I repaired it.  I forgot to take a photo of the feeder today before I fixed it.

Middle pasture feeder.

I was done fixing the middle pasture feeder and was putting my tools back into the plastic pail when all of a sudden Toby was nearby.  He started jumping up and down a few times like he was bucking someone off.  And he shook his head.  He scared the heck out of me.  I yelled at him to 'knock it off! Calm down!'  I moved away from the pail over to here where I took a photo of Toby when he walked up to check out the pail.

I waited and waited... and waited.  10 minutes or so.  Cattle usually move on when nothing is happened.  Finally Toby did.  He walked a short ways away and laid down.  I was able to get my pail and tools and leave.

Near the middle pasture feeder the tree roots are partially above ground.  A few roots had round bumps/knots that stuck up.  I sawed them off to get rid of something that was annoying to step on.

This side root(?) wasn't attached to anything on either end.  It was 'fastened' to the tree trunk in the middle.  I was able to pull it off the tree trunk.

Haynes, hay baler, etc.

A busy day.  I didn't get all my sleep.  After five hours of sleep I got up at 7 am to move irrigation pipes. After that was done I went out to check on Diamond.  Still no calf from her.

I saw Muscles laying a short distance away.  But where was Haynes?   The rest of the herd was on the other side of the fence, in the middle pasture.

Toby is in the center.

I saw Mama's calf along the fence.

I looked and saw Haynes eating grass along another part of the fence.  He was in the middle pasture near the rest of the cows.

 

I walked along the fence and found how he got across the fence.  On an old three-strand section the top wire was broken.  I got the fence stretcher and fixed it.

I let Haynes stay over with the rest of the cattle.  I wondered how he and Toby would get along.  Better than I expected.  In the evening, after I moved irrigation pipes again and then removed a pocket gopher from a trap I had set the other day, I saw Toby and Haynes together in the south pasture.  They were acting like best buddies.  They were standing next to each other and slowly rubbing against each other.

After I was done with checking on Haynes and the cattle in the morning I finished installing the fixed belt to my hay baler.  I threaded the belt into the baler last night but I couldn't quite make the ends of the belt reach each other.  Since the mornings are cooler than our afternoons I wanted to finish installing the belt then.  I got my neighbor Curtis to help.  It took two people to pull the belt tight and then install the pin to hold the ends together.

So now I am done fixing my baler and I parked it.

After breakfast I rode my bicycle south of town to the place where an auction is held.  I seen on their listing they had an older carbon fiber bicycle they would be selling this evening.  I checked and the frame size was correct for me.  The frame was lightweight and the parts looked good.  But there was something wrong with the bottom bracket as it was harder to turn than it should be.  Maybe one needs to re-grease the bottom bracket; or maybe it is something else.   I have enough to do and don't need another project that is for a secondary bicycle.  So I passed and didn't bid.  I see the bicycle sold for $105.  So it was good I passed on a bicycle I would need to fix.

The bicycle ride was 28 miles.  One irrigation sprinkler line was blocking me from driving my pickup for the day, that is partially why I rode my bicycle on a 92 degree hot day with wind.  The other reason is I haven't been riding many miles on my bicycle in July as I have been so busy, and I wanted to put some miles on my bicycle.   On the way home I stopped at a grocery store to buy some ears of corn.  At the store another person I know who also has cattle saw me.  He commented I looked out of it.  I guess I was due to the lack of sleep and the heat and work. 

When I got home I went to sleep and got 2 and 1/2 more hours of sleep before I woke up to move the irrigation sprinkler lines in the evening.

Just another day.

Removing grass from around the fruit trees

A little over a month ago I mowed the grass in the fruit tree area after the cows had eaten it down somewhat.

The cows had also pressed against the fencing around the small fruit trees to try to get to the fruit trees' leaves.  The fencing on many trees needs repairs or improvement so I took some of the fencing apart for now after I mowed the grass.  Otherwise in the past I would wait until another day as I have until next year before the cattle are back in the fruit tree area.  And a year goes by and I don't get to working on the fencing.  By partially taking down the fencing that needs improvement maybe I will get to fixing it by next year.

