Calf 1 - Sugar's

My first calf was not due until March 10.  But Sugar had a problem.  Thursday morning I saw that she had a fluid sac hanging out her back end.  When I seen that before that usually meant the cow was getting close to giving birth.   I herded Sugar into the south corral with the heifers (calves from last year) and herded Speckles out to the main corral.

Dan stopped by around noon for payment for the corral panels I had bought from him.  He looked at Sugar and he remarked the fluid color was darker than normal as the water is usually lighter looking.  Donna stopped by in the afternoon and looked also.

I kept an eye on Sugar all day.  It was time for a new large hay bale, and with a Winter storm forecast for Friday, I scraped snow away in an area in the north pasture where the hayshed and Curtis's building would provide a windbreak.  Since I started scraping snow I decided to scrape the snow out of the main corral and dump the snow in the pastures.  At the end of the day I started to scrape snow out of the south corral.  I got as far a removing the snow east and south of the barn and a little west of the barn and the covered area.  The heifers were a pain as sometimes they swarmed around as I scraped the snow and I had to watch not to hit them.  It was dark when I finished scraping a path to the feeder in the NE pasture at 7:30 pm.

February has been a miserable month. It was the fifth snowiest February at 23.3 inches. (The record is 31 inches).  The normal snow amount is 8.5 inches. It was the second coldest February on record with an average of 12.6 degrees.  Our normal average is around 27 degrees. I want my global warming back!!!

Friday I cleaned the manure and old straw out of the barn's covered area and put fresh straw down for the heifers and Sugar.  Sugar was still the same.

It had been a day with no change in her condition.  It was Friday afternoon and the Winter storm was starting up.  Rather than waiting for the weekend I decided to call the cattle vet for advice.  It was after 4 pm when she called me back.  From my description she had concerns.  I emailed the above two photos and she said we had to do something now as it appeared the cow's placenta had detached prematurely.

In one study two cases of premature expulsion of the placenta were recorded among 60 supervised calvings (3.3 per cent); both calves died. In a second study, 47 cases were recorded among 332 cases of perinatal mortality (14.2 per cent). The condition was associated with fetal malpresentation and malposture, and mortality either before or during parturition. There was no significant relationship between the occurrence of premature expulsion of the placenta and parity, calving difficulty, previous calving history or the sex of the calf. The condition in cattle is compared with placenta praevia in women.

I had to put Sugar in the head gate to hold her while we pulled the calf out of her.  That meant I had to shovel the snow out of the loading ramp to get Sugar into the head gate.  The vet arrived as I was finishing the shoveling.  Most of the other cattle were in the loafing shed to get out of the wind and blowing snow.   By now the wind was blowing 26 mph with gusts to 36 mph with snow falling.  A real Winter storm going into blizzard category.

When the vet drove into the corral the cattle got nervous.  It then wasn't too hard to herd them out of the corral and out to the hay bale.  This made getting Sugar into the loafing corral and head gate much easier as she wasn't distracted by the other cattle.

The vet reached in and removed the placenta.  She found the calf had one leg bent and not facing out.  That "malposture" perhaps explains the premature placenta expulsion.  Surprisingly the calf was still alive.  She repositioned the bent leg and hooked chains to each leg and we pulled.  Our action helped trigger Sugar and she started to have contractions.  We slowly pulled the calf out trying to time our pulling with her contractions.

Once out the vet drug the calf to Sugar's face so she could see, smell and lick the calf and start the bonding.  Then she drug the calf over to the barn's covered area and the straw.  I let Sugar out of the head gate to join her calf.  In the end I had to handle the metal gates as when the vet tried her wet bloody hands would stick to the metal.

Since this was a premature birth the vet gave Sugar a shot of medicine to help her clean out and start her milk to drop to her udder.  She said the calf may have suffered some oxygen loss and to watch her.

It was now 5:45 pm.  The calf was dry and out of the wind.  The air temperature was 12 degrees.  I checked on him at 7 pm and 8 pm.  At 7 pm he appeared to have moved position but no signs he had drunk.  I moved him more into the corner.  Sugar was laying next to him.  At 8 pm the calf was still laying stretched out.  One heifer was standing too close to the calf and I shooed her away.  No signs the calf had drunk and it appeared Sugar's milk had dropped and her udder was full.

I needed to get the calf up to drink and needed help to do that.  The blizzard was raging.  I called Donna for help.  She was snowed in.  I drove three miles in my four-wheel drive pickup and got her.  Only a few vehicles were on the road and they were driving slowly and carefully through the storm as it was hard to see the road.

