Cold and frozen

 After a cold week we are back up to the freezing mark for a high temperature.  Time to put out another large hay bale for the cattle.  The last two hay bales were just outside of the corral so the cattle could shelter out of the wind in the loafing shed and also drink from the water trough.  

I wanted to put the next large hay bale out further in the pasture.  I want to spread the location of the manure and leftover hay around the pasture.  Putting the hay bale further out was a lot more work than I thought.  First, the feeder in the middle pasture was frozen into the ground.  I know it sounds odd, what with all the snow and the frozen ground.  But the last time I used the middle pasture feeder the temperature was in the high 30s.  And the cattle's body heat warms up the area around the feeder as they eat, and their hooves break up the ground.   And Haynes likes to push things around.   While he was in the corral he pushed the tub of mineral lick all around the corral.  And one time he pushed it out of the corral, then back into the corral.  So of course he likes to push the feeder.  I found the feeder pushed into the broken ground / mud.   Then our last cold snap re-froze that ground.   The feeder was frozen into the ground.  I had to go get and then use an axe to chop the ground around the "legs" the feeder sits on.  And some of the "legs" were in ground with rocks. And a couple of the "legs" were completely in the ground all the way up to the side of the feeder.  After a lot of effort I chopped the "legs" loose.

Here is what the "legs" look like.  This is the feeder that sits just outside the corral as I didn't have my camera when I chopped the "legs" free in the middle pasture feeder.

The other work I had to do before putting out a hay bale was to chop some ice in the river.  Due to how the river flows it seldom freezes, unless the temperature gets to the teens below zero.  This past week the coldest temperature was only 7 below.  But the river froze over.  Solid and thick.   So thick I couldn't use the long board I usually use to break the river ice.  I had to go and get a sledgehammer and a long metal bar.

I initially used the sledgehammer to break the ice.  I almost broke through the ice when the sledgehammer handle broke.  What?!!!   That doesn't happen to me.  And I'm just hitting ice.  But the ice was hard.  

I then had to just use the metal bar to chip and poke holes through the ice.  Around and around the hole to make it larger.  I also used a shovel to remove the broken ice from the water.  Anything to make it easier for the cattle to drink the water.

Then after all my work I was able to haul out a large hay bale.

Donna told me late this afternoon that the weather forecast for the second week of March has another major cold snap coming.  Great.  Just great.  Calving is suppose to start the second week of March.  Normally it is warmer when calving starts and there is less snow.  Global warming ya know. The temperatures are getting colder.

Hayshed hay

Yesterday I used the last hay bale sitting outside the hayshed.   Yay!  Mostly an end to having to clear snow off the outside hay bales.  The remaining hay bales at the outside edge of the hayshed may get a little snow on their outer side if the wind is "wrong".   And starting Monday night that may be the case.  The weather forecast has winds predicted to be up to 50 mph along with 6 to 12 inches of snow.  After that, then cold with below zero temperatures.  Oh joy.

Flat bicycle tire and coyotes?

Saturday and Sunday I rode the same 26 mile bicycle route.  Sunday, three-fourths of a mile from home, I noticed my front bicycle tire looked like it was getting low.  I stopped and checked the tire.  I found a little bit of wire sticking out of the tire.  The wire was hair thin.  How such a small and thin wire was able to get into and then through the tire is a mystery.   It reminds me of the small wires that caused my bicycle tires to go flat back in December.  I never had this small wire problem before.

Bicycle tires have wire imbedded in them where the tire is against the wheel's rim to help hold the tire on the wheel when the tire is inflated.  The wire I found was not at this location.

I 'googled' and found other people have had this problem.

"Probably a steel belted radial wire."  There are no "steel belted" or radial bicycle tires. The wire came from a worn automobile tire.  A car tire, not your tire. I started seeing these flats around 20 years ago. These flats didn't exist in the '70s and '80s. Steel belted auto tires were still new. No debris yet from old worn ones. 

Great.  Just great.  Another way to get a flat bicycle tire.

Also, this evening just before dark, I was in the north pasture when all of a sudden I heard lots of loud barking and 'calling'.  It sounded as if it was from across the river, maybe even up on the ridge with trees.  It sounded like a pack of animals.  It sounded more like coyotes and not dogs.  It went on for about 5 minutes and then died down.  My take is that a pack of coyotes went after a deer.  My cows are on this side of the river eating hay in the middle pasture.   It was getting dark so I'll have to count the cows tomorrow.  More likely coyotes and not wolves.  A few weeks ago Donna saw a large animal cross over her property and the property next to hers.  She said it didn't look like a dog or a coyote and wondered if it was a lone wolf.

Ice

This has been an icy Winter.  By that I mean, some melting goes on, but not completely.  Where I had cleared most of the snow, the remaining snow melts to water, then freezes to ice.  Our high temperatures is in the middle 30s; enough for some melting, but not enough.

And this icy is slippery.  And not level.  I end up walking much slower on the icy areas as I don't want to fall and break something.