Wind damage

The weather forecast had strong winds for today.  15-25 mph with gusts to 40 mph was the prediction.  At the airport near here the strongest sustained wind was 43 mph with a peak gust of 54 mph.  It did get windy in the early afternoon before I went uptown, in line with the weather prediction.  Before I went I decided to wash clothes as the wind would help dry my jeans on the clothesline.  I even moved my RV to allow the breeze to better reach my clothes.   Then I went uptown to get the items I won on the Monday night local auction.

I got 5 temporary corral panels.  I do have a number of panels but this group of five has one panel that had been modified to have a second set of "catches" used to pin two panels together.  With this panel I can split another line of panels to be perpendicular to the first line.

I also bought a temporary panel with a gate in it.  This I really wanted when I saw it.  It was one of six sold.

Not the panels I bought, but an example of what they look like.

The green panels normally sell new for $99.  I got mine for $64.40.  The panel with the gate normally sells for $260.  I bought mine for $92.  Maybe I should have bought a second panel even though right now I can only think of a use for just one panel.


When uptown I didn't really notice that the wind had picked up.  The wind was much stronger than predicted.  When I got home I found my clothesline was broken and my clothes scattered in the yard and the NE pasture.

I have a rotted post in the fence past the clothesline.  The fence boards were holding it upright but the fence was swaying back and forth.  I put a board on each side to brace the fence post as seen on the left side of the previous photo.

I discovered my bicycle cat wind spinner was missing the front wheel.  I eventually found the wheel out in the NE pasture.

My rain gutter downspouts were blown off and other stuff was strewn around the yard.

Then I noticed the cattle's loafing shed.  Almost a third of the roof was missing.  Usually when we get strong winds from a strong weather front, the wind comes from the north.  This time the wind came from the south and blew right into the loafing shed's opening.

The remaining roof was lifting in the wind gusts.  I grabbed a hold of the roof and pulled it back down.  Then I ran and got a chain and chained the roof down in front and in back.

The three middle posts appeared to have been tree trunks.  They had rotted just below ground level and all three had been pulled up out of the ground.  The back wall is leaning back a little bit.

I found the roof behind the loafing shed.

So my plans for this Fall have been drastically altered.  Now the top item on my agenda is to fix the loafing shed.  I'll have to replace the three posts in the front, then see how - or if - I can get the roof back on the shed.

The wind stripped all of the leaves from the box elder trees in the yard. I imagine that once I get out to the pasture I'll find one or more trees down.  The wind is still blowing strong and not predicted to die down until after midnight.  Earlier a few panels high on the hayshed were rattling in the wind. They looked like they will hold.  Still, I'll have climb up there and re-nail the ones that look to be loosening.

When I first got home the cows were in the middle pasture all excited.  They all looked to be ok.  Once they finally got used to the wind they settled down.

Snow

Yesterday morning and this morning I woke up to some snow covering the grass.  Both days the snow had melted by mid morning.

Each day I had been putting out some of the loose hay to supplement the calves.

In addition this morning, due to the snow covering much of the grass, I tossed three and a half bales over the fence into the hayfield to supplement the cows until the snow melted.  Since I was tossing the small bales on the ground and not in a feeder, and I was curious if the cows would eat the old hay I got from Donna, I tossed that old hay.  Looks like they ate it all.

I had three piles of hay and all the other cows wouldn't let Sugar eat with them.  So I got some of the apples and fed her through the fence far enough away that the other cows didn't realize what we were doing.

The bull is doing good.  The previous owners had named him "Charlie".  Neither Donna nor Dan like that name for a bull.  I think of "Charlie the tuna" so I am not fond of the name for a bull.  This afternoon I was talking with Jan.  Her son has a black cat named "Tobey".   Since the new bull is shorter than Buddy, "Tobey" seems to fit as I imagine a person named "Tobey" as being short.  Or maybe I am thinking of Tobey Maguire who played Spider-Man in a few movies.  So I am leaning to calling the bull, "Tobey".

I also finally lit my wood stove last night.  It has been cold and damp outside the past few days.  Yesterday outside temperature was 43 degrees at the high.  Inside the house it was 49.9 degrees.  Even for me that was getting a little chilly.

Dehorning Buster

I had banded Buster's horn back on July 24.   http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2017/07/dehorning-my-holstein-calf.html

A few weeks ago I saw that one of his horns had fallen off.  Yesterday, before I ear tagged the new bull, I checked Buster's remaining horn.  The rubber band was missing.  The horn had been squeezed almost halfway off before the band disappeared.  It is to late to re-band and remove the horn before sending the calves to auction.  So I cut it off.

Initially I couldn't find my dehorner tool and searched and searched until Donna asked, "Did you leave it in the barn?"   Duh.   That is where I found it.