The air temperature was now 5 degrees. I got the calf into the barn where we had more light.  Normally the cattle want to get in the barn where all the hay bales are located and I can never leave the door open briefly.  Sugar didn't want to go inside the barn.  She would stand at the door and call to her calf.  When I tried to herd her inside she would turn and move away.  Donna - an unfamiliar person - also unnerved Sugar.  After more than a half hour I got Sugar inside the barn.

The calf was too weak to stand.  When I tried to stand him up I realized he was too weak to suck.  I put Sugar back outside the barn.  I called Chris for advice and whether he had a milk supplement as I had none.  He said he would use milk from the grocery as a starter for energy.  Just warm the milk to body temperature.  I got a bottle and nipple but the calf was too weak to suck.  I found the bag and plastic tube I used when I had to feed the Holstein calf an energy supplement.  After some trouble getting the tube down the calf's throat safely we gave it a cup's worth of milk.

I had a space heater to warm the barn but that was a slow going process.  I decided to bring the calf inside my house where it was warmer.  This is Toby's first calf, and while the calf was not quite as big as Buddy's calves were, Toby's calf was plenty heavy.  I was exhausted carrying the calf through the wind and snow to the house.

A beautiful - but sick - calf.

In the house we warmed the calf more.  His nose, tongue and lower legs were cold to the touch.  Donna discovered the calf had one tooth loose.  We wondered if a heifer had stepped on the calf.  Donna toweled and rubbed the calf.  We fed it more cups of milk hourly for several hours until after midnight it seemed as if his stomach was full and he couldn't take any more milk.  I got better at getting the tube down his throat.  We would roll the calf over to its other side every so often. The calf went from quiet and unresponsive to making occasion moaning sounds.  Still he would just lay there.  I recently read that newborn calves only had fat energy reserves for two hours after birth.  After that their energy level starts to decline.

I took Donna home at 1 pm.  The storm was still raging though the wind was no longer gusting to 43 mph.   It was only blowing at 21 mph with gusts to 29 mph.   I didn't realize that Donna's driveway has a ditch on its sides.  I slipped off the road and got stuck in the deep hard packed snow.  I shoveled and shoveled snow.  Still I couldn't get back up onto the driveway and slid further to the side.  The second time I got stuck I couldn't get out of my driver side door as the snow was halfway up the side of the pickup.  Once I got out of the passenger side door I shoveled and shoveled the snow and shoveled more.  I created a long path forward and backward so as to get a run and momentum to get back up onto the driveway.  Donna started her snow blower and began to clear a path on the driveway ahead of the pickup.  After 20 minutes of shoveling snow I got my pickup back up on the driveway.

I got back home after 1:30 am.  The calf was laying and breathing hard with occasional moaning sounds.  I looked at one of his eyes.  It was open but still.

I stayed up.  I checked my email, etc. on the computer then watched a movie.  I would occasionally check the calf and roll it over.  Sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 am the calf died.  The calf was behind the 8-ball since it was born early.  The Winter storm and cold did not help.

Clearing for the feeder

This afternoon it was time to give the cattle another large hay bale.  It is still cold outside.  This time after I started my tractor I let it warm up for about 15 minutes.  Then I had no problem with the hydraulics.

I used the tractor bucket to clear a new area for the hay feeder.  I also cleared a few other paths until dark.

The cattle like to lay under the trees, and while they have made walking paths to them, I cleared a path for the cattle to walk to several of the trees.

Frozen hydraulics again

Today my tractor hydraulics quit again.  They worked after I started the tractor.  I drove out to attach the bucket so I could clear snow for a new metal feeder location.  Then the hydraulics quit working.



I drove the tractor back to the pole shed parking spot.  With the tractor running I placed a small space heater under the tractor.  Then I went out and by hand shoveled the deep snow to make a large spot to move the metal feeder.  A little over a half hour later I came back and tried the tractor's hydraulics.  They worked.  I was able to move a large hay bale out for the cattle who were waiting patiently in the corral having finished the one small hay bale I had given them in the meantime.  It was dark by the time I finished.

This afternoon I also shoveled and raked the manure and wet straw from the area under the barn's lean-to roof.  I put down another bale of dry straw for the calves and Speckles to lay on.  If the cattle only would use a bathroom place other than where they lay - it would make my life easier and their resting area better.

