Cattle feeder rebuild

Thursday was to be a rest day from sightseeing. I had been kidding about putting my uncles to work while they were here, but I found the most excited that they got was when they were able to work around the ranch. Just another reason for boys to play with power tools.

My cattle's feeder sat on the ground. First the heifers, then some steers found they could climb inside the feeder to stand and eat the hay. Not a good thing when the cattle forget what goes in one end comes out the other. I was not too pleased at this and the cattle knew it as they got a guilty look on their face when I caught them in the feeder.

My uncle Curt used to remodel old homes and resell them many years before it became fashionable. This was in the days when family members seriously thought of committing Curt when he came up with another old run down house to remodel and resell. Curt was just a man ahead of his time.

Wednesday night Curt came up with a plan to improve my feeder to keep the cattle out. He was so excited about doing this I really regretted not buying the livestock gates and installing them when my uncles were here. Forget Glacier Park and the scenery, what my uncles really want to do was work on my ranch.

Thursday morning Dan came over to get a dozen hay bales. His small hay bale supplier was on vacation and Dan ran out of bales. While Dan was here we looked my cattle over and they are all in excellent shape. He told me that if I hadn't bought the six steers he would have.

Earlier that morning I noticed one steer appeared to have one testicle. Ohh... not good. We tried to look when Dan was here, but like around my relatives my cattle are skittish around strangers. Me they like, others they are not so sure about. Dan and I couldn't get close for a good look but Dan told me what I may have seen was extra loose skin in that area. I hope so... the steer is kind of big to finish the castration.

My uncles, Dan and I chatted the morning away. When Larry and my aunts went uptown to get supplies my Uncle Curt and Dan chatted about working in aluminum plants in the past, then about American Idol as both are fans of the show.

We never got started on the feeder until after noon. The next I knew Curt was at the feeder with a crowbar tearing it apart. To build it first one must destroy it!

I had been teased numerous times that I didn't look like a cowboy. I never wore cowboy boots or a cowboy hat. Before I helped with the feeder I got dad's cowboy boots and squeezed into them. I also wore his cowboy hat and got one of my western shirts. Then I posed for a photo. That ended the 'you don't look like a cowboy' teasing.

It was a warm sunny day and my uncles worked harder than if they had gone on a hike with me.

The final design was to rebuild the sides, then add legs to raise the feeder off the ground a few inches. Finally we added a bottom to the feeder to keep the hay off the ground.

Lots of cutting and hammering.

We did the final work inside the corral as the feeder was getting pretty heavy by the time we had all the sides together. My uncles braved possibly stepping in cow manure. I noticed they watched where they stepped - unlike me who got over that a long time ago.

While we worked the cattle stayed in the SW corner of the pasture, It was about the farthest they could get from all the commotion. Once we finished the feeder I put new hay inside it. It took a little while before the cattle were comfortable around this new object.

But the rebuild did the trick: the cattle no longer climb into it. A few of the larger ones occasionally will get their front legs inside the feeder, but they can't get their rear legs inside it.



While my uncles and I worked on the feeder my aunts wanted to help also and volunteered to mow my yard. I declined their offer as I let the cattle eat the grass down in late May before releasing them into the pasture. My aunts then volunteered to scrape the paint peeling from my fences. But my uncles suggested getting a pressure washer to blast the paint away. So my aunts relaxed, worked on their tans, and read books.

Once we finished the cattle's feeder and took a lunch break, and Larry caught some , Curt and I checked out the lengths of the long poles I have. He wanted to redo the pole over my driveway entrance as the current pole sags down a foot or so. The only pole long enough (22 ft) tapered quite a bit from end to end. The other poles with a consistent width all were 19 ft or less.

What I really wanted to do was to get help installing my cattle head gate. It is so heavy that having a second person to help would be invaluable. The next I knew Curt designed how to attach the head gate to the posts. The hardware store I use, Ziggy's, was closed for the day so we waited to begin work on the head gate until the next morning.

After an excellent supper of steak and hot dogs on the grill, and home made potato salad, Cathy and Diane walked the property's boundaries with me and also checked for gophers. Only one was caught.

We also found some skunk cabbage plants in the SW corner. I also showed my aunts a few of the holes left from the tree stumps that I had burned.