Fall Tamarack colors

Taken today in the south pasture.

Messing in the straw

Yesterday I let the cattle into the corral.  The calves hadn't eaten all of the hay in the feeder.  With rain everyday it was matter of time before the hay started to get moldy.  So I let the cattle in to eat the weeds and hay.  They did.  Today I found a little mold growing in the pallet that held the hay off the ground in the feeder.

I have extra straw under the side roof of the barn.  It is protected by a metal gate and a long wooden pallet tied together around a post.  Yesterday Buddy pushed one end of the metal gate up to eat some straw.  Beulah broke the top board of the wooden pallet to eat straw.  Since they weren't standing and going to the bathroom on the straw I let them be.  Cattle don't usually eat straw but occasionally they do to get some roughage.

Today I checked.  The metal gate was laying flat on the ground with straw completely covering it.  The wooden pallet was mostly broken and half laying in the mud and straw.  Four cattle were standing as far up on the straw as they could squeeze under the barn roof.  The straw was a mess.

I chased the cows away and dug out the metal gate and stood it up.  I wrapped barb wire around the gate and the post.  In the other end I pounded a metal t-post through part of the gate and into the ground.

I got three long boards and blocked the wooden pallet side.  The cattle could get their head through the boards but could no longer climb up on the straw.

Later in the afternoon after the cattle left the corral I closed the gates.  I dug the broken pallet out of the straw and mud and removed it from the corral.  The cattle wanted back into the corral.  So I took some of the straw and put it into the long wooden feeder.

First I had to fix the feeder's floor.  With all the rain the boards swelled up and in two places sides of the boards popped up.  I replaced one 2x4 board with a 2x2 board.  For the other spot I had to cut an inch and a half off the board so it would fit flat.

I let the cattle back into the corral.  Now that the straw wasn't in a place where they weren't suppose to go they weren't as interested in it.

Stacked firewood

Another rainy day.  Before the rain started late morning I got one thing done.  I woke up from a dream where the cattle broke into the corral.  Upon waking I realized some strands of barb wire were not attached to fence posts in the north fence along my neighbor's property and I needed to fix this before the cattle found them and slipped through, as I let the cattle into my north pasture yesterday.  I am trapping pocket gophers on the neighbor's land - or trying to, as all this wet weather caused the pocket gophers to stay deep underground.  I have been slipping through the fence in a few places where the wire is not completely attached.  So just before the rain started I fixed this.

Prior to today I have picked up my split firewood.  I got most of it stacked in the pole shed.  The rest of the firewood I stacked under the patio by the house.   The pole shed - where I stack firewood - is now full.  This is the first time that has ever happened.  I had it almost full going into Winter a few times in the past, but never this much.  I'm continuing to split logs and stack the firewood in the patio.  I have more logs to split from the back yard to make room for more logs from the pastures.  If it ever stops raining I can get this done.

The stack of firewood in the pole shed measures 6 ft across, 18 ft long and at the highest, 10 ft tall.   A cord of wood is 4 ft by 4 ft by 8 ft.   Based on cubic volume I believe I have about 8 cords of wood stacked in the pole shed, which should be more than enough to last me all Winter.

More firewood splitting

In between the rain each day I have been splitting more logs for firewood.  When it rains I cover the split piles with tarps.  Today I started stacking the wood in the pole shed where my previous split wood is stacked.  I got about half the recently split wood stacked.  I believe I will fill the area for firewood with what I have split and will have to find another sheltered place to store the rest.  Usually I am still splitting firewood after the snow is on the ground.  For once I am ahead of the game.

Here is my split wood before I started stacking it.  All split by hand.

Walnut tree and wood stove

Here are two photos of my English Walnut tree after the killing frost.  The leaves went from normal and green to this overnight.

Today I gave in and lit a fire in my wood stove.  I had been delaying using the wood stove because one of the things I want to get done before Winter is to re-do the room/hallway the stove sits in.  Re-do the ceiling, sand and re-paint the walls, rip up the carpet and put down new flooring, and put a sun tunnel in the ceiling for more light.

Up unto October and this wet and cold weather it looked like the room remodel was possible.  I'm still not ruling it out once I get my other outside projects done... but the clock is ticking.  I don't want to do the remodel during Winter.

