Finished the baling of my hayfield

Friday, July 7, I took my flat baler tire in to have it fixed.   They said the flat appeared to be because of the tube being pinched.   Perhaps the tire was not fully inflated?   Normally when I have a full bale it get dumped out the baler right away. But to get rid of the weed hay I immediately took the bale across the hayfield and across one pasture to dump it in a low area.  Perhaps I went too fast in a few of the bumpy spots in the pasture.  The bad news.... the hole was right next to an old patch.  $33.30 later and I had a new inner tube installed.

Back at the baler I found the other tire was inflated to 25 pounds of pressure.  The tire says not to drive faster than 25 mph in large letters.  In the small print it says to inflate the tire to 35 pounds of pressure.

Also, when I had the wheel off I found the zerk for greasing the wheel axle.  It was tucked way inside where the wheel is mounted.   A trip back to the tool shed to get a grease gun.  I greased one wheel, then started to grease the other wheel and ran out of grease.   Seriously?!!   Only two zerks to grease and I have to walk back to get another tube of grease?!

Where is the zerk?

Oh, there's the zerk… tucked way inside the wheel.

Since I discovered the two pickup belts would jump the metal disc divider, every time I dumped a bale I would set a catch on the baler and go inside to clean the wet, clumpy, and jammed hay/weeds out of the baler.  After that I had no more pickup belt problems.

I circled the baler's catch.

Here is a 30 second video of a bale being dumped out of the baler: https://youtu.be/Kf6wbk1OSN4


On Saturday I made the final two bales.  I had 12 bales in all.   Just as I was finishing the last bale, Donna, her daughter and son-in-law came over to see my mess.  The daughter and son-in-law were in town to celebrate Donna's birthday.  The son-in-law helped me clean the baler of weeds and seeds one last time.

Here is a 1 minute 40 second video of us cleaning the baler: https://youtu.be/2OZfjCefnrQ

Their dog, Max.

Finally, I hauled away the partial bale I had dumped when the baler's tire had gone flat.  Most of the bale held together even though it was not wrapped in twine.  I only had one full wheelbarrow of weed hay to pick up that fell from the bale.

Here is a 52 second video of me pushing the partial bale down the hill:  https://youtu.be/9CNm9i8Th7Q


The heifer and calves were interested in the new people, and especially their dog.

Here is a 41 second video of me carrying salt blocks and moving the cattle to the south pasture: https://youtu.be/uaWP7BjYzUw

Starting to bale my weed field

Thursday, July 5, at 5 pm I started to bale my weeds.   Since I was dumping the weed hay right away I didn't bother wrapping the bales with twine.  Once I made a bale I drove to the south pasture where I dumped it out of the baler.   The weed hay wasn't completely dry, that is, it was still a little green.   The weed hay would clump up, so after dumping a bale I would pull and remove green soggy weed hay from the outside of the baler.

When I dumped the bale I was at the top of a small hill so the bale would roll down to a low area.  As the bale rolled it would start to "unwind" the hay.   Also, with some effort, I would roll the bale a little further back.  I didn't know how many bales I would be making and I didn't want to run out of room.

I had half of a fourth bale made when I noticed the baler's pickup tines were hitting the ground.  I had set the pickup low in order not to miss and weeds and seeds.  The ground is not completely level and occasional the tines would kick up dirt briefly.  But this was different.  I stopped and looked and discovered the baler had a flat tire.   Seriously?!!!!   What more can go wrong?!

I had to dump the bale in order jack up the baler to remove the tire.  I tried to wrap the bale with twine but it wouldn't work.  The soggy weed hay had blocked the twine from moving through the rollers across the width of the baler.  *sigh*   I dumped the bale untwined.  I'll deal with that mess later.

It took an hour to remove the tire.  I was halfway across the field and had to make multiple trips for tools.

A trip for the jack.

A trip for a shovel to dig a hole when the jack wouldn't fit under the baler.

A trip for a board as the ground was still damp and soft and the jack would go into the ground instead of jacking the baler up.

A trip for sockets when the tire irons were not the right size.

A trip for a large socket wrench as the 3/4 socket that fit the bolts was for a small socket wrench and the tire bolts were on very tight.

I was just removing the tire when my neighbor Calvin and his wife stopped over on their ATV.  I had the flat in the field near the road.  I was about to say I got it handled when I noticed several of the baler's pickup belts were off.  (Earlier when I asked what more can go wrong... yes, more can go wrong.)  If you remember from last year with the slippery oat/barley/pea hay, one pickup belt jumped the metal divider disc over to the next belt.   Now I had a middle pickup belt halfway over to the next belt and positioned on the divider disc.  The end pickup belt and the belt next to it each migrated toward each other and were identically positioned with the divider disc in the middle of the two belts.

