Cattle, pasture... Day 1

After a day in the pasture... the cattle are happy and calm - other than when Momma occasionally pushes another cattle around.

Momma looking back to the barn

Momma

Momma and Baby

Momma and Baby

Baby in the background

Dried manure eye makeup on one of my heifers

One of my two screwball steers

Ear tagging and release to the pasture

Before releasing the cattle into the pasture Baby and four others needed to have ear tags.  Thursday Dan and his son helped me tag the cattle.

While the small end of the loading corral packed cattle in tight there was still a little room to move and several cattle got excited and climbed up on other cattle. Then they tried to climb higher and out of the corral!  We backed off, especially as one of the cattle was standing on the bottom boards with two or more hoofs.  I didn't want it to slip off and get a leg out of the corral and possibly break a leg.

One of the cattle backed down but the other steer kept going and crawled up and out of the loading corral breaking the top board.  The steer quickly calmed down once it was out of the loading corral.  He already had a tag so it didn't matter.

Otherwise the ear tagging was quick and smooth.  The cattle couldn't move their heads much so the tags went in quick and clean.  No blood this time from hitting a vein.

After the tagging was done...  As you can see, normally the fence is much higher than the cattle.  Part of the broken board is on the left.  One steer hid his head under the belly of another cattle but after tapping him on his back he raised his head and we tagged him.

After the cattle were tagged I released them into the pasture. I was almost out of hay.  Dan had brought a few of his cattle over and his were already released into the middle pasture.  Once in the north pasture my cattle were so excited to have green grass they put their heads down and began to eat, ignoring the other cattle in the other pasture.

One of the screwball steers hung back in the corral when the others left.  I went in the corral to herd him out and he freaked out.  He ran back by the barn.  When I went to herd him from there he ran towards the open pasture gate but then suddenly took a hard left and jumped over the fence dividing the corral.  Or tried too as he crashed down on top of the snow fence and barb wire.  He then ran to the cattle's "safe place" in the corner of the corral.

Just to the right of the red panels is where the steer jumped the fence

 
I then opened the gate by the barn to allow him back around the barn and to the part of the corral with the open gate.  He was extremely excited and I slowly went to herd him back around the barn.  He then took off and made a hard left again and jumped over (and on) the fence in the same spot.  Then he wildly ran out of the corral to join the others.

My cattle just wanted to eat and be left alone and not be herded.  After a little effort we herded the cattle from the north pasture into the middle pasture to join the other cattle.  Momma then ran over to one of Dan's cattle across the pasture and began to headbutt it.  The cattle are now in the process of getting to know one another.

Before the board broke

After I added another board on top

After adding the extra board I also added a "holder" for another gate in the loading corral.  While the gate is level and does not swing on its own, I added a board on the railroad tie to set the gate on so the livestock won't push the gate closed on their own.  And it will help prevent the gate from sagging over time.

Yard grass cuttings

This time when Ray mowed Bob and Jan's yard he dumped the clippings in their small utility trailer.  I dumped the clippings in the corral for the cattle to root around in.  What they didn't eat would fill in a lower area.

It was good that I dumped the clippings.  It wasn't a warm day but the clipping were hot and steaming when I pushed them out of the trailer.

The cattle liked the clippings.

 

Temporary corral

Even with the three large bales of hay I had bought, it looks like the hay for the cattle will not last until June 1.  They have healthy appetites.

I juggled feeding small hay bales with the time I would be in Las Vegas.  I needed the last large bale for those four days to make sure the hay would last while I was gone.

Remember the corral panels I bought last month (early April?  My, how time flies!), I used them - along with gates I have not hung yet - to make a temporary area for the cattle to get to grass.  I had to use five gates to reach from a corral gate over to the yard fence.  Note to self: buy more corral panels.

Even though the corral panels hook together I ended up driving some steel t-posts in the ground to keep the panels upright.  The uneven ground may be why the panels wanted to tip over.  As cattle push against stuff, the t-posts also prevented the cattle from pushing the panels over.

I had an area of grass next to the corral that would be perfect for the cattle.  Much of this area is the drain field for one of my septic tanks.  Usually by the time the cattle are moved to the hayfield this area's grass is fence high.  What happens is that the cattle walk and lay on this grass and since is tall and stemy the grass gets flattened and not much is eaten.

Letting the cattle take an initial bite of the grass may reduce its height later and it won't get flattened so easily.  I'll see later this Summer.

I attached extra gates to the corral panels when I ran out of panels.

This grass lasted exactly two days before the cattle mowed it down to golf course height.  At least it bought me two days and gave the cattle a change of pace from eating hay.  With all the rain we got since then the grass is coming back nicely.


Here is a 7:42 video of when I let the cattle into the temporary corral.  Some cattle more than others understood what an open gate to a new area meant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5F-p_ECTR8

Wash out

For the year we were behind normal for moisture: 3.5 inches instead of 5.5 inches. I was getting concerned when digging fence posts as how dry it was.  So we needed rain.  We had some rain before Tammy and I left for Las Vegas and I hoped the weather forecast was correct and it would rain while we were gone.

Boy, did it ever!

We had several inches of rain and are caught up to normal.  The neighbors said it rained real hard several times when I was gone.

It rained so much that the water ran and eroded where I had dug around the corral well.  When I got back I didn't notice the erosion as Daisy and I first saw a pail of rocks in my water trough.

Then I noticed the erosion under the water trough.  The pail of rocks in the water trough were ballast.  The pail was wired to the water trough and the trough wired to a metal pole driven in the ground.  My neighbors who I had asked to keep an eye on the water trough's water level kept the water trough from sliding into the well.  They are 72 and 76 years old and the water trough is cast iron and heavy.  I am amazed they were able to right the trough and save it.

