Stump 2 in 2024, plus fallen tree cutting

I ended up removing another tree stump this year.  This was not planned.  Earlier I had decided to remove a pile of branches next to a tree stump and I didn't realize until the branch pile was removed that the stump was wobbly due to the deterioration at its base.

The pile of branches was an old pile.  One of two piles I have left in the pastures.   When I burned stump 1 back in July I used a bunch of branches from this pile of branches to feed that fire.  Then when I was checking pocket gopher traps in the south pasture this Fall I carried off a few tree branches each time to cut and use in my wood stove this Winter.  And then there were no more branches worthy of the stove.  Time to get rid of this pile of branches, and haul it off and dump it in a low spot where I don't harrow.

One pickup load of branches.  Then I was back to push on the tree stump.  It went over easily.  The part that went into the ground was mostly deteriorated and soft.   I chain sawed the rest until I ran out of gas. By then it was getting dark.

This afternoon I went back with a wheelbarrow and axe.  I cleaned up what I had chain sawed yesterday and then did a little chopping to remove that last of the stump to be a bit below ground level.   Good enough.  Now there is one less tree stump I have to drive around when harrowing.

Yesterday when I unloaded the pile of branches, and since I had the chainsaw with me, I cut the branches off the fallen tree.  The only branches left on the tree are the ones holding the tree trunk off the ground.   I'll get rid of those branches another day.

Tree stump burn

A few weeks ago, after I started the irrigating of the hayfield, I also burned an old tree stump.  I thought I was done with burning tree stumps as I planned on keeping the few left so the cattle could rub on them if they wanted.   But last year this stump started to fall apart.  It got to the point it wasn't worth keeping.  I planned on burning it last Fall but the cattle still rubbed against the remains at times.  But this year I decided it was time for the stump to go.

In the Spring I dug around the stump.  I didn't dig as deep as I normally do as I thought how rotted this stump was it would be easy to burn.  Instead of 2 to 3 feet down, I dug 1 1/2 to 2 feet down.  And as you can see the stump has a lot of large side roots.

I let the dug-around stump dry some.  Then we had off-and-on rain in June. I waited for the stump to dry some more.  Now that rain quit the beginning of July it was time for the burn.  I didn't want to wait longer as the grass would dry out and that could be a problem.  The timing was right as the grass didn't burn.   If I had waited till now, that could have been a problem.

Still, to be safe I didn't do a massive burn of the stump and burn it all in one night.  I did small bonfires on parts of the stump and did this over five nights.  And due to me moving irrigations pipes daily, I didn't want to stay up really late that a large burn would require.

And it was five nights of a burn because the stump didn't really want to burn.  This was odd. Spruce tree stumps will burn and then somewhat smolder to finish the stump off.  Sometimes they need a little help to continue to smolder.   Tamarack stumps are hard to get burning, but when they do get to burning they will continue non-stop.  No extra help is needed.   This stump was hard to get started.  And it also didn't want to smolder either.   I have no idea what kind of tree this stump was as it had died and became a stump before I started living here full time over two decades ago.  The side roots were very, very hard and difficult to chop using an axe.  And difficult to burn.   Not a tamarack tree as I have found old sap in a long dead tamarack stump's roots.   No sap in these roots.

Here is part of a side root after I ended the burn.  I used an axe to chop this off.  They are extremely hard and heavy.

But the stump is now gone.

 

Night 1.

Night 3.

It looks like a starship and aliens could be watching me and the burn.

Near the end of this burn I broke and knocked part of the main stump apart.  That is what is burning.

Night 4.

Night 5.  The last of a side root.

Hawthorn tree stump news

Back when I was working on my hawthorn tree trimming and stump removal, I didn't get all the news posted before I got distracted with haying and other news.   The last I posted back in June I thought I only had a few more workdays left on the hawthorns.  As usual with the hawthorns, what I thought would take a few days took much longer.  I did finish in June just before I started my hay cutting.

This update is about removing the stumps of the hawthorn trees I completely cut.  I cut more hawthorn trees, but not all hawthorn trees were completely cut due to the time I was spending on the cutting and removal.