In the meantime I also saw the grass had grown right up around the tree trunks.  Years ago when the trees were first planted I had placed small rocks around the trees to keep the grass away.  Many years later the grass grew in and among the rocks.  I decided to spend some time removing the grass around trees where the rocks were still more common than the grass.  For the other trees it looked like there was more grass than rocks.  So I completely removed those rocks.

I didn't think this would take very long.  Over a month later I only have one tree left to do.   It wasn't like I did this non-stop.  I would take a half hour, or an hour or two and work on a tree or two.  But I found that some very grassy areas still had a large number of rocks.  These areas I had to remove the rocks from the grass roots.  This took time.  I think I worked on ten to twelve trees.

I didn't get 100% done as I had to move an irrigation sprinkler line through this area last week.  I'll finish it up after things dry out.   Cross your fingers.

Here are some pictures of a few of the trees I worked on.

One cherry tree.   I should give up on my two cherry trees.  Both started to die off and then came back from the roots.  The trees should be much bigger as I have planted these trees over 10 years ago.  I did have some cherries on these trees some years ago but it was a battle to get the cherries as the birds would eat them and leave the pits on the stems.

Maybe I should have removed the rocks also.  As you can see in a month's time the grass already has started to come back.

Another cherry tree.  For this tree I also removed the rocks.

A smaller pear tree.  Last year the cattle got through part of the fencing to eat the tree's leaves.  That is why this pear tree looks younger than what it is.

My other pear tree.  Last year, or was it the year before, I had rebuilt and improved the fencing around this pear tree.

You can see how the cattle tried to break through the fencing this year.

This tree required a lot of work to remove the rocks from.  You don't see all the rocks as they have depth to them.  I removed a number of 5 gallon pails of rocks from this tree.

Pears are growing again this year.

I have the serviceberry tree/bush left to remove the rocks from.  You can't see the rocks but they are there.  I started on the right side to remove the rocks until I had to stop because the irrigation sprinkler line was coming the next day.

Maria's dead calf

This morning when I went out to move the irrigation sprinkler lines Maria was mooing.  The rest of the cattle were in the western part of the middle pasture under the trees and Maria was in the eastern half closer to the middle/south pasture fence line.  It was like she was mooing for her calf.  I went and looked and then found Maria's calf laying near where Maria was standing and mooing.  The beautiful calf was dead.  It was a week under two months old.

I have no idea how the calf died.  The calf's body looked fine.  No signs of another animal attacking the calf.  Did the calf somehow eat something bad?  Did the calf's heart suddenly give out?  No idea.

I moved the irrigation pipes, caught up on my sleep and ate breakfast.  Early afternoon I went out there.  I went to dig a hole to bury the calf.  I picked one of the tree stumps I had removed as it was easier to dig there.

Maria was still mourning her calf and keeping the calf company.  So I went and picked a bunch of yarrow weeds growing in the middle pasture.  Things are drying up and so is the yarrow.  It is too late to spray them now.  So I pick them to remove the plants and seeds.  An hour or so later I was done picking for the day.  Maria started to leave.  She walked over to the south pasture to lick the salt block.  I quietly walked over to the calf and drug it to the hole I had dug.  The calf must have weighed 400 pounds as it was hard to drag, and I had to stop and take a few breaks.

Maria then noticed me and came walking back.  I was able to get the calf into the hole and started to cover it with dirt.  Maria walked to where her calf had been and sniffed and checked around.  Then she came walking the same way I had drug her calf stopping and sniffing the ground.  The calf had no blood so maybe its fur shed as I pulled it.  How else could Maria tell exactly where I had drug the calf?

I shoveled dirt fast. I had the calf mostly covered by the time Maria reached the spot I had buried the calf.  She sniffed around the dirt and then moved here and there trying to find out where the calf had gone.  With all the dirt put back I left.  Maria wandered around the pasture calling for her calf.  This evening she has stopped mooing.

So sad.

In mourning.

Calling once again for the calf to wake up.

That was the spot I had drug the calf before putting him into the hole.

Missing her calf.

