A few more blues

In my recounting of yesterday's trial and tribulations, I forgot a few.

1. My tractor wouldn't turn off.   After I baled John's field I parked my tractor and baler in my pasture so I could go and move my irrigation pipes.  When I turned my tractor off the engine kept running.  The instrument panel turned off but the motor didn't.  I turned the key back on and the instrument panel came back on.  I turned the key off and the same, the motor kept running.  I waited.  The motor kept running.  I turned the key on, then further on as if to start the engine.  The 'grrr' sound occurred when one turns the key too far when the motor is running.
   
   I then ran the motor faster then slowed it back down to idle speed.  Then when I turned the key off the motor stopped.   Strange.
   
   Today when I used my tractor it started and quit normally.
   
   
2. The cattle stole a short chain.  I have a short chain I use to secure the double gates in the corral.  The gates have a slide rod to hold them closed but the cattle figured out that if you move the rod you can open the gates.  So I added a short chain and wrapped it around the two gates, and no more breakouts.  The cattle don't like the chain.
   
   The other day when I let the cattle in the NE pasture for 36 hours I left the chain hanging on one of the gates.  Yesterday when I moved the cattle to the middle pasture I discovered the chain was missing from the gate.
   
   Today I searched for the chain.  I looked around the corral and the part of the NE pasture near the gates but could not find the chain. I even shoveled several nearby larger manure piles in case the cattle tried to hide the chain in one of them.
   
   This is not a small chain.  The calves must have really ran off with the chain (when not pulling the haybine pin, pulling the twine or chewing on the haybine's rope).  I don't need the chain right now so I will look again later.  But it is really annoying that the chain is missing.

Today I discovered another thing from the cattle's 36 hour stay in the NE pasture. Before letting the cattle into the pasture I noticed three smallish evergreen trees had grown their top through the metal 'cages' I build around the trees to protect them from the cattle. The trees were a few inches to a half foot above the 'cages'.   So I placed small rolls of chicken wire on top of the 'cages' to protect the tree tops.
Today I discovered the cattle moved all three rolls and bit off the tops of the trees. 

The cattle also pushed hard on a wire fence protecting some of the caragana trees.  The wire fence was bent in but the trees were saved.

It is amazing in 36 hours the cattle ate the grass down considering all the other mischief they were up to when in the NE pasture.

This evening when I moved my irrigation pipes most of the calves followed me along as I moved each pipe and watched how I connected them together.  A few times they started to push on the risers and caused them to lean.  The calves got quite comfortable with me and sometimes I had to lift the pipes over their heads as I moved the pipes since the calves just stood there.   At times I think of the calves as 'my little mosquitos' buzzing around and being annoying.


Today I went and retrieved my hay bales from John's field.   Last year I discovered that I didn't need to use so much twine to wrap each bale and most bales held together fairly well without hardly any twine.  Well.. that works for hay that sticks or interlocks together more than this year's hay from John's fields.  When moving the hay bales I found several bales could have used a little more twine wrapped around them.

After I was done moving the bales I went back with my pickup to gather the loose hay that fell from several bales when I lifted them into the air.  I also checked some of John's fields for rocks and pieces of wood or old tree roots.  There were more than even what I had seen from the tractor.  Most looked like the haybine and baler just passed over them.  But to be safe in future cuttings I picked them up and tossed them in my pickup to haul away.

Hard for my old baler to tightly wrap the short dry hay.

Before disconnecting the tractor from the baler, I painted the quick-connects and the hydraulic hoses with matching colors.  This way in the future I will know which hose goes where.  Donna had some old small bottles of paint used to paint model kits.

Today was cooler with a high temperature barely in the 80s.  And no wind.  A few raindrops.  Nice weather - if one is not drying wet hay.  While in the morning the hay smelled wet; I think my windrows dried on top by the evening.  I'll check tomorrow.