Last year I needed a second person to help me pry the belts back into place.  Calvin offered to help me.  The single belt out of place was relatively easy to get back into place.   The two belts over each other were difficult.  As they were on top of each other and over the divider disc there was no slack and no play.

We pried and pried and had little movement.  Occasionally I would briefly run the PTO to run the pickup which spins the belts.  That sometimes would help in moving part of the belt.

The mosquitoes were eating us alive but just when it got dark we got the belts separated and back to their correct spots.  It only took us an hour and a half.   We had to be careful as you can see in the previous photo how the jack was holding the baler up at an angle.


The sad saga continues....

Cutting my weed field

On a Thursday morning I had verification from a Ag extension agent that the pennycress weed is bad for livestock.  By Thursday afternoon I was cutting my field.  It didn't matter that the weather forecast for Friday and Saturday had rain.  Who cares if the cut weeds get wet?

I cut for a few hours Friday morning while the dark rain clouds approached from the west.  I imagine the people driving by thought I was crazy.  Later a few people Donna knows who live down the road commented to her about this.   They didn't say I was crazy for doing this.... that I know of.

It rained and rained the rest of Friday into Saturday.  I didn't start cutting again until Sunday afternoon and finally finished cutting on Monday afternoon.

Looking south.  The dark rain clouds approaching were from the west.

My tractor fits under the power line towers.   I had disced and planted under one tower.  Then the weeds grew.  I had never tried to go under the tower when cutting hay as the offset haybine/tractor width was larger.  But the weeds were thick.    I made it with an inch to spare.  But the inch and the cockeyed tower angle meant I was very close to rubbing on the tractor cab as I exited the tower.  By the time I stopped to reposition I had rubbed the one inch bump where the radio antennae comes out of the top side of the cab. I still get radio reception but I have a hole in the top layer of my roof. My neighbor Curtis said we can fix/seal this.  We use a fiberglass tub repair kit.  Another item on my to-do list.  A self inflicted item.


Look what my cutting turned up!   A turnip.   Ten or more years ago when I had a garden, one year I grew turnips.   I tossed garden waste, and most biodegradable food items out in my hayfield.   I guess turnips seeds can last ten or more years before growing.

Wednesday I was going to get the baler ready and maybe even bale a few rows of weed hay before going over to Joyce's house for a July 4th meal celebration.  First I wanted to put the haybine up in "transport mode".  But the hydraulics wouldn't get the haybine up the last 80% to lock the haybine in place.  I checked the tractor's hydraulic oil level.  I needed to add some hydraulic oil.  I did, but the haybine still wouldn't go the last 20%.   Curtis thought I may have gotten air in my hydraulic oil lines from the low level.   Slowly work it up and down repeatedly and the air will be pressed out.

Thursday I tried some more.  Still couldn't get the last 20%.  I read up on this on the internet and watched YouTube videos.  Nothing more than what I was doing.   The tractor has four hydraulic hookups.  I tried the other two.   Now the haybine would only raise/lower 20%.   I went back to the original two hookups.  I was stuck at only 20%.   What is going on?!

I talked with my neighbor Wyatt.  He suspected I hooked up the hydraulic hoses wrong. "But why would it work for 80%?"    He came over and looked.   Yup.  I hooked up the hoses wrong.  What a moron I am!   Still no idea why the hydraulics worked for 80%.

For the baler's four hydraulic hoses, last year I had painted the four hoses and four hookups four colors to prevent mixups.   Now I painted the haybine's two hoses two colors to match the correct tractor hookups.

So Thursday afternoon - a week after I started to cut my field - I could finally start to bale my weed hay.


The sad saga continues...

Pennycress in my hayfield

In addition to my dead calf and limping cow, the other bad news came one day after the calf's death: my newly planted alfalfa hay field is no good and is a total loss.

Weeds are common in a newly planted field.  I was told to expect them.  Just cut the field before the weeds go to seed.  The alfalfa and grass was slow to start and the weeds took off.  My field looked terrible.  People were trying to be kind and would not say how poor my field looked until I mentioned it.  They all said how much they loved how my field looked last year.

I saw Chris, the guy who planted my oats, barley and peas field last year, and I told him about the weeds.

"Yes, that's natural."

"But I have a lot of weeds."

"Yes, just cut the field and weeds before they go to seed."

"Ok... but I really have a lot of weeds."

This June it seemed to rain at least every three days.  Many farmers had their cut hay rained on.  A number of farmers obviously don't pay attention to the weather forecast.  A weed specialist I spoke with said he had talked with an outfit that cuts and sells lots of hay.  He was told that with a thousand acres they couldn't wait for better weather.  These outfits also get two to three cuttings a season.

Now that we are in July the rain quit.  The farmers who only get one cutting a year waited and got rain-free hay.

