Cattle photos and Willow tree trimming

No new calves today.

Here are a few photos of the cattle resting in the corral this morning.  The calves were all sleeping soundly.

I trimmed some branches off the willow trees along the river.   My fencing around the tree trunks are working as I now have made it two years without the beavers chewing on these trees.   Prior to the beavers the trees were a trunk with branches to the side.  When the trees recovered they shot up numerous branches.  It is hard to get just a single branch up to become a tree trunk.  The trees are now more like bushes than a typical tree.  To help the trees to become more like trees I trimmed some of the branches off.  Over time - years - I may get the trees to become more like a tree than a bush.  I don't want to cut most of the branches in one year as a single branch left could get damaged by the wind if the branch isn't accustomed to bend in the wind by itself if it hasn't done it before.

Before and after photos.  From a distance the trees similar in the before and after photos.

One of the four trees in the above photo.

Another tree further down the river.   Before and after.

Close up view of the trunk after I trimmed some branches.  Prior to my trimming there were more branches than open space, and a number of branches inside the fence.  It took time to trim the branches.

Some of the branches cut.

Willow trees again

More photos of the willow trees from yesterday.  Today it rained and was slightly warmer so most of the snow is gone now.

And here is another willow tree.  This one shows the growth the past two years after the beaver ate the trees down.

This year I trimmed some of the lower branches.  Next year I will have to decide whether to trim more branches and try to slowly turn the trees from looking like a bush into more looking like a tree.

Willow trees by river

It appears the willow trees near the river survived another year from the beavers.  Yay.

Willow trees

It looks like the work I did last year to protect my willow trees by the river from the beavers is working.   The beavers haven't gotten to the trees so far.  And the trees are growing taller than they ever have been.  Here are some photos from about 10 days ago.    The trees have lost more of their leaves since then.

Willow tree beaver protection

For the past month, now that the river water level is low, I have spent time, a little time here-and-there, working on protecting the willow trees growing next to the river.  I was also moving irrigation pipes, doing the second hay cutting, and avoiding the heat.  An hour here, an hour there, several hours here and there.  I slowly got the work done and today I finished the work.  Now the trees should be protected from the beavers.

Here are the photos.

First three willow trees.  The beaver got to these trees before I started the protection work.

See the dark 'fencing'?  The fencing above that dark section was kind-of open or larger.  The beaver found it, reached through and nipped a few more branches.  I had to add some extra wiring to close the opening.

Here are the next two tree trees I protected.   Before and after.

Three weeks later you can see how the one willow tree is growing again and is filling the new fenced area.

Willow tree 3.  I had protected this tree from the beavers last year after the beavers got to this tree.  So this year I only had to trim some of the lower new branches.

Willow tree 4.   The old fencing wrapped the tree trunk. The beaver had climbed the wire and trunk and chewed off the top of the trunk and a number of the branches.  This new wire fence should prevent the beaver from reaching the trunk.

Willow trees 5 and 6.

Willow tree 7.  Another one I had protected last year.  I trimmed a few lower branches and enhanced the fencing.

Willow tree 8.  Another tree I had protected last year after the beaver got to it.   I trimmed it up removing new lower branches.  I also did a little fence work.  Last year I had added the 'cage' fencing around the wire fencing wrapping the tree.  This year I removed the wire fencing wrapping the tree as it was starting to constrict/cut into the trunk in a few spots.

Here are a few photos of some of the willow trees I had protected in the north pasture.  The cattle would love to eat the willow leaves.  I had previously put-up tall wire fencing to protect the trees from the cattle.  It works.  But the cattle eat the leaves that grow through the wire fence and push on the wire, as you can see some of the metal posts are leaning.

Then I noticed a few willow trees growing in the middle pasture.  They are so short due to the beavers that they were hidden in the tall grass.  Well, until a cow got into this area and ate some of the grass down.  Then I re-noticed the willow trees.  There are 4 willow trees.  Two pairs of them.  That is how they grew.

Before and after.  There is wire fencing in the after photo.  It just doesn't show up well in the photo.

Before and after.

Then I worked on this unknown tree / shrub in the middle pasture.  Many, many years ago I bought this tree / shrub at a tree sale.  Why I planted it here, I don't remember.  But then I learned the cattle would want to eat the leaves.  So I put a fence around it.  As the years went by the tree / shrub grew and filled the fencing.  It was on my to-do list for a few years now to re-fence the tree / shrub.  I finally did it yesterday and today.  Yesterday I got the main fence up.  But the fence was chest height and needed to be taller to protect the tree / shrub from the cattle.  It was getting dark so I put it off until this afternoon.  Yup, the cattle had found I had changed the fencing.  They pushed it down on one side and at some of the leaves.  Well, now the fencing is higher than me.

Willow tree

No signs of the beaver(s) the last few months.   In December I did see two other animals along the shore below me.  Not sure what they were.  Muskrats, or minks? 

Here is a photo of the last willow tree the beaver(s) didn't get earlier.  And one photo of the tree they did get.

Cattle feeder rolled

I have a cattle feeder in both the middle and north pastures.  I flip back and forth between the two pastures.  That is because when I drop a new large hay bale into the feeder the cattle can't wait.  They surround the feeder.  If some hay falls off the bale before it drops, the cattle will put their head into the feeder to eat the fallen hay.  Because I don't want the cattle to accidentally get injured when the hay bale drops I run around chasing the cattle away from the feeder.  Often they return to the feeder before I get the bale dropped.  So now I switch pastures.  That way I can drop a bale into the feeder where the cattle are not located.

Initially I had the north pasture feeder on its side until I was able to use it.  We had some strong winds and it rolled the feeder into the middle/north pasture fence.  Who would have thought this would happen.  When I try to roll the feeder I have to put a lot of effort into doing so.

With our cold - mid-Winter - temperatures, ice is forming on the river.  Yesterday when I let the cattle back into the north pasture I had to break the ice and cause it to float away from where the cattle drink from the river.  Uncommon I have to do this.

I also saw the beaver was back at it again. I'll call it "she" as this beaver is smart and determined.  I have protected and re-protected and re-protected the willow trees growing on the river bank.  I recently put a small square of fence around a tree I had earlier wrapped and the beaver had climbed above to eat.   The beaver figured out to unhook one side of the square and pushed that side open so she could reach the tree.  And ate it.  On another tree the beaver climbed above both tree wire wrappings to eat the tree.  She is getting up there to reach the tree.    That beaver is determined even if it takes her a few months to figure out to get around things to get what she wants.   I'm going to have to spend some time next year to better protect those trees.   Unless my neighbor finally remembers to tell their beaver trapping friend about my beaver problem.

Willow trees and beaver

A few days ago I spent some time to protect my willow trees from the beaver(s) at the river bank.  I had seen the beavers were active on some of the willow trees.  Time to do something.

First, I discovered the beaver had dug under a fence protecting a willow tree.  I went and got some extra wire to use as a fence where the beaver had dug.  When pushing the dirt back in place I discovered under some dirt some small wire I had previously used as a fence at that spot.  The beaver had taken the wire off the fencing.   The new wire I added should be able to stay in place.   I'll see...

You can see the willow tree where the beaver got to.

Here you can see where a beaver climbed above the wire around the lower part of this willow tree to get at the willow tree.

Here is another willow tree where a beaver climbed above the wire surrounding the tree to then eat off part of the willow tree.  I added sections of wire to make another fence around this willow tree.  Maybe this new fence will keep the beaver away from this tree.