Rest day

Today was a rest day whether I wanted to or not. I wanted to, but still felt a little guilty as I have plenty of work to do.

The forecast was rain early in the morning, then by noon sun with a high temperature in the low 60s F. The forecasters were wrong again. It didn't start to rain till 10 am. Then only 0.02 of an inch. No sun all day: very overcast. Whenever I looked the temperature was 44 F. Apparently I didn't keep a constant watch on the temperature gauge as the high temperature apparently reached 56 F. And the wind blew in the afternoon making it feel colder than it looked, and it looked cold. Yesterday 72 F and so warm I didn't wear a shirt. Today I wore a flannel shirt and coat when I was outside. What a difference a day makes!

Consequently I didn't go outside much. I fed the cattle of course. Late afternoon I decided to check on my tree stumps and pocket gopher traps. I caught two more pocket gophers. I have only one trap left in the hayfield, and that trap had dirt so I know there is one more pocket gopher left to trap. I easily found places to set my other traps in the south pasture.

As for my tree stumps, only a few were smoldering.

North pasture: (4)

• the small one that smoldered from day 1 was still smoldering.
• the "spider" stump is not smoldering, but the three "legs" are small. Later I will cut them and remove the stump.
  
• the two larger stumps are now fairly small, and kinda smoldering. The pickup load of grass, and third attempt to set the stump to burning, seems to have really worked on reducing their sizes. One more burn will finish the stumps off. All side roots are smoking holes in the ground.

Middle pasture: (16)

• two along the fence: one is burnt, the other is mostly burnt
• of the eight others: two are burnt, four are mostly burnt and only need one more burn, the final two are smaller but need more burning.
• I forgot to check on the six rotted stumps I had set on fire using grass at the very beginning.
  

South pasture: (7)

• one is burnt and done
• 2 are smoldering quite intensely. I am not sure if these stumps are from pine trees as their grain and coloration is different that pine tree stumps.
• 4 are much smaller and only need one more burn to finish them off

So I am getting close to being done - for now. I have plenty more stumps for next year.

One reason some stumps don't completely burn is that they are damp inside. One stump that I partially burnt the past three years, then dug the dirt away from last summer to air dry, was wet today when I poked and chipped at it. It was half the size from yesterday, but very wet nonetheless under the blackened surface. This stump is in the shade of other trees much of the day so that may explain why a summer of air drying didn't completely dry the stump.

Other stumps are a mixture of wood and dirt which slows and stops some fires. I chip the now exposed dirt away before reburning them.


I found a couple of small chewed-up orange balls of twine today along the fence so I removed the rest of the old baling twine from the corral fence by the barn. One less thing for the cattle to chew on.

I noticed my new wooden corral fence is sturdy. One big heifer, after eating the fresh hay I set out, wanted green grass as dessert. She turned her head sideways and got it through the fence, then leaned and leaned to eat all the green grass she could reach sliding her head until she got to the next fence post. She would withdraw her head then put her head through the fence again on the other side of the post. I could see her lean hard against the fence, and it held. *whew*

Here is a photo from a couple years ago of one of my tree stumps burning to give you an idea of what it is like. (I need to get a digital camera so you can see photos from this year.) If I remember right it took at least several more burnings after this one to completely get rid of the stump, and be left with a hole in the ground. The exposed dirt up-and-left of the fire is the remains of a stump I had finished burning the previous year. I had gotten dirt to fill in that hole.

Burning south pasture tree stumps

Another beautiful morning by the time I got up. Other than feeding my cattle I am not sure where the morning went. It seems so long ago.

Around noon or after I went to check on my burning tree stumps. Today I brought along five wooden pallets to use as burning material.

In the north pasture:

• the smoldering stump was still smoldering
• the "spider" stump by the river only had three legs left as one burnt over night
• the biggest stumps were smaller and hot, but only a very small spot on each was smoldering

For the "spider" stump I put a little material around one of the legs and lit it on fire. The other two legs I can easily cut later, and this stump is the farthest from my pile of wood for using to burn.

For the other two stumps I cut more branches of the nearby fallen dead tree and piled them around the stumps.

I seen my northern neighbor, Mr. D., was gathering the dead grass he had earlier de-thatched from his lawn using his riding lawn mower. He keeps his lawn lush and green so he had lots of material. I asked if he would dump a pickup load on my two tree stumps. I opened the gate between out pastures and we buried the two tree stumps under a heaping pickup load.

I also learned he plans to relist his house and land for sale again this summer. He also volunteered to shoot some of the prairie dogs in my pasture. I gave my ok. He is a good shot as a couple years ago I was surprised to hear two shots from my pasture and went to find him with two dead prairie dogs. He was testing his new rifle. At least today he asked first before shooting.

Along with the dead grass was green grass. It was thick, and it half burnt and half smoldered. But dumping it on the dead branches around the tree stumps enabled air to reach it from below and above. Eventually it burnt. Tomorrow I'll see if that was enough to get the stumps to continue to burn.

In the middle pasture, of the seven stumps I was burning or reburning, one was burnt, two were mostly burnt or smoldering, and the other four needed another go at burning. After I prepared them and lit them on fire, I then burnt the two I had prepared but didn't burn last night.

Then off to the stumps in the south pasture. There were seven to burn. It was dark by the time I lit the seventh stump on fire. From dark to light. A big blaze as the dry long pine needles burned fast and hot. Lots and lots of bright red embers rushed skyward with the heat and smoke only to disappear as they reached the stars. I should have brought marshmallows to toast. Food sounded good as it was long past supper time.

While gathering wood to burn in the south pasture I cut some dead branches from a tree. While cutting I noticed several holes the size of a half dollar or larger. Then I seen huge black ants going in and out. Argh! I had noticed that some of the pines that blow over seem weak and rotted. This is how they get that way!

I believe these ants are carpenter ants. (More inf0 here). According to the literature the ants to not cause the tree problems; they take advantage of soft weak wood and supposedly are not harmful to the tree. I don't know... I don't like them.

This is a big tree. I may only be able to get my arms around (maybe) half the tree trunk. I want to save this tree and don't want to lose it.