The whole point of this rain talk is that I watch the weather forecast and didn't want rained on hay.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited.

The weeds were starting to turn to seed.   Then Donna looked closer at my field and thought the weeds were fan weed.   Livestock will eat fan weed.  People can eat fan weed even though they have a bitter taste.

You can eat it, but it doesn't taste very good. 🙂  Seriously, like most wild greens in the mustard family, it has a very pronounced flavor. The bigger the plants get, the stronger the flavor, and once they've bloomed, you'd have to be really hungry. Cooking takes the edge off, although you can use very young greens in salads if you like a little extra kick. Hot radish eaters, this is the salad green for you.

The next morning a county weed spraying truck was down the road from Donna's house so she asked the driver if he had a weed book.  She found the weed was indeed fan weed, or known as stink weed  (yes, I had a period where my field smelled bad), or officially known as "pennycress".  It is not a noxious weed and not toxic.  Good.  I read up more on the internet about "pennycress" and found a university did a study on "pennycress" and found that while livestock can eat the weed, eating more than 25% of their diet with the weed is harmful.

The plant contains sufficient quantities of glucosinolates to be toxic. During dry periods, cattle in western Canada have ingested hay containing high quantities of stinkweed, or field pennycress. Poisoning, death and abortion occurred. Tests of field pennycress showed that the allylthiocyanate (a glucosinolate) content is sufficient to cause sickness and death in cattle. Fatalities occurred at about 65 mg/kg of body weight. The amount of this chemical varies with the stage of maturity of the plant, the highest amount is in the seeds. Cattle that ingested hay containing between 25-100% field pennycress were colicky and some abortions occurred. 

Oh no!     My entire field was useless.  I estimated that two-thirds to three-fourths of my field was pennycress.  Alfalfa and grass were trying to grow, and some areas had more alfalfa than pennycress, or areas with more grass than pennycress, but not enough make it safe for the cattle.  I had so much pennycress it looked like I had planted it.  Donna wondered if the seed I bought was infected with this seed.  She even called the place I bought the seeds from and was told that no, they didn't have weed seeds in the seed they sold me.

I also learned that the seeds can lie dormant for 20 years.

Each plant can produce as many as 20,000 seeds, which can remain viable in the soil for as long as 20 years and are easily dispersed by wind and water.

I called the local university ag extension weed specialist and he confirmed that in large amounts pennycress is toxic for livestock.  Not even goats can eat it in large quantities.  So much for giving it away.

Why hadn't the weeds appeared last year when I planted the oats, barley and pea crop?  I was told those crops were more aggressive growers than alfalfa and grass and the pennycress most likely couldn't compete in getting started.  Pennycress is found in bare ground.  I have seen the plants in the past in pasture areas of bare ground, i.e. after I dug out a tree stump and had bare dirt until the grass grew back.  Once the grass grew back the pennycress was gone.

Look at all that pennycress turning to seed!

Pennycress

Pennycress with alfalfa

Alfalfa with some pennycress.  Why couldn't my field be like this?!

Because I had waited to avoid the rain and the pennycress was starting to create seeds, I couldn't just cut my field and let it decay.  I had to cut and bale and remove and dispose of the bales.  I had to do all the work and get nothing for it.  And I would have no hay for my cattle this coming Winter.   A disaster!

The disaster saga will continue....


For more information on pennycress:  https://commonsensehome.com/field-pennycress/

https://ipm.missouri.edu/IPCM/2016/4/Weed_of_the_Month-Field_Pennycress/

Calves sleeping

The photos are from June 8.

Earlier the cattle were in the middle pasture.  Here is a photo of the calves checking out the stacked logs.

Limping cow and dead calf

Be aware... photos are included.


The end of June and early July has been challenging.   The cow who broke her leg last year and healed, keeps re-injuring another other leg.  She has done this several times this Spring and healed even though I keep her separate from the herd and in a pasture where she doesn't have to walk much.  She re-injured her leg and was limping in June and I decided to turn her into hamburger. Of course it would be easier to take her to auction than try to sell hundreds of pounds of hamburger.  I had planned on selling her at auction once I was able to wean her calf but even if her leg is fine I don't want to chance her re-injuring her leg in the 100+ mile trip to the auction.  There I wouldn't get anything for her.  Maybe as hamburger I can get something for her.  Her "appointment" is July 18.

The day after I made the hamburger appointment her calf died.  He had stuck his head into the hay rake, and instead of pulling his head out, either broke his neck or suffocated.  It was a freak accident.  Welcome to my life lately.

This is how I found the calf just after noon.  Around 6 am I had heard a cow moo, and the bull answer.  So I thought it was another cow in heat.  Maybe not.  Maybe it was the calf's mother finding her son.  Even over a week after I removed the calf the mother occasionally walks over to the hay rake and looks and moos.  So sad.