I didn't want to use the wood stove as I thoroughly cleaned the stove and chimney this Summer and to do the remodel I have to temporarily move the stove.  But... this cold weather finally wore me down.  The inside house temperature today was 49 degrees and I decided not to put up with the cold anymore.  Especially as the weather outside today was in the low 40s, overcast and damp with a chill in the air.  Rain and these way below normal temperatures are predicted to continue into mid-next week.  I want my global warming back!!!!!

Now the temperature in the house is 66 degrees and it feels too warm to me.  I can't win.

Cattle and splitting firewood

Dan came and got the last four steers this afternoon.  I waited for one steer to finish peeing then I herded all of the steers into the loading corral and then loaded them into Dan's trailer.  We took it slow and had no problems.   Dan weighed them and said they weighed 2010 lbs, or 502.5 lbs each on average.  The largest steer (Curious George) was heavier than the others and we think it probably weighs 575 lbs or so.


The clouds cleared off last night and the temperature dropped to well below freezing. The coldest it has been since last March.  The larger English Walnut tree had been resisting the previous frosts but last night gave up and this morning all the remaining leaves were dead.  We had a heavy frost overnight and it took until noon to melt the frost and warm up.


With the break in the weather yesterday and today I spent some time cutting up logs and splitting them into firewood.  A few weeks ago I bought a new chainsaw as my previous chainsaw wouldn't start and I suspected the ethonol in the gas ruined that carburetor.   I bought a Husqvarna 455 Rancher 20-Inch gas-powered chain saw.  This saw has a longer bar than my old chainsaw.    The new chainsaw cuts through the logs really nice and quick.

I had some logs in the yard and cut them up.  Then I got them all split.  With all the rain we had recently the logs are still damp so I left them scattered outside so they can dry before I stack them under cover.  I'll see how this goes as the weather forecast has rain starting tomorrow and going into next week.

I have more logs to split.  I also want to cut up all the fallen trees in the pasture into logs for later splitting: one of my goals for this year before Winter arrives.

Cut but not split

Split.   (what a mess!)

Snow and cattle

It snowed again overnight.  While today's high temperature was slightly warmer as we got over 40 degrees, we started the morning off colder.  Most of the snow melted but at the end of the day the shaded areas had a little more snow than the previous day.

I gave the four steers a bunch of apples.  A short time later I noticed one apple had been accidentally pushed back through the fence.  Curious George tried to reach the apple under the fence and got his head stuck.  He had turned his head sideways to slip under the fence then turned upright.  When his head was upright he couldn't get it back under the fence.  Also when through the fence his ears popped up and that also prevented him from pulling back through the fence.  When they get stuck I notice the cattle usually try to push forward more than they pull back.  My new fence boards bent slightly but held when George frantically pushed against the fence.

My walking closer made him even more panicked which wasn't helping.  To give him time and space to settle down I went in the house to get my camera.  then as I approached he turned his head just right and pulled out from under the fence.  I got the photo just after his head slipped back under the fence.

It is hard to see in the photo but the side of his head is grass stained green.   Other than that he seems to be fine.

Buddy is back with the cows.  I went and found where he went through the fence.  It wasn't at his usual spot.  I patched the fence.

Daisy followed me out to the pasture when I worked on the fence.  Then over to the neighbor's property where I set some traps to catch their pocket gophers.  When I walked through an area of tall grass Daisy got distracted by the potential of finding a mouse.  I left her be after she gave me a "Be quiet.  Get out of here. I'm hunting." look.

Hours later as I split firewood Daisy showed up and wanted supper. Later in the evening she was outside.  She didn't come to get her "special treat" cat food supper.  Then I saw the reason why.  Sitting on top of my TV antennae was a large owl.  It wasn't afraid of me walking around.  I had to wiggle the antennae before it would fly away.  A short time later Daisy showed up at the door.


I got my check today from selling the calves.  The market is down!!!  Really down!

Last year I sold my steers for $2.11 a pound.  This year I sold my steers for $1.24 a pound.
Last year I sold my heifers for $1.90 a pound.  This year I sold the three black heifers for $1.07 a pound and the grey and red heifers for $1.035 a pound.

Wow! The price of cattle sure had dropped - and last year they already had dropped in the Fall when I sold them.  Expect the price of steaks and hamburger to drop next year once the cattle sold now make it through the system.

The steers weighed close (9 lbs less) to last year's steers.  I'll know better once Dan buys and weighs the four largest steers.  The two heifers weighed about 15 pounds on average less than last year's heifers.  The surprise was the three black heifers - they weighed 70 pounds more on average than last year's heifers.  And so far, weighed more than the steers.  I'm not sure why.