Frozen hydraulics

The hydraulics on my tractor froze up late Monday afternoon when I went out to get another large hay bale for the cattle.  I have had the hydraulics on a cold day not respond until the tractor ran and warmed up for a few minutes; but I never had the hydraulics work then stop working.  And I have used my tractor on colder days.  The hydraulic fluid level is at full so that wasn't the problem.

Monday I had speared and lifted the hay bale.  After I backed out of the hayshed I tried to lift the bale a little higher and that is when the hydraulics quit.  Not only the loader stopped lifting, the hydraulics run the power steering.  Try steering a tractor with a large bale on it through deep snow with no hydraulics to help you.

I made it to where I wanted to put the hay bale.  After I removed the twine I was able to tilt the spear downwards until the bale slipped off the spear.  I could lower the spear or the loader but not raise either of them.

The next problem was to lift the metal feeder up on its side to move over and then drop over the bale.  I need the tractor to do this as the feeder is too heavy from me to lift up onto its side.  I was able to lift the feeder enough to set it on the end of the bale spear.  Then I was able to drive the tractor forward.  The feeder slid up the spear then up to the top of the loader's arm.  From there I was able to finish tipping the feeder onto its side.

Extra work all around but I got it done.

Today we had sun and a high temperature in the mid 20s.  I started the tractor and today the hydraulics worked.  Hooray!  Tomorrow I'll have to put out another bale for the cattle.


The weather forecast is for snow and cold through the end of February, and colder than normal temperatures for the first week of March.  Our normal highs right now should be in the mid 30s.  With a forecast of below freezing temperatures for the time being I am getting concerned about calving when it starts March 10 as the pasture is covered in snow.  I may have to come up with a Plan B.

Sagging snow

A day (almost) without snow.  So I spent all of the afternoon shoveling snow off the driveway and around the yard and outside of the hayshed.  I got the driveway clear and paths to drive in the backyard.  Tonight the snow started again.  2 to 5 inches are predicted by morning.  Then over the next few days an additional inch of snow each day.  I am soooo tired of shoveling snow.



The temperature is nicer.  High temperature was around freezing and the sun was out for much of the day.

Snow pictures

It continues to snow.  Four inches yesterday.  Two inches last night.  More snow forecast for each of the next three days.  I am tired of spending hours every day shoveling snow.

I don't know why, but the cows were thirstier today that usual.  Every time I turned around I had to fill the water trough.  I filled it multiple times today and usually I only have to fill it once or twice a day.

I saw two cows towards the river early this afternoon.  So I trudged through the deep snow to check on them.  The snow was so deep it came over the tops of my boots and I ended up with wet feet and pants by the time I was done.  Since the cattle were in the middle pasture previously, and there was little snow most of the Winter so far, I hadn't closed off the path to the river in the north pasture.  Sure enough, Maria (of course) and cow #90 were down there.  The river was ice and snow covered so they didn't go down all the way to the river.  But they were standing and looking at the patches of open water and trying to figure how to get there.

I trudged back to the corral and got one of my green corral panels and carried it to the river.  I am glad I added to the fence this Summer.  Instead of four or five panels to close access to the river in the Winter I only need one panel.  With the path down to the river blocked for now I don't have to worry about some cow doing something crazy.

Since I was out there I discovered a fallen tree.  It must have happened during one of recent weekend Winter storms.  Another tree to cut up for firewood this year.

I also put out a tub of Vitalix mineral lick.  This gives the cows extra minerals during the later parts of their pregnancy.  The tub weighs 250 pounds so I could only slide the tub out of the barn.  I'm getting old as I can't lift 250 pounds.

Another weekend, another Winter storm

After such a nice Winter, February came in like a lion and we are definitely in Winter now.  Our global warming is long gone and we are well below average temperature-wise.  We were behind in snow depth but we have caught up now.

I learned from last week's Winter storm.  I left the calves and the heifer Speckles in the south corral.   The cows and bull had finished the bale of hay in the middle pasture by this morning.   Around noon I cleaned up the hayshed and gave the cows and bull a pickup load of loose hay to eat.  After changing my plan and getting groceries today and not Saturday, this afternoon I brought out another large bale of hay for the cows.  By now the wind had picked up.  I decided to place the bale in the north pasture corner.  This location allows the hayshed to block much of the wind and the bale is outside of the corral but not far for the cows to walk to eat.

