Pieces of wood

Here are a few photos of wood I found this Summer.

The photo didn't really capture the image that some insect had carved inside a piece of bark.

These photos show a piece I had sawed off an old dried out out tree stump sitting above ground.  In the second photo you can see through the piece of wood.  I don't know why there is a hole in the wood.

In heat

About two months ago Diamond had her calf.  Today I seen Haynes the bull near Diamond all day.  This afternoon I looked up close.  I'm sure Diamond is coming into heat.  It's time.  She is not in standing heat yet as she moved when Haynes thought about standing up to bred her.

Most likely Diamond will go into standing heat overnight.  It would be nice if it was during the day so I could see if Haynes is able breed Diamond.  Diamond is one of my biggest cows and Hayne is still growing and maybe not tall enough?

I also checked the pocket gopher traps.  I caught one pocket gopher.  Two traps were covered in dirt from the cattle.  The last trap and metal post were pulled out of the hole in the ground and were several yards away.  *sigh*  Leave the traps alone, please.

Diamond and Haynes

Breaking a pocket gopher trap

I am setting pocket gopher traps in the hayfield as I have gotten rid of all the pocket gophers in the pastures.  Unfortunately the cattle are also in the hayfield.   I have plastic milk cartons on the metal posts holding the traps in place.  The cattle like pushing on and playing with the milk cartons.  They bend the metal posts.  They also push dirt back into the hole and bury the trap.

This afternoon, after I fixed the posts and traps, some of the cattle went over to mess with them again. I would chase away cattle from one trap and other cattle would go to another trap.  Finally I thought I was done and was walking away when Little Red started to mess with the last trap I had fixed.  I went back and then found she had stepped on the trap down in the hole in the ground and broke the trap.  As I was picking up the pieces of this trap she walked over to another trap nearby and started pawing the ground where the hole and trap were and also pushed on the metal post.  I chased her way away as I was mad she had broken one trap already.

A few years ago I had 7 traps.  Two were broken over the years by the cattle.  Now this is the third trap broken by the cattle.  I have only 4 traps left.

Cattle slowing down fence rebuild

A few weeks ago I had started the fence rebuild between the front yard and the pasture.  I'm making progress - slowly.  I have 9 sections rebuilt out of the 16 sections.   It takes me around two and a half hours to rebuild each section.  Since the cattle are now in the hayfield that means I need to spend the time non-stop to start then complete the section.  I can't start a section and finish it another day.  So that means I usually only get one section rebuilt each day.

The cattle aren't helping things, and slow me down at times.  Today I remembered to have my camera with me so I could get a photo of them when they came over to check out what I was doing - once again.

Resting in the sun elsewhere yesterday before I started fence work.

Today they came running over fast.  The yard's grass is eaten down but they wanted to come into the yard to check things out.  I had to hold them off.

The bull then pushed the one rail down as he was checking it out.

Then Little Red wanted to check out the rail after I put it back up.

Mama getting close.

When I stepped back to get a photo one of the calves started coming through the open area.

Muscles is gone

Last night I posted on Craigslist an ad for giving away Muscles for free and why I was doing so.  I like Muscles but I'm afraid he won't be able to handle being around the other cows this Winter when they eat hay from the feeder.  Even now walking from the hayfield to the river to drink would be long and hard for him.  And he would like to be near the other cattle as he mooed a bit yesterday after I let the other cows into the hayfield and he remained in the corral.  For some time the only cattle that would spend time with him was the newborn calf.  The cows didn't seem to want anything to do with him.  So sad.

This morning a couple came and got Muscles.  They said they had a milk cow and calf and small pasture.  In the past they said they had a calf that could only use three legs as the former owner had a large area for his cattle and couldn't handle that calf.  The couple who got Muscles seemed to be nice people. So I think Muscles will have a good home; probably a better home than what I would have for him this Winter.

I thought it would be nice to not have to care for, or give extra attention to, Muscles.  But I already miss him.  

Cows into the hayfield, wood burning stove, and shrinkage

Recently it has been cold outside.  A few mornings ago the overnight low temperature was 13 degrees.  And high temperatures only in the 40s.  Inside my house it was getting colder.  48 degrees inside the house feels cold.   Last night I finally took the time to fire up my woodstove for the first time this Fall.

Earlier this week I let the 6 cows and Muscles go into the front yard to eat the grass down.  And they did.  Later when I mow the grass it will be easier and quicker to do.

Laying in the sun earlier this week.

