More vaccinations

Michael and Kari came by today and we vaccinated the last-born calf and his mother.  It went well.  The calf was laying and Michael and I were able to get on him and hold him still so Kari could administer the vaccine.  So we didn't have to herd the calf into the calf table.

The mother wasn't too bad to herd into the loading corral.  We did have to go around twice to het her into there.  The cow ran up the loading corral runway fast enough that the head gate shut and locked the cow in place.  No back and forth as what sometimes happens when the cow doesn't run fast enough. She got vaccinated also.  Both cow and calf also got the ivermectin poured on their back to help prevent other insect problems.

Now in three weeks to a month the cows and calves get their second vaccine shot and then we are done for the year.

When the cow was in the head gate, and Kari was preparing to give the vaccine shot, I went and got my camera.  She was done by the time I returned and Michael just finished pouring the ivermectin on the cow when I took the photo.

All done.

Railroad ties

When riding my bicycle this afternoon I saw a pile of railroad ties near the road.  They were sprayed with the word "free".   Unlike the chair I recently got, I couldn't haul these ties on my bicycle.  When I got home I drove my pickup and picked them up.   The ties were ok but nothing I would pay for.  They were old and the bottom parts that had been laying on the ground are starting to decay.  I can use them as fence posts.  But way out in a pasture where looks don't matter.  And a few of them have "free" spray painted on them in orange paint.

I don't know what the previous owner used them for, but all the ties had these very long nail screws in them at each end of the ties.  Maybe to hold them in place in the ground?   It was an effort to remove the nails.

2025: Calf 13 - 7's

I went to bed after 2:30 am last night.  Before I did I went out to fill the cattle's water trough.  While doing so I could hear some soft mooing in the corral.   Not common so I turned on my flashlight.   I saw the mooing was coming from cow 7.  She was bending down and licking a calf.  I checked.  Yup.  It was her newborn calf.  She was licking it clean.  The calf probably was born around 2 am.   It is a bull calf.  That makes 7 boys and 6 girls this year.   Last year it was 5 boys and 8 girls.

This afternoon Michael came over to help me band and ear tag the calf.  It went well as the calf was pretty relaxed.

Lot of photos.  First off, photos when I checked on the calf this morning.   The calf is a beautiful calf.    I wasn't fast enough to get a photo, but at one point a calf born one month ago stood nose to nose with this calf.  Quite a size difference. The older calf looked way larger than this calf.

   

The calf just wanted to sleep but his mother started licking him until he finally stood up.

And another cow's calf came over to check if that calf could get milk from this cow.  Nope.

The photos after we banded and ear tagged the calf.

The cows eating hay at the feeder.  I see some of the calves also are trying to eat a little hay.  Or in this photo, a calf lays near the mother while she eats hay.

So all the calves have been born this year.

Fertilizing the hayfield

Today's work was to fertilize the hayfield.  I usually do this every three years.  This time it was four years apart.   The hayfield's yield has been going down a little each year.  Time to fertilize.  I waited four years this time as I still had extra hay last year.

I made an appointment to fertilize today.  That is because I also need to rent their smaller trailer to haul the fertilizer.   No sense owning a trailer when I only need it every three or four years.

I showed up this morning and they said the appointment was for tomorrow.  No....  we talked about this on Friday when I made the appointment in person for Wednesday morning.  Oh yeh, you're right. We put the wrong date in.  But we already committed the trailer to another person. They will pick it up at 3 pm.  It was 9:30 am now and I told them that I will be done fertilizing before 3 pm.  It only takes me two to three hours to drive around spreading the fertilizer.  So they rented the trailer to me.

I got the trailer loaded and out of there before 10 am.  I got the trailer back to them around noon.

When I fertilized two times ago the trailer had a second lever moved to another position.   It fertilized twice as fast and I only got half the hayfield fertilized.  They found the problem, fixed it and gave me enough fertilizer for me to finish the field.  Now every time I rent the trailer I have them double check the levers to make sure everything is correct as I rarely use the trailer and am no expert.  We saw the second lever was tied in the correct spot and no one can move that lever.  He adjusted the main lever to the correct spot for my field.

So around and around I went.  I order one acre more of fertilizer in case my spacing is off.  The trailer throws the fertilizer 10 feet to each side of the trailer.  I would imagine that is based on how fast one drives.  I still had fertilizer left once I drove around the hayfield.  So I drove some more looking at the wheel tracks in the grass to see if there were wider areas between tracks.  I think the entire field is now fertilized.

This was a good day to fertilize.  Yesterday was a beautiful day.  Dry, 70 degrees, little wind.  Today was cold with a high temperature in the mid-40s.  Cloudy with sprinkles.  Later a few snowflakes.  Moisture is good.   Since my hayfield is alfalfa and grass I had four varieties of fertilizer mixed together.  I was told for one of the fertilizers, moisture as soon as possible was ideal.  Without moisture up to 40% of that fertilizer would evaporate and disappear in days.  So that also was why I wanted to fertilize today.  The day of the week we would most likely get some moisture.