Before it got dark I checked one pocket gopher trap. Yup, a dead pocket gopher. By another (now burning) tree stump were lots of fresh mounds of dirt. Tomorrow, as it was too dark to find the gopher's tunnel and set the trap.

I fed my cattle hay when I got home. Earlier in the day they would follow me along the chain link fence as I walked to and from the pasture. Hoping for more bread I guess as their feeder was full of hay. A busy day as I never had a chance to stop and give them some bread.

Almost 10 pm when I got inside the house. Another late day. Too late for supper, but I'm not going to miss eating two nights in a row. I found odds and ends and made a late meal.

Today was beautiful with a high temperature of 72 F. Too warm to wear a shirt - even a t-shirt - when working hard in the sun. The setting sun usually means a quick turn to cool air but the temperature stayed warm well past sundown tonight and I didn't need to wear a shirt until I finished working.

Towards evening three kids on an ATV were crossing the field to my south going from their house over to the trees. Lots of giggling and squealing by the girls as the ATV bounced over the field. It appeared they would get a few branches and wood and take them back to the house. A half dozen times or more they crossed the field. Young and carefree on a warm summer night.

As the sun set I could see a line of clouds approaching from the west. The weather forecasters are predicting rain overnight with an approaching cold front. I hope not, else not much rain as I want my tree stumps to burn up.

Wood smoke smell

I smell of wood smoke. Guess what I've been doing?

I started the morning with a phone call asking if I would be willing to serve as an election judge in Whitefish. That's not my precinct, but then again when I turned in my application they didn't promise me I would get my precinct. Whitefish isn't far away so I said yes. The next step is to get my information packet and then attend an education session in May.

A beautiful morning. I guess the temperature got down to freezing overnight but by the time I got up it was warming up nicely. It just takes a little sun.

I put a new toe strap on my bicycle's pedal. Then I took the good saw handle and put it on the good saw blade. Naturally the handle's holes didn't match up. I drilled new holes. Either the drill bits were dull or the blade was hardened well - or both.

The "girls" are continuing to warm to me. More will eat bread from my hand and the two bravest actually are aggressive enough they end up with the most bread. I have to remember to toss some pieces over to the more hesitant heifers.

One salt block is in small pieces. Each day I wash the dirt off the pieces. The heifers watch me and I wonder if that gave them an idea. Tonight I found one small piece of salt at the bottom of the water trough. Was the heifer trying to wash the dirt of it? Or just get rid of the salt so I'll bring a new salt block? I noticed the piece of salt in the water because I seen a small area of white "foam" on top of the water above the piece of salt.

My additional boards to the feeder seems to have done the trick as no heifers go into the feeder even though I do occasionally see one with her front legs in the feeder.

The answer to "green grass or hay?" is green grass. While switching the saw handle I noticed one heifer on her knees and her head under one part of the corral fence in order to eat as much green grass in the yard as she could - even though hay was in the feeder. This is a four foot section that is an odd patch section. I plan to put a gate here later when I have time. In the meantime I added another board to the spot as a temporary fix. I don't want a heifer to break this section in an effort to get that extra little bit of grass.

Then off to check on the nine tree stumps I burnt yesterday. I found one stump burnt down, one stump still smoldering, one stump's side roots burnt away with holes in the ground when the fire followed the roots and continued to smolder. The remaining stumps weren't smoldering, or were just barely smoldering on a small part of them.

I gathered more dead tree branches and grass and lit them anew.

One stump - the one where the prairie dog had its burrow - was an unusual shape. It has four roots leaving the center part where the tree stood; each root equally long before bending and going down into the ground. It was a "+" shape. The center part - where one expected a tap root - didn't have any root. Granted this entire root structure originally was in the ground before I dug then burnt the root. Still it was an odd shape. Reminded me of a spider.

I lit a fire around three of the four legs. The fourth leg was small enough I will cut it later; the other three I wanted to shrink, if not eliminate. With the "legs" gone I can remove the root.

This is one tough stump. This is the fourth or fifth time I burnt this stump. Originally the stump was a yard or more high and each year I reduce its size, but don't eliminate it completely. I checked before returning home tonight and my latest attempt didn't eliminate the legs. Maybe one leg was smoldering. I'll see tomorrow.

In addition to my re-burning the previous stumps I burnt an additional two stumps. I prepared burning material for two more stumps but held off on lighting them afire. It was getting dark and cooler and I decided I wanted the fire to be during the warmth of the day - it is harder for a fire to be hot enough overnight when the temperature is near freezing for the stump to catch fire.

It appears several of my re-burn attempts were successful at catching the stumps afire as they were smoldering nicely when I walked home. Their smoke rose a bit before a light breeze carried it off in a direction. The smoke looked like a sideways "L" as it hung in the cool evening air.

I wore gloves today and my hands thanked me for it. It is so much easier to pick up prickly pine cones when wearing gloves.

Under the big pine tree near the river the owl must favor one side of the tree as I found more "owl balls" (or whatever the name is for the fur and bones they regurgitate) on one side of the tree.

I also came across the nest for the pair of geese that stay here in the spring. Each year they have their nest at this location on the river bank about a yard from the water's edge. I found two halves of a shell so I believe the baby made it OK without a predator getting it.

Earlier the beaver skeleton got broken apart when I ran the harrow over the north pasture. I tossed the bones in a fire and it appears they were blackened and not burnt.

Tomorrow? More burning.

Burning: pasture and tree stumps

Another late start to the morning for me. I actually got 8 1/2 hours sleep last night.

First off I had to retrace part of my previous evening bicycle route. During that ride I broke one toe strap. The broken strap initially remained in the bicycle's pedal and toe clip after it broke but it came out somewhere along the way home. Odd, as the strap is usually in the pedal very tight.

I didn't find the strap. I noticed the street cleaner had been out along part of the route that morning. Darn, usually they don't sweep the debris often enough. On the way home I found in the ditch a five gallon pail. It was just beyond the railroad tracks that cross the highway and where I have found "goodies" in the past that have bounced off of vehicles.