Now that I took the calves to the auction, and the front yard is eaten down well, and also the pastures, I let all the cows - the cows in the yard and the cows in the pastures - go into the hayfield to eat the grass there.  I left Muscles to be in the corral and NE pasture.  That is because he walks slowly and the walk to the river may be long and hard for him.  And the other cows can push and shove and he could get hurt by them.  When the cows from the yard came into the pasture, Haynes the bull came running over to greet them.  Haynes is a lot smaller than Diamond and Maria.

The early livestock auction report I just received shows cattle prices down a little this week from last week. And the prices my calves sold for looks to be less than I expected.  So it appears I will get less money than I expected. I'll see next week when I get the check.  Another year of making little to no money after expenses.

The steers weighed more than I expected.  They weighed 675 pounds each.  The 4 heifers weighed less than when I weighed them last Friday.  About 30 pounds less each, at about 525 pounds each.  I've heard talk about "shrinkage" when it takes time to transport the cattle to the auction.  So that's how much "shrinkage" can be.

Calves to the auction

Today I hauled seven calves to the auction in Missoula. It is a good thing I sold two steer calves to a guy yesterday as the seven calves left filled the stock trailer.

Yesterday afternoon I put the calves in the loading corral.  

I also hooked up the trailer and parked it and the pickup at the loading corral runway entrance.  

This morning I woke up before 5:30 am.  In the darkness I got the calves loaded into the trailer before Donna arrived to help me.  That's fine.  She brought me cupcakes to eat on the journey.  She didn't ride with me to the auction as she was still recovering from getting her third shot of the COVID vaccine.

After I loaded the calves into the trailer, it was so dark I had to use a flashlight to see that all seven black calves were actually in the trailer.

I left the ranch at 6:05 am.  Loading the calves was easy and quick.  It was pitch black for the first hour of driving until I reached the south end of Flathead Lake.  Then it was dark though now one could see the clouds up above.

When I was at the top of the Evaro Hill north of Missoula I could see light snow on the hillsides down low.  At the bottom of Evaro Hill the road was wet.  Most likely due to snow that fell overnight and melted.  I got to the auction at 8:30am.  No one was unloading calves when I arrived.  So it was quick for me to unload.  I was on my way back home at 8:50 am and got home at 11 am.  Then I spent some time washing and cleaning the stock trailer.  I was 30 degrees when I left in the morning and was 43 degrees when I cleaned the stock trailer.  We had a light wind when I was cleaning. So it was chilly to do the cleaning.  I left the pickup and trailer be until tomorrow as due to the chilly temperatures it will take a while for the trailer's wood floor to dry.

Even through the loading corral had plenty of green grass for the calves to eat, I put an extra water trough in the loading corral and filled it with hay.  After I got home I seen most of the hay was eaten.  Then I saw a board was off the loading corral fence.  The cows, who were in the corral, pushed the board off and I'm sure they ate the hay.

The water trough with the hay was on the left side.  On the right side is another water trough that I put water into.  Between the water trough with water, and the long big boards outside the loading corral, that stopped the cows from further pushing off boards and getting into the loading corral.  Those cows!

Now to see what I get for the calves.

Photos from my journey.

At the top of the St Ignatius Hill before going down to Arlee.

At the top of Evaro Hill.

Getting close to Missoula.

Looking south from near the livestock auction.

At the livestock auction looking back north.

Leaving Missoula and heading home.  Right of the "V" in the far mountains is the Evaro Hill.

With the clouds covering the mountains one can't see the waterfall in the mountains beyond St Ignatius. 

Fence, beavers, cows in the back yard

This morning I went and looked for how Haynes the bull got into the neighbor's field last evening.  Maybe I seen where he could have crawled through the fence.  Maybe.  Anyway... I added more wire to the fence wires making it hard/impossible to move the fence wires apart to squeeze through.  I added wire here and there.  Why not? It may be overkill but it doesn't hurt that I did this.

I also went to the "thumb".  The "thumb" is a small bit of property disconnected from the rest.  The river flows off the property, then back on the property before finally leaving the property.  I have a fence across the "thumb" even though the cattle don't go over / can't get over there.  I haven't been to the "thumb" for a few years.  I found part of the fence was down.  So I spent time re-attaching and re-positioning the strands of barb wire to make a working fence again.  You never know, someday the cattle may find a way over to the "thumb".  Fortunately none of the bears were there when I worked on the fences.

On the way home I walked along a river channel next to my island.  Because it is an island I seldom go over there, though the cattle can when the river is low.  To my surprise I saw what looks to be a small beaver dam.  The river channel splits briefly due to a gravel bar when the water is lower.  On one side, the narrow split channel, part of a tree on the river bank leans/grows down and a few branches go into the river.  That beaver is smart.  It used the branches as a method in which it could build a small dam.  It is a dam and not merely some river branch debris temporarily caught by the branches.  Why?  Because the water level below the dam is much less.  River debris doesn't cause a large water drop.

