Slice of life on the ranch

This is from a few weeks ago...

My stock tank float quit working.  It wouldn't shut the water off completely as it would still leak.

The red plastic float fits into the metal container and the black rubber ring presses against the hole on the right side of the float.  Except the rubber ring would not completely stop the water.

I could not do anything to do to fix the float so I took it back to the CHS store and they gladly exchanged it for me.  The new float works correctly.


In the afternoon I pounded a steel bar in the ground to hold part of the hayshed wall in place.  The narrow walls on each side of the gate have started to lean out.  This is on the right side in the photo below.

I used the pickup to push them back straight up and down.  The left wall stayed in place.  The right wall would lean back out.  Therefore the bar was needed to hold the wall straight.

The 25 second video shows Daisy lying in the grass watching for mice, the tarped hay, and me pounding the bar into the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmzq9j-XqGk

Well casing hickup

Today I was suppose to drive my well casing pipe into the ground.  Didn't happen.

Initially I was going to rent a Caterpillar excavator - a model 304 or 308 - for $300 from a business down the road from me and Jamie was going to run the excavator for me while I handled the pipe.  Then I saw a tractor with backhoe down the road at my neighbor - Charlie's - house.  I asked Charlie about the tractor.  It didn't really work but he had a buddy with a working tractor.

Saturday morning Charlie stopped by to get a look at my well before coming over with the tractor.  While I had explained the pipe's length was 25 ft, it didn't sink in until he saw the pipe laying on the ground.  The hole in the ground is between 9 1/2 and 10 ft deep, so 15 to 15 1/2 ft of pipe will stick above the ground to start with.  The backhoe only reaches 12 ft.

*sigh*

While Charlie didn't think the 304 or 308 would reach the 15 ft above ground, I checked the specs tonight and it appears they both would, though the 308 model has a higher reach at 24 ft vs the 17 ft for the 304 model.  I am not sure a 2 ft clearance the 304 has would be enough distance to start driving the pipe.

http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=&category=Midi+Excavator&make=Caterpillar&model=304C+CR&modelid=92308

http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=&category=Midi+Excavator&make=Caterpillar&model=308C+CR&modelid=92310

Here is a video of the 304 in action:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PFdDNAd6B0


Early afternoon, when riding my bicycle down the road a mile, I saw an excavator in action where a homeowner was clearing the trees for a new house. The excavator looked large enough to handle my pipe and the operator seemed very experienced.  I thought I could interest the operator in driving my pipe. I talked to the operator's father-in-law and learned the operator was borrowing his work machine over the weekend to clear the lot for a house and to dig a crawlspace/foundation for the house along with a trench for the power lines.  I figured he would be busy enough this weekend not to have time to do my little project so I didn't wait for him to take a break from his work to ask.


I am not sure if I am back to Plan A (the 308 excavator). I'll have to talk with some people and get their opinion.

Beulah and the calves

Tammy has named the large black -bossy- cow: Beulah.  She originally named her Bertha but after seeing her push the other cattle around - especially Momma when Tammy was feeding Momma some apples - Tammy decided she needed an "uglier" name to match her behavior.  So she chose: Beulah.

Beulah is front and off-center

I *think* I have three boys and three girls for calves.  They keep moving around and hiding around their moms for me to see them all at the same time to get definitive count.

I call this little calf: "Whiskers".   Click on the photo to enlarge it and you'll see why.

What kind of "cow" is that?!

Heading out to eat some more.

Two concrete rings in

Last Saturday, after Wyatt welded the casing pipe, we used his tractor to lower two of the concrete rings into the hole.

I had dug the hole to a depth of 8 1/2 ft on the sides.  The center was dug to a depth of 10 ft.  The water level is 8 1/2 ft.

The three rings are 9 ft total.  I want the rings to stick out of the ground one foot.  Also, the hole's diameter was about 43 inches and the concrete rings are 42 inches.  So I dug the hole four inches wider to give me room to remove the chain from the ring once it was lowered.  Of the four inches, the top five to six feet of dirt I dug out of the hole.  Some of the bottom two to three feet of gravel I dropped to the bottom of the hole as I needed to raise the bottom's sides up to be only 8 ft deep.

Before enlarging the hole

After enlarging the hole

Due to the depth we were lowering the ring into the hole, and the height we could lift the ring off the ground, we had a small area to hook the chain.  If the hole was a few inches deeper we would have been unable to lower the ring to the bottom.