The wind picked up once I was done.  A strong cold front moved through today bringing high winds.  As I had gotten up from bed early for me, and it was now cold with strong winds, I went back to bed in the afternoon.  Rascal was happy as he had someone to lay against most of the afternoon.

Loading the fertilizer.  We completely filled the small trailer.

Next time I need to remember to flip over the hitch attachment on the pickup to make it higher.  With the trailer full the trailer's hitch was just above ground level.  Some of the roads are unlevel and at times I could hear the trailer's pin strike the ground.  An empty trailer - things were fine.

Fertilizer up close.  This was when I checked how much was left after I went around the hayfield one time.

As I said earlier the wind picked up strong once I was done spreading the fertilizer.   This view was during the drive back to the fertilizer place.

Now to see how much extra hay I get this year.

Cattle vaccinations

Today the cattle got their first round of vaccinations.   I never did this before.  But I have seen at some auctions they announce when cattle had vaccinations.  The vaccinations help protect cattle from certain illnesses; but does one get more money for cattle who were vaccinated?

I talked with a few other people and they vaccinate their cattle.  This idea also started as Michael and Kari asked if I vaccinate my cattle and offered to help me vaccinate them as it is a more than one man operation.

I learned it is best to vaccinate the cattle in the Spring.  Cows and calves.  And if not vaccinated in the past, the cattle get two shots, about a month apart.  For me it is best to do the vaccinations when the cattle are in the corral and before they are let out to grass on June 1.

I was waiting until the last calf was born, but who knows when that will be.  Two vaccinations a month apart, let's start now.   Kari and Michael had the day off work today and the weather and temperature was ideal today.  Tomorrow, not so much.   Kari and Michael came over after 2 pm and we started.

I wanted to do the bull and the cows first.  The vaccinations are with a needle and it is best for the cow to be in the headgate so they don't thrash around when they get their shot.  The hard part was getting the cows into the headgate where it would lock in place.  Some cows didn't want to approach the headgate.  Some cows didn't push hard enough to lock the headgate and then would back out.  The one cow left to have her calf was not going to be vaccinated.  She almost did as she was locked in the headgate when I noticed her.  We let her go.

One cow was fast.  As we left out the cow that had been vaccinated the next cow rushed right behind her and got out before we could close the headgate.  So we had to get her back into the loading corral.  Kari and Michael ran around the corral after her while I handled the loading corral gate.  I didn't do a good job as I accidently let another cow out.  More running around in circles after the cows.  At times amusing to watch.  We finally got the two cows back into the corral.

Donna came over when we were almost done with the cows.  Donna then reminded me about the ivermectin I usually pour on the cows' back to control ringworms, flies, and other insects.  Duh.  I forgot.

The bull was the last to be vaccinated.   We released him then herded him into the south corral.  Then we got the two replacement heifers out of the south corral so they can be vaccinated and be with the cows.  You'd think herding the heifers out of the south corral would be easy.  Wrong.  It was harder.  Michael and I got one heifer out.  The other heifer didn't want to go and we ran in circles to get him out.  Finally he ran over to the gate by the water trough.  Before Kari and Michael got the gate open I heard a loud crash and breaking wood.  The heifer ran through a part of the corral by the water trough.  This is a part of the fence I can just slip through to get in and out of the corral.  The heifer couldn't slip through the fence so she broke it.  Then it was an effort by Michael, Kari, Donna, and I to get the heifer back into the corral before she could take off elsewhere.  We got it done.

The heifers were a handful.  Like teenage girls.  Even in the headgate they fought hard to try to get out.  We had to calm them down so Kari could give them a vaccination shot.

Then we put the cows and heifers back into the loading corral. The cows were like, why are you putting us back into the loading corral?   I had to pour the ivermectin on the cows so we had to get them through the runway once again.  This time we didn't have to have the cows go into the headgate.  Enough cows in the loading corral runaway and they couldn't move much to get out of the way as I poured ivermectin on the backs of each cow.  Then release them then do another group of cows in the runway.

Now time for the calves.  Most of the calves, except three of them, were out in the extended corral.  First we got the three calves into the loading corral runway.  Then we had to get the cows and heifers back into the loading corral.  Again? The cows said.

Then we got the rest of the calves into the loading corral runway. After that we let the cows out and put them in the extended corral.  Of course the cows then stood on the other side of the loading corral fence and mooed for their calves.

Now the calves.  The headgate wouldn't work as the calves are too small for the headgate.  I have a calf table which I had only used a couple of times over the years.  Michael and I would release one calf at a time and guide the calf to the calf table.  Of course the calves didn't want to go into the calf table.  The calves are already too heavy for Michael or I to lift and carry individually.  It took two of us and it still was an effort to carry a calf who didn't want to be carried and would fight.  We got two calves done.  Kari gave them a vaccination.  I poured a little ivermectin on the calf's back.

