Larch color in my pasture, and more

The cattle are still obsessed with the weed hay.  On Saturday. after they finished eating the first hay bale, the went back to work on the weed hay.  They lifted up and bent two corral panels to get to the weed hay.  They worked on the south panels this time and pulled the 6 metal posts out of the ground that were holding the panels.  One post on each panel remained wired to the panels so they then held up the panels.   The cattle lifted the panels high enough that one or more smaller heifers got inside as I found manure inside the corral.

By the time I found the cattle had gotten into the weed hay I already had put a second hay bale out in the middle pasture.  I called and then led the cattle to the hay bale.   Toby then brought up the rear with some weed hay sticking in his teeth. He came last and walked slowly.  So slow that the cows had already came through the gate and were running to the hay bale well before Toby reached the gate.  Toby then turned and walked along the fence calling to the cows.  Seeing how strong he is he could easily go right through the three strand south/middle pasture barb wire fence.  So I walked back to the gate and called for Toby.  He listened and came to me and the gate.   Good.  I don't need another fence repair project.

Sunday I went with Donna to Harve, Montana to visit her daughter and son-in-law and their new 20 acre horse palace.  A long day.  We left at 6 am and got home after 9 pm.  BNSF sure was busy as we saw train after train after train as we drove to Havre and back.

This morning the cattle still had half the hay bale left.  But they grazed around the pasture then went to the weed hay early afternoon for a short while.  Late afternoon five cows went back to the weed hay.  I checked and found they had bent and lifted the south panels again to reach the weed hay.   Really?!!! You have good easily accessible hay and you still try to get to the weed hay?!!!!

I've been trying to get rid of the weed hay but it is a slow process.  Because it is smoky when burning I only burn a small amount each day.  Some day I will get rid of the weed hay.

It was another beautiful day out here.  After weeks of well below normal temperatures everyone has been enjoying this past week of slightly above normal temps.  Even Toby.

Toby

Tree stump 13 bonfire

Tuesday night I burnt yet another rotting tree stump.

Donna and Jan will be happy.  I burnt one of my two red coats that were in ragged condition.

The next morning.   Even today the stump is still smoldering.

Corral panels and dirt

The cattle are still eating the hay bale I put out.  They did take a break and walked around the middle pasture eating grass.   I saw Mama and cow #40 walk over to the weed hay corral and then look it over before heading back to the herd.  Seriously!  You have good hay and you walk over to check the weed hay?!


Today I took down the corral panel fence I had put up for when the cattle were in Calvin's field.

I also got several more bucket loads of dirt for the middle/south pasture gate.

Tree stump 12 bonfire, and more

No cattle break-ins today by either the calves or the cows.  The calves haven't figured out the new gate design and the cows are happy with the bale of hay.

I raked the dirt level that I had placed at the south/middle pasture gate.

Last Thursday I burnt rotting tree stump number 12.

Even though the stump is still smoldering, this past Monday I re-ignited a fire over a side tree root and burnt it up.

Yet another attempted cattle break-in

The cattle didn't find the bale of hay I put out yesterday.  Instead they (Toby) made a break-in for the weed hay.  I found the cattle by the weed hay in the afternoon.  Most cattle were taking a siesta with only a few cows nosing around the weed hay.

I straightened the panels and re-pounded the metal posts into the ground.  Several cows weren't happy.   Here they are telling me: "Silly rancher... weed hay is for us.  Just wait until you leave, we'll have Toby lift up the panels again."

I herded some of the cattle away towards the pasture with the bale of hay.  Once I switched to leading the cattle the rest of the cattle who were watching me came running.  They then ran to the middle/north pasture gate.  I went to the bale of hay and called them.  They were initially confused but once they saw the hay bale they came running.   Maybe now the cattle will stop messing with the weed hay corral and I can finally start on my next big project.

Calves in hayshed again, and more

A cold morning and a slow warmup.  I am an election judge and had a meeting and equipment testing verification starting at noon.  I rode my bicycle the nine miles to the meeting.  The temperature still in the 30s and I wore bicycle shorts.  A chilly ride!   It was comfortable riding later in the afternoon after the meeting was over.

The cows and Toby didn't get into or damage any corral panels around the weed hay.  They saw me go check the weed hay and came all excited.  I gave them some weed hay to eat.   They were too interested in it, and the pasture grass is short, so as they ate I got the tractor and moved into the middle pasture a large regular hay bale for them to eat, and put a metal feeder around the bale.  As of dark the cattle hadn't noticed the new bale as they were still grazing in the south pasture.  I'm sure they will find it tomorrow.

Since I had the tractor in the pasture I moved some dirt and added more dirt to the gate crossing over the irrigation pipe mainline.  A little more dirt wouldn't hurt and maybe I wouldn't have as much of a hump to go over as I cross the pipe.

