Hay bale set out for the cattle

An odd year.  This afternoon I put out one of last year's hay bales for the cattle.  The grass in the pastures is getting short.   Usually the grass lasts until late October or November.  I still have grass in the hayfield but I don't want to let the cattle into the hayfield until days or a week after we have a good freeze.  That way the alfalfa shouldn't cause the cattle to bloat.

Normally I feed hay to the cattle in the north and middle pastures.   I rotate back and forth as the cattle wouldn't be in the pasture getting the hay bale as I unload the bale.  Since it is nowhere near Winter I decided to put the feeder and bales in the south and middle pastures.  A different area to spread the hay leftovers and manure.   That meant moving the feeder from the north pasture to the south pasture.  I was able to do that as the cattle were elsewhere in the middle pasture.  Then when it came to moving the hay bale the cattle were now at the middle/north pasture gate blocking my way.

Fortunately I have two middle/north pasture gates, and I drove the tractor to the west end gate while the cattle remained at the east end gate.

Here is the hay bale in the south pasture. With all the calves around I have more animals than can eat at the feeder at the same time, which is what the cattle want to do when they initially get hay in a feeder.  So I also took some of the hay from the bale and made 10 small piles around the feeder.

When it came to move the salt block to the south pasture I found the salt feeder in the south pasture like this.  No salt block in the feeder and the cattle decided to abuse the feeder.  The two metal posts are there so the feeder doesn't get tipped over.  That didn't stop it from getting lifted up and over.  And one of the legs broken.  I had to fix the feeder and put it back between the metal posts before putting a salt block in it.

The other problem was the south/middle pasture gate.  The past few weeks I have left the south/middle pasture gate open so the cattle can move between the two pastures.  The railroad tie has an eye bolt that I can put the gate's chain through to hold the gate in place.  This eye hook is a little loose but held in place.  Well... the cattle apparently don't ever want me to hook the gate closed in the future.  The eye hook is now missing. The cattle pulled the hook out of the railroad tie.  I looked all around on the ground and I can't find the eye hook.  The eye hook is large enough the cattle shouldn't have swallowed it.  But where did the hook go?

I got an extra chain and added it to the gate's chain so the gate's chain would be long enough to wrap around the railroad tie.  This will work for now.  Either I find the eye hook, or more likely, have to buy a new one.

All this took time. I have other things to do. I am trying to get all the pastures sprayed to kill the weeds.  Not as much sprayed today.

Hay bales stacked

Yesterday I gathered and stacked the hay bales from the second hay cut.  First I unstacked (took out of the hay shed) 18 of the 22 hay bales from last year.  Four bales were large and sitting perfectly so I left them in the hayshed.  Once this year's hay bales were stacked I re-stacked last year's hay bales.  

I have more hay bales than usual.  This year's hay bales filled the hayshed and a few rows outside.  Overall I ended up with 5 rows outside the hayshed along with two bales for a sixth row.  Amazon had a sale on tarps so I bought a couple.  I'll see how many hay bales the new tarps cover when the tarps arrive later this week.

It is nice to be done with the hay for the year.  Now on to other projects.

Photo from today.  It was 9 pm when I finished stacking hay bales last night.  Too late to take a photo as it is getting dark earlier now.

Hayfield gate down

When I started to cut my hay on Monday I moved the cattle from the neighbor's field to my middle pasture. This was done using the corner gate.  Once that was done I started cutting hay.  When I drove by the other gate to the neighbor's field I saw that gate was down.

The cattle once again messed with a gate.  The top lag bolt faces down to hold the gate in place. But the cattle somehow worked the gate to loosen the lag bolt and for the bolt to turn slightly sideways.  Down went the gate.  At least this time the gate was partially down and the cattle couldn't walk over the gate to get into the hayfield.

Today I fixed the gate.  Yesterday I had bought a new slightly larger lag bolt.  It is more snug in the railroad tie fence post.  Hopefully this lag bolt lasts longer than when I last rebuilt the fence and gate back in June 2019.

Hay is baled

I got all my hay baled this afternoon.  I got it all done about a half hour before Donna and I went to the Montana Shakespeare in the Park play.