I had an extra metal feeder in the north pasture for use.  First I got the wooden pallet to sit the bale on.  By the time I drove back minutes later to get the feeder my tractor tracks were partially filled in from the blowing snow.  I am very happy I have a cab on my tractor with a heater inside.

When I opened the corral gate the cows and bull came out from the protection of the loafing shed to eat from the hay bale.  As I cleaned some of the manure from the loafing shed the two heifers came to the loafing shed to complain to me that the big cows weren't letting them eat from the hay bale.  I told them there was nothing I could do, they would have to wait until the cows were done eating before they could eat.

It had snowed quite a few inches of snow last night.  So I placed more snow around my well pump shed.  The outdoor temperature was in the lows teens above zero but the temperature from the light bulb inside the shed made it 40 degrees inside.  And that was before I added more snow around the shed all the way to the roof.   The wind is blowing 30 to 40 mph hour and a peak wind gust has been as high as 47 mph.  The temperature is supposed to get down to minus 10 degrees but I am confident the extra snow and light bulb will keep my well from freezing.

Winter storm changes plans

A Winter storm was forecast for today and tomorrow followed by cold weather.  In preparation I put out two large hay bales.  I took the pickup load of leftover hay from the calves' feeder and put it out in the hayfield for the cows and bull.  While they ate that hay I closed the gate to the pasture.  This allowed me to bring out a large hay bale for them without them bothering me.  I placed the bale on the western side of the middle pasture close to the trees.  That way the cattle can rest in the trees somewhat out of the wind.  I then put out a new large bale for the calves in the NE pasture.  Let the storm come, I am ready.

The calves' water trough was partially iced up from the recent cold nights.  Saturday our high temperature was 45 degrees and I was able to break up the ice and remove it from the water trough   This way the entire water trough was water.

The storm arrived overnight.  Daisy woke me up early to go outside.  But after I opened the door to the cold and wind she wrinkled her nose and decided to stay in the house.  I went back to bed and slept late in a warm bed.  Daisy came and snuggled up against me.

When I did get up the storm was still raging.  The calves were in the loafing shed out of the wind.  The cows and bull were all standing along the hayfield fence under a tree.  There were not out of the wind and back by their hay feeder.  Oh, for heaven's sake!

I decided to put the calves in the corral south of the barn to keep them away from the bull.  I got two straw bales for bedding from the barn's hayloft.  I had to move slow and careful as the ground from Saturday's melting was ice covered and slippery.  I didn't want the ladder to slide out from under me as I carried each straw bale down the ladder.

Once I had the straw laid out, and a small bale in the barn's wooden feeder, I opened the gate to let the calves in.  They preferred to stay in the loafing shed.  Around and around we went.  I tried not to slip and not to have the calves slip on the icy ground.  I also tried - and did avoid - from getting kicked.  The calves wouldn't go to the open gate.  Eventually they ran to the back of the corral.  I then opened that gate and they went through.

Instead of going to the shelter of the barn's overhang the calves stood in the back corner of the corral and in the wind.  This was the closest they could get to the cows in the middle pasture.

I then put several small bales of hay in the wooden feeder in the main corral.  I also closed the gate so the cattle couldn't get to the NE pasture.  The cattle being in the corral is for only a few days until the storm is over.  I don't want the cattle to decide to stay in the NE pasture.

Then I went out and opened the gates to let the cattle in to the corral.  The cattle huddled under the tree and wouldn't come.  I had to walk over and call them and then walk back to the middle/north pasture gate and call them.  Finally Mama came around from the other side of the huddle and looked at me.  She realized what I wanted the cattle to do and she came.  The rest of the cattle followed her.

Once in the corral the cattle went to eating the hay I put out for them.  Speckles was being pushed away and shut out from eating at either feeder. She was going around eating the scraps of hay on the ground that had blown out of the feeder.

I decided to put Speckles in the south corral with the calves.  The calves were at the middle gate west of the barn watching the cows.  I opened the east gate to have Speckles go through.  But she didn't want to go.  She kept circling back.  While she was only getting scraps of hay she was desperate to get them before the big cows ate them too.  Around and around we went.  I was afraid she or I were going to slip on the ice.  I got my sorting stick.  Again I tried to herd Speckles to the open gate.  Finally she noticed it was open and went through it.

Speckles went right to the hay in the barn's feeder and began eating.  The red calf then noticed her and came over and started to fight Speckles.  Even though Speckles is a year older, the red calf is a chucky monkey and sometimes Speckles pushed the red calf backwards, and sometimes the red calf pushed Speckles backwards.  Then the other calves came and the two black calves started fighting Speckles too.