That's the score this morning - lost one thing, found another.

A nice day: warm, mostly sunny, and only a small breeze. Perfect for burning of the middle pasture - which is what I did. Whenever the sun went behind a cloud the fire lost energy. Whenever the wind picked up so did the fire. Here and there I burnt areas of taller grass. Definitely a minority of the pasture.

Near the end I came across two groups of three of old rotted tree stumps. They were so rotted, the stumps - at ground level- were no longer a single piece. Often these stumps catch fire easily so I raked little piles of grass on each of them and spent a little time tending to their fires. Once I got a burning/smoldering pile of ashes on each of the six I went home for lunch.

On the way I walked through the hayfield and discovered new prairie dog gopher holes! Argh!!! I got rid of the pocket gophers and now the prairie dogs moved in. I had noticed last year that the pocket gopher mounds and prairie dog holes in the north pasture did not mix together. The pocket gopher mounds skipped over the prairie dog town before continuing on to the river. I went around and with a spade covered the dozen or so holes with dirt. Maybe the prairie dog will get the hint!

Speaking of gophers, I was so busy with fires that I forgot to check my pocket gopher traps today.

Cattle still behaving. I didn't see any heifers in the feeder - although I did see one heifer had her front legs inside as she ate. Two heifers easily take the bread from my hand now and others are getting better at getting it off the ground.

After lunch I took a wheel barrow with me to the north pasture to burn the tree stumps. I had to pass through the corral. Whenever I enter the corral the cattle come over to me. With the wheel barrow they didn't know what to think and they were a little jumpy as I pushed it through the corral over to the pasture. They followed me to the pasture gate and wanted to come with me. They stood at the gate and watched me go.

I gathered wood and lit large fires over the four tree stumps in the north pasture. Gathering wood was time consuming. For some of the tree stumps I reached in the pine trees and broke off some of the dead branches that I could reach. For the other stumps I got wood from the fallen tree that was blown over the year before last. I had to cut the branches off the tree trunk.

The saw's blade was good and sharp but the handle was not good and after a while broke apart. I used the broken handle to cut a few more branches. The saw slipped and with no handle to protect my hand I mashed and cut several of my knuckles. This hurt and bled more than when the nail went through my finger earlier this year. Bleed, bleed, bleed. Good thing I was wearing old and ragged clothes as I got blood all over my pants. My fingers would stick together as the blood dried. I went home and got another saw. This one had a good handle but dull blade. Can't win.

Near two of the tree stumps the prairie dog "town" had fat little sentinels out barking warnings when I was nearby. I covered a number of holes. Get the hint, you little buggers!

After lighting the fires for all the stumps in the north pasture I started on some in the middle pasture. I burnt five stumps in the middle pasture before the sun set and it got dark.

Three of the five were towards the river and for burning material I gathered the large pine cones and raked long pines needles from under the large long-needle pine tree near the river. I need to wear gloves tomorrow as those pine cones have lots of short sharp barbs. Ouch!

This tree is one of the trees the owls roost in. Tonight as I worked I could hear two owls hoot to one another in the south pasture. One of those owls probably roosts in this tree.

The pine needles and cones burn quick and hot, but not long. I checked the previous fires as I walked home pushing my wheel barrow. All the branches and logs had burnt with glowing ashes around the tree stumps. But it didn't look like most of the stumps "took". By "took" I mean continued to burn. Sometimes it takes two or three fires before the stump will continue to burn.

I'll see tomorrow how they are doing. Probably not early as I am so stiff and sore.

Auction sale summary

Here is a copy of the sale summary from the auction where I bought my "girls" Thursday, April 20.

Head Count ~ 377

Feeder Cattle

Steer Calves
300 - 400 lbs.......$118.00 to $130.00
400 - 500 lbs.......$126.00 to $136.00
500 - 600 lbs.......$115.00 to $122.00

Yearling Steers
600 - 700 lbs.......$100.00 to $108.00
700 - 800 lbs.........$95.00 to $105.00
800 - 900 lbs.........$85.00 to $94.00

Heifer Calves
300 - 400 lbs........$115.00 to $129.00
400 - 500 lbs........$115.00 to $123.00
500 - 600 lbs....$104.00 to $118.00

Yearling Heifers
600 - 700 lbs...$103.00 to $109.00
700 - 800 lbs.........$90.00 to $102.00
800 - 1000 lbs.......$80.00 to $90.00

Solid Mouth Stockcows....$900.00 to $1210.00
Short-term Stock Cows....$600.00 to $1000.00

Cow/Calf Pairs................$750.00 to $1325.00

Slaughter Cows and Bulls

High Yielding Cows...........$48.00 to $54.00
Canner and Cutter Cows....$42.00 to $48.00
Thin Shelly Canner Cows...$38.00 to $44.00
Heiferettes........................$65.00 to $85.00

Yield Grade 1 Bulls......$58.00 to $61.00
Yield Grade 2 Bulls......$51.00 to $58.00

Slower day with tree stumps

After a busy yesterday a slow start to today. I didn't get out of bed until 10 am (after 7 1/2 hrs sleep). After a shower, breakfast and feeding my "girls" I sat down on the couch, listened to the auction report from the sale where I bought my cattle last week, then fell asleep for over an hour. One of those sleeps where after one wakes up they need a minute to get the strength and will to move.

Hmm... 2 pm. I should do something today. The weather forecasters were wrong - instead of High pressure building and sunnier skies, it was cloudier than yesterday. Breezy too. At least the wind wasn't blowing off the mountains like the other days.

I fertilized the front lawn. Something easy and quick.

I had found a heifer in the feeder again today. The feeder's ends are 6 inches lower than the sides so I got some boards and nailed them to the feeder's ends to raise their height equal to the sides. Apparently the heifers thought the lower ends were the entrance and exits to the feeder.

The heifers are getting more accustomed to me. Even when I pounded the nails they ate at the feeder. Even though I hadn't added hay this time they followed me to the feeder then started eating as I nailed. A few heifers took the opportunity when my back was turned to sniff my shirt.

