Chain sawing a downed tree

No calves were born today.

Today I had the cows, and Hayes, in the corral; fed them some small bales, and later put out another large hay bale for them.  Since the cows, and Haynes, were in the corral I decided to chainsaw one of the downed trees from last year.

Last year I spent time off-and-on and cut off most of the tree's branches.  The remaining branches held the tree trunk off the ground.  So no hurry to cut up the rest of the tree to use as firewood later.  But I learned the cattle liked to stand under the tree and would rub against some of the branches.  And the first born calf liked to lay under the tree trunk.  I was afraid the cattle would accidently knock the tree over and it would fall on and kill a cow.   So now is the time to cut up the tree.  It is best to do so when the cattle are in the corral.  Otherwise they would be around checking me and the tree out as I cut it.

The wood is something else. Very solid.  I would cut 99% of the tree and the log would still stay up and connected to the tree.  I would either have to cut 100% of the tree or push to break off the log when I was at the 99% cut.  You'd think the log would fall off by the time it was 99% cut.  It's not like the logs are lightweight.

The following photo better shows how tall the tree was off the ground.  I also discovered how solid the supporting branches held the tree off the ground.  I thought the tree would fall over by now.  And the tree wouldn't move if I tried to push it over.  The tree was too tall to safely cut now.  To get the tree down I had to cut the supporting branch on this end.  The tree still stayed up.  I walked to the far end and pushed, and the tree finally fell forward and down. I stayed away from the supporting branches as they flew up and around as the tree trunk fell down.

Then I was able to cut up the rest of the tree trunk.  The to-do list for another day: stack the logs and branches.