I left them be to sort it out.  Later I seen them eating and not fighting.  I tell ya, females are just mean.

I had spent several hours in the snow and howling wind and was ready to go inside the house, clean the woodstove and start a fire to warm up.  Daisy and I fell asleep on the floor together by the warm fire.

Late afternoon my water quit.  Overnight I had forgotten to turn on the light bulb in the well shed to generate heat.  With the warmer weather I had turned it off.  In the morning when I turned the light on it was below freezing in the shed, but the water still ran.  When the water quit I checked on the well shed.  It was still below freezing in the shed so I got a small electric heater and plugged it in.  I also shoveled snow against the north wall of the shed to help protect it from the wind.  A hour later the water ran again.

I gave the cattle more hay just before dark.  Everyone, when not eating, stood in their loafing sheds out of the howling wind.

I want my global warming back!!!

Straw bedding.

Barn feeder hay bale

Corral feeder and hay scraps

Even when huddling by the tree my racist black cattle are mean to the red cows.  Mama and Red are in the back.  They are smart enough to go on the side of the herd downwind.  Speckles is off to the right as the herd won't let her join them.

Huddling by the tree.

Of course Panda is one of the first to reach the hay.

Fat and pregnant

Speckles finally can eat some hay.

Chunky Monkey red calf wants to fight.

Now the other black calves want to fight Speckles.  Beulah's calf wants no part of the fight.

Here is a 25 second video of Speckles with the calves.  The initial fighting - once I started filming - was over and they are now getting used to one another.

https://youtu.be/xhH8j4zKAUU

Blogger email send test 3

What the heck?  Is the email send function working or not?

Cattle feeding last week

I had posted this a week ago.  But Blogger's email send function wasn't working.  It appears to be working now so I am re-posting this post.


Things are pretty quiet around here.   The Winter is coming along nicely.  Some snow.  Below average amount so far - which is good.  Slightly above average temperatures so far - which is great!

To make my hay last I am back to feeding the cattle with a pickup load of hay twice a day like I did last Winter.  Earlier I had been putting out a large hay bale but found the cattle would devour the bale in 1 2/3 day.  They loved the second cutting alfalfa and couldn't stop eating it.  Once I fed them with pickup loads I was back to taking three days to go through a hay bale and the cattle were no worse for it.

Now that I have used up all the second cutting alfalfa bales I put out a large bale for the cattle last week.  Partly to see how fast the cattle ate a hay bale from either Wyatt's or Donna's field, and partly because we were going to have snow and colder temperatures for a couple days.  It took the cattle 2.75 days to eat that bale.  Still, I decided to go back to twice a day feeding for now.

One thing I noticed over the past week was that in the morning feeding some of the cattle would be in the south pasture.  Usually the bull and three other cows.  Every time a different mix of cattle but usually a combination of the same suspects of the half of the herd who can be naughty at times.  I have the gate to the south pasture closed so these cattle walk the river around the fence.  The river is low but they still get wet.  Today when Maria returned via the river I seen the bottom of her belly was wet.

I would open the gate after I put out all the hay.  You'd think having to watch and wait would discourage the cattle from going to the south pasture where there is just snow and nothing to eat.

Today when I came out to feed the hay Maria immediately headed to the river to make her way back as she didn't want to wait.  The bull saw Maria head for the river and ambled towards the river.  Sugar and cow 40 hung along the fence.  I hadn't completely cleaned the pickup when I decided to open the middle gate for Sugar and 40 to come get hay.  40 immediately came to the gate and walked through.  Sugar came to the gate but came along the fence side of the open gate and not the opening.  The bull noticed us and walked back.  So I let them be as Sugar would come around the gate and come through and the bull would then come.  But no.  Sugar ran past the opening and to the bull.  Once the bull came to the dead tree he stopped and the next I knew I heard the fence wires.  The fence is only three strands of barb wire and not tight.  The bull squeezed through the wires near the tree without breaking any wires.  Ya kidding me?!!!

Sugar tried to follow the bull but she couldn't quite figure out the technique and by then I also yelled.  I had to go over and herd Sugar to the open gate.  She made it hard as she wanted to go everywhere but that direction.  I eventually got her to the opening and she walked through.  I am not pleased the bull figured out how to squeeze through the fence.  Once he learns something, he doesn't forget.  I don't have plans to rebuild that fence until next year (2020).  But if the bull starts making this a regular thing I will have to change my fence plans (once again!)