Two calves and it was an effort for Michael and I.  I got the idea of moving the calf table to a gate for the loading corral runway.  Michael and I wouldn't have to carry the calves so far.  I used my tractor to lift and move the table.  Okay.  That's done.  It should be easier.  Well... a little.  Only a little.  We didn't have to carry the calves but they would run and twist and turn and around we would go.  Michael and I didn't have to run as far, but we still would have to run.  The calves seem to run faster than the cows do.

The loading corral runway gate went against the calf table on one side.  On the other Kari would stand guard so the calf wouldn't run around that side.   When we were done with the calf we let it out of the calf table, then Kari and I would let the calf out of the loading corral gate.  One time when we were doing this another calf ran around the calf table and Kari and I had to head it off, then back around the calf table.

It took both Michael and I working together to get a calf to go into the calf table.  Then Kari would pull the lever to pull the one side to hold the calf in place.   Our work was a job for three people.

Finally we got all the cattle vaccinated.  Whew.  We let everyone, but the bull, to be together and all were now happy.

Michael and Kari told me they had fun doing this.  Well good, because it was some work to do this.  This was not a typical day.  I worked up a sweat running around and was tired at the end.

Michael and Kari's dog Max wanted to be with us.  Once we were done with cows we let Max join us for the calves.  Max wanted to be with us and watch, not be a cattle dog.

Once the cattle were done, and Michael and Kari left, it was time for me to fix the broken corral fence.  This is where the heifer somehow got through the fence.  Imagine that.  The middle rail got replaced.  The middle post got replaced.  Then that caused the bottom rail to be replaced.  And the right half of the second from the bottom rail to be replaced.  More and more as I fixed one thing.  Then another.   And for some reason some nails didn't want to come out or go in the rails.  Pulling on a large crowbar to get some nails out.  And even big thick nails wanted to bend instead of going easily into the newer rails.  The final nail will be done tomorrow as it was getting dark by the end.  I will have to drill a small hole in the rail for the final nail tomorrow.

One of the rails the heifer broke when she went through the fence.

Calves laying. Middle pasture harrow prep

No new calf today.  Come on number 7... we are all waiting for your calf to be born.

The other calves were sleeping in the sun.  I decided to get my camera for some photos.  Of course when I came back minutes later some calves were now awake. When sleeping this calf's head was between the two boards.   And a few calves were still fast asleep.

Yesterday I cleaned up all the fallen branches in the middle pasture.  I hauled the ones I will cut for firewood back home.  I'll cut them shorter for the woodstove another day.

This afternoon I spent lots of time raking the manure away from the many trees in the middle pasture.  I got 80% of the trees raked around.   I'll rake around the rest tomorrow.  Raking around the trees makes harrowing easier and a little quicker.  And the trees in the middle pasture are more likely to have some of their roots a little above ground, which is hard on the harrow.

I also removed a metal section from the middle pasture.  One less thing to harrow around.  I never used this section or saw anyone else use it.  Not sure why it was put there.  Maybe someone used it as method to easily load something on a low flatbed trailer.  I don't need it.

Removing it I found side arms under the ground.  I guess they are used to hold the end upright and not have the ground move and make the end tip over.

Whenever I get around taking my metal crap to the recycling place, this will go also.

  

On the side of one of the arms, in the dirt, I found this reflector.  The metal is old and rusting, but the reflector still works.

Irrigations Pipes. South pasture harrowed.

Myron brought over 15 irrigation pipes this morning.  These are the pipes I wanted so I can have a fourth line. I run two lines. A third line is so I don't have to turn off the irrigation pump when moving one line.   Once in a while a fourth line would be helpful when the third line can't be used, or it overused.

I placed the newer pipes on my stack of other pipes.

The rest of the afternoon I harrowed the south pasture and got it finished.  It took me yesterday and today to harrow this pasture.  Having trees to go around slows one down.  And there were some fallen tree branches from the snow last week to clean up.

A little Spring snow and down goes a large and long tree branch.  Here is an example of one.

The branch was one of three that came off the second tree from the right side.  One can see how this tree looks a little sparse in the mid-section.

Here is a nearby tree where the branches fell off a few years ago when we had a heavy wet snow in November.   No branches off this tree this year.

For whatever reason this tree is slowly dying from the top down.

Here are fallen branches from a tree in the middle pasture.  This tree had lost lots of branches a few years ago during that November snowfall.   I trimmed the side branches from the fallen branches.  Tomorrow I will clean up the remaining debris, then start harrowing this pasture.

These are not small branches that broke off from the snow.  It is surprising such large branches break off from a small amount of snow.

Big and long branches.

Here are all the branches from this tree I will keep for firewood next Winter.