Since the horn has been squeezed so much by the band it was fairly easy to cut the rest of the horn off.  It still bled a little bit.  It was nice that the horn was half dead before I cut it completely off.

Below shows where the other horn had been squeezed off by the band.

New bull

I hadn't planned on getting a new bull to replace Buddy until next Spring.  That way I didn't have to either segregate the bull or the replacement heifers all Winter.  Well.... I saw an ad on Craigslist from someone selling a good looking bull for a great price.   A price that would make the hassle of segregation this Winter worth it.

The bull seemed perfect for me.  The bull was born on July 1, 2015 so it was only 2 years, 3 months old.  The bull was an all black Angus.  Due to the bull's history, if I wanted to I could pursue registering the bull.  But since I don't have registered Angus cows, I mostly likely won't bother registering the bull.  And the bull has a good easy going disposition.

The bull was outside of Polson, Montana so I hooked up my stock trailer, called Donna as second opinion on the bull's quality, and drove down.

The owner lives on Peace Drive.  Apparently people like that name as the road sign was missing as people keep stealing the sign.  A little extra driving as I drove a mile past the road, but I did find the ranch once I turned around.

Lots of black cattle in the area. I seen only a handful of red or white-faced cattle.  The most concentrated large numbers of cattle I have ever seen.  Many fields were filled with black cows and calves.   Hundreds upon hundreds of cattle.  Many hundreds.  And hundreds and hundreds of large round hay bales stacked three high in multiple long rows.

The weather on the drive was scattered rain showers.  Some areas in the distance had dark blue dense rain clouds stretching all the way to the ground.  The hillsides miles to the south of the owner's ranch were white.  She said it rained and hailed hard before we arrived. She showed us some hail still in the shade of her place.  It was hail and not snow on the higher hillsides.  A few hours later when we left the hillsides were still white with hail.

The owner specializes in breeding mini Aussie dogs.  Her boyfriend was into cattle.  He had gotten the bull to breed their Corriente cows, but after the horned cows chased him he sold the cows.  Before he could get replacement cows without horns he had a heart attack and died.  He was only 56.  So since she only had a bull she was selling it.

The only question is how fertile the bull is.  With no offspring or a semen test there is no certainty he is not "shooting blanks".  If he can't perform it could be a lost year for calves.

Still, the bull seems perfect for me so I bought it.  I also bought the metal hay feeder she had even though it was beat up.  I loaded the feeder into my pickup after taking it apart.  The young guy helping her had to use a grinder to cut a rusted bolt we couldn't unscrew.

Their little corral made of metal panels had no loading chute.  So I gathered three bent metal panels and made a small chute at the end of my trailer which I had backed up to the corral gate.

The bull was easy going and the loading of him into the trailer went smoothly.  We went slowly to not pressure and agitate the bull.  I slowly maneuvered the panels to make the space smaller and smaller until the bull only had room to step into the trailer.

We took some of their old ugly and smelly hay that the bull had been eating and put it in front of the trailer to entice the bull.  I am not sure if that enticed the bull or whether he tired of me pressing a panel against his rear but he stepped into the trailer.  he walked to the front of the trailer and I was able to close the divider to keep him in the front half of the trailer.  The less room he had to move made towing the trailer easier.  The smell of the old hay bothered Donna all the way back to the ranch.

The new bull is less than half the size of Buddy so I was able to close the divider and the bull was also able to turn around in the trailer.

The drive home was uneventful.  I got home a little before dark.  Earlier in the day, now that the calves have calmed down, I had let them and cow #20 out of the corral and into the NE pasture.  I added fresh hay to the south corral's feeder and placed the bull in there for him to adjust to his new home.

The bull has no brands so today Donna helped me put an ear tag on the bull so I have at least something in case the bull decides to run away.  Even though the bull had watched me work on the Holstein calf in the head gate earlier, once I was ready to work on the bull he cooperated perfectly.  When I opened the gate to the south corral he walked out.  He walked straight over to the loading corral and walked to the back, then walked the loading ramp and into the head gate locking him in place.  It all happened so fast I didn't get a chance to close the intermediate gates.

The bull only had a minor reaction to getting the ear tag.  When I released the bull from the head gate he walked straight back over to and into the south corral.

That was incredibly easy!

The bull looks to be about 1000 to 1100 pounds.  Dan came over to look at the bull tonight and he agrees with me. Both Donna and Dan are impressed how good the bull looks, with both especially pleased with the bull's head and face.

Compared to Buddy who weighed 2540 pounds, this new bull looks small as he is less than half the size of Buddy.  But he will grow and even at this size should be able to mount the cows.  He does seem to have a nice long penis.

Corral to Hayshed fence

I finally completed the fence between the corral and hayshed.  I've only wanted to rebuild this fence for quite a few years now.   My brother can finally stop hearing me whine about my never getting this fence done.