The hay should be right up to the feeder sides all the way around.  But some of the cattle (the bull, Maria, and cow 80 especially) push against the feeder.  The feeder - though heavy - slides along the icy ground when pushed hard.  While the sliding can be good as they can eat all the hay in the center, if the three pushers are on one side of the feeder they push the feeder with all the hay in it, before you know it the hay can be reached only from one side.

See how they like to eat the hay to the ground.

The feeder can only accommodate twelve cattle at one time.  Since there is not all-you-can-eat hay bale in the feeder, I also make a half dozen small hay piles nearby.  That way the smaller cattle - Mama and the three heifers - get a chance to eat hay.  Of course, with the 'grass is greener elsewhere' mentality often 8 or 9 of the cattle end up going from hay pile to hay pile and eat the hay there.  Over time I have been putting more hay outside the feeder so the bullies don't hog it all.

After our run-in a few weeks ago, Mama is careful when coming to a hay pile I just set down and we have not had any run-ins since then.   One time my foot caught on a hard cow pie in the snow.  This acted like a lever and I slammed to the ground.  Hard.  My right hand and arm came between my body and the hard ground.  I must have bruised my chest as I could tell exactly where I fell on my hand and arm.  I hurt for over a week.  It hurt worse than when Mama and I collided that time.

Cattle feeding

Things are pretty quiet around here.   The Winter is coming along nicely.  Some snow.  Below average amount so far - which is good.  Slightly above average temperatures so far - which is great!

To make my hay last I am back to feeding the cattle with a pickup load of hay twice a day like I did last Winter.  Earlier I had been putting out a large hay bale but found the cattle would devour the bale in 1 2/3 day.  They loved the second cutting alfalfa and couldn't stop eating it.  Once I fed them with pickup loads I was back to taking three days to go through a hay bale and the cattle were no worse for it.

Now that I have used up all the second cutting alfalfa bales I put out a large bale for the cattle last week.  Partly to see how fast the cattle ate a hay bale from either Wyatt's or Donna's field, and partly because we were going to have snow and colder temperatures for a couple days.  It took the cattle 2.75 days to eat that bale.  Still, I decided to go back to twice a day feeding for now.

One thing I noticed over the past week was that in the morning feeding some of the cattle would be in the south pasture.  Usually the bull and three other cows.  Every time a different mix of cattle but usually a combination of the same suspects of the half of the herd who can be naughty at times.  I have the gate to the south pasture closed so these cattle walk the river around the fence.  The river is low but they still get wet.  Today when Maria returned via the river I seen the bottom of her belly was wet.

I would open the gate after I put out all the hay.  You'd think having to watch and wait would discourage the cattle from going to the south pasture where there is just snow and nothing to eat.

Today when I came out to feed the hay Maria immediately headed to the river to make her way back as she didn't want to wait.  The bull saw Maria head for the river and ambled towards the river.  Sugar and cow 40 hung along the fence.  I hadn't completely cleaned the pickup when I decided to open the middle gate for Sugar and 40 to come get hay.  40 immediately came to the gate and walked through.  Sugar came to the gate but came along the fence side of the open gate and not the opening.  The bull noticed us and walked back.  So I let them be as Sugar would come around the gate and come through and the bull would then come.  But no.  Sugar ran past the opening and to the bull.  Once the bull came to the dead tree he stopped and the next I knew I heard the fence wires.  The fence is only three strands of barb wire and not tight.  The bull squeezed through the wires near the tree without breaking any wires.  Ya kidding me?!!!

Sugar tried to follow the bull but she couldn't quite figure out the technique and by then I also yelled.  I had to go over and herd Sugar to the open gate.  She made it hard as she wanted to go everywhere but that direction.  I eventually got her to the opening and she walked through.  I am not pleased the bull figured out how to squeeze through the fence.  Once he learns something, he doesn't forget.  I don't have plans to rebuild that fence until next year (2020).  But if the bull starts making this a regular thing I will have to change my fence plans (once again!)

The hay should be right up to the feeder sides all the way around.  But some of the cattle (the bull, Maria, and cow 80 especially) push against the feeder.  The feeder - though heavy - slides along the icy ground when pushed hard.  While the sliding can be good as they can eat all the hay in the center, if the three pushers are on one side of the feeder they push the feeder with all the hay in it, before you know it the hay can be reached only from one side.