As you can see the calf should have been able to slide his head back to the larger area and pull it out.  Why he didn't do so is a mystery.  He must have panicked.   After the accident I moved the hay rake and put a board in the opening to block it.  Once I build a shed to store all my equipment the problem will be solved.

Something happened to my best friend.  Mr. Rancher guy, can you fix him?

To keep the limping cow company I have one other cow and her calf also in the pasture.  The two calves were best friends.  This calf is sad at times as he has no one to play with anymore.  In less in a week he and his mother will be reunited with the herd once the other cow leaves for her "appointment".


I re-dug a hole where a tree stump once was located until I dug the stump out this Spring.   As I dug the hole the other cattle came over to check the calf out and say good-bye.   The bull got spooked and jumped away when he approached and sniffed the dead calf.  He didn't want anything to do with the calf after that.  The rest of the cows and calves were not affected in the same way.

Of course the darn brown calf had to stand between the dead calf and the hole, and after I took this photo the calf slipped and almost fell into the hole.  Just what I need... two accidents in the same day!

Most everyone got in the way as I tried to push the dirt back into the hole.

I am both sad and mad.  Sad I lost such a nice calf. Mad that he was dumb and died in such an avoidable accident.

The calf was my first born calf of the year; the largest calf, and one of only 4 steers.  I expect he would have weighed over 600 pounds come Fall, and if I got the same price per pound as last year, would have gotten $960+ for him.  That money was buried in the hole as there is no insurance for something like this.

Some cattle like dust baths

Tobey likes to toss dirt and dust upon himself.

Here is a 1 minute 57 second video of first Tobey, then Red, tossing dirt and dust upon themselves: https://youtu.be/APGfCxrtRz8

Tobey joins the cows on grass

On June 1 I let Tobey and Mama (and her calf) out of the corral to join the cows in the middle pasture.  June 1 means the earliest a calf could be born would be March 10.

Tobey was so happy to be out on grass that he ate in the north pasture and didn't bother going to the gate to join the cows.  I had to carefully herd him over to the gate.  He didn't want to move.  Finally he did.

When Tobey joined the cows he was more interested in eating grass than the cows in heat.  Three cows were in heat and wanted "action" from Tobey now.  They would chase Tobey around the field as he tried to find a place to eat some grass in peace.

Tobey followed by the cows in the back left of center.

Beulah was especially demanding.  Here Beulah is checking Tobey out and trying to get him "going".

Beulah then mounted Tobey several times to show him what she wanted him to do to her.  Remember, Tobey was a virgin at this point.  Beulah would mount Tobey then go and stand right in front of him.

After about 15 minutes Tobey relented and gave Beulah what she demanded.

So, Tobey is no longer a virgin.   After Tobey 'satisfied' Beulah, she stood with her tail straight out and quivering slightly.  After the cows had their way with Tobey he was finally allowed some peace so that he could eat his fill of grass.

My cows are divas.  They are bullies and racist.  Some are murderesses.  Now I can "sexual predators" to their list of attributes.  I treat my cows so nice.  Where did I go wrong?

Here is a 1 minute 8 second video of the cows after Tobey:  https://youtu.be/Au2m2HX93a4

Stump 4 in 2018

Stump number 4 was the final tree stump I dug this Spring.  Most of the work took place from May 25 to May 27.  I was running out of time and had to move on to other projects, but looking at what stuck out of the group I optimistically thought the stump would be small and that I could dig the stump out quickly.  Wrong again!  Another large stump.  This time I dedicated my time to digging out the stump and got it out in three days.


The stump doesn't look big, does it?

Partially dug out.

Rather than burning this stump, at this stage I dug down a little more and then used the tractor to pull these pieces out of the ground.

Actually, this piece was the easiest to pull out of the ground.

The stump in pieces.

See.. all gone.

All that dirt came from that hole.

Later, I re-dug up this hole and buried in it the calf who died. That time it only took a half day to dig out the hole.

I'd like to say this stump removal will make dragging a harrow easier but when I just finished digging out this stump I found another stump barely sticking out of the ground a short distance away.

Stump 3 in 2018

It took me ten days (May 13 to May 23) to dig out tree stump number 3 for the year.  (I did other things too; I didn't only work on the stump.)

When I started, the only part of the stump above ground was the small "fin".

I wanted this stump gone because it made harrowing difficult.  When I used the tractor to pull the harrow, the tree's branches would rub against the tractor cab as I squeezed between the tree and the stump.

I thought I was done until I found this small side root.   Which turned out to be a pain to dig out and remove.

Gone.  Now all the stump has been removed.

What I had dug out of the stump.  I did have help from my tractor for a few of the larger, longer pieces.

Hauling off some of the stump.

All done.  Now for the grass to grow back.