I am feeding them bread each day. Two heifers now take the bread from my hand. One had the knack of eating right from my hand; the other takes the bread then steps back, drops it to the ground, then eats it. Others will sniff the bread and my hand but haven't figured out how to use their tongue and lips to get the bread. Their attitude is changing as now they come to the fence when they see me approach or follow me in the corral. Still they get antsy when I walk close towards them.

Now what? Burning the pasture probably was out for today. I seen Bob's roofer was done and gone so I went over and put back into his garage the couple unused bundles of shingles. Then I checked my pocket gopher traps and caught two more.

I dug around more tree stump roots. This time in the south pasture as there are only a few left there. One stump I completely got out of the ground. No, it wasn't a big deal. I am not sure it was a 'real' root as it was an odd shape. It was more like laying in the ground than coming out of the ground. My previous two burning attempts last year got rid of much of it. I just didn't realize that with a little digging it would come out of the ground. Well, good. One less to burn this year.

I thought I only had four (now three because of the one I removed) stumps left to finish burning in the south pasture but over the past year I found two more stumps. They were like icebergs - their tops barely sticking above the ground; mainly hidden by the tall grass of summer. With my shovel I uncovered their true size. It is not good enough to have the stumps at ground level. If I want to rake or do something that disturbs the top several inches of soil I don't want to snag a stump.

Then on to the middle pasture by the river where I had burnt stumps the previous years. I will keep at them until they are gone; then move on to other stumps in the middle pasture at a later time.

I don't know how many stumps I dug around. I lost count. I do know each stump was less work than yesterday's stump as many were partially dug the previous year.

I saw a beaver or muskrat go into the river when it saw me. It swam downstream not far from the shore as the current is moving right along with the higher water.

On the walk back home I covered with dirt a number of prairie dog holes. Maybe they'll get the hint they are not wanted here. One prairie dog hole was at the top of a big bump (or small hill). The bump was large enough I couldn't drive over it with my pickup without fear of getting hung up. I dug down and lowered the bump's height by half. The prairie dog will be surprised when he comes out.

After supper I decided I hadn't enough physical exercise for the day and rode my bicycle to town to get the weekly paper with the grocery ads. The wind was dying down and the clouds were holding the temperature steady. I took the long way around and rode 14 miles total.

As I arrived home a hoot owl was in a tree by the house and was "talking" to another owl in the middle pasture. It was dusk and I couldn't see the owl before he flew away.

So, not as busy a day as yesterday. Tomorrow?

My tired bones

A busy day! Not only am I tired, even my bones are tired.

By 8:45 am I was over to Bob's house to load the roofing shingles. Two dozen - and a lot of sweat later - I had the bundles on the garage roof. I am glad I had time to eat breakfast before all that work. While I was there I also helped move a few big heavy items around the garage for Bob and Jan.

After I fed my "girls" I was off to the local Food Bank before they closed to get some of the bread no one takes. Last year I found the cattle like the bread and feeding it to them gets them familiar with me. Last Fall too familiar as when I entered the corral to fix something I had cattle licking me and nibbling on my clothes. Now if I had apples this spring the cattle would really love me!

I was able to score a few dozen bags of the long thin bread that people don't care for. My "girls" were interested in the bread - some more than others. Eventually two were brave enough to eat it out of my hand - but barely as sometimes they would step back quickly if another heifer bumped them, or for whatever reason. Half of the rest would eat the pieces I tossed on the ground, and the remaining ones didn't understand what the fuss was about.

After the Food Bank I stopped at the Cenex hardware / feed store downtown. I bought some ear tags for my cattle. They had a half dozen colors: red, green, white, blue, yellow and orange. Dan uses green so that color was out. What color would look good on a black heifer? Red... but for what I would write on the tag it may a little too dark for the number (or name if I come up with one) to show clearly. I like blue but this was a light blue and not a favorite. I decided to go with orange. Not sure why. I did feel it was light enough to read what was written on the tag and colorful enough to go with black. The bag contained 25 tags ($17.35). If I later get red or tan cattle like last year, would orange suit them? I hope so. Color coding cattle... who woulda thought?

I also picked up a block of plain salt. ($5.39) The plain salt I have now is in pieces and being used up fast. The salt I have with minerals is still in one piece and large enough to last a little longer.

Then off to the County election department to turn in my application to be an election judge this year. I never have been an election judge and thought it would be an interesting thing to do. I only would have to do this for the primary June 6 and the general election November 7.

The ladies in the election department were very happy to get my application. While they thought my precinct had enough judges they were very sure they could place me in another precinct. The unemployment rate is pretty low in our county and being an election judge apparently is not high on people's lists of things to do. But then I am different.

If I am an election judge then I would have to vote by absentee ballot - especially if I work in another precinct. They gave me a absentee ballot request form which I filled out.

I stopped at Lowe's to check out their garden department. Last year the garden manager told me they got a larger selection of bare rooted tree/shrubs/bushes earlier in the season. They had a lot bare rooted trees/shrubs/bushes. Now to find something different.

I found a Red Gold nectarine fruit tree. I haven't seen nectarine trees sold in the Flathead before. I checked and it said it could handle cold to -20 F. Okay... I'll try it.

It is self-fertile so I only bought one 0 in case it doesn't last the winter!

Botanical Name: Prunus persica 'Red Gold'
Common Name: Red Gold Nectarine
Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Average Height: 15'
Cold Hardiness: -20°F (-29°C)

Description: A vigorous, productive tree producing very large glossy red fruit. The firm, yellow juicy flesh has excellent color and flavor.

I next bought two thornless Boysenberry plants.

Botanical Name: Rubus ursinus var. loganobaccus cv. 'Boysen'
Common Name: Thornless Boysenberry
Plant Type: Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Average Height: As trained
Cold Hardiness: 10°F (-12°C)

Description: Elongated, tart fruit that is wine red to black. Good cooked, frozen, and fresh. Not hardy in the northeast. Canes grow one season and fruit the next. Plant in organically enriched, well drained soil. Don't over water. Keep on dry side.

