Cattle into yard again

After letting the cattle into the yard to eat the grass this Spring I thought that this would be the only time.  Nope.  After my lawnmower broke down I still haven't gotten a new lawnmower.  The grass is growing due to the irrigation, even in the part of the yard I had cut.  So I thought I would let the cattle into the yard again.  That meant cattle proofing the yard again.  I did that this morning. Some things I improved.  A few things I skipped.  Mid-afternoon I let the cattle into the yard.

The cattle loved the fresh grass.  And the irrigation made the grass grow thick.  Not long or stringy.  Kind of perfect for the cattle to eat.  They behaved well.  For the most part.  The part I skipped turned out to be a pain.  I didn't put corral panels around the bushes in front of the house.   After catching up on my sleep this afternoon I discovered the cattle pushed against and rubbed on a few of the bushes breaking some branches.  I then put up one corral panel and bungie corded it to one of the bushes.

The cattle should have the yard eaten by the end of tomorrow.  Then off to their next location

Apricots. Irrigation. Buffaloberries.

This evening I finally moved the last of the irrigation pipes out of the hayfield and into the pastures.  The hay is ready to cut, and the alfalfa is blooming.   If I wasn't irrigating I would cut the hay right now.  To speed things up, the last so many days I moved the pipes to every other valve, not to all the valves.  This sped me up a couple of days. Now that the last of the pipes are out of the hayfield I need to wait a number of days for the hayfield to dry.  Otherwise it will be hard to cut.

Days ago when the irrigation pipes were in the fruit tree area I noticed the apricot tree had a number of apricots.  Getting apricots each year is hit or miss.   My apricot tree is the first tree to bloom in the Spring, before all the other fruit trees.   Blooming early can be a problem as the cold, or rain, or that the bees aren't as active yet, can lead to missed pollination.   This year is the most apricots I ever got, by far.  Which is good as I love apricots.

When picking the apricots I saw on the buffaloberry trees they had seeds.  Not enough to make jam.  Buffaloberries aren't that great to eat raw.

The buffaloberry trees had expanded with new trees this year.  I think by root.  They really expanded this year and were now growing all around my apricot tree.  I spent time cutting and removing a number of new buffaloberry trees away from the apricot tree.

Baseball game

This evening I attended baseball game.   Kari, through work at Logan Health, got tickets to attend a game.  Kari, Donna and I attended the game.  We sat on the Terrace.  The Terrace is located on the right side, near the third base.  Also food and water were available for us at no charge.  A buffet line for food, and the food was good.  I had a bison burger.

The stadium, built for this team, was impressive.  Especially since we are a 'small town' for a baseball team.  

The team is the Glacier Range riders.  They started in Kalispell in 2022.     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_Range_Riders

The Glacier Range Riders won the game with a score of 3 to 2.   It was a nice time as the temperature and weather were perfect.  A few foul balls came our way but no one got hit.

Scenes from tonight's game.

One of the two mascots on our Terrace area at times while we were watching the game.   The other mascot is a mountain goat.  A nicer looking mascot, but I didn't get a photo of that mascot.   After I took this photo the 'bear' offered to pose for a selfie with me, but I'm not a selfie guy.

The last time I attended a baseball game was back in the 1990s when I lived in Rochester, Minnesota.  That also was a minor league team.  The ball grounds and 'stadium' there were minimal, which was okay.  That also was a fun time.  I also attended a Minnesota Twins game in their large stadium in the 1980s.  The stadium was so large the team seemed far away which made that game boring.

Tree trimming in the pasture

I had finished harrowing my pastures back in April.  Over the years I found many lower tree branches can be a pain when harrowing, as I try to get close to the tree, branches will rub against the vehicle.  Back when I used my pickup to pull the harrow sections I trimmed tree branches above the pickup height.  When I started using my previous tractor I had to trim the branches higher.   Even then I still had a few branches rub against the tractor's cab.  Especially when some trees where close together and I didn't have as much room to maneuver around them.  My new tractor the cab has side mirrors.  Now I really notice when the branches rub against the tractor as the branches will fold the mirrors in against the tractor cab.  Time to do more tree branch trimming.

I thought it would take me less than a week to do the trimming and cleaning.  But after two months of trimming I am still not done.   I found more lower branches than I remembered.  I found more trees to trim than I expected.  For these extra trees I have room to maneuver around but I still don't get close to the tree trunk and I the end up spending some time raking the manure away from the tree.  Since I am trimming tree branches let me make it easier.  I found some dead branches in trees I was trimming.  Okay, let me cut them off and clean up the tree.   And I found a number trees who had branches growing down then out.  I am trying to cut branches to be above 10 feet up.  These trees with branches growing down meant I was 15 to 20 feet up to cut the branch from the trunk.  I have a pole saw with height, but the higher the cut the longer the pole saw, and this means the cutting is slower. 

Add in that the pole saw sections have pins to hold the section connections in place.  With all my cutting some of the pins slipped out.  I ended up replacing some of the pins with screws.  