See how they like to eat the hay to the ground.

The feeder can only accommodate twelve cattle at one time.  Since there is not all-you-can-eat hay bale in the feeder, I also make a half dozen small hay piles nearby.  That way the smaller cattle - Mama and the three heifers - get a chance to eat hay.  Of course, with the 'grass is greener elsewhere' mentality often 8 or 9 of the cattle end up going from hay pile to hay pile and eat the hay there.  Over time I have been putting more hay outside the feeder so the bullies don't hog it all.

After our run-in a few weeks ago, Mama is careful when coming to a hay pile I just set down and we have not had any run-ins since then.   One time my foot caught on a hard cow pie in the snow.  This acted like a lever and I slammed to the ground.  Hard.  My right hand and arm came between my body and the hard ground.  I must have bruised my chest as I could tell exactly where I fell on my hand and arm.  I hurt for over a week.  It hurt worse than when Mama and I collided that time.

Mud room sink fix

It should have been only a two hour fix.  But between my skills and this old house, the fix took five days.  I should have expected this.  My uncles Curt and Larry understand as years ago they helped me with most of my bathroom remodel and that remodel metastasized into a monster.

Recently the faucet in the mud room sink started to drip.   The faucet is very old and one I didn't like. I didn't like its shape; I didn't like the shape of its handles; the handles were hard to turn; replacing the faucet's washer looked to be a pain; etc.  Years ago I had picked up a new faucet.  It wasn't used in the bathroom remodel as the faucet's trim color was gold and Tammy (correctly) wanted burnished silver finishes on the bathroom faucets.

Gold colored faucet in the mud room... fine.  The room needs a remodel and is drab/ugly so the faucet color wouldn't be the worst.

The two hour job expanded when I realized I would have to take the cabinet holding the sink completely out.  This was not a pleasant task as there is not a lot of room in the mud room to move large objects around.  I could move the cabinet just enough to squeeze by the wash machine to get behind the cabinet.

Daisy helped me initially. Once she checked everything out around the cabinet she let me do the rest of the work.

The plumbing was done between 50 and 78 years ago.  Back before flexible steel hoses were invented for water lines.  My water lines were copper all the way to the faucet.  Each line did have a union (thankfully) so I was able to disconnect them.  But to disconnect the pipes connected to the sink I had to get in back of the cabinet.  The hole cut in the cabinet was by whoever connected the pipes long ago.

The other two odd looking holes are to allow me to pull the cabinet away from the wall and the pipes that go into the floor.  This is how the pipes come into the cabinet.  The reason for the odd shaped holes and not simple round holes is that whoever connected the pipes long ago soldered the upright portions of the pipe inside the cabinet to the unions.  I was not about to cut the pipes.

After I put the new sink faucet in place, and before I put the cabinet back, I noticed the floor's hole around the drainpipe was larger than the drainpipe.  This is how the mice get into the house from the crawlspace.  As you can see below I think I fixed that problem.  I stuffed more insulation around the pipe and cut a section of screen door screen and placed it on the floor.  Then I nailed to the floor a section of wire from an old unused live animal trap.  If that doesn't stop the mice at least it will make it difficult for them to get through.

I put the cabinet back.  I reconnected the drainpipe, the hot water link, then the cold water line.  When I got to the cold water line I was two inches short.   What?!!!   Where did it go?!  I checked the line in the crawl space but it seemed to be fixed and would not move.  I looked in the tool shed at stuff dad had for plumbing. I found a short flexible steel water line.  It would fit the faucet connection but not the union.  I found a four inch piece of copper pipe whose male and females ends would work with the union and then found a valve that would connect to the flexible hose.  It was getting late and I decided stop and call it a night after I put the valve on.  I needed the valve on as even though I had put new shutoff valves in the hot and cold water lines that went to the mud room, the cold water valve only stopped 99.8% of the water.  I would have a slow drip - even if I also closed the main shutoff valve to the house.

But as my luck would have it.. even with the extra shutoff valve just added, a very slow drip was where the shutoff valve connected to the pipe.  I put rags down and called it a night.  Obviously I was not meant to finish this project this day.

Two inch gap

Day number 2.  I went into the crawl space and turned all the water valves off, unconnected everything, took out the cabinet drawers again and took out the cabinet.  I took off the cold water pipe extension and installed the steel flexible pipe to the faucet.  I then got sidetracked with my wash machine.  For some months now the cold water flow into the machine had slowed down considerably.  So much that it took a long time to fill the machine for the rinse cycle.  With the cabinet out it was much easier to get to the back of the wash machine.