After I bought it I noticed the cold hardiness was only 10 F. Only 10 F?! Why is Lowe's selling it here? Well, if it doesn't make it through the winter I have a one year guarantee.

Lastly I found a Jostaberry. Jostaberry? Never heard of it! The cold hardiness is listed as -40 F. Wow! That's a tough shrub! I got to have one.

Botanical Name: Ribes nigridolaria cv. Josta
Common Name: Jostaberry
Plant Type: Shrub
Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Average Height: 5-6'
Cold Hardiness: -40°F (-40°C)

Description: Large clusters of nearly black berries look like gooseberries until ripe. Has a mild, black currant flavor, but larger berries. High vitamin C content. Great for eating fresh, jam, juice, and cordials. This self-fertile shrub is a vigorous, heavy bearer.

Hmmm... "cordials". Yes, that's what I thought it meant! For sure I have to own a Jostaberry!

On the way home I stopped at Bob's house to show him my plant finds as he is very much the gardener. Jan found a few more items for me to move for her in their garage.

After lunch (late) I unwrapped my plants and put them in a five gallon pail to soak their roots. While waiting I dug more of my garden to finish digging another section. I then found some room in my fruit tree area for my new plants. While digging the hole for my nectarine tree I uncovered a relatively deep pocket gopher tunnel. *sigh* At least I had trapped them out last year. The tunnel ran between two areas where I had captured pockets gophers. The pocket gophers are gone, but the tunnel remains for any new ones that find it - and find the tunnels they do!

Over the years I lost two pear trees to pocket gophers who ate all the trees' roots. I didn't want this to happen to my nectarine tree so I got three pines cones and stuffed them into the tunnel. I took a small piece of roofing shingle and placed over the end of the hole. Let's see a new pocket gopher get through that!

I checked my other fruit trees and berry bushes. All my fruit trees are starting to bud - even the peach tree I bought last year cheap at Walmart's "closing down the nursery" sale. It is my understanding peach trees will only grow near Flathead Lake where it is warmer in the winter. Our lowest temperature last winter was around -20 F and the peach tree survived.

Most of my berry bushes are budding out - especially the buffalo berry and serviceberry (juneberry) bushes. I wish I had bought more than just one serviceberry bush last year. The grapes are not budding yet, nor the kiwis, nor the shrubs I got in the mail (late!) from a nursery. There is time yet so I hope they make it.

By now the wind picked up strong. I could see large isolated rain clouds to the south and to the west. I imagine the air temperature difference between the two large clouds was causing the sudden strong wind. For a while the wind was blowing loose dust/dirt fairly strongly from the SE.

Yesterday and today I noticed the wind had cold bite to it. Then I realized yesterday the wind was from the NE - from Glacier National Park and its snow covered mountains. Today's wind was partly rain cooled and partly from the SE mountains, also with snow. If I have to have a breeze give me a SW wind - please!

I decided not to go with my plan of burning the middle pasture after planting my trees and shrubs. Too windy and cool now. But digging in the garden... um... I needed a break. Instead I checked my pocket gopher traps and got my 50th one for the year. I started moving a few traps into the pastures as the hayfield has been trapped out - as far as I can tell - except for the last three traps, two of which pockets gophers buried instead of entering.

I went into my crawl space and got my remaining beets and carrots. What a difference between the carrots I stored in the ground and the crawl space. This winter I will leave more carrots in the ground over winter.

I put a beet on to steam and went to the north pasture to dig around tree roots. I want to also burn the remaining tree stumps in the north pasture. The previous year they burnt down to the ground but would not continue on into the ground. I also found two more tree stumps since last year. With a spade I dug around the stumps to expose them at least enough to allow a fire to "take" and burn them completely. Often I dug the stumps more than necessary; but as the soil is damp and cool it makes the stump the same. Hopefully the warm weather predicted the next few days will dry the stumps enough to allow the fire to "take" and follow the stump into the ground.

While digging the last tree stump in the north pasture I was startled when a large furry animal suddenly ran from the other side of the tree stump I was digging around. It looked to be a regular gopher - or prairie dog. It ran and ran away fast towards the main prairie dog "town" before I could do anything (like hit it with a shovel). "What the..?" Then after a few more shovels of dirt I found were it came from. The tree stumps have large roots spread out, and which I dig around. In the ground between a side root and the main stump/root was a hole. In the hole was a large mass of dead grass. Here was the gopher's home. Well, no more.

After I finish off the pocket gophers my next mission will be to get rid of the prairie dogs. I see this year they have spread their area larger with new holes. While I dug in a few areas one, then another when I moved, would chirp a warning to the other dogs/gophers. They could read my mind!

Also while digging my northern neighbor's dogs (a cocker spaniel and two poodles) came running over towards me loudly barking up a storm. Apparently the dogs think they own my property. I ignored them and they got distracted and starting digging up a prairie dog hole before losing interest and running home having given me warning that this was their property.

After four stumps in the north pasture I went to the middle pasture by the river to where I had burnt stumps the previous years. There were a half dozen of these partially burnt stumps but after digging around four of them I ran out of gas. I had dug around eight tree stumps in 2 hours 40 minutes. It was getting late so I went home to make supper arriving home at 9 pm. Besides a hoot owl was in the south pasture hooting. Usually he/she is in the middle pasture near the river. By the time I got home I heard the owl back in the middle pasture.

So here I sit stiff and sore. Very stiff and sore. Wonder if I'll sleep in this morning? Plenty of work to do.

Heifers: twine, feeders, and hair

I am trying to make it to bed earlier tonight. These late, late nights are catching up with me - especially with the physical work during the day. My neighbor Bob is having his garage roof reshingled tomorrow. His contractor is 76 yrs old and could use help getting the bundles of shingles on the garage roof and I said I would help. 8:30 am seems early when I feel like I can sleep 10 to 12 hours right now.

The "girls" are doing great. They are still jumpy by my sudden movements, which sometimes are unavoidable when I am in a hurry. They let me get closer as they are associating me with food as they realize I am the guy who gets them bales of hay from the barn twice a day.

