Getting the cattle ready for going out to grass

In a day or two I will let the cattle out to the grass.  First they have to finish off the bull's large hay bale.

This morning I sprayed on the cow's and bull's backs an ivermectin medicine to help prevent worms, flies and other bugs that can affect cattle.  Donna came over to help me.  I put the cattle into the loading corral, then the loading corral's runway to limit the cattle's movement as they don't like being sprayed and will try to run away from the spray.

I had let the cattle into the loading corral and left the gate open as they made their way over to the loading corral.   While I walked over to open the gate to the bull's hay bale I had Donna go to close the loading corral gate.  Mama saw Donna walk to the gate and knew "trouble" was here.  She ran out of the loading corral and the next I knew she was over by me as I was opening the hay bale gate.  Maria also came out after Mama.  I had to herd both back into the loading corral.  They were really nervous about Donna being here and didn't want to go into the loading corral.  Finally I got them in.

Photos of the cattle before I got these into the runway.

Once they were all sprayed - I skipped the calves - I let them out so they can go over to the bull's hay bale.

Before I sprayed the cattle I noticed the bull had broken one fence rail.  He was reaching outside the corral to eat grass.  So I had to fix and replace the rail before I let the cow's into his part of the corral.  Fortunately the bull didn't decide to squeeze through the opening before I fixed it.

The bull prefers grass over hay.   Here are a few photos of the corral fence where he stuck his head through the fence to eat the grass in the hayfield.  You can see where I had nailed fence wire on the corral fence the bull couldn't eat as much hayfield grass.  I don't mind the bull eating this grass as the area is too close to the fence for me to cut hay.  I just don't want him to break fence boards.

The cows in extended corral also wanted to eat grass in the hayfield and reached through this corral panel.  The photos show the area on each side of the corral panel.  The electric wire was on the other side of this panel until the corner panel when Donna and I ran the wire on the inside of the panels. (I had taken the wire down before I took these photos.)

The corral panels separating the extended corral from the north pasture had electric wire along the panels. I had already taken the wire down where I took the following photo. The electric wire protected the panels from the cows damaging them. Still, the cows and calves learned to lay their heads low and eat grass as far as they could without touching the electric wire.  As you can see they didn't eat the grass as far as they had done on the previous panel photos.

The cows last night tried to open these corral gates. They didn't succeed.

By late afternoon the cattle were fat and happy from the bulls hay.

Well leak fixed

Back in early April my house well pump pipe had a leak. https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2022/04/well-pipe-leak.html

Even though I fixed it back then, the new plastic pipe still had a really small leak at the bottom where the pipe fit onto the fitting in the pipe coming out of the concrete floor.  The past weekend I tried to fix it and stop the leak.  I only had one metal ring/clamp at the bottom connection.  I must need two rings/clamps, one at each end of the pipes to squeeze the pipes tight against the fitting.

After I put the second ring/clamp on the pipes, the leak was slightly faster.  Huh?

I asked my neighbor Curtis for advice.  He said heat the pipes slightly and that way I can tightened the rings/clamps more.   I did.  And the leak was just as much, or a touch more.

Curtis said maybe the ring/clamp on the lower pipe needed to be lower on that pipe and not at the very end.  Like the concrete is not holding the pipe tight against the fitting?  

So I had to chip away at the concrete around the lower pipe.  And do it carefully so as not to damage the plastic pipe.    This was a project.  The concrete was hard of course.  But also in the concrete were small rocks.  Try breaking rocks into smaller pieces, much less out of the concrete, when they are completely in concrete.   Also the shed is not super large.  I had to kneel outside the shed and try to chip.  And the pipe is at an angle which made chipping on the left side harder to do.

Because I would get tired kneeling and bending, and I didn't want to get too frustrated and then accidentally damage a plastic pipe, I would only chip away for a short amount of time until I got tired.  Also, after I had removed the two rings/clamps so I can chip close to the pipe, the leak slowed way down.  Way down.   Huh?

After much of the week chipping the area larger and slightly deeper, I decided to try putting the rings/clamps back on the pipes.   To my surprise the leak stopped.  Hurray!   I've checked and looked the past few days and no leak.  The concrete dried out.   So finally!

Before (back in April), and after.  I took the after photo a couple days ago.  The concrete is now white (completely dry).

Beaver, turtle, and birds

Yesterday when I was looking at how high the river was at due to the Spring runoff, I saw an animal swimming slowly upstream along the river's bank on the other side of the river.  I mainly saw the head barely above water.  I wasn't sure if it was a beaver or a muskrat.  Before it could swim around the corner the animal climbed up onto the river's bank.  Still I wasn't exactly sure what kind of animal it was as I didn't see a tail.  The size could be what I consider a normal beaver size - half the size I saw when the beaver walked by my house that night weeks ago.  Or could it be a large muskrat?

I watched and didn't make a move or sound.  The animal groomed itself.  It rubbed its nose and face and head with its paws.  Then it rubbed its belly as it was sitting upright.  Then the side of its body.  Then it seemed to rub its butt.

