Chain sawing a downed tree

No calves were born today.

Today I had the cows, and Hayes, in the corral; fed them some small bales, and later put out another large hay bale for them.  Since the cows, and Haynes, were in the corral I decided to chainsaw one of the downed trees from last year.

Last year I spent time off-and-on and cut off most of the tree's branches.  The remaining branches held the tree trunk off the ground.  So no hurry to cut up the rest of the tree to use as firewood later.  But I learned the cattle liked to stand under the tree and would rub against some of the branches.  And the first born calf liked to lay under the tree trunk.  I was afraid the cattle would accidently knock the tree over and it would fall on and kill a cow.   So now is the time to cut up the tree.  It is best to do so when the cattle are in the corral.  Otherwise they would be around checking me and the tree out as I cut it.

The wood is something else. Very solid.  I would cut 99% of the tree and the log would still stay up and connected to the tree.  I would either have to cut 100% of the tree or push to break off the log when I was at the 99% cut.  You'd think the log would fall off by the time it was 99% cut.  It's not like the logs are lightweight.

The following photo better shows how tall the tree was off the ground.  I also discovered how solid the supporting branches held the tree off the ground.  I thought the tree would fall over by now.  And the tree wouldn't move if I tried to push it over.  The tree was too tall to safely cut now.  To get the tree down I had to cut the supporting branch on this end.  The tree still stayed up.  I walked to the far end and pushed, and the tree finally fell forward and down. I stayed away from the supporting branches as they flew up and around as the tree trunk fell down.

Then I was able to cut up the rest of the tree trunk.  The to-do list for another day: stack the logs and branches.

Calf 2 - 8's

This morning another calf was born.  #8's calf.   Another black bull calf.   At 3 pm Donna and Curtis helped me band and ear tag the calf.    I again used my pickup bed to hold the calf so we could work on it.  It all went fine.

After the banding and ear tag.  From the look in the calf's face you can tell he was wondering 'what just happened to him'?    The calf was up and around when his mom later ate hay.  The calf was watching mom eat.

Calf 1 - 80's

Today I found a calf has been born.  The calf was clean and active so it most likely was born overnight.  The calf is a bull calf.   The mother is cow #80, the cow that was born with no tail.  The baby calf has a tail.  So, the "no tail" is not a generic condition.

This was the first calf born this year, a week after the first chance a calf could be born based on when I let the bull to start breeding the cows.

Donna said that since the calf was a male, and was born on St. Patrick's Day, the calf's name is: Patrick.  Sounds good to me.

Donna says Patrick has his father's (Toby's) face.

Since the calf was a male I need help banding this calf to make him a steer.  I can't hold the calf and band him at the same time.   Donna is suffering from nerve pain and can't move easily.  Donna suggested instead of kneeling on the ground and hold the calf down, that I should lift the calf and put him in the bed of my pickup.  Donna then can stand and do the banding.   I also asked my neighbor Curtis for help in case Donna wouldn't be able to help. 

I put one of my livestock trailer rubber mats in the pickup bed.  I caught the calf even though it was trying to walk away from me.  I put the calf in the pickup bed.  Curtis held the calf's back legs, and I held the calf's front legs and head.  Donna was able to band the calf.  It took a few tries as the calf's testicles kept wanting to go up back in the body as Donna was working to get the band around them.

One down, 12 to go.

When I first found the calf.

The mother watching over her new calf.

After the calf was banded and ear tagged.   You can also see the mother with no tail.

The calf that was born last August was fascinated by the new calf.  Later I still saw this older calf near the new calf.  I guess the older calf likes someone closer to her size.  The cows tend not to care much for the older calf.

"Why are you taking a picture?"

Bicycle chain and window

Things can be hard, when they should be easy.

This afternoon I worked on upgrading/fixing my bicycle.  I ride so much, parts wear out.   I go through a bicycle chain and freewheel every year.  This time I needed to also replace the middle chainring on my crankarm.  The company apparently doesn't make that model of crankarm anymore.  So last Fall I looked and looked and finally found on Amazon a chainring with the number of teeth I had, and wanted, that looked like it would work with my chainring.   Things slowed down as the chainring supplier was not Amazon itself, and the supplier sent me the wrong chainring.  It wasn't even close.  Because it was from a supplier and not from an Amazon warehouse it took longer to get the correct chainring.  Once I got the correct chainring it was Winter.  In the meantime I used one of the other chainrings on my crankarm and waited until it got warmer.