When the ring was at the bottom we had to work at getting it level.  I went into the hole and Wyatt would raise a side and I would adjust a concrete block under the ring.  Finally we got the ring level.

Note the PVC pipe I set there as a placeholder for the well casing pipe.  All this maneuvering caused gravel to fill in the center of the hole.

Once the ring was level we filled in gravel around the ring to hold it in place.

Then the second ring was lowered.

I ran some water on the dirt to settle and pack it.

Then I filled in dirt around the second ring.

And ran water on the dirt to settle and pack it.

The old concrete rings were 30 inches wide. The new rings are 42 inches wide.  I planned on moving the rings out away from the corral fence a little bit.  Once I was done I realized I could have moved the rings further out as both the old and new rings started in the same place near the fence.  Oh well, not much I can do about it now.

Now to drive the well casing pipe into the ground.  I plan to do that this coming Saturday.

Also, people can take a breath now that the hole can't cave in on me when I am down there.  That made a number of people nervous.

Welding well casing pipe

Last Saturday my neighbor Wyatt welded my two well casing pipes into one pipe.

First he cut the ragged end of one pipe so as to square the end to enable the two pieces to fit well for welding together.

Here we have the two pieces fit together in preparation to be welded. Care had to be taken to make sure the entire length of the pipe is straight as the pipe will be stressed when it is pounded into the ground.

Now that the two pieces are one pipe, we needed to shape the end of the pipe into a point.  This will allow us to pound the pipe into the ground.

How do I get a 25 ft 4 inch pipe back home?  Under Wyatt's tractor.  The loader in front holds one end of the pipe and the three point hitch holds the back end.

The completed pipe.

Here is the point Wyatt fashioned.  He cut out a section on each side, mashed them together using a sledgehammer, then spot welded them together.  Hopefully we will be able to break this end open once the pipe is driven into the ground.   A number of people told me, when they were young, how others used dynamite to blast open the end of a pipe once it is on the ground.  Of course, now-a-days that option is out.  So we will cross the bridge on busting the end open after the pipe is in the ground.  I'll have to fashion some sort of battering ram.

In case opening the end is not successful, the sides of the point should allow water into the pipe even if some gravel enters the pipe when the pipe is pounded into the ground.

I had Wyatt cut six slots in the pipe for water to enter, one of which is seen in the photos.  Later I decided to drill a number of small holes in the pipe for extra water penetration.

Well casing purchase

For my livestock well project I needed some metal well casing pipe.  I called around and could not find anyone who sold 2" sandpoint pipe - not that I really wanted it anyway.  I wanted a larger pipe.  6" or 8" diameter pipe.

I checked various stores.  Some never called back.  Others weren't interested in selling to or helping me as I was a one-time customer with an odd project and was not a contractor. So much for "shopping local".

I finally got two quotes for a 20 ft piece of pipe with a wall thickness of a quarter inch and a diameter of 6 inches:

• $270
• $310

 The $310 quote would deliver.  The $310 quote also had an 8 inch pipe for $470.

I decided to sleep on it.

That night I saw a craiglist post selling 6" casing:   

approximately 50 pieces between 8 and 12' long 

The seller wanted $7.50 a linear foot instead of the $13.5 and $15.5 a foot from my two quotes.  Apparently his father used to be a well driller.  Hence the pile of pipes.

I decided to get two 12 ft sections of pipe.  However, many sections had jagged cut ends.  Not good for welding two pieces together.   The 13 ft section had a smooth beveled end.  We found a 9 ft section with smooth ends.  To show how my mind - and the seller's mind - worked that evening.  13 plus 9 equaled 24.

So I loaded the two pipes and paid the seller for 24 feet.  After chatting about artisan wells, the aquifer in the Swan Range and that affected his artisan well's water pressure, and cattle, Tammy and I left.  As we drove down the road Tammy told me that 13 plus 9 didn't equal 24.

What?!

*screech*   (or the equilivant on a gravel road)

I backed up to the seller's house.  We looked for a 11 ft pipe.  They were all 10 ft or 12 ft pipes.  I went with a 12 ft pipe.  With a jagged end some would have to be cut off to square the end for the weld.

Chimney cleaning

Today I cleaned the house chimney and wood stove pipes.  The annual cleaning.  It is a little late this year as I usually clean the chimney in July or August.  The weather forecast is for cool and wet starting Sunday so the time is now to clean the chimney as we'll be using the wood stove soon.