It's almost been a month since I worked on the hawthorn trees.   I forgot how many tree stumps I dug and chopped to remove.  Six?  More?  I removed the tree stumps for the trees I had completely cut.  That is because the tree stumps were sprouting new leaves a week later.  I want the hawthorn trees completely gone.  So that meant removing as much of the stumps as I could.

New leaves already.

One day several cows decided to help me with the stump removal.  Haynes the bull watched/managed from a distance.

Haynes the bull.

The last stump removed.  The dirt areas in the photo were where I removed some of the stumps.

I'll try to get the last of the hawthorn tree photos posted soon.

Hawthorn tree stump removal

Thursday I removed some of the hawthorn tree stumps I made when cutting hawthorn trees in the south pasture.  Two of the stumps were no big deal as the trees/tree stumps were not big or were more than half dead.   

The third tree stump was bigger, and the tree was starting to regrow several weeks after the tree was cut.

I have half of the stump dug/cut out.   These stumps are much heavier than they look.

I'm almost done with my hawthorn work for this year.  If the weather is decent I may be able to do the rest of the work tomorrow.

Pushing part of a tree stump

Yesterday I noticed a partial tree stump was pushed from the log pile in the NE corner of the middle pasture out and along the fence for a ways.  Haynes the bull I bet did it.  The tree came to a stop where I had made a snow pile when pushing snow with the tractor.  Also stopping the stump was that the stump was partially in the barb wire fence.  Haynes sure can push things.

Here is the 'front' side of the stump, and then the 'back' side of the stump.

I moved the stump back to the NE corner of the pasture.

Some snow today.  More on the minimum prediction, not the maximum prediction.  But we'll see once tomorrow comes around.  The temperature is in the 20s with some wind.  Not bad, though I left most of the cows and Haynes in the middle pasture with the hay.  They spent part of the day in the NE corner of the pasture near the stack of logs, and the partial tree stump, and the middle/north pasture gate.  The tree stump was moved a little bit, and one of the logs also.  I didn't let the cattle into the corral as they had hay in the pasture, and I don't want the new calf to be crowded out of the loafing shed.

No new calves today.  I looked for any several times, early to late.

Broken tree stump

I have a handful of tree stumps I am keeping so the cattle can rub on them if they like.  Well.. another one suddenly bit the dust recently due to the cattle.  I thought the stump would have lasted.  Especially since big old Toby the bull is not around.  Too bad as I liked the look of this tree stump.

Before... (from 2020)

After...

I thought I was done digging and burning tree stumps.  But next Spring I have this stump to completely remove.

Fifth and sixth tree stumps removed in 2022

Back during the first week of August I burnt the last tree stumps I had dug around this past Spring.  Due to our wet Spring, and then my other projects, I didn't get around to burning these tree stumps earlier.  But my irrigation lines were getting closer and I wanted the stumps gone before they got soaked.

Initially when I started digging I thought this would be only one tree stump.  But as I dug I followed a side root and then discovered another big tree stump not far away.  This second tree stump was just under the ground and not visible above ground.  Both stumps were solid.  When I later used a chainsaw against the tree stumps I had dug that Spring, I could only cut some side parts of these stumps.  The main stumps were too hard to chainsaw.

I expected this would be another multiple evenings of bonfires to completely get rid of these stumps.  But one bonfire and the next day the stumps were mostly gone.  The ashes smoldered/burnt another day and then the stumps were gone.

I had dug around this stump.  But you can see the cattle stepped on the ground next to the stump and pushed it down to the stump.  I had to re-dig the ground away from the stump.

Stumps were dug.  Second photo shows what I removed with the chainsaw.

A full moon was out.

Now time for the bonfire.  I didn't place a lot of branches on the stumps for the bonfire, but the branches burnt fast and high initially.

Now you can see the burning stumps.

This shows how close the two stumps were to each other.

With these stumps gone, less stumps to harrow around next year.  I have a small number of stumps left in the pastures.  I planned to leave the rest for the cattle to rub against, and not burn any more stumps.   But wait... what could possibly happen on another day?