So as you can see from the prices I made much less money than last year.  Many thousands of dollars less.  It appears I barely made enough to pay for the high priced hay from last year.  Not much I can do when the market drops so suddenly and so low.  On to next year with hopes of better prices.

First snow

What global warming??!!   Seriously... a snow storm in early October??!!  A snow storm in early November can happen, but early October?  I want my global warming back!  Or at least normal weather.  I have stuff to complete before Winter is suppose to really come.

It was raining when Daisy went outside at 5 am.  It took three times for her to stay outside more than five minutes as it was raining steady and the wind was howling.  The weather service said the wind reached 44 mph.  I was happy if Daisy stayed inside but she kept wanting to go back outside and wouldn't let me sleep until she got her way.  Whenever she came back inside I got an earful from her complaining about the weather.  "Hey Daisy, I'm not happy about the weather either."

I checked at 6 am.  Rain, wind, and no Daisy.

Around 7 am Daisy was at the door meowing. It was snowing hard.  I saw a flash like a lightning bolt occurred nearby.   Lightning during a snowstorm?  I heard it can happen.  Daisy immediately jumped up on my bed and curled next/on me.  After washing her wet fur she went to sleep.

It was still blowing and snowing when I woke up at 9 am.  I stayed in my warm bed.

At 10 am someone called.  No one on the line.  A telemarketer?  Later I learned Dan had called around then but had terrible static on his end of the line.

I noticed my answering machine had no power.  I checked the machine, nothing wrong with it.  Then I noticed that the entire house was without power.  I called the electric company's power outage reporting line.  With a house account and an irrigation account it was confusing as to which option to select as both have the same address.  I left a voicemail message.

After 2 pm I called again.  While I figured the electric company had many outages due to the wet snow I thought it wouldn't take over 4 hours to fix mine; especially as both my neighbor to the north and the neighbor to the south had power.  I chose one option on their automated line to report an outage.  A few minutes later I called a number to talk to a person and see if I chose the correct option for my house.  No, they had no report I was out of power.

After 5 pm the electric company truck drove past my place.  Their boom truck was too tall to fit under my driveway gate.  They stopped on the road and checked the lines going to my house.  It turns out the fuse on the lines leading from the road pole to my house was bad.  They replaced the fuse and I finally had power.  Hooray!  Apparently the electric company had over 30 outages and over 6,000 people without power.

The wind had died down and the temperature by then was in the mid to upper 30s.  The only snow left was the snow in the shade of trees and buildings.  I saw a photo from Columbia Falls where someone had made a snowman.

On Sunday Buddy had broken the fence in his "favorite" spot and had gone into the north pasture.  I let him be.  This morning the cattle stood under various trees as it snowed.  Eventually they stood at the gate to the north pasture where Buddy stood on the other side.   I left everyone be. It was still snowing and blowing.  Later in the afternoon I didn't see Buddy in the north pasture.  Either he was around the trees close to the river, else he re-broke the fixed fence and went back to his cows who were now circulating around the pasture and eating.  Someday I'll rebuild this fence to be better so he stops doing this.

The 'rain shadow' effect out beyond the tree due to the blowing snow.

We got 1 inch of snow.  Elsewhere here are some of the snow totals.  Combined with the rain I believe we set a new precipitation record for the date.  FYI: my elevation is around/just under 3000 ft.

Cold and wet Fall day

It rained much of the day and the temperature was in the lows 40s.  This was a day I spent indoors.

Here are a few photos from September 23 of the Fall colors.


My pear tree produced about a dozen pears.  Too bad I was busy and missed picking most of them before they went bad.

Serviceberry bush. Protected from the cattle and the deer.  I also missed most of the fruit as I was busy elsewhere when it ripened.  I'm sure the birds got much of it.

Box elder trees.

Mailbox repair

Last Winter a car slid and clipped my mailbox post.  The accident didn't break the post but did cause it to lean a lot.  The post continued to stand (lean) since then and it wasn't until the end of September that I got around to fixing the post and everything.

This photo is from 2010 but things looked about the same up until the car slid against the post.  The additional thing missing from the photo was a board nailed to the two thin posts of the right.  The purpose of the board was to protect the mailbox from snowplow snow damage.

First I replaced the post. I wanted something more solid than an ordinary wooden post.  Initially I thought I would use an old railroad tie but I ended up using a scrap piece of cast iron pipe.  The pipe was just long enough to use as a mailbox post as the mailbox sits around 42 inches high.