Still they won't let me get real close. Yesterday the smallest heifer had a small piece of orange plastic baling twine hanging from the side of her mouth. Dad had wrapped many pieces of twine around old rundown sections of the fences as the twine became available. That worked fine in the past but after many years in the sunlight they are slowly deteriorating. Mix a brightly colored object and a bored heifer... While last year I had watched a PBS documentary that showed cows in India living off garbage and anything but green grass, still it is not good for them to eat. Dan mentioned a neighbor of his lost a cow after she ate a large wad of the plastic twine. I have been removing the twine sections at a time when I have spare time, especially the frayed and deteriorated twine. Still cattle seem to like to chew on the twine even if it is in good condition.

I tried to get the twine from the heifer's mouth but could not get closer than a yard before she moved away. I did this after bringing out fresh bales of hay. All the other cattle were eating and I tried to use this time to get close and grab the twine, but to no avail. This heifer was losing out on the food so I quit trying. After getting her first bite of hay I am not sure if the twine fell out or got sucked in with the hay. *sigh* Fortunately it was a small piece of twine and I hope nothing happens. She seemed fine today.

I can get over concerned at times. A few days ago I saw a heifer laying on her side with her legs out while the other heifers were in the traditional kneeling/sitting position. I almost never see cattle laying down. As I approached, her tail moved. *whew!* A short time later she got up and sat in the kneeling position. Maybe she was really sleeping? I hardly ever see the cattle sleep. Last year I saw a steer sleeping by the barn. He was sitting curled with his head by his back leg like a cat or dog sleeps.

When I first got here I had doubts about how things were set up on the ranch. As time goes on I realize my initial impression was wrong. Things do make sense. For example one of the wooden feeders. It was made back in the old days before all one had to do was go buy one. It turns out it is the right size for the 12 heifers to eat from. It is long and rectangular and I can place two bales of hay in it.

I may modify it in the future to raise it from the ground and put a wooden bottom on it as I have scrap wood that would do the job. That is because I have found a heifer in the feeder twice. Last evening the smallest heifer was standing in the middle of it as the others ate around her. I guess that was her way of not getting pushed aside! Tonight when I brought a hay bale and placed it in the west end one heifer took the shortest route to the hay and climbed into the feeder. I shoo'd her out: quietly but firmly.

The previous evening when the heifer was in the feeder she ignored me and only moved when I touched her side and told her to move. She has the softest hair! It may look a little ragged as it is her winter coat but I was very surprised at how soft it was.

From their time in the auction pens the heifer's lower parts of their bodies were covered with dried caked manure. Now that they have settled in here it appears they are doing some grooming and rubbing and trying to clean themselves up a bit.

Harrow

A few weeks ago I drug a harrow around the ranch. I did this partly to aerate the soil but mainly to smooth out pocket gopher hills. The problem is that flattening and scattering their hills made it harder now for me to find their tunnels. Usually the pocket gophers are busy tunneling and making new piles of dirt but I think they are in the middle of "gopher-birth", or have young to care for and aren't as busy wreaking havoc - they are occupied raising the next generation to wreak havoc. I only get one, maybe two, gophers a day now and not the three or four I had been capturing. I persevere in trapping them as I am close to clearing the hayfield.

In addition to the hayfield where the majority of the pocket gophers are (were), I also drug the harrow through most of the pastures. The north pastures have the least amount of trees, the shortest grass, and is the smoothest, so it wasn't too bad to do. The south pasture was next. Taller grass and more trees and not quite as smooth. The middle pasture is the roughest, has the most trees and many tree stumps, and the tallest grass. I did a little bit of this pasture before quiting. I decided I would try to burn the grass first to make it easier to drag the harrow and also easier to see the low tree stumps.

Now don't let me give you the impression this was quick. I pulled the harrow at an average speed of 7 mph for hours a day over a number of days, and drove quite a few miles going in circles. Around and around and around... This year, unlike the past years, was wetter so I didn't raise a cloud of dust.

While it is supposedly good to aerate the soil I can definitely see the difference in areas I harrowed and areas I did not. Today in the NE pasture I noticed a big difference in the grass between the harrowed and unharrowed areas. Raking the soil with a harrow certainly stresses the grass in the short term.

Here are two photos of the harrow from a few years ago. As I am not going over a plowed field the extra weight is to give the harrow's teeth some bite into the ground. Time has taken its toll on the harrow as it is missing a number of its teeth these days.

Cattle, rain, pine cones

The "girls" seem to be adjusting to their new home. No jailbreaks overnights. The cattle are a little more relaxed when I am around. They were in the south corral this morning when I brought hay to their feeder in the north corral. They all came over to the fence between the two corrals to watch me as I shook a hay bale loose into the feeder.

This evening, after an early evening rain shower had passed, I brought them more hay. Most were around the feeder and only stepped back from the feeder a little bit when I came with the bale. Still a number of them would jump if I made any quick movements in their direction, such as when I turned to go get another hay bale. Otherwise they spent the day sitting and relaxing in the SW part of the south corral along my new fence.

It rained over night and early morning. Good! I didn't feel guilty at not doing work today. I made a batch of carrot bread and muffins.

By afternoon the rain left and the sun came out. After checking my pocket gopher traps I decided to pick up the freshly fallen pine cones in the NE corner. Earlier I had cleaned this area of the large pine cones after I burnt parts of the area some weeks ago. Today I filled two wheelbarrows full with pine cones. I remember growing up in North Dakota and thinking large pine cones were so neat and kept the few I found. That is because they were uncommon. Here they are so common they are a nuisance.

I need to start digging the soil for my garden. After no more than 20 minutes of digging the wind came up and it began to rain. The rain chased me inside for the night. I guess I should have stuck to my plan of having a relaxing do-nothing day.

My harem has arrived

My "ladies" are here. They didn't arrive early morning like Evan predicted. In Missoula he had problems loading Dan's and my cattle.

First, three of Dan's little heifers were missing from their pen at the auction. They were found in another pen. No one knows how they got there. Also two of Dan's littlest calves somehow got themselves into the hay feeding area for their pen. It took some time to get them out.