After a little more body grooming the animal went down onto all of its legs and moved off the river's bank and into the river.  Just before it was completely in the water I saw its tail.  Yes, it was a beaver.   Then it slowly swam upstream and around the corner.

This lasted 10 or more minutes.  It was nice to watch the beaver swim and groom.  I just wish they wouldn't eat my willow trees along the river's bank.

Today I went to the same spot and watched.  At one point I saw dark round object on the river's bank where the beaver was yesterday.  Then the object was gone.  Back into the water.  I do have turtles in the river.  Usually I see them sunning on tree branches in and out of water along the river's banks.  No branches there.  But I think it was a turtle.

Also yesterday I noticed a couple birds on the dead tree trunk in my front yard.  I looked closer and saw two holes in the trunk.   That is where the birds must be living.   I have a large live tree south of my house and birds carved out a hole in which to nest.  One year I nailed a board over the hole to prevent the birds from moving back the next year.  The birds carved out a new hole near the boarded hole.  So I gave up and let them live there.

One hole is where a branch used to be.  The other hole was completely created by the birds.

Torn tarp

The tarp I used to cover the hay bales, then the straw bale, is now useless.  After I moved the straw bale I left the tarp in a pile in the corral.  The cows and calves got obsessed with the tarp and started to spread it out.  Yesterday I put the tarp over the corral fence into the backyard.  This morning I seen some of the calves trying to pull the tarp back though the corral fence.  Really? Why are you doing that?

So I spread the tarp out to see how bad it was.  It was bad.  I cut a few small areas to make smaller tarps.  The rest of the tarp goes in the trash.  I may have "saved" 10 percent of the tarp.

Saved pieces.

Calf drinking from a faucet

One of the calves likes to drink from the faucet when I fill the water tank.  It would be easier to drink from the water trough, but where's the fun in that?

Straw bale moved

June is getting closer and soon it will be time to let the cattle out on the grass.  I have a large bale of straw.  Over Winter I moved the bale outside of the hay shed and into the NE pasture.  And since it is such a large straw bale, and is more straw that I need, every time I put out hay into the wooden feeders for the cattle so I can transition to putting out another large hay bale, I also add a wheelbarrow of straw as extra feed.  I found the cattle like to eat a little bit of straw at times to eat something different.

So time to move the straw bale somewhere safe.  How about into the barn as the straw bale is now smaller (thinner)? 

Since the straw bale is not the same as it was when it was made, moving it can be tricky now.  The twine holding it together is now only partially holding it together.  To protect the bale from the rain and wind I had placed a tarp over the bale.  To move the bale now I wrapped the tarp around the bale, and using the extra amount of twine further wrapped the tarp and bale.  I should have taken a photo of this wrapping, but I was busy and forgot.

Using the bale spear on the tractor I lifted the bale.  The bale rotated slightly, but it mostly held together.  I lost a very small section of straw, but I called it a sucess.  I was able to successfully carry the bale to the barn.  Because the remaining bale is still large in diameter it took a little effort to get it through the large barn door as the bale was as wide and tall as the opening.  But I made it inside.

Now to unload the bale from the tractor.  That didn't go as well.  Since the bale had initially rotated, to get the bale off the tractor I had to remove the twine and tarp from around the bale.   Else the tarp and twine would be under part of the bale.  When I removed the twine and tarp the bale fell apart.  At least I was inside the barn.

I had to shovel and pitchfork the straw to move parts of it in order to get all the twine and tarp outside the barn.  It was some effort.   Since the straw is not packed tight in a bale, the straw covers a larger part of the barn that I imagined it would.  At least the straw is inside now and out of the rain and wind.  I'll have more cleaning to do tomorrow.   When Donna comes over to make some small hay bales for me this Summer, I may have her make some small straw bales out of this straw.

Cracked corral fence rail

This evening when feeding hay to the cows I noticed one corral fence rail was cracked and bent outward.  Haynes the bull likes to rub against the metal rod and then also against the fence rails.  The wire held the rail up.  I pounded a couple posts in the ground to hold the rail from bending further and coming down.

The rail break is behind the smaller post.

The bent metal rod

Fruit trees leafing

April was the coldest month ever for an April.  May also has been cold.   Today I noticed one pear tree has leafed out and has blossoms.  Usually my apricot tree is the first one to leaf and blossom.  Now if it isn't too cold for the bees to do their work.

The apricot tree.

One apple tree.

The rhubarb is looking good.

 

Cattle and calves

Those cows.  They are always up to something.   This afternoon I discovered they removed the hook I use to keep the barn door closed and locked.  I guess the cattle wanted to get into the barn to eat hay.  Fortunately they didn't get the latch open and was able to slide the barn door.  Give them time though, they'd figure it out.

How I normally lock the barn door.  How I found it this afternoon.

I fed the cattle hay in the wooden feeders late this afternoon.  That way I can haul out a large hay bale to their feeder in the extended corral (I close the gate) without getting interrupted by the cattle.

