Round bales moved

I finally moved the round hay bales.  It took all afternoon.

First I had to get extra wooden pallets on which to roll the bales beyond the water.  The bales are large enough I can only barely roll them on level ground.  Also, since they sat all Winter they are a little flat on one side.  So I had to use a chain and my pickup to start them rolling.

Once one bale was beyond the water and on a pallet I used the pickup to pull the bale and pallet out into the corral at its highest point. Good thing I have four wheel drive on the pickup as the corral is: wet, muddy, icy, and manure covered. Half of the pallet disintegrated by the time I was done.  Then I had to tip the round metal feeder on its side, roll it over to the bale and then drop it over the bale.  Talk about weight lifting!

I rolled the other three bales up to higher ground in the loading corral. Again I had to use the pickup and chain to start the rolling of the two larger bales, and later to get the bales up the few inches to higher ground.

The frost is not leaving and the "lake" is getting bigger.

Can you believe this is how the area looked four days ago?!

The bales had just stayed out of the water but I found some loose ends of twine frozen into ice and had to be broken.  Also parts of the bale flaked off due moving and the broken twine.

I had covered the bales with tarps over Winter to keep the rain and snow off the bales.  I found some areas of wet hay that was soon going to mold. These areas were at the top of two bales.  Either the water found a way through the tarps, else the tarps did their job too well and kept ground moisture inside the tarp and against the hay.

The largest tarp is still frozen to the ground under a railroad tie I cannot pry loose.  The other tarps are enough to cover the tops of the remaining bales.  100% chance of rain tomorrow.

I also had a large grey mouse among the hay when I worked.  At the end I saw the mouse slip under the loose hay and an end pallet.  For once Daisy wasn't around as she took a nap in the barn.  I didn't realize she was there and when I picked stuff up at the end and shut the barn door Daisy got trapped inside.  I heard her meowing later when I was trying to get the calves to move from south of the barn to north of it to join their mothers and the hay.

The cattle missed their 1 pm feeding while I worked on moving the hay.  I had locked the cattle out of the corral as I worked.  They behaved quite well.  They hung around the corral gate and didn't moo too much.  Once I opened the gate they went right for the bale with Beulah in the lead. After everyone excitedly roamed around and around the bale to find the best hay they settled down for serious eating.  Hours later they were still eating.  Beulah and another cow are big enough they can eat off the top of the bale.

Momma and Beulah

For now I no longer have to go out and feed them four times a day.  Yay!

Still working on water

Around 6 pm I finally pried the last railroad tie free from the ice and was able to get the tarp up out of the ice.  It is hard to see but this side (the former bottom) of the tie still has a thick later of ice on it.

Tomorrow I will roll the hay bales to higher ground and get one over to the cattle. I'm still pumping water from the area. Elsewhere, in the driveway half the water soaked into the ground and also in a few other areas.  If only it would do that where the large hay bales are located.

When I went out late to feed the cattle and check on the bales, even though the corral is wet, muddy and manure covered, Daisy came with me.  Daisy can climb up the fence and over onto the bales as seen here. When it was time to go she wanted me to get her so she wouldn't have to climb down the fence and potentially fall into the water.  As Tammy says... "Such a princess!"

Good thing I placed the bales on pallets.

The cattle today wasted hay.  The adults spilled some hay over the side of their feeder into the water and mud and manure.  The yearlings tipped over their feeder and this allowed manure colored water into the feeder ruining the last of the hay in the feeder.

*sigh*


It was cloudy all day but the sun broke through on the mountains briefly at sunset.

Water problems

Lots of snow. Frozen ground. Very cold then a rapid warm up. It rained all of last night and at times poured rain. The water has no where to go.

The driveway is under water.

Low areas out in the hayfield collect water.

Now the problem...

I have some small hay bales left to feed the cattle but I planned to now switch to using the large hay bales. Normally most of the snow is gone by the 1st of March.  Not this year.

First I had to remove all the recent snow around the big bales.  Tuesday I shoveled half the snow.

Today, Thursday, this is what I found at noon. While this is not a low area, it is a few inches lower than the land around the loading corral. And since we have lots of water all of a sudden... I have a problem. Good thing I had placed the bales on wooden pallets to keep them off the ground.  I got a pump to remove the water before it rose higher.  In the afternoon the water came from snow melt as fast as I pumped it away.  Finally in the evening I got ahead of the water and lowered the amount.

Another problem is that the tarp is frozen in ice.  For our mid-January thaw apparently some water collected here that I didn't see.  Everywhere else melted water eventually disappeared into the ground. Not here as the bottom is an inch of ice. The tarp is frozen into the ice. As the ice is under water it is not softening and melting.

Tomorrow I hope to get the tarp free and a bale out for the cattle.

Daisy helped me as I worked.  When she got tired of sitting on the tarp she climbed up the fence and eventually climbed on top of a railroad tie.

Daisy telling me it is time to go back to house.

More weather

Hopefully the saying is true: "In like a lion, out like a lamb".   This weekend has been cold, windy and snowy.  All weekend. And lots of each.  Tammy planned a Tastefully Simple tasting party for her team on Sunday and she had to postpone it until next weekend due to the weather.  So we have a refrigerator full of food.