 A bonus with the pipe is the flange on top. I could bolt on a wooden platform for the mailbox.  The top board is to screw the mailbox to.

Because the county is not responsible for damage to mailboxes when they plow snow off the roads I wanted something to protect my mailbox.  I already had one mailbox I had to replace due to snowplow snow damage.  So that was part of the purpose of the bottom platform board. I needed something to screw boards to in order to protect the mailbox from snow damage.

A nice solid mailbox

Going to cattle auction

Today I hauled most of my calves to the cattle auction in Missoula.  The auction will be held tomorrow.  Cattle prices have been really dropping every week since the beginning of September - and I thought the prices were low to begin with.  I and other cattle sellers are going to get hammered this Fall as we sell our cattle.   I'll see once my cattle sell tomorrow, but I may have little to no profit this year.

Last night Dan and his son came over and picked out four steers they wanted to buy.  So those calves were left in the corral until Dan and his son pick them up next week.

That left nine calves to go into my stock trailer.  They filled the trailer.  It looked like there was room for only one more calf.  My plan if Dan and his son didn't buy any calves was to raise three steers over Winter and sell them in the Spring.

The calves are so calm and well trained they easily followed me - and my bag of apples - into the loading corral this morning.  Donna then came and helped me sort out of the loading corral the four steers Dan and his son want.

On the to-do list for next year is to build a small area just outside of the head gate.  Since the head gate's doors swing outward there is a few feet between the head gate and the back trailer door.  The head gate is about the height of the trailer's floor.   I used to have dirt piled and packed up on each side of the had gate.  The dirt ramp still exists on the inside of the head gate but on the outside the cattle over the years wore it down.  Therefore, after the calves step through the head gate they step down a down a little bit before they step up into the trailer.  As cattle are hesitant enough to go into a stock trailer anything that makes it harder for them makes it harder for me.  And with the step down I can't rush the calves as I don't want to chance one breaking a leg.

We took it slow and the cattle slowly one by one stepped into the trailer.  Some calves stepped up into the trailer quicker than other calves.

Donna and I had the cattle sorted and loaded in 45 minutes or less. We just finished up when Dan came over to help.  Donna and I were on the road shortly after 9:15 am.  As we drove out of the ranch we noticed Buddy way out in the pasture standing tall with his head way up as he was intently watching us.  He knew we were taking some of his kids away.

I have the same number of calves - nine - as last year but the trailer seemed heavier on the drive to the auction. With my under-powered pickup I could hardly drive more than 55 mph unless I was driving downhill.  Once the trailer was unloaded the weight was back to what I remembered from last year.  On the drive back I was able to get up to 65 mph.

The morning was drizzly to a light rain for the first half of the trip.  We saw breaks of sun by the time we reached Missoula and the auction before noon.  Going the day before the auction usually means no lines to unload ones cattle and the previous trailer had just finished unloading when we arrived.

When we unloaded the calves Clyde kept trying to get back into the trailer.  Usually cattle can't wait to get out of a stock trailer.  But Clyde is smarter than the average calf; he wanted in the trailer and wanted to go back home with us.  He would climb back into the trailer against the tide of the other calves coming out of the trailer.  It took several tries before we got him out of the trailer long enough to close the trailer door.

Then it was back home. Donna and I stopped at the Thai restaurant in Polson, MT.  Their small parking lot was filled with vehicles with little room for a truck pulling a trailer so I had to park in an empty lot next to the restaurant.

We drove on the east side of Flathead Lake as it has less traffic, a slower speed limit and less hills.  We saw the cutest little black bear on the side of the road waiting to cross as we drove.  As we approached the bear headed back down into the ditch.

I was home by 3 pm. Once I got home I opened all of the internal corral gates for the remaining four calves to roam.  One calf walked around and called out. Apparently one of his best buds was among the calves who left.  The energy level here at the ranch sure has changed since the nine calves have left.  The level seems quiet to a low energy now.  Even though I still have cattle the ranch feels a little empty now.  I'm going to miss them little calves.

Then I had the long and dirty job of washing out the manure from the stock trailer.

Waiting to be loaded into the stock trailer.

Waiting to be loaded into the stock trailer.

Loaded into the stock trailer.  Clyde (red calf) looking at me.

Wet drive along Flathead Lake.

Dirty stock trailer.

Calf update

The calves are doing great.  They almost have the yard eaten down.  For the most part they are well behaved.  Still, they have gotten up to some mischief. I tied a tarp over the well pump shed roof. Somehow they have gotten the tarp off of one corner of the roof - twice.  They bit off the corner of one shingle.