There is more hay in the long feeder to the right. But many of the cows seem to prefer to eat at the smaller feeder next to the barn.  Even though the hay is the same in each feeder.  Why?  I don't know.  The barn feeder would be best at four cows, not the six cows that squeeze in.

Mama eats at the kid's table.  Later the kids shooed Mama away so they could lay in the remaining hay.

While the mamas were in the corral this calf (Little Beulah's) wanted to eat grass.  He lays under the electric wire to reach the grass on the other side of the corral panels.  This time he stuck his head through the panel leg loop to reach the grass.  Good thing he is small and didn't get his head stuck in the loop.  Now I understand why the grass is short under the corral panels even though there is an electric wire there.  And also why the grass is short in the back yard on the other side of the corral gate. (I later saw this same calf with his head through the corral gate sections and reaching and eating grass in the yard.)

Lawn grass for the cattle

Jan cut my hair yesterday.  She also told me she had a pile of her mowed lawn grass for my cattle.  Today I got the lawn grass.  Good thing I put the grass on a tarp in my pickup.  It was much quicker to get the grass out of my pickup.  The cattle immediately wanted the grass when I backed my pickup into the corral.  I had to drive slow as they surrounded the pickup and tried to reach in the pickup bed to get the grass immediately.  Grass tastes better than hay.

Raking and harrowing the pasture

A few days ago I finally finished harrowing all of the pastures.  I did the middle pasture last as it was the hardest to harrow.  Since I kept and fed the cattle in that pasture over Winter there was lots of manure all around the pasture.  Plus hay remnants from the feedings.  And since the cows like to lay under the trees there was lots of manure under those trees. While manure is good and fertilizes the ground, too much manure under trees and close to the tree trunks can be bad for the trees. Since I can't drive under or close to lots of those trees I ended up hand raking the manure away from the trees. Under some trees the manure was so thick from cows laying on and flattening the manure over and over, I had to chop the manure with the rake to break it up so I could then rake it away from the trees.  That manure was so thick it was killing the grass under it.  The hand raking took a lot of time to do over a number of days.

Here are a few photos from a couple of the trees.

And another tree.

A number of the trees have roots poking out of the ground that go a distance away from the tree trunk.  Those roots were hard on the harrow sections breaking or bending parts of the sections.  I have six harrow sections that I chained together.  I had to re-adjust the sections.  One harrow section by the time I was done was in pieces.

Before and after.

Cattle break-in

After spending a few hours uptown this afternoon, I came home to find most of the cattle in the south corral.   It appears a cow figured out how to slide the lever on the gate by the water trough.

I didn't have the chain positioned around the lever to prevent the slide.   The handle is rusty, and the bar slides into a hole in the wood posts.  So the handle does not slide easily.  It is hard to slide. That is why I didn't position the chain around the lever.  Now the chain is positioned.

The cattle have hay in their feeder in the main corral.  But they wanted to eat the hay in the feeder in the south corral.  Something new, you know.

I had to herd the cattle out of the south corral.  Mama cow and her calf were already out in the main corral, and I decided to leave her out there and not herd her back into the south corral.  For a while now her calf wanted to be with, and play with, the other calves, and he was happy.   Mama wasn't fighting any other cows over her calf.  I'll keep an eye that she behaves.

When herding the cows and calves out of the south corral I thought I had made sure not to herd the bull out.   An hour or so later when I walked by the south corral I saw it was a heifer in the south corral, not Haynes the bull.  They look the same, mostly.    The bull was close to Little Beulah.  Uh, oh.     I herded the bull into the south corral and the heifer out of it.  I had an extra gate open and before I could close it Little Beulah ran into the south corral to be with the bull.  I had to quickly herd her out.  Little Beulah wanted to be with the bull.  In case they already had some "action" I now have to keep track in case she gives birth on February 17 next year.

Chain sawing downed Winter trees

Starting back in March, and then through April, I worked off-and-on chain sawing the two trees that blew over this past Winter.  Plus I finished cutting up the other tree I had chain sawed earlier in March.  I wanted to cut up these trees and clean the areas before I harrowed the middle pasture.

This was the tree I chain sawed earlier in March.

I cut up that tree's branches.  Notice on these branches: their coloring.  That was because the cattle liked to rub against these branches back when they supported the tree trunk off the ground.

The tree trunk and branches stacked for now.

Tree number 2    The tree was not dead when it blew over.  After the tree blew over the cattle ate the tree's needles over Winter.

To make it easier to cut the rest of the tree trunk I lifted it off the ground.

The tree trunk and branches stacked for now.

Tree number 3   And this tree also was not dead when it blew over.  The cattle also ate the tree's needles over Winter. 

The tree trunk and branches stacked for now.

This was part of this tree's trunk, or stump, or whatever.

Part of what slowed down my chain sawing was my chainsaw's chain was getting worn out.  I re-sharpened the chain over and over.  Eventually the chain stretched and lengthened.  The photo shows the bar is completely lengthened, and still the chain droops.  I had to buy a new chain and wait for it to arrive before I could finish cutting up tree number 3.   With the new chain the cutting went way quicker.