Sunday morning Daisy was bored and really wanted to go outside.  Numerous times in the morning she indicated she wanted to go outside hoping each time the weather would be better.  Tammy or I would open the door and Daisy would see what the weather was like and then turn around... disappointed.  Lots of meowing in the morning until Daisy gave up and settled down for an afternoon nap.

You can't burn this cardboard... it is mine!

The cattle's fur must really protect them as the snow on the cattle is not melting.

Temperatures always around zero F requires the stock tank heater to be used.   The small open area is because I hadn't used the heater earlier overnight.

All weekend I have shoveled and re-shoveled pathways to all the buildings and the corral.  I shoveled part of the driveway since Tammy goes to work tomorrow.  It is still snowing and the forecast has non-stop snow for the next couple days before we return to normal temperatures and the snow changes to rain.

Weather

The end of February and the temperatures are well below normal.

I haven't bothered shoveling the snow from last weekend.  Our normal high temperatures should be 40 F and the snow will melt soon.  The sun is intense, and even though the temperatures had been only getting up to the low 20s F, the snow melted in some areas.

Wednesday morning an inversion was trying to form to cover the Valley as seen below.  Fortunately it dissipated and we had a mostly sunny day.

For this sunset I was able to better capture the color.

Last night the weather got worse.  We were under a blizzard warning last night and today but my part of the Valley did not get it. We only had a little snow and some wind. For a guy who has lived in North Dakota and Minnesota - no big deal.   But local schools and sports were canceled and much was made over a little Winter weather.  Don't get me wrong - it is cold with temperatures in the single digits and wind chills below 0 F.  Daisy really wanted to go outside today but it was cold enough that Daisy got halfway out the door and then changed her mind.

Pruning pasture apple tree

For some reason there is a large apple tree in the pasture.  I don't know how it survived the livestock to grow tall.   It had been neglected and a few years ago I pruned some of it and also lower the tree's height.  Unfortunately I hadn't continued to prune the tree over the past few years.  Today I worked on the tree.  Because I hadn't pruned the tree in a few years I had to mainly work on removing newer branches to open the tree up rather than continuing to work on lowering the tree's height.

Tall pine trees are all around so it is hard to easily see the bare apple tree.  The photos are not the greatest but they are all I have.  I already had started pruning a few branches from the tree before I remembered to take photos.

Before... and after.

Another view of the tree:  Before... and after.

Tonight's sunset

The very end of tonight's sun's light on the mountains.  A minute later and the sun had set.

Melt and snow

We are in a cycle of melting and snowing.  A little here and a little there.  The mountains are getting hammered though.

This morning's view.

BTW: On Daisy the Cat's blog I had earlier spoken about Tammy, Daisy and I watching a horror show.  I was the only one who ended up having a nightmare.  My nightmare dream was that one of the calves got through the corral fence and back to its momma.  The calf drank from momma and I had to start the weaning of the calf all over again!
 

Pruning apple trees

A few weeks ago, before the recent cold spell, back when we were having such nice weather, I pruned the two apple trees in the fruit tree and garden area.  Usually I prune them every Winter. I don't know why but I didn't prune them last Winter.  So they were overdo for a pruning.

I don't have too much of a problem reaching the apples on high when using a stepladder so I put on hold my efforts at slowly reducing the tree's height.  Because the horses are in this area for a week or so each year I am limited in how low I want the lower branches to be.   Mainly I removed the newer branches and did some thinning.

Tree 1: Before and after.

Tree 2: Before and after.

Water and ice

The official low temperature last night was minus 21 F - a new low record.  My thermometer had a low of minus 24 F.  It was minus 22 F when I went outside at 8:30 am to feed the cattle.  All the cattle were frosty white.  So far the cattle seem to be doing well.

Now that the temperatures have gotten frigid I plugged in a light bulb for heat in my little shed for the well.  In case the light bulb burns out I also plugged in a small space heater as a backup.  I like using the light bulb more than the space heater as the light bulb puts out continuous low level heat unlike the heater which goes off and on and heats some parts of the shed more than others.


It is a challenge to keep two livestock water troughs ice free.  I have a heating unit that sits on the bottom of the trough.  In really cold temperatures, and with a full water trough, ice can form on top of the water.

I have a floating water heater that is nice as it warms the top of the water and keeps the ice away. 

But last year the floating unit began to trip my GFCI circuit breaker so I switched to using the bottom sitting heater.  When it wasn't as frigid I was able to alternate water troughs with the heating unit to keep the trough from forming thick ice.  A few days ago I found the floating unit no longer tripped the circuit breaker and began using it.   The other night I found my breaker tripped and I had to stop using the floating unit as a tripped breaker also shuts power off to the other heater.

I suspected the problem was because some water got into the floating unit, though I don't know why that should be a problem.  The bottom sitting unit looks to be the same design with the difference is that the metal is all exposed.   I hung the floating unit over the wood stove and dried it out.  I glued all the seams in hopes of completely sealing the unit so it will work.  So far tonight the floating unit is heating and not tripping the GFCI circuit breaker.

Even after I refill the water troughs old ice usually remains at the place where it froze even though ice does float. The water from the well is so cold the ice doesn't have much of a chance to melt before the water begins to freeze.