When loading the cattle one of Dan's oldest cows, the last one to be loaded, decided the space available in the trailer was too small. She laid down outside the trailer and didn't want to get up. I guess she was on strike.

Dan and I bought too many cattle. Dan actually bought six calves, not the four that Evan and I thought. Evan felt the trailer was too crowded for all the cattle and had to leave Dan's six calves behind on this trip. Dan will get them tomorrow.

Add in the (three at least) road construction projects on Hwy 93, stopping at Dan's place first, and Evan didn't arrive until almost 3 pm. Getting up earlier this morning than I felt like doing was unnecessary.

My "girls" initially didn't want to get out of Evan's stock trailer but once the first heifer left the others followed in a rush.

The cattle are now in the process of getting use to their new home. For the time being I will keep them in the corral area around the barn. They are fairly calm. They slowly checked out the boundaries of the corral and did not race around.

I put hay out for them. The corral area has a good start on green grass so the cattle weren't sure what to eat and would alternate between the two food sources. Later it seems they are concentrating on eating the green grass.

They aren't sure about me as they keep their distance from me. Its not that I go up to them, but whenever they see me they stand if sitting down, or move further away. Later they got more used to me and would continue to sit and have their siesta nearby as I added another strand of barb wire to the top of the western corral fence.

They are very nice looking cattle. Evan also commented on how nice they looked. They are all black and have the black Angus look with the narrow head and beady eyes. As they are all uniform in size (other than the three slightly larger ones), and have identical color I have doubts I will name these cattle like I did last year. If any do get a name it will be because of their personality. They don't have ear tags but I plan on buying some for them.

The three larger heifers remind me of "Daddy Long Legs" from last year. They all have very long legs to go with their long bodies. That is why I decided to add a strand of barb wire above the top of the older fence in two places in the corral. These three heifers could stand and easily watch me with their heads higher than the fence in these two areas. I didn't want them to get any "ballerina" ideas and for them to hop the fence when I wasn't looking.

I finished my south corral fence rebuild just in time! I was still putting finishing touches on the fence this morning while waiting for Evan. With my "in-between" posts and the metal pipe that runs along the top, the fence looks a little more substantial. The fence is solid. It is just that with it being a chain link fence one can see through the fence much easier than other fences. The cattle seemed to like it as many sat near the chain link fence during their afternoon siesta and looked through it and out to the hayfield.

I had a little more chain link fencing than needed for the south side so I wrapped the extra 20 or so feet along the west corral fence. I still have another 50 ft roll of chain link fencing and plan to redo the western corral fence. But later as I need to take a break from fence work and get to my other items on my to-do list.

Earlier this week when I worked on the corral fence the weather was so-so: partly cloudy, 50s temperatures and occasionally windy. I got quite a bit of work done though. Today was our nicest day since last October and our official high was 71 F. Our first 70+ degree day and one of only a few days of 60+ temperatures. Maybe I was tired from all the activity this week, or it was the great summer-like weather, but I didn't have ambition to do much today. Still I completed the fence, repaired the three old wood hay feeding containers, put some hay out for the cattle, cleaned and filled the two stock water troughs, helped Dan load the last of his hay he had stored in my barn, and checked my pocket gopher traps. Very late afternoon I burnt some of the tall dead grass in the middle pasture.

Between the approaching cold front with its cool air and clouds, the new green grass, and the thin and sometimes isolated nature of the tall grass, even with the stiff breeze from the cold front the fire needed babying to continue burning. After an hour I gave up. I still have time to finish the burning as the open burning season continues until May 1.

This weekend I plan to not do anything. The forecast has a chance of rain so that will help me not feel guilty about laying around.

A cattle barron

I'm back in the cattle business! My trip to Missoula was successful!

Dan and I left earlier this morning: 6:30 am. Oh, so early! It was a beautiful morning and was light outside already when we left. As we drove through the Mission Valley sunrise was nice over the white mountain tops.

We arrived around 9 am and found the auction was to start at 10 am. This gave us time to wander through the holding pens to see what cattle were for sale. Not as many cattle as last week. Last week they sold 801 head. This link is to the auction's current sale summary, along with a photo showing the sale ring at the bottom of the page. I think they had far less cattle this week. This didn't bode well for me to find what I wanted.

We came across a pen with the two Texas longhorn cows that I saw last week. Only it was just the two cows; their calves were no longer with them. I was still impressed by their horn's size.

Nothing looked to be what I was looking for: steers, or maybe heifers, in the 500 to 700 lb weight categories. But then we found a pen with 25 all black cattle. They were nice looking cattle. They weren't separated by sex so it was hard to tell how many were steers and how many heifers. I preferred steers as they command a higher price when selling. The disadvantage is they also cost more to buy.

I wanted 12 head. I didn't know how these 25 would be sold. I knew the auction would sell the steers and heifers separately. The weights looked to be similar so I wasn't sure if or how they would split them by weight.

My concern was I wouldn't get 12 head. Dan was unsure if he would buy any cattle and I was concerned about only getting 3 or 4, which wasn't a full trailer. While Evan factored in weight when charging a fee, there still was a minimum fee for gas and time. How will this auction go? Will I be able to buy 12? 12... not more... not less.

As we sat in the seats and waited for the sale to start an employee asked us if we wanted her to turn on the heat.

The sale started with the slaughter bulls and cows and the prices seemed to be down from last week's prices. As the sale went on the room got warmer and warmer. I had a late night and an early morning. I started to fall asleep in the warmth. Eventually the heat got to others and they shouted for an employee to turn off the heater, which he did.

Around 11:30 am the black cattle we had seen now came through the ring. They were broken into groups of 1 or 2 or 3. What to do? I didn't want to go down the path of 1 or 2. When 3 came through at an average weight of 677 lbs Dan said I needed to decide. These were heifers and not steers, but I had no idea how many steers would come though. I bid and bought them. 3 down and 9 to go.

After a couple more cattle came through the ring they brought in 9 heifers. 9! The number I needed. They were all heifers but by now I didn't care. They averaged 566 lbs - a good weight. They were a lower weight than my earlier purchase which meant a higher price. One of the cattle buyers was also determined to buy them but I won out. The auctioneer gave me the option of taking 5 or 6 or whatever. I bought them all.