Chains stretch over time and that is why they need to be replaced.  A stretched chain wear on parts.  A few weeks ago the other chainring wore out.  Then I used the small chainring the past few weeks and this chainring was beginning to wear out as I waited for warm weather in order to replace the parts.  If I knew this was going to happen I would have bought a new crankarm instead of just one chainring.  Oh well.

It quit raining by afternoon today, and it was warm enough, so I decided to work on my bicycle.

I had to take the crankarm off.  I have special tool for that.  One side of the tool removes a bolt, and that worked fine.  The other side of the tool then removes the arm from the bicycle bolt.  That didn't work.  One screws the tool into the threads on the crankarm and then one screws another part of the tool to pull/force the arm off the bicycle.  What didn't work was the threads somehow had gotten stripped / loose and the tool would come off the arm instead of forcing the arm off.  Eventually I used a hammer and a metal punch and pounded the arm off.    Okay... not ideal, but it worked.

The replaced chainring was the middle chainring.  I took the chainrings apart and cleaned them.  When I put the new chainring on, it didn't seem to have a gap between the large and middle chainring.  Huh?  I don't know why. The chainring had the correct number of holes to bolt them together, but no real gap between the rings.  I figured out I could put a washer around each of the five bolts to make a gap and then fasten the rings together.  But the washers weren't quite large enough to fit around the bolts.  I didn't want to find and put larger washers on the bolts.  I decided to drill the washer holes larger.  My drill bits are sharp.  You'd think it would be easy to drill washers.  No.  I had to put the washers in a vice to hold them as I drilled. It was still difficult to drill the holes larger.  The washers got very hot as I drilled.  Finally I got them drilled.

When I put the third chainring on I also had to put washers on those bolts to create a larger gap.  A least I had washers that fit on those bolts and didn't have to drill them.

Then to replace the freewheel.  My freewheel remover tool didn't fit.  Freewheel tools usually have four teeth for some freewheel models or multiple teeth for other models.  This was a multiple teeth freewheel.  But the tool would not fit.  I thought it was because the nut on my wheel axle was in the way.  To get the nut off was hard as it was inside the freewheel opening.  One usually takes the freewheel off before trying to get the nut off.  But I couldn't get the freewheel off. 

I worked and worked and worked and finally got the nut off.  Then when I used the freewheel tool I found it still didn't work.  Huh?  It should.  What is going on?   Then I finally remembered that maybe I had another multiple teeth freewheel tool.  Or do I?

I went and looked in my bicycle tool box and found hidden in a container another multiple freewheel remover tool.  This one worked.  And I never even had to remove the wheel axle and bolt for this tool to work.  Argh.

Why can't the freewheel manufacturers make only one way for a freewheel remover to work?

It was easier to replace the chain as everything worked as it was supposed to.

Now my bicycle works fine and there is no occasional chain slippage on worn freewheel or chainring teeth.

Then I had to put out a small hay bale for the cows to eat by sundown.  Because it is muddy I wear mud boots.  I can barely tuck my pants in the boots.  Even so, somehow when I am around hay some hay gets inside my boots and on my pants that are in the boots.  How?  I don't know.   When I take the boots off I try to do so outside on my porch so as not to track mud or hay in the house.   Hay sticks to me so I try to rub it off.  I was standing and using the other leg to rub on my pants to remove the hay. When I ride my bicycle my balance is 100% normal. When I stand my balance is not quite 100% normal. I lost my balance and fell.  Into my storm door.  I went through the glass window.  No cuts as I was wearing my coat and gloves.  But I had lots of glass to clean up from the porch.

In this world, things that should go easy, don't.

Argh.

Btw - no calves have been born yet.  Come on cows, get with it.

Cattle on a cool day

We briefly warmed up to 32 degrees this afternoon.  The sun was out, and it felt warm.  Earlier I took videos of the cattle.  It looks warm but you can see the heifer's breath in the video.

Later in the video, one cow (Speckles) is licking from the SmartLic container for extra minerals and vitamins, and other cows are laying in the sun.

The video is 51 seconds long: https://youtu.be/AzgRBRfY1lI

Three of the replacement heifers.

Broken tree stump

A tree stump I had cleaned up around last year, and then left for the cattle to rub against, didn't last as long as I thought.  A few days ago I seen the stump broken off.  So another stump to dig or burn this Spring.

The weather is changing.  Tonight, and through all of Wednesday, a cold front is coming.  Some snow, but mainly strong wind and very cold temperatures and windchills.   This afternoon when I put out another large hay bale for the cows (and bull), instead of putting the bale in the middle pasture, I put the bale in the north pasture a short distance from the corral.  That way the cows (and bull), when not eating, can go in the corral and loafing shed to get out of the wind.