When I got the hay bale I discovered the calves got into the hayshed again.  I had put wire over one of the gates so the calves couldn't move the slider board.   The calves then figured out how to move the slider board the opposite way.  *sigh*   I added a small board as a stop so maybe this will stop the calves in the future.   Who says cattle are dumb?!   Three of the four calves I kept as replacement heifers came from smart cows.  I have noticed that usually smart cows have smart calves, and these calves are smart.

Seriously.... again?!

Slider board now moved left by the calves.

Then the calves started to break the other gate to move it open.

So, all of this took up my day and I didn't get to the start of my new major project.

Tree stump 11 bonfire

Another day, another attempt by the cattle to break in to get to the weed hay.  I had to straighten a few panels and re-pound in a few posts.  I got another roll of field fence and now all of the corral around the weed hay is fenced.


Last Wednesday evening I burnt rotting tree stump 11 for the year.

Debris around the stump prior to lighting the fire.

The next morning.

Saturday morning

Here is a 21 second video of the fire: https://youtu.be/xiyn5E2e9vs

New bicycling milage record

On Tuesday I exceeded my record for most miles ridden in one year on my bicycle.  The old record was 7100 miles back in 1996.  Today I am at 7190 miles, and I have two and a half months more of riding.  I have been keeping track of my miles ridden since 1977.

Tree stump 10 bonfire

It looks like the cattle tried to get in to the weed hay but the corral held.  One panel was bent from their effort.  I attached field fence around the bottom of half the corral.  I'll see if that stops them from even trying.


Last Monday night, since the stump had mostly dried up after I cleaned around it, I burnt rotting tree stump number 10 for the year.  The wind picked up while I burned, but the grass was green and short due to the cattle and irrigation.  So no burning extended beyond the tree stump.

Tuesday, the next morning

Thursday - still a little smoldering action

On Friday, poking through the ashes I noticed a few spots that were still solid and no longer smoldering.  So I restarted small fires over these four areas.

Fixing a gate

Today when I checked the weed hay I seen that the cattle had attempted to get inside but the panels and posts held.  One panel had half of it's bottom rail pushed up to the next rail, but the panel and posts held. Tonight when I was burning a tree stump I could hear a little rattling of the corral panels by the cattle.  Since the cattle can eat some (but not too much!) weed hay, and they seem to like it, I think I will toss a little weed hay outside the panels each day for the cattle to eat.  This should help me get rid of some of the weed hay, and give the cattle a little variety in their diet.

Back when I let the cattle into Calvin's field I left the gate open so the cattle could come back into my north pasture to access the river for water.  After I moved the cattle to my middle and south pasture I went to close the gate to Cavin's field.  I found the cattle had pushed on the gate to open it further past its limits.  The bottom lag bolt was pulled out of the railroad tie.  I found that inside the railroad tie in that area the wood was rotting and soft.  I didn't want the effort to pull out and replace the tie so I cut out that area of the tie and inserted a short two by four piece of wood.  Problem solved.

Another attempted cattle break-in

Those cattle don't give up.  Today I found they tried to get to the weed hay from the north side.

I straightened the panels and then got a few more steel fence posts.  There are now three fence posts on each north side panel.

The cattle still have green grass to eat.  But they like to mix up their diet; and also they tend to want what they can't have.  All my cattle are fat.


My uncle Larry had asked why I don't burn the weed hay to solve my problems.  First, open burning season did not start until October 1.  Second, while I irrigated and have green grass, the rest of the county has been dry and until mid-September under fire restrictions.  And it is still dry.  South of Kalispell a burn pile started on Sunday flared back up and got out of control yesterday when the wind started to blow hard.  The next you know there was a 45 acre wildfire.

While I fixed the panels today I did a small test burn of some weed hay outside the panels.  As I suspected, it does more smoldering and smoking than actual burning.

Fire briefly.

So I'm unlikely to set the large pile on fire.

Attempted cattle break-in

Less than 24 hours in the south pasture... and this morning I found the cattle trying to break in the temporary corral around the weed hay.   They - mainly Toby I believe - tried to break in the south side of the corral.  Even though I had the panels anchored with two metal fence posts, for two panels one post was pulled out of the ground and the other post was broken free of the panel and outside the panel.   That mean the panels were lifted high enough to go over the fence post.   Toby has a very thick strong neck.   He was standing outside the panels when I arrived this morning.  For the south two panels, once I straightened them (somewhat), I now have three fence posts wired to the panels to hold them down.

Toby has ear tag number 50.

Busted!

Three fence posts

Other cattle news... the brief time Red's calf drank from her yesterday was all that was needed to get her milk flowing again. Red spent a good part of today in the middle pasture mooing for her calf in the corral. The good news is this is only one cow - Beulah's calf didn't trigger Beulah's milk to flow again.