I let it be.  It is in an area out of the way and not causing problems. I'm sure next Spring when the water is high it will wash the dam away. I don't mind beavers; I just don't like them eating my willow trees.   The beaver is gnawing on some trees near here.  But they are hawthorn trees.  I don't like those trees as they have hard and sharp thorns on their branches. So the beavers can have them.

Once I got back home I decided to put up a few corral panels in the back yard.  I don't feel like mowing the tall grass back there and decided to let the cows eat the grass down. And since the walnut trees dropped their leaves, I don't have to put up wire fencing to protect the leaves from the cows. I let Diamond, Maria and Muscles into the yard.  I also let the four cows in the north pasture into the yard to as I want this eaten down fast.  For a bit two cows fought each other as that is what female cattle do.  Eventually they got over it and went back to eating.

A cold and windy day.  I worked on another section of my yard/hayfield rail fence.  I almost got another section done today.  I have one rail left to attach tomorrow as it got dark and I couldn't see to work on the last rail today.

Cows, calves, the bull

The cows I sold at the livestock auction:  #60 weighed 1410 pounds and Beulah weighed 1765 pounds.  I had guessed that #60 weighed 1300-1400 pounds.  So I was close.  I had guessed that Beulah weighed around 1600 pounds.  I got decent prices for each cow.

I may have buyers for most of my calves.  We'll see.  One buyer is interested in 4 heifers.  But I needed to come up with a price for them.  Friday I took the 4 heifers to be weighed.  Donna helped me load them in my just cleaned stock trailer.  I made it just before the weigh scale closed for the day.  The 4 heifers weighed more than I thought they would.  I guessed the larger heifers weighed around 500 pounds.  The 4 heifers weighed 555 pounds each.  One heifer was born later and is a little smaller.  That means the 3 larger heifers weigh more than 555.  So I was off with my guess.  And since I guessed the steers weighed 550 pounds as they are larger than any of the heifers, that means the steers weigh 600 pounds or a little more.

The weight changes also changes the price the calves are worth, increasing the cost of each.  Now to see if the buyers still want what they thought they wanted (and could afford).  And I had to re-clean the stock trailer.  This time it took only an hour to wash the manure out of it.

Steer and smaller Heifer.

This morning I discovered Diamond was eating the hay from the hay bales.  What?!  I had put a tarp over the hay bales and corral panels around the bales.  Oh, but I didn't get around to putting in metal t-posts to hold the corral panels in place.  Diamond and Maria pushed the corral panels against one side of the bales, reached in and torn the tarp, and Diamond was eating from the hay bales when I caught her.  I had to fix the tarp, re-position the corral panels, and then put a few t-posts in the ground to hold the corral panels away from the bales.  Now to see if this works.

Rain and cold is in the weather forecast.  So I was trying to get things done before dark.  It was dark when I came into the house.  I had a phone message from my southern neighbor, Ruth.  Earlier she noticed one of my cattle outside of my pasture.  I got a flashlight and my sorting stick and went out into the dark.

In Wyatt's field south of my pasture, and along my fence, using my flashlight I found Haynes, the bull.  He had gotten out like this over a month ago.  While I added to the fence where I thought he had gotten through, he must have found another weak spot in the fence.  I herded Haynes back through a gate and into my south pasture.  He ran off in the dark to join the other cattle.  Tomorrow I will have to look at the fence again to see where he had gotten through.

Two cows to the auction

Since I plan to keep four heifers as replacements, I decided to sell two cows this year, and the other two next Fall.  I will have a two less calves next Spring.

I decided to sell Beulah as I think she is the oldest cow.  I have had Beulah since 2013 and I was told she was either 4 or 5 back then. She is active and good, but I have noticed she slows down a bit when it is very hot in the Summer. 

The second cow is #60.   This is the cow that severely cut her leg a few years ago and who I saved.  She is a great cow; a nice cow; and has a great udder.  But usually during Winter when the ground is hard, a few times she will limp for a little bit, and I end up putting her in the south corral for a week so she doesn't have to walk as much, or deal with the other cows as she heals as the other cows can be mean.

And #60 is almost the same age as Beulah, or maybe a year younger.  I also have owned #60 since 2013.

It is hard for me to sell these two cows as I really like them.  Even Beulah. Beulah is the alpha-female and the boss of the cows.  She is named Beulah as she was the largest cow I had back in 2013 and being the alpha, she pushed the other cows around.  But she grew on me over the years.  She is not a bad cow, just the boss and leader of other cows.