While I protected my small trees and shrubs the calves worked to get at the leaves.  This morning I found all but one leaf gone from the small walnut tree in the back yard.  All Summer I had successfully protected this tree and its leaves but the calves finally worked the fencing apart enough to reach in and eat the leaves.  Fortunately the leaves were turning so I have hope this won't hurt the tree.

I reinfored the fencing around the large walnut tree.  Here is a 16 second video of several calves trying to get to the tree's leaves.   https://youtu.be/I7OqKm9iz7w

I cut and split some logs the other day.  Here the calves are 'helping' me.

Oreo

Today Donna and I helped Dan with two calves and a bull. John, a mutual friend of Dan and I, died last August from a fall from his horse and his widow was selling a bull and calves.  She is keeping their three cows and heifer (Oreo).

A neighbor of the widow bought the bull and Dan bought the two calves.  They needed help rounding the cattle up and getting them into the corral and loaded in the stock trailers.  I was happy to help especially as this would give me a chance to see Oreo, the calf I sold them last year.

The bull buyer used an ATV and a female friend of the widow rode horseback and both herded the cattle from the pasture into the corral.  I handled the gate.

Once in the corral we tried to separate the bull from the cows.  But the bull slipped into the side corral with Oreo.  So we loaded the calves first into Dan's trailer.  That went well.

Then we got the bull and Oreo back into the main corral.  Bringing Oreo along was easier than trying to separate the bull from Oreo and the three cows.  In the main corral we were able rather quickly to get the bull into the loading runway and away from Oreo.   Other than the bull pausing briefly to check the trailer out he loaded into the trailer well.

Once the calves were in Dan's trailer away from their mothers the mothers mooed and the calves got excited. This is the first time the calves will be away from their mothers and their weaning started now.  When Donna and Dan looked into the trailer the calves got extremely agitated and jumped up and tried to get out the very small windows.  Dan doesn't have anyone right now at his corral house and both Donna and I thought it was a bad idea to put these two calves into Dan's corral.  If you remember, last year a steer and a heifer got out of Dan's corral.  I offered to put the two calves into my loading corral until Dan's son moved into the corral house but Dan decided to take the calves to the auction in Missoula right away.

Here are some photos of Oreo.  She looks good.

New gate by garage

I am still feeling lousy from this cold.  Now I have a scratchy throat and this evening an occasional cough is starting. I slept in until 11:15 am this morning, but still today I finished my work on the new gate by the garage.  This gate will allow me to drive into the NE pasture without having to go through the corral when the cattle are in there.  And avoid the hayfield as often it is not the right time to drive in there.  And I can avoid having to use the gate out on the road and so avoid driving on the road.

The old posts were just four feet above ground and, while I had no plans on increasing the fence height now, I wanted slightly taller fence posts in case I wanted a higher fence in the future. And with a gate I needed a taller fence post.  I was going to use railroad ties as new posts, but after dragging them over to the fence I decided to use other posts.  The 8 1/2 ft ties would tower over the fence as I have no plans on increasing the fence height.  Currently the fence height is around four feet.  A railroad tie would be 6 ft tall when in the ground.

I found some large diameter round posts that looked to be hardly used.  They were 8 ft tall.  I put them in the ground three feet so the posts are 5 ft tall above ground.  They don't tower over the fence as noticeably as the railroad ties would.

I had to use my tractor to pull the old posts out of the ground.  They were 30 inches deep in the ground - deeper than the typical fence posts.  Surprisingly all of the old posts were in excellent condition in the ground and showed no sign of decay.  Some of the tops of the posts were what showed signs of decay - which is opposite of the normal fence posts.

I had to pull out of the ground one of the posts I put in the ground.  I reused the original post holes but somehow one post was not in alignment with the other posts and I didn't notice this until I put all the posts into the ground.

I moved the fence boards from the yard side so they would be on the pasture side.  I understand why the previous people put the boards on the yard side - the boards somewhat hid the fence posts.  However when the cattle and horses push against the fence boards, having the boards on the yard side means the nails are the only thing stopping the boards from coming off the fence post.

I didn't rebuild all the fence as I could go on and on and I have other things I want to get done right now.  So I only rebuilt a little over half the fence - from the garage to the old power pole.

I am very happy I put this 12 ft long gate here.  It is convenient to use and looks nice.  The new posts are the right height for the gate.