The photo on the left is the ash I got today.  The photo on the right is the ash I got several years ago.  As you can see... more ash this year.  Guess we burned more this past Winter.

As you can see I get pretty dirty scraping the pipes and chimney.

Newer concrete rings

I'm still working on fixing my livestock's well.

This is what I lasted posted about the well - when I removed the second concrete ring.
http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2013/08/well-casing-removal.html

I wanted to get a larger 'container' to hold the pump and pipe underground.  I checked into buying a larger concrete ring and got a price of $115 for each 3 ft long by 3 ft diameter section.  $345 for the three sections I wanted.  I checked into buying a 3 ft diameter by 6 to 8 ft long metal culvert.  Price (when I found a culvert section in the business's yard after being told they didn't have any culverts): $360.

I put a wanted ad on Craigslist for:

I could use a large metal culvert or concrete rings (well casings).
The culvert should be 3 to 4 ft in diameter and around 8 ft long.
-or-
The concrete rings should be 3 to 4 ft in diameter.

 Several days later I got a call from a guy who had five concrete rings that were 3 ft long by 3 ft in diameter.  He wanted $25 for each section.

Score!

I had borrow a trailer to haul the rings and last Thursday I borrowed Dan's trailer.

Dan assured me that the ball for his flatbed trailer was the same size as the ball he used to tow my stock trailer when he borrowed it.  To be safe I took a larger sized ball along with me.

The trailer easily hooked up to my pickup and Tammy and I were off the seven to eight miles to get the concrete rings.  The ring were up on the back part of the owner's property and I had to drive up the hillside on a "path" through the forest.

The rings had been sitting there from the time of the previous owner - many years.  The rings were sitting on their end and were heavy.  Very heavy.  The rings are 3 ft in diameter and their walls are 3 inches thick for a total diameter outside to outside of 42 inches. The rings sat in the ground and it took both of us straining to lift one side high enough for Tammy to put a 4by4 board (one of the short ones I got from my uncles in Washington) under the ring.  Then we were able to re-position our grips and were able to tip the ring over on its side.

The owner and I then rolled the ring up on the trailer.  Once the ring was on the back of the trailer the front of the trailer went up in the air.  What?!

The ball on the hitch was too small.   Good thing I brought a larger ball.  However I didn't bring a large enough pipe wrench.  Fortunately the owner had larger wrenches and a pipe to extend for more leverage as the ball was stuck fast onto the hitch.

Once a ring was on the trailer we tipped the ring back on its end.  The rings were so heavy I didn't need to tie them down.  If they didn't move driving the "path" off his property, the rings weren't going to move driving on paved roads.

Due to road construction I had to drive through town to get home.  The trailer's brakes were "grabby" which made it annoying when I had to stop at the traffic lights.

I asked my neighbor Wyatt to help me tip the rings back on their sides and roll them off the trailer as I couldn't budge the rings by myself.  I used three 2by6 boards to roll the rings off the trailer and they all broke.  To get the other two rings off the trailer we rolled them onto old vehicle tires on the ground and the rings bounced harmlessly.

The rings were very heavy and I found it harder to get footing on the slick trailer boards than I did on the ground.  Wyatt told me to have him bring his tractor the next time I have something so heavy.  The goal this coming weekend is to put them in the ground using Wyatt's tractor.

Here is a view of the three new rings with one of the old rings in front of them.

Rainy day cattle

Here are the cattle on a rainy day.

There are 13 cattle.  If you count the cattle in the photo you can see why I count and re-count when counting cattle.

Round hay bales

With my new cattle, to make it through the Winter, I need more hay than the 10 tons of small bales currently in the barn.  Since I was borrowing Dan's trailer to move concrete rings, I decided to find and buy some large round hay bales.  The large round bales will come in handy for the times I may need to put out hay to last multiple days instead of feeding some small bales daily to the cattle.

I found some 1100-1200 lb large round bales for $80 each.  That works out to $133 to $145 a ton. 

2013 first-cutting grass hay- 5'X5' round bales approximately 1100- 1200# Timothy and orchard grass mix. No weeds and in excellent condition, has been tarped off since baled and never rained on. $80 a bale. Located 25 miles northwest of Whitefish in the Star Meadows/ Tally Lake area.

Hay seems to be selling for around $150 a ton, though some people are asking $180 a ton.  Whether they get $180 a ton is another matter.
 