I checked the hot and cold hoses and their screen.  I found some rust/gunk in the cold water screen but not as much as I expected.  I cleaned it anyway.   The next time I wash clothes I will see if this makes a difference.  Otherwise the water inlet valve's solenoid unit is bad.  This wouldn't be surprising as dad bought this Kenmore wash machine new in the mid 1970s.

I put the cabinet back and reconnected everything. It was getting late again.  The new valve was still dripping slowly.  I quit for the night with plans to get a new valve the next day.


Day number 3.  I woke up in the morning with the realization of why the cold water pipe was two inches short.  In the crawl space I had confused the cold and hot water pipes.  The hot water pipe was fixed, but the cold water pipe would move.  I got my two inches back.  This meant I could use the union and could get rid of the extension, valve and steel flexible pipe.

Which meant... I had to turned the valves off in the crawl space, disconnect everything, take the cabinet drawers out, and then take the cabinet back out.  I put the original pipe back on the faucet and connected the pipes using the unions.

I put the cabinet back, reconnected everything and turned the water on.

The faucet handles didn't want to turn.



I hadn't tested the handles before installing the faucet, but the faucet is new and the handles should work.  I suspected I had tightened the faucet to the sink too hard and this was why the handles wouldn't turn.  Instead of using the plastic nuts to hold the faucet to the sink I had used the old faucet's steel nuts.  To keep the faucet from moving I had tightened the nuts tight.

It was getting late and I had to feed the cattle.  And I didn't want to disconnect everything and move the cabinet again so I called it a day.


Day number 4.  I disconnected everything, took out the drawers and moved the cabinet - yet again!

Yup.  I had tightened the nuts too tight.  The new faucet's shell is tin.  The old faucet was all steel.  The pressure caused the handles - mostly the right handle - to be pulled into the shell.  I spent some time to remove the indent.  This is much easier said than done.  When I tightened the nuts again I tried to not over tighten them.  If I tightened the nuts so the faucet couldn't be moved on the sink it would indent the shell.  So I had to redo everything.  In the end the faucet won't move unless a lot of force is put on it.  I think I can live with that.

Slight indent around the right handle.

Now that I can run water I next discovered the old metal drain was shot.  On the J trap, the connection to the pipe going down - wasn't.  By that I mean there were no threads.  I don't know if there never were threads or they rusted away over the years.  That part of the J trap was puttied together.  Of course my disconnection broke the old putty apart.  I was not about to putty/patch it back together.

I went to Home Depot and bought a new J trap. At home I then discovered the other side - the ring - was also bad.  I had to put the pipe in a vise and used a pipe wrench to turn the ring - and it wasn't screwed onto anything.  I tried to remove the ring from the pipe - which should be easy to do - but it wouldn't come off.  The ring was coming off or I would break the pipe doing so.  I broke the pipe and never got the ring off.


Day number 5.  I went back to Home Depot in the morning after feeding the cattle.  I returned the J trap and bought a S trap.  Everything is plastic now-a-days but it works.

After 5 days I replaced my faucet.    No wonder I don't do more home repairs!

2018 bicycle mileage total

2018 was for the record book for me with bicycle miles.  I rode 8,500 miles.   This is well above the previous record of 7,100 miles set way back in 1996. And much above my average annual mileage of  3,379 miles.

I could have ridden more miles as my total at the six month mark was 4,700 miles.  I usually ride more miles in the second half of the year but this year with my hay and cattle problems in July, and my push to get stuff done before Winter started, my mileage in the second half of the year fell off.

Numbers:

• 8,500 annual miles,
• 708.3 miles each month,
• 163.5 miles each week,
• 23.3 miles each day.

I set record miles in three months:

• January - 550 miles,
• March - 1025 miles, and
• December - 620 miles.

I was surprised to set a record in December.  My previous average in December was 146.6 miles.  I only exceeded 300 miles in a December four times over the many years of riding.  The previous record mileage of 582 miles (well above the next highest of 440 miles) was set back in 1988 when I was riding on a bicycle tour in Australia and Hawaii that December.  I figured I would never exceed this 582 total unless I spent a December in a warm area again.  But our past December was warmer than average and I made the most of it.  If this is because of global warming... then bring it on.  I can get used to this!