I think I got the bale diameter sensor adjusted the way I want it.  It took a few attempts.  I want the bale diameter to be 5 ft (60 inches).   I got it to be 59 inches.  Close enough. Sometimes the diameter would be 58 inches or 60 inches.   What I learned is the bale diameter is not always identical on each end.  It can be off by and inch or two as more hay was fed in one side over the other.  If I set the sensor to be 60 inches sometimes the oversized sensor would go off as part of the bale may be 61 inches.  That happened a few times, but as the bale was only slightly oversized, the netwrap still worked and wrapped the bale.  Still, I didn't want to risk having an oversized bale and the netwrap not working so that is why I set the diameter sensor to be 59 inches.

Otherwise things went well.  Unlike the past so many years when I had a tractor problem, or a haybine problem, or a rake problem, or a baler problem.  No problems or breakdowns this time.  Things mostly went smooth.

I was worried initially as this is the most blooms I ever had on my alfalfa when cutting.  But I think this is the best hay I ever had.  The hay dried.  But it still has a green tinge and not a yellow or brown tinge due to dryness.  Many times the hay is dry enough that the baling action can breaks parts of it and I get chaff to clean out of the baler every so often.  Not much chaff this time.

I planned to let the bales sit for a few days before stacking them.  In case they are not completely dry as the drying action in a bale can start into a fire when a lot of bales are stacked on each other and the heat gets too hot.

I had a handful of instances where a small part of the netwrap snagged on one of the baler's belt.  I had to remove it from the belt.

This was the worse case of a snagged netwrap.

Most times the snag as at the end of the bale.  Once in a while the snag was in the middle of the bale.

I also had two instances of where the netwrap would not stop on its own and I had to stop the netwrapping.

What my netwrapped bales should look like.   Also, you can see how sometimes one side of the bale is larger than the other side.

I ended up with 52 bales.  Plus this left-over amount.   This is the most bales I ever got from a second hay cutting.  And especially since the bale diameters are now 59 inches instead 54 inches.   Fertilizing my field worked.  Plus the first hay cutting was two to three weeks earlier than normal.

My baled field.

Shakespeare - As You Like It

This evening Donna and I attended the Montana Shakespeare in the Park play, "As You Like It".   If Kari showed up we didn't find one another.  Donna and I, and most people attending the play, brought chairs to sit on.

It was a good time.  Not one of Shakespeare's better plays, but the cast, and watching the play outdoors, made it a nice time.   The play is a romantic comedy.

Official photos.

My camera's zoom no longer works, so my photos aren't the best.

At one point one of the main actors walks off the stage.  He then walked through the crowd before exiting to the left.

Info about Montana's Shakespeare in the Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYDtt1QjN4

Still working on the hayfield

Monday I had finished cutting the hayfield.

Tuesday I took Donna and Kari out for their birthday lunches.  Their birthdays were the end of June and the beginning of July.  Both are Cancers, like me.  This was the first time we could all get together for a lunch.  Later on Tuesday I got the parts of the middle and north pastures cut like I wanted to do in order to get rid of some tall stemy grass.  I was going to cut a small grass strip by my neighbor's driveway to help him out but I couldn't get a hold of him.   So I started pressure washing to clean my mower-conditioner.

Today, Wednesday, I finished pressure washing / cleaning mower-conditioner and then parked it for the year.  I also noticed the conditioner's blade are getting dull.  Either I will have to replace them or sharpen them if that is possible.  Two years and now dull blades.  The salesman mentioned they could probably only last a couple of years before they got dull.  He was right.  Something for my to-do list before next year's cutting.

Then I drove the tractor to the gas station to fill up the almost empty diesel tank.  $139, and 43.5 gallons later, and the tank was full.

Then I raked the hayfield.  Two windrows into one.  Then again to turn the rows over.  It was very windy this afternoon and the wind moved parts of some windrows.

