Banana gone

Late this afternoon I took out a small hay bale to tide the cattle over until tomorrow.  I feed the cattle near the middle pasture gate.  I have to toss the bale over the gate then go and spread the bale out so all the cattle can get some hay.  I also had a small pail of ash from my wood stove and a banana to eat later.  Once the hay was spread I would go and spread the ash elsewhere and in walking there would eat the banana.  So I don't have to go through / climb over the gate I put the ash pail and banana right next to the gate so I can reach them through the gate.

Once I spread out the hay, which doesn't take long, I went back to get the ash pail and banana.  I discovered my banana was missing.  Apparently one of the cattle reached under the gate and got the banana.  I was surprised, but I shouldn't have been.  These cattle often do something you don't expect them to.   Who would have thought a cow would like to eat a banana?

Tractor battery

My tractor battery finally died.  Last December the battery started to not work well.  One time back then when I tried to start my tractor after 4 pm I couldn't.  I ended up charging the battery and the next day the tractor started.  Off-and-on since then the battery seemed to be on its last legs when starting the tractor.  The charger helped.  The last couple of times I didn't need a battery charger to start the tractor.

Three days ago, the last time I started the tractor, it started without a charger.  I then spent three hours pushing snow away in the pasture so I could easily feed hay in the feeder to the cattle.  Then yesterday I tried to start the tractor after 4 pm again.  For some reason that appears to be a bad time for me to do so.   The tractor started right up.  Then after 30 seconds or so the tractor quit.   Like it had run out of gas.  When I tried to restart the tractor, the battery quickly went down.  Even using the battery charger I couldn't turn the motor over long enough to start the tractor.

So I put out a few small hay bales for the cattle to eat in the corral and called it a day.

This morning I took the battery in to the "Battery's Plus" store down the road.  They tested the battery and said it was no longer working, or good.  Well, I had this battery from when I bought this used tractor in August 2015; so the battery lasted a long time.

The new battery cost me $150.  It works.  Before I tried starting the tractor I filled the tank with diesel, in case why the tractor had stopped running yesterday was because it ran out of diesel.  That wasn't the reason as I now believe I had at least four gallons of diesel still in the tractor.   When I tried starting the tractor this afternoon I had to turn the engine over and over and over non-stop before the engine started. It was like the diesel was taking longer to get the engine started.  Then I was able to haul a large hay bale out to the feeder in the pasture.  The last time I did so I had finished using the second cutting hay bales from 2021.  Today I hauled out a leftover bale from 2020.  I have about a dozen of these bales left before I get to my first cutting hay bales from 2021.

Christmas gift

The Christmas gift Donna purchased for me has arrived.  It is appropriate for the ranch.

Snow

We were predicted to get 5 to 10 inches of snow Thursday and into today.  It snowed non-stop from Wednesday night/Thursday morning until late this morning.   I don't know the official snow total, but I'm sure it was more than 5 inches.

I put this hay bale out for the heifers late Thursday afternoon.  This morning it was snow covered.

Wednesday it was windy and cold.  To feed the cows (and bull) I let them into the corral to eat hay with Diamond and her calf.  I put out a large hay bale late Thursday afternoon as it was not as cold and the wind had quit when the snow started.  Since Diamond's leg has recovered, when I let the cows out of the corral to go eat from the large hay bale, I let Diamond and her calf out also.  Diamond really wanted to go out and join the other cows.  She ran out of the corral when I opened the corral gate. 

Here is Diamond's calf eating from the feeder today.

Haynes the bull walking to drink from the river.

I had to break ice again this morning.  Beulah's calf - now a cow - didn't like drinking from the icy slush and walked over and out on the frozen ice.  I was not happy about this.  I went out on the ice and herded her back to the shore.  I then worked on trying get some of the icy slush out of the water and onto the ice so the cows would have a clear drinking area.  This afternoon it warmed up to the upper 30s and  drinking area was clearer.

2021's bicycle miles

In 2020 I rode 7400 miles on my bicycle.  I planned to ride less miles in 2021.  I did.  But not by much.  In 2021 I rode 7120 miles.  I'll see how 2022 goes for bicycle miles.

River freezing

Still cold here.  Last night's low was minus twelve.  Yesterday's high was 10.  About the same today.

The river is slowly freezing over.  Each day, in the morning and again at sunset, I go the river and break the ice where the cattle drink.  If I didn't the river with this thinner layer of ice would be ice/snow covered like the rest of the river. That ice is thick enough one can walk on it.  I don't want the cattle to walk on the ice to reach the open water.  The cattle are much heavier than me. The far end, where the river is deeper and has more water flow, is where the river hasn't iced over yet.

I then try to push the pieces of ice down to the current so that the cattle can drink the water without having to work around the pieces of ice.   As you see, at the far end I have to stand on the ice to break it and get it out to the current.  The ice is thick enough I can stand on it and not break through to fall into the river.  But I'm careful.  I don't want to fall into the river.

The ice is thick enough that often in the morning I have to use a long metal crowbar to break it.  To reach further I use a long board.  As you can see the board has broken due to the tick ice.  One time when I tried to reach far with the metal crowbar the crowbar vibrated out of my hands when the ice didn't break.  The crowbar fell into the river.  I had to reach in the water up to my elbow to search and find and remove the crowbar.  Cold!!!  That is why I try to use the boards when I can.

The water is so cold the boards get ice covered.  

The barn on a cold day.