Dan told he he was sure he could get me hay sold closer to town and cheaper as he thought there was lots of hay for sale.  I remember from last Fall when he said he could get me some cattle to keep Momma company over Winter and I ended up finding cattle when Dan came up empty.  And then the same situation this past Spring when I needed some extra hay.  That time I ended up finding hay for both Dan and I when he could only find poor quality and more expensive hay.  So I decided I would get the minimum amount of hay now and not wait. If he finds more hay, great.

The hay was 36 miles from my ranch - about an hour drive.  No, not close but very good hay and I had not been to the Tally Lake / Star Meadow area for some years now and Tammy has never seen the area.

So... let's go for a road trip.

Well... by the time the seller called me back I was in the middle of scrubbing out the livestock's water trough and had to finish and fill it before I could go.  Tammy had a Tastefully Simple event so she could not come with me as we would not be back in time.

It was a nice drive with little traffic.

Close to the hay seller's property.  Now where would a hay field be?

The seller lives up in the mountains at about 4200 ft elevation.  His hay field was a large cleared off meadow in the forest.

The seller's hay.

The person who created the property was a hippie from the 1960s/ early 1970s who built the place before electricity came up that far.  The current owner is in the process of updating the house.  The house was built with no foundation.  The house originally sat on telephone poles and old timbers reclaimed from bridges.

The property was irrigated from gravity.  A creek flows down from a taller mountainside, and to run the sprinklers, he turns on faucets on underground pipes coming from the creek as it crosses the property. The grass was still a nice green and looked good.  Sitting high in the mountains he gets more precipitation than I do in the Valley.   Of course, that also means more snow in the Winter.


The trailer holds three large bales.  The seller noticed a little room at the back of the trailer and offered to sell me a half bale for half price. I was unsure if the bale would fit but decided to buy the bale if it did fit.  It did fit, though it looked smaller once he lifted the bale in the air.  On the trailer the small bale again looked bigger. Once loaded he offered to sell me the bale for $30.  Sold.

The seller and his son loaded the hay using his large tractor.  The seller was rocking the mountain man look.

We chit-chatted for a while about his property, his wood-working business, the 2007 Brush Creek fire, weather, and animal indicators for the upcoming Winter (the squirrels, absent all Summer, are now feverishly gathering nuts).

I spent over an hour loading the hay and chatting.

Even though the hay bales were cinched tight to the trailer I drove home slow.    Fortunately there was very little traffic from 6:30 to 7:45 pm.

I decided to store the hay in the loading corral.  I don't plan to use the loading corral to load cattle until next year, and in there the hay would be safe from the cattle, horses and deer.

Of course Daisy had to inspect the hay and trailer.

Then she settled down to watch the sunset.

Watching the sunset.

I can just roll bales weighing 1200 lbs.  However I do need leverage to roll the bales.  I was able to easily roll the small bale off the trailer onto a wooden pallet to keep the bale off the ground.  The other three bales were too close together for me to start rolling them. None of my neighbors with strength to help me were around. I waited till morning.

Still no neighbors were around in the morning so I improvised.  I had a long metal pole and I used that to pry one bale apart from the others.  Tammy helped me by sliding a post behind the bale as I moved it so it wouldn't roll back when I re-positioned the pole for better leverage or rested.

Once I could fit in between the bales I was able to roll one bale off the trailer onto a pallet.

One down, two to go.  Separating the last two bales was harder as I could only stand on the last bale and not on two bales to use my long pole. Still we got them separated and then one off the trailer.

I expected I could just roll the last bale as I could now stand on the ground for leverage.

Nope.  The final bale was sitting on a flat side.  The hay seller had stacked the bales at his place three high and this was a bottom bale.

Lots of pushing and grunting and Tammy sliding a post under the bale so it wouldn't roll back as I re-positioned or rested.  Once the bale was off its large flat side I was able to roll it.

The bales were a little wider than the pallets.  While I tried to position the pallets in the center of the bale, invariably the pallet ended up being to one side of the bale.  I had some treated pieces of wood my uncles gave me and Tammy slid a few of them under the bale when I rocked the bale off the ground on one side.

While round bales shed most water and only the outer ring of hay would get wet and bad, it is still good to tarp them so none of the bale goes to waste.  Fortunately I had some old tarps.  I had to use several tarps as my largest tarp had holes in it.  I used railroad ties to weigh the tarp down.