They windrows are 99% dry.  Time to start baling as rain is in the forecast by Saturday.   First I reset / adjusted the baler's sensor.  My baler makes 4.5 foot bales when it should be 5 foot bales.  I tried adjusting the baler last year and it didn't work.  Earlier this year I talked with Jack at the John Deere dealership about adjusting my baler.  The way he and the book recommended was the last way I did adjust the baker.  I'll try again.

This time I noticed a different way to do a step.  The step mentioned to lock the baler before raising the belt tension arm.  But a sticker next to the lock says not to lock the baler before raising the tension arm and opening the gate as it could cause damage.   I looked online to set if there was more info that made sense.  Nope.  So I locked the baler and then raised the tension arm.  I then adjusted the sensor so that it read 173.  That is the number the manual said to set it to.   Before adjusting the sensor the monitor said it was 155.  I adjusted the sensor so the monitor said it was 173.  Then off to baling hay.

Once a hay bale was made I measured it.  It measured 4 feet.  What?  Smaller, not larger?   So I readjusted the sensor to 150.  The next bale was 53 inches (4 ft 5 inches).  I readjusted the sensor to 140.  The next bale was 57 to 58 inches.  I readjusted the sensor to 130.  The next bale was an oversized bale.  I got a warming on the monitor.    Before off-loading the baler I tried to netwrap it.  I unloaded the bale and the bale was partially netwrapped.  Not good enough.  The bale size was 62-63 inches.  Anything over 60 is an oversized bale as the max size for a bale is 60 inches.

I re-adjusted the sensor to 136.  I unrolled by hand the oversized bale.  I will have to re-bale it tomorrow as it was now getting dark.

It is odd.  Who knows why the manual says 173.  The odd thing is this evening when I looked up the manual online to double check, the number is now 208 with slightly different wording for the steps.  For the same model of baler.

And to increase the bale size is to go with a lower number?  None of this is making sense.  When I talked with Jack earlier he showed me the same description as my physical manual and mentioned 173.  He didn't know why it would be 173.  It is just what the manual says.

I hope the baling all goes as planned tomorrow.  I had hoped to get more baling done today as late tomorrow afternoon is a 'Shakespeare in the Park' outdoor play I am planning on watching along with Donna and Kari.

I'll see how much baling I get done tomorrow.

Hayfield cut

This evening I finished cutting my hayfield.  I started the cut last night with four rows cut.  Then finished the hayfield today.  I spent 8 hours cutting the field today, minus an hour where I had to go and buy some more diesel def for my tractor.  Add in the cutting time from last night and it was between 8 and 9 hours to cut the field.  I could have cut a little faster but I drove a gear slower.  That is because the alfalfa and grass were thick and I wanted to be careful and not cut fast.

The alfalfa and grass were dry on the outside to cut.  But the alfalfa and grass still had a lot of moisture inside them.  It will take longer to dry than normal.  Before cutting today I kneeled on the ground to check out the mower-conditioner.  Doing so my knees on my pants got wet.  That was due to the ground moisture.  The ground wasn't "wet" with water, but "wet" as the soil hadn't dried out from the recent rain and my earlier irrigation.

I would have liked to wait a little longer to cut the field as the alfalfa and grass still had moisture inside them, but the forecast is suppose to be dry this week and the temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s.  And the alfalfa is more than ready to cut due to their having lots of blooms on them.   More so than anytime I ever cut alfalfa.  Usually one cuts alfalfa shortly after they start to bloom.  That would have been a week or two ago.  But between the irrigation and then the rain I had to wait.   Unlike some other people around the Valley who took a chance last week and cut their field and lost as it then rained.

After cutting the hayfield I trimmed some in the south pasture.  The cattle eat the grass but some they miss.  Those grow tall and become stemy, and then will start die / dry out from the top down.   Right now they are hard to eat as they are tough.  By Fall and Winter they will become dead and softer.  But who wants to wait.

Another Columbia ground squirrel trapped

Back in June I had mentioned trapping Columbia ground squirrels in my hayfield.  They had returned after 15 years.  I trapped three of them.  Then nothing.  Once the irrigation lines reached that part of the hayfield I removed the traps and filled in the holes.  I think the gophers were gone.