Good. Done.

Another advantage to the heifers I bought is that they all had been wormed and given 8-way shots. These 25 head were the only cattle mentioned as having this done. Good. I don't have to work them and can just turn them out to pasture.

By now Evan had shown up and was down in the ring helping move the cattle out the exit door after they were sold. Good. My transportation can be arranged. This day is going well.

Some smaller weights around 300 to 500 lbs came through in one or twos. Dan's brother wanted a few to go with others he had at that weight and Dan got 4 total, one at a time. All were heifers.

Then the auction broke for lunch. Dan and I stayed for lunch. Let's see... the menu was hamburger, hamburger, hamburger, hamburger, or roast beef. Hmm... why would that be?

A quick word with Evan over lunch and he said he could haul both Dan's and my purchases and still had some room left in his trailer. Hmmm...

A few more calves then the auction turned to selling cow/calf pairs. Most were sold as a pairs, but if the price wasn't high enough they split the cow/calf and sold the cow for slaughter. These cows tended to be older and bony. One old cow had a huge bag with oversized teats. It didn't look like her calf was getting any milk as it was a tiny scrawny thing. It was better to split them up and put the calf on a cow who just lost her calf, else bottle feed the calf.

Dan had his eye on three older cows with nice looking calves. Last week he wanted to buy similar cow/calf pairs that sold very cheap - but with no transportation he passed. Today he bought the three cow/calf pairs as they sold cheaply. With some extra care the cow should gain weight and come fall he can sell just the cows close to what he paid for the pair. Or at least that's the plan!

After Dan bought the old cow/calf pairs, from down in the sale ring Evan gave Dan a look. After the sale was over Evan commented 'he transports the animals and doesn't guarantee they will arrive alive'. Dan asked Evan if he didn't know how to give CPR?

After the sale I wrote a big check. My money is now walking around on four legs. Now to wait till Fall to see how much, if any, money I make this year. As I bought only heifers, I plan to call my 'herd' of cattle, "my harem".

Evan will bring the cattle tomorrow morning. Early. I should head to bed now so I will be ready when he comes.

Oh yeah... I heard the other day on the radio that a television producer from France is looking for three ranches in Montana that would host some people from France for a week or two to be on a French reality TV show about ranch life in Montana. Hmmmm.... I now have cattle... I could use some help with fences and painting... "Yes, repairing fences all day is life on a cattle ranch!"

Corral fence - south side work

I'm getting it done. I should finish my fence rebuild before Thursday's livestock auction. Dan called tonight and he got Thursday off work. We plan to attend the auction in Missoula. Dan reached Evan and he will be at the auction also. If Dan or I get cattle Evan will be able to haul them for us. Now the question is, will there be decent cattle to buy?

After running errands in the morning, after noon I went out to work on my fence. My NW neighbor appeared to be burning the hay his horses had trampled on the ground and didn't eat over winter. Fortunately the breeze was from the south and carried the smoke away. His burning seemed more smoke than fire.

His burning gave me the idea to attempt to burn the hay/manure part of the corral where Dan's cattle were kept last fall. My earlier burn burnt some of the top layer. I tried again today. Not much success. More of the top layer burnt but that's about it. Just below the top layer it is wet.

On to my fence work. While I didn't get going till after noon, I worked till dark (9 pm). I put in all the fence posts I will need. I untangled the strands of barb wire I had taken off the old fence (doesn't take much for them to tangle! ) and nailed them onto the fence posts. There were three strands. No wonder dad added the snow fence: three strands won't stop a determined calf wanting to be with its mother.

I stretched the wire to make it tight. Since I will add chain link fencing I put the bottom strand down low to prevent the cattle from pushing the bottom of the fence out. The middle strand in the middle and the top strand near the top of the fencing.

One side effect of my stretching the barb wire is that some of my fence posts are now slightly tipped. ) The soft ground didn't always hold the posts straight when I tightened the barb wire. I didn't go back to fix them as the chain link fencing will obscure the off-kilter posts.

Before I was able to add all the fence posts I had to determine where my gate would be. Laying the chain link fencing on the ground wasn't good enough, I need to install the fencing so it would be at its final length, all stretched out.

My 5 ft tall roll of fence was 50 ft long. So it was a full roll (one can't tell when buying used at an auction). Nailing the fencing to the posts was time consuming work. With one hand I used a crowbar to stretch the fencing tight and with the other hand I juggled the "u" nail and hammer to nail the fence to the post. And repeat on up to the top of the post.

I also tried to get the bottom of the fence right on the ground or slightly below it. The fence line was the high point on either side. This must have been the ground's height 65 years ago. Each side must have been compressed from the weight of the cattle, else blown away in the wind.

I got a shovel and rake and lowered the high ground, else dug a narrow shallow trench in which to place the bottom of the fence. That will make it harder for the cattle to push the bottom of the fence out. If I ever get chickens it will make it harder for predators to get through the fence.

After I installed the 50 ft section of fencing I installed a 10 ft section of fencing. This section, and my other rolls I plan to use, are 4 ft tall - the same height as my gate.

At 60 ft this was a good spot for a gate. The gate was easier to install than I forethought. On each side of the gate I added diagonal boards between the last two fence posts so these posts won't lean and throw the gate off level. Probably won't happen as the chain link gate is rather light - unlike the wooden gate I built earlier.

Tomorrow I will attach the rest of the chain link fencing. I have enough rolls of fencing to reach all the way to the end. At this point I will be comfortable in having cattle in the corral even though I need to do "finish" work; i.e. poles along the top and adding boards/posts in-between my fence posts for extra 'sturdiness'.

The fence now looks far different as a chain link fence than with the snow fence. With the chain link I can see right through the fence, unlike the snow fence. Another reason to add 'in-between' boards/posts. I wouldn't want a steer to get into a crazy gallup, miss seeing the fence and crash into and/or through it. As it is whenever I walk around the barn I do a double take wondering where my fence has gone.