Over time some screws tried to unscrew.  For these sections I then replaced the screws with small bolts.

Fortunately I had two blades for the pole saw as one blade broke.

I have a few youngish trees growing really close to one another.  Or tree trunks that split.  For trees really close to one another it would be good to remove one of the trees.  But as the branches usually are not all around each tree, I trim part of the tree I plan to eventually remove.  That gives time for the other tree to grow more branches to round out and get more balance.  In the past when I quickly removed one of the trees, in the next year or two a strong wind sometimes would blow over the unbalanced tree.

Close trees I trimmed this year.

Before and after.

Another view of the tree after the cut.

What I trimmed from the tree is the previous photos.  It was high up there and slow cutting.  Took me a few days.  I ended up making the cut in two locations as the saw blade started to get stuck in the first cut.

More close trees.  This time I trimmed branches from one tree instead of the tree height.  Another year I will trim the height from one tree as I was tired of doing so this year after the previous cut took so long.

From the five tall trees in the previous photo these are the branches what I ended up cutting off. 

This tree trimming was slower and harder than I thought it would be.  I found I could only spend four hours or less each day to trim branches.  Spending all that time looking up while using my arms and shoulder to cut branches meant the back of my neck would get sore.  I had to take breaks.  I then found that after between three and four hours of work I would start to get dizzy from spending all that time looking up.  I had to take longer breaks.  Then after a bit quit for the day.

I still am not done trimming tree branches.  I got the north pasture trees trimmed.  In the middle pasture I have about 14 trees left to check for trimming.  I may not get all, or many, of the south pasture trees trimmed his year.   I had to take a break from tree trimming as I have to do the first hay cut of the year.  Once the hay cut was done time to irrigate.   Before I started the irrigation I wanted clean up the cut branches.  I had so many branches I wanted to use my pickup.  Once irrigation started driving out to the pasture would be limited due to the pipes on the ground.

Of the cut branches a number were thick enough they would be good for firewood.  I then spent time trimming the smaller side branches of the cut branches.  In the end I ended up with four large pickup loads of branches to later cut up for firewood.  I ended up with nine large pickup loads of useless branches.  Those I dumped in low areas of the pastures that I don't harrow.

Two of the four pickup loads of branches for firewood.

The firewood branch pile in the yard.

This is the firewood branch pile I put in the northeast pasture.  That is because the pile in the yard was getting large.

Moving irrigation pipes is taking up a lot of my time these days.  Not sure when I will get back to trimming tree branches in the pastures, or when I will chainsaw these branch piles into shorter pieces for my firewood stove.

Hot air balloon

This evening, just when I finished moving the irrigation pipes, a hot air balloon flew overhead my house.  They were not up high.  A couple passengers looked down and waved to me as they flew over.  Then they flew off.   Fortunately no airplanes were around landing or taking off from the airport in the direction the balloon was going.  Once the balloon left they began to climb higher in the sky.

Serviceberries

Today when moving my irrigation pipes I noticed my serviceberry bush had some ripe serviceberries on it.   The birds hadn't gotten all of them.   I ate the ripe berries.  Over a dozen berries.

Here is the serviceberry bush.  I removed the protection from around the bush.  The cattle aren't in this area so I don't have to worry about the cattle eating the leaves from the bush.

Gophers, fox. dog. irrigation, lawn mower

Still trapping gophers.  I trapped three Columbia ground squirrels this year.  No more signs of any.  Since the irrigation is now in that area of the hayfield, and no signs, I removed the traps and filled dirt in the tunnel entrances to close them up.   I am still trapping pocket gophers.  Caught five today.  I am up to 48 for the year.  Some pocket gophers are very leery of the traps.   It can take a week to get them.  Often they just fill the traps with dirt.  And I have a few who then fill the tunnel with dirt.  I then have to dig again to find the tunnel that is open.  One spot I stopped for now as I could no longer find an open tunnel in the area. I'll try again in a week or two.  Every time I think I may be done in the hayfield I find another spot where a pocket gopher just started to make new tunnels and dirt mounds.

A few weeks ago, when walking out to check the pocket gopher traps in the hayfield I saw a fox in the hayfield.  It then took off to the south.  It was pretty.

Two days ago, in the afternoon when I was checking the traps in the south pasture two dogs came over towards me and started barking.  So that is why the cattle were bunched up the NE corner of the south pasture in the morning.  I then had let the cattle into the middle pasture.  It was time anyway to rotate.  I chased the dogs off.  Today I seen one of those dogs in my new neighbor's yard - Curtis's former place.  I had a talk with one of the new people this evening about the dogs.

We had rain the end of last week.  Enough rain so I took a two-day break from irrigating the hayfield.  I am back to moving irrigation pipes twice a day and irrigating again.

At the irrigation got to the yard I tried to get the lawn mowed before it was irrigated.  I first had to rake up the manure from the cattle who were there in the beginning of June.  Rake because the thick manure piles still could be moist underneath.  Some of the thin manure was raked to get it "up" so the lawn mower could then break it up.