Then I noticed the remaining concrete well casing had fallen down as the dirt had eroded away from around it.

I guess I will be replacing this casing for sure after all.

Once the cattle drank the water level down I moved the water trough away from the well's hole.  Then I pounded a few steel posts and wired up a gate as a temporary measure to block the cattle from the hole.

Spraying cattle for the year

Sunday Tammy and I sprayed Ivermectin on the cattle for this year to prevent them from getting worms or other parasites.  (Here is info on me doing this last year: http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2012/06/getting-ready-for-pasture.html)

We sprayed the cattle on Sunday as it was a sunny and dry day.  Spraying the cattle on a rainy day does no good and I need to spray them before releasing them into the pasture on Thursday or Friday as they won't stand still to be sprayed.  The forecast is for rain most of the week and the Ivermectin needs dry cattle and six hours rain-free to take effect.

I used my newly rebuilt loading corral to hold the cattle in a confined space so I could spray them.

The rebuilt corral worked great.  All eleven cattle fit into the smallest gated area and were packed in tight so they couldn't move much and I was able to spray their backs.

One of the cattle began to completely climb up on the other cattle's backs so we had to encourage it to get back down on the ground.  The corral fences held a 600+ lb animal stacked two high pretty good.

We opened the head gate to release the cattle before I realized it was a good idea at this time to also tag the ears of the five cattle without tags. The cattle quickly got out of the loading corral before I could get the ear tags.  Oh well... I'll tag them another day before releasing them into the pasture.


A side note... Notice in the one photo that two of the railroad tie "connector" boards came apart due to the cattle's pressure on the walls of the fences.  I pushed the ties closer together and re-nailed the "connector" boards with more and longer nails.  My work will get another test when I get the cattle back into this area for their ear tagging.

Loading corral fence done

I have been so busy lately I am way behind on photos and blog posts.  I had finished the loading corral fence back in April and have worked on several other fences since then.  I had planned on starting the kitchen remodel the beginning of May but got sidetracked by fence work as the fence work most important to do had to be done before the livestock was released into the pasture, else I would have to wait another year to do the work - and I was unsure one of the fences would last another year of abuse by the livestock.  I am almost done with the final fence work for now.  The cattle will be released into the pasture by Friday, and with rain in the forecast all week it will be touch and go for me to finish by then.  I may have to work in the rain to get done.


I have finished the loading corral rebuild.    It took me almost five years to completely rebuild the loading corral.  I started in 2008 the year my mother was ill and passed away.  The first year I rebuilt the outer south side. In 2010 I rebuilt the west and north sides.  In 2011 I moved the head gate and rebuilt the east side.  Now this year I finished the rebuild.  I had six railroad ties left to replace and a newer gate to hang. As you can see I didn't work on the corral fence every year.


Here is a photo from when I started in 2008.  The rope was to hold the two sides up when the cattle squeezed through this area.

Standing on the head gate, here is a view after I finished the south (left) side fence.

Here is the view when I started working again in April 2013.    Before, and when I was done.  The boards on top of some of the railroad ties are to hold the ties in place.  The first tie on the right was placed in 2011 when I moved the head gate. In the two years since then I found the tie was now leaning out.  The cattle squeezing through pushed the tie out a bit.  The first order was to straighten the tie.  Then, where I could, I added boards to hold the ties in place.

Before... and... after.

A slight bend in the path keeps the cattle from completely seeing all the way down the path to the stock trailer.  I wish I had a little more of a bend as the bend does helps keep the cattle from baulking at moving down the path.

The holes for the railroad ties are a little bit bigger than usual.  I dug the holes 30 inches deep.  Usually there was dirt for the first 24 inches and then gravel and rocks the last 6 inches.  One hole was 18 inches dirt and 12 inches gravel and rocks.  Ugh.

Here are the rocks left over from several holes.

I added a small gate part way down the runway.  In the past cattle would turn around and run back to the end.  This mid point gate will stop that.

Some of the fence boards are 8 ft long and others are 16 ft long.  Tammy helped me with the 16 ft boards as it is difficult to level, hold and nail 16 ft boards by myself.


The long view.

While the other railroad ties are mostly 10+ ft long with a few 12 ft and 14 ft ties, the last six ties are 8 1/2 to 9  ft long as I am about out of 10 ft ties.  These are solid and heavy ties.  I started this project with my sore shoulder, but even without the sore shoulder (which cleared up over the days as I worked), the ties took a lot of effort to move and lift into the holes.  I think I am getting older.


I also replaced the gate.

The old gate

The new gate

As I close the gate it sweeps the remaining cattle into the loading runway area.

I also reduced the size of the runway.  The left posts show the original runway size.  Over the years I found it to be a problem when the cattle were side by side trying to squeeze through the head gate.  I made the first three ties from the head gate the narrow size of the head gate.  That is - only one cattle could fit in that part of the runway.  Then I flared the runway out.  The old runway had too much room for loading a trailer load of cattle.  That extra room allowed the cattle to turn around and go to the back of the runway.  Sometimes we went in circles a number of times before I got the cattle to move down the runway.  This is not something I wanted to do for time reasons and safety reasons.

To hang the gate I had to drill holes in the railroad tie for the gate's bolts.  Of course the cattle were curious about the electrical cord.

When it came time to roll up the electrical cord I found one of the cattle left a calling card.

So now I have a good solid sturdy loading corral that should last me a long time.  It has come a long way from the weak patched rundown corral I inherited from my father.


The cattle chewed their cud while I worked on the loading corral fence.  The video is 33 seconds long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8DPzORJIRo