Thursday I turned off the irrigation for the year.  Friday and Saturday, and the last thirteen pipes today, I removed the irrigation line pipes.  Friday evening when I started to remove the mainline pipes in the hayfield I noticed a Columbia ground squirrel hole was now open.  Saturday I set a trap.  Then saw another open hole.  I got another trap.  The hayfield alfalfa is tall and thick and it is hard to see the ground in the hayfield so I didn't look for more open holes.  This afternoon I found one trap had caught a Columbia ground squirrel.  Another one now gone.

For now I removed the traps.  Tonight I started cutting the hayfield.  Once the hayfield is done I will look for more open holes.

The pocket gophers and the Columbia ground squirrels seem to be acting differently this year.  In the past the Columbia ground squirrels disappeared for the year by the end of July.  It is now August 10 and they are still active and above ground.

A good sized Columbia ground squirrel in a trap.

Buffaloberry tree trim

Part of one of my buffaloberry trees was dying.   The tree has multiple trunks and one of the trunks leaned and broke off.  I doubt one of the cattle pushed on it as there were still a number of younger buffaloberry trees growing around this tree blocking easy access to the trunk that had broken.  I cut up and removed this broken trunk.  Part of it will become firewood.  The rest tossed.

When I took this photo I had already hauled off in a heaping wheelbarrow the parts of the tree I had cut, and other smaller buffaloberry trees I had cut and removed.  The second photo shows the area now open.  Before, this area was solid buffaloberry trees

The part that will become firewood.

The spot where the trunk broke.  This is the remaining tree trunk.

Cattle into the NE pasture

This afternoon I let the cattle into the NE pasture.  In the morning I did some fixing to protect a young tree and also the caragana trees.  When the cattle were there in June they abused the fence protecting the caragana trees and did a number on some of the caragana trees.   After the cattle moved on to another field I took down some of the damaged fencing.  I never got around to building new fence protection.  This morning I "fixed" the fencing instead of taking more time to rebuild the fencing as it started to rain again when I was done with the 'fix'.  I'll see if the 'fix' works.

Of course Panda was the first cow into the pasture.

In the rush these three calves ran through the wrong gate and ran into the corral, not the pasture.  Then they went to this gate to be with the rest of the cattle.  I had to herd them out of the corral - around and around a few times as they wanted to go only to this closed gate.  Once out of the corral they ran to the open gate to the NE pasture.

The cattle look good and sleek. Most of them lost their Winter fur.  Even Beulah - the brown cow - looks sleek.  Beulah has some Simmental in her and normally has more curly fur.

Cattle out of yard

I knew the cattle wouldn't be in the yard for long this time, but it was a bit shorter than expected.  This morning when I walked out to move the irrigation pipes most of the cattle followed me into the corral.  I got mooing from them like they wanted a new place to go.  They had eaten much of the yard grass but there was still a little left to eat.  I had planned on driving to get groceries later and would have moved the cattle out the yard at that time.  But since you are 'self-deporting' yourselves from the yard now I will close the gate. Less effort for me now than if I waited later.  Two cows were still eating in the yard and I left them be for now.  I moved them later when it was time for me to go uptown.

The cattle of course had tested their limits when they were in the yard overnight.  They had taken off one of the rain gutter downspouts and flattened part of it.  Here is one part of the gutter.

For one of the hazelnuts bushes they had tipped/removed the protection from the bush and ate a lot of the bush.  I had several metal stakes holding the wire cage in place.  I had removed the stakes before I thought of taking the photo.

Here are the other two hazelnut bushes.  These cages held in place.

The wire fence held in place and protected the walnut trees.  Last year the wire fence for the small walnut tree didn't hold and much of that tree was eaten by the cattle.  It is good that this tree is coming back.

The first photo was taken in early July.  I had trimmed part of the tree before putting the wire fence around it.

The larger walnut tree.

My stack of logs to be split later got partially knocked over by the cattle.

In the afternoon after I got back from the grocery store I let the cattle into the part of the corral they hadn't been in since Spring.  The grass had really grown and it was time for a trim.