I got a little over half the yard mowed before my lawn mower broke down.  The air cleaner is now getting oil in it.  I got this lawn mower back in 2008.   The lawn mower's time is done.  I'm not going to have it repaired.

The top part of my old lawn mower.

But to buy a new gas-powered push lawn mower.  Not as easy as it was back in 2008.   A number of them are now battery operated.  I don't what that.  More people want a self-propelled mower.  I don't.  Most people want a riding lawn mower.  I don't.

Yesterday morning after moving my irrigation pipes I went uptown to look for a new mower.  I went to: Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Cosco, Tractor Supply, Murdochs, both dependent Ace hardware stores, the Husqvarna store.  All the stores.  Not many gas-powered push lawn mowers.  Lots of empty shelves.  The few they had were the more expensive ones.  Husqvarna only had one.  It was a commercial model and cost $1500.  No thanks.  I guess I am going to have to find a lawn mower online and buy it there.

Therefore I didn't get the front half of the yard mowed.  The irrigation is watering it as I write this.

The south irrigation line today reached the east end of the hayfield.  Tomorrow the north line will reach the east end.  Then I start back.

Irrigation has started

Yesterday I finally started irrigating the hayfield this year.   I had cut my hayfield earlier, but we had an inch of rain one weekend so I could take my time laying out the irrigation pipes. It took me two days to lay out all the pipes.  I also had some work in the north and middle pastures and it would be easier to do if I could drive my pickup out there.  Laying the north irrigation line would prevent that.

I got my pasture work done for now yesterday afternoon, laid the last four pipes in the north pasture, then around 6 pm I got the irrigation pump started and going.  Before doing that I also spent time and effort to remove water weed in the river near the irrigation intake.  Better to do that now than in a few weeks as the water weed likes to grow and expand.

In the beginning I have the main line and sprinkler lines all uncapped.   For whatever reason stuff gets in the pipes as they are stacked and sitting there over the year.  The water washes the stuff out.  Better that way than have the stuff try to come put the sprinkler heads.  I laid out in the south pasture the extra pipes I had bought this Spring.   As this line sat there over a week, the cattle knocked the pipes over and the sprinkler heads lay on the ground.  It is a spare line so I will fix it / straighten it once the pipes are washed out.  I'll do it differently next time.  Have the sprinklers be standing from the beginning.  Yes, stuff was washed out the end of the line.  But once I stood the sprinklers up I discovered a third of more of them were clogged with debris.  Water and debris can go sideways.

I am now back to waking up early - for me - to move sprinkler lines twice a day.  7 am and 7 pm.   Since I fall asleep easily and need hours of sleep I then go back to sleep after moving the pipes at 7 am.

Cattle jailbreak into the hayfield

Yesterday the cattle made a jailbreak into the hayfield.  They have plenty of good green grass in the south pasture, but being cattle, they want more.

Yesterday around 6 pm, as I walked out of the house to go do some more work, I looked over towards the cattle.  Some didn't look right.  They looked to be on the hayfield side of the south pasture fence.  Yup.  They were.

The cattle must have just broken through the gate as less than half of the cows and calves were in the hayfield and weren't too far from the gate.  I went out, moved the leaning gate to be now open, and started herding the cattle back to the pasture.  I also had to deal with the rest of the cattle in the south pasture who saw our activity and came running over to join in.   I got all but one cow and two calves back into the south pasture.   The cow ran past the gate and not through.  The two calves split going in each direction away from the gate.  More effort and I got one calf back into the south pasture.

The cow was now down near the NE pasture gate.  I went down but she ran onwards.  Then past the middle pasture gate.  She headed towards the north pasture and hayfield gate.  That gate was open.   But then so were the gates to the NE pasture and the corral gates into the yard.  I didn't want this cow to go into the north pasture.  I got the cow to head back.  At the middle pasture gate, after a few turn arounds I got the cow into the middle pasture.

Now the final calf.  He didn't want to be herded and we ended up all the way to the south, south pasture and hayfield gate.  Before I could open the gate he ran back north.  I finally got him through the middle pasture gate after a few turn arounds where he went past the gate.

The cow and calf - someone else's calf - were fine in the middle pasture. Of course the rest of the cattle saw these two in the middle pasture and they ran to the middle pasture fence and the gate to the middle from south pasture.  They stood and mooed and watched the cow and calf.  Knock it off. Be quiet.

Now time for me to fix the leaning south pasture gate.

The gate on the left side was the problem.

I have the lag bolts - top down and bottom up - so the cattle can't lift the gate off the lag bolts.  The bottom part of the gate is fixed and the top has an adjustable hinge so that a person can have lag bolts be up and down.  Somehow the hinge slipped down enough so with pressure on the gate the gate would pop out of the lag bolt.  I got a wrench and readjusted the hinge to move it up.   I also had some wire and wrapped it around the lag bot and hinge so I shouldn't have the hinge slip in the future years.

All this cattle herding and gate fixing used up time.  The work I planned on finishing yesterday didn't get finished even though I was doing the work up 11 pm until it was too dark to continue working.  Today I got it done finally.