Moving cut branches from tree stump 16

Earlier, when I was working on eliminating tree stumps this past Spring, I had mentioned how I cut up the branches leaning around one tall tree stump into smaller branches I can use in my wood stove this Winter.  I was waiting for the right time to haul them to my yard and store them in my patio area.  I wanted to move the branches before my irrigation lines went to this part of the pasture and soaked the branches.  I had to wait until the cattle were released to the pasture and the temporary extended corral was taken down.  I also was waiting for the cattle to be in the neighbor's field as that would make it easier for me to clean up the area.  I also had to wait until my irrigation lines were east of my house so I can drive out to the pasture.  Today the cattle were coming back to the south pasture as the neighbor's field has been eaten down well.  So yesterday I hauled the tree branches to the yard.  I also wanted to haul off the small branch debris and place it in part of the pasture where I don't harrow.  I got one pickup load hauled yesterday.  Today I got the rest hauled away and the area cleaned up.  I even spent time and removed most - but not all - of the tree's side roots that were at ground level.  I figure that removing them before the grass grew back would make it easier to find and dig and cut.  I'll get rid of the stump another year.

Yesterday and today the high temperature was in the mid 80s.  I don't know why but this afternoon I started to drag and get tired while I had more energy yesterday.  And apparently thirsty today.  Once I got the pickup loaded and the side roots and the area cleaned up, I drove the pickup over to the middle pasture and parked it.  Some of the cattle were mooing and letting me know they wanted to come back to my pastures.  First I had to go home and get something to drink.  While I was not thirsty, even the inside of my mouth felt really dry.  So apparently I was thirsty.  Then I went and let the cattle into the south pasture as almost all the cattle were standing by the gate and waiting for me.

Even after unloading the pickup I was still tired.  I had a meal and rested a bit.  It wasn't until 8 pm that all my energy was back.  And it is still there as I write this post.

This is how the tree looked earlier this year.

I had cut more branches than I thought as I filled my pickup with them.

All cleaned up.

On the drive back to the yard I drove by stump 13.  Still standing.  The cattle haven't pushed it over yet.  Other areas where I removed tree stumps this year the cattle have used the dirt as a "bath".  Quite a number of those stump areas are now lower due to to the missing dirt.  I don't know why this stump area is still level.

Neighbors fence work, and moving the cattle

I about finished upgrading my southern neighbor's fence.  This afternoon I mainly fixed her corner section of her fence.  Last year a driver took out the corner section.  To fix it quickly last year I put in the railroad tie to replace the broken post, and put the corner post back in the ground.  It worked, but wasn't ideal.  Over time the corner post stared to lean slightly, and the fence started to sag in the corner sections. Who knows if this corner section was where Toby got out of the field last month.

I dug around the corner post so I could move it in order to put the boards back on between the posts.  That should hold the corner post in place, and stop or slow down the leaning and the fence sag.

I didn't start until late afternoon. After moving irrigation pipes after 7 am I went back to sleep and slept late.  I would have gotten up 45 minutes earlier but Rascal laid his head on my upper arm and was sleeping and dreaming.  First he had his head and neck across my arm, then he changed positions without waking up and laid his head sideways and on my shoulder along with his paw. When he stopped dreaming I encouraged him to wake up.  When I worked on the fence the temperature was in the mid-90s and the neighbor came out as she wanted to help me.  After a bit she went back in the house as the heat was getting to her. 

Working on fixing the corner section.

Done.

What I still have left to do is to add a few wire pieces to tie the field fence to the barb wire in sections like this one.

But the fence is good enough that I decided to let the cattle into her field.  And most of the cattle were in the south pasture near the gate.  The cattle saw me near the gate and quickly figured something was up.   After I opened the gates and let the cattle walk through to the neighbor's field Maria and #60, who were in the western half of the south pasture, saw what was happening and they came running.  Well, "running" as fast as they could as they both are fat, especially Maria.  Maria may only be able to trot, but she still moves faster than you'd think she could considering how huge she is.

As she gets older, the heat looks like it affects Beulah.  She shows her age and slows down.

Maria

Mama and her calf

Toby