The auction started at 10:30 am this morning.  It is over a 2 hour drive to Missoula and the auction, so I had to get up early.  Very, very early for me.  Still, I woke up 4 minutes before my alarm was set to go off.

I put Beulah and #60 in the loading corral last night.  And I parked the stock trailer at the end of the loading corral runway.  I was out there a little before 6 am.  I turned the barn light on so I could see better in the dark.

I loaded #60 first.  That is because I wasn't certain that Beulah would fit through the head gate at the end of the loading runway.  If I had to move over to use a gate to load Beulah, I only want to load her and not Beulah and #60.

#60 easily went into the trailer.  I moved her to the front of the trailer and closed the inside gate that split the trailer into two sections.  That way I didn't have to deal with #60 walking back out of the trailer as I loaded Beulah.

Donna arrived at 6 am as I just finished loading #60.  As I walked out of the trailer and through the head gate I ducked. In the partial darkness I didn't duck enough and hit my head on the top of the head gate.  Fortunately it was above my surgery cut.  I broke skin at the very top of my head even though I was wearing a hat.

Then on to Beulah. Thankfully Beulah squeezed through the head gate and went into the trailer.  I shut the trailer door.  That was quick!

I put on a strap across the back of the trailer to ensure the cows can't push part of the back door open.  Better to be safe than sorry.

Donna rode with me to the auction in Missoula and we were on our way at 6:20 am.  Faster start than I expected.  Donna also brought a plate of bars she had made.  Donna's sister now lives in North Dakota and she told Donna that when people bake treats in North Dakota, they prefer bars as the ideal treat.  Since I was born and grew up in North Dakota, and am driving while pulling a stock trailer, I prefer to eat bars as I drive.  We both ate the entire plate of bars by the time we got back to the ranch.  The bars were the only thing I ate this morning.

The journey went well.  No shifting side to side.  The two cows took up the entire trailer.  No room for any other cattle, even small calves.  I could drive faster than when I hauled the bull, but not much faster.  Mainly 50 to 55 mph.  From 6:30 am to 7 am there was much more traffic on the road than I expected.  I didn't get to the auction until a little before 9 am.  In time.  And no other people were there to unload their cattle.  I expected to have to wait in line.

It was 9:15 am when I left the auction and drove back home.  With an empty trailer I could drive faster.  Still, I only drove 60 to 65 mph, not the 70 mph speed limit.  Pulling a trailer I tend to drive a little slower.  I was back home by 11:30 am.  

In the afternoon I spent a few hours washing the manure out of the trailer.  There was lots of manure in the trailer.  And out of the trailer.  Beulah was tall enough that part of the outside of the back door was covered in manure.  You couldn't see the trailer license plate and it got covered in manure. And the strap and strap-ratchet were covered in manure - which made it hard to use to unlock and remove the strap.   #60 had turned around in her part of the trailer and the upper front part and shelf was covered in manure.  That's new to me.  It took some effort to clean that upper manure out.

The upper part now cleaned of manure.

This time I remembered to take a photo of the waterfall near St. Ignatius.   Oh, you can't see the waterfall.  I had a few raindrops as we drove on the edge of a rain system.

Flathead Lake from the south.  By the time we got to the north side of Flathead lake we were back in the sun.

Stock trailer floor fixed

Today I had Curtis weld some metal to help my floor in the stock trailer.  If you remember, a few weeks ago the bull broke a few of the wood floor boards. The narrower open sections should make it harder for a board to break in the future.

The wire for the trailer taillights run under the middle metal rail.  As a broken board had pushed down the last section, the wire to the right taillight was separated.  So I fixed that also after Curtis weld that metal back to the end of the trailer.

When I put the wooden boards back in the trailer as a floor, I had a small gap.  Huh?  When I put the boards in a few weeks ago I had to cut one board narrower to just fit in the trailer.  Now the board was too narrow.  I had to find another board and cut it only a touch narrower to fit in the trailer.

So I am ready to haul two cows to the livestock auction tomorrow.  Really early tomorrow.

Back when I started to work on the trailer, Muscles was laying near it.

Beaver, cattle, fence

I walked to the river today.  I noticed what's left of a willow tree is now even less.  That dang beaver reclimbed and chewed more of what little was left of the tree.

I rebuilt another section of my yard fence.  Still no photos as it was getting dark when I finished.  While I was working on the fence I heard a board crack.  I looked over and saw the cattle in the NE pasture were near another yard fence.  I walked over.  The top board was cracked.  I nailed one of the old boards from my fence rebuild over the cracked board.  Looking at these boards you can see why I am rebuilding another part of the yard fence by replacing boards like this with rails.