Maria's limp is gone

My cow, Maria, got a bad limp about a week ago. I think she had fallen on one of the icy areas we have in the pasture now. I put her in the corral with the heifers so she didn't have to walk much. I expected it would take another 10 days or more for her to heal and stop limping. But today when I went out to put another hay bale in the corral, she was walking fine. So I let her out of the corral to join the other cows.

Here is a 52 second video of Maria walking out of the corral today: https://youtu.be/va4uAuK-rCU

Ponds in the hayfield

I took a few photos of some ponds in the hayfield.  This was early afternoon so the ponds were larger by evening.  I checked the weather and it said we reached a high of 68 degrees this afternoon.  It certainly didn't feel that warm.  Maybe it felt like the low 50s?    At least today I didn't feel cold air when I bicycled.  A few weeks ago when our high that day was 56 degrees I could feel the cold in the air as I rode my bicycle.  Maybe it was because today has a little wind and the wind mixed and took the cold air away?

The pasture doesn't show it, but the hayfield still has plenty of ice.

Maria still has a bad limp, but after three days it looks to be a little better.  The healing will take a while.  I want the snow and ice to melt to make it easier for her (and me!) to walk.  The cows have more manure than the heifers.  So in the main corral I have stacks of manure.  It is like a field of rocks as the manure freezes hard!  After letting the cows out of the corral to go to the large hay bale today I used a shovel and went around part of the corral to knock manure stacks over.  Under the stacks of manure were stacks of ice.

Wet!

It started raining last night and has rained non-stop since then.  The forecast is for rain most of the week, then snow.  I think it has rained over .8 of an inch so far.  The temperature did make it above 40 degrees for a while today. 

Snow and lots of ice remain.  Melting is going very slow.  It seems as if the snow doesn't want to melt.  The ice that has been around for weeks now is a major annoyance.  I have to often be careful not to slip on the ice.  A few days ago I saw that Maria has a real bad limp in her back left leg.  Nothing looks broken.  I think she may have slipped on the ice and bruised or injured her leg.   So I put her in the corral to be with the heifers.  That way she doesn't have to walk much.  Ever since then she is always standing or laying when I see her so I don't know how her limp is currently.

Now today with all the rain, lots of water is standing all over.  With the ground frozen it has nowhere to go.  The area under the roofed area next to the barn is full of water.  To give the heifers and Maria a dry place to lay and sleep tonight I opened the entire corral to them.  That way they can lay in the loafing shed which is mostly dry.  In the summer I need to remember to fix/caulk some of the small holes in the roof so the area will be completely dry in the future.  But no standing water is in the loafing shed, just a few wet spots.

The rest of the cattle are out in the middle pasture.  They can lay under the trees which are snow free and somewhat dry.   Tomorrow I will have to haul out another large hay bale for them.  And I will have to scrap snow off for another area for the feeder.  I did have an extra area for the feeder but the land is not level and of course the extra spot has standing water.

This had been one of the icier Winters I can remember.   I can't wait until it warms up and melts the snow.  If a cow was bred the first day the bull could breed them, then March 10 will have a newborn calf.  I want it warm and dry for calving to happen.  Please let us have global warming!

River freezing again

It is the later part of February and the river is freezing again due to the recent cold temperatures.  The river had thawed out from the earlier Winter freeze.   I still am keeping the cattle in the loading corral even though that means more work for me to feed them small hay bales twice each day.

Cattle's drinking area is all frozen.

Patio wind damage

Since noon on Sunday the cold front's wind blew 20 to 30 mph with wind gusts up to 47 mph.  This morning I found one of the roof panels on the patio had blown off.  A while ago I had placed some bent steel fence posts on top of the patio roof to help when there was strong winds. As you can see one of the metal posts also blew off.   The ground is frozen but the wind was still able to drive the post into the frozen ground.

The wind is still blowing now.  Only around 20 mph with gusts in the upper 20s to 30 mph.  So it felt colder than what it actually was of 12 degrees above.   I'm letting the cattle stay in the corral and out of the wind in the loafing shed.  Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be less.  I hope so.

Heifer photos in the sun

Sun came out this afternoon in the Valley.  In the mountains all around the Valley there were large solid thick blue clouds.  The weather forecast has snow, wind and cold coming tomorrow for the week.  In the sun here are photos of the heifers.  They are doing really well.

Lightning Picasso.

The oldest heifer. When it was born back on January 30, 2021.

The oldest heifer.  Now.

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.