For the last three railroad ties, one of the railroad ties was much heavier than the other two ties.  I used my tractor to lift the tie into the hole. I am getting too old to do a weightlifting move to stand the tie up and then drop it into the hole.

I had a little mishap when digging one of the holes.  As I bent down to lower the post hole digger back into the hole the bottom of the digger caught the ground and stopped and the end of one handle bashed against my forehead above my right eye as I bent down.  Blood and major soreness ensued.  Pain. Numbness.  Then more pain when the numbness wore off.  All these holes I have dug over the years and this is the first time I remember this happening.

After these photos were taken I added wire to the back of the fence to eliminate any chance of the cattle trying to stick their head through the fence.  I have a stack of sheets of wire out in the south pasture.  Since the last time I got a sheet of wire this Summer, ground wasps moved in under the stack.  I didn't realize that had happened until I got stung.  Then stung some more.  I had a cap, gloves and a coat on.  The wasps stung me five times: once on each wrist between the glove and coat, under one glove on my thumb, on the back of my head just below my cap, and on the side of my face near my left eye.

Ground wasps have a very nasty sting.  The thumb sting was on a crease, and of course the face sting, were the most painful. And kind of numb at the same time for about 24 hours.

I did carefully get one sheet of wire once I knew where the wasps were coming from.  I think due to my irrigation this Summer the wasps moved a few hundred feet from their old home to the wire stack.  The wire stack doesn't get irrigation water.

Now that the fence is complete I have removed the green corral panels used to reinforce the old barb wire fence.

This is quite a change from the old barb wire fence.  Donna asked why I was building such a massive fence when a rebuilt barb wire fence would do.  Because I like the looks of a solid wood fence.  And I had the boards.  Who knows.. maybe with a fence like this I could have some buffalo one day.   So now Donna calls this my "buffalo fence".   That is better than what my former fiancé called this type of fence: a redneck ghetto fence.  She didn't like this kind of fence.

All the boards were rescued from a neighboring business's burn pile.  I am glad I was able to repurpose the boards into such a solid fence.

Weaning calves: day 3

Things are getting back to normal.  Things are much quieter.  The cows eat in the middle and south pastures and only occasionally moo back to the calves.  Some cows will come take their siesta in the middle pasture where they can look over at their calves.

The calves are quieter.  Some calves are calm and lay down to relax and chew their cud instead of always pacing.  The calves that still stand and look at their mothers and moo, moo weakly as these calves are pretty hoarse and have weak voices.

The calves do have a healthy appetite as I give them more hay several times a day.

Weaning calves: day 2

I didn't get a good night's sleep last night.  The cows and calves mooed most of the night.  Every so often the cows would stand in the hayfield near my house and moo my way.  Whenever they did that they woke me up.  They mainly mooed near the house just before sunrise and a few times after.  Next year I won't have the cows in the hayfield when I wean the calves.

When I went outside I found three calves in the south corral with cow #20.  The calves had got into the water trough and pushed through the small wire-free opening above the trough.  Well... that's a first.

I nailed a board over the opening for a temporary fix.

The calves were along the south corral fence where a number of cows were on the other side.  I got two calves back into the north corral fairly easily.  "Xbee", Beulah's calf, didn't want to leave the fence where his mother was on the other side.  After some chasing back and forth I finally got Xbee back into the north corral.

The water in the water trough was dirty and muddy from the calves' action.  I couldn't pull the trough out to tip it and dump the water as I didn't want a larger opening for the calves.  I used a hose to siphon much of the water out along with using a bucket to get the water out.  I had to add more clean water to repeat several times to fully clean the trough.  All this while the calves often stood nearby screaming at the cows laying down in the hayfield just south of where I was working.  The calves were getting on my nerves.

Usually the herd sticks together.  This time the cows would take turns when they went to eat or go to the river to drink and would leave a few cows to remain near the corral at all times.  Finally, mid afternoon, when only two cows were in the hayfield I herded them into the middle pasture and closed the gate.  After this the closest the cows got to the corral was the middle pasture.  And the calves would then spend most of their time at the west side of the corral in order to be closest to the cows.

The calves were getting on Daisy's nerves by this afternoon.  She patiently waited - at a distance - while I cleaned the water trough.  Once I was done she wanted to go in the house and she led me there.  After a quick bite to eat she went down into the basement, the only place around here that was quiet, where she finally had peace and could sleep.  She stayed in the basement until evening.

Here is another short video of the calves bellowing about 24 hours after the weaning started. The calves are still going full on. 

https://youtu.be/2YeXagGSizs

Finally this evening the calves were starting to wear out with many having become hoarse.  It looks like tonight will be quieter than last night's very noisy night.  By the afternoon the cows were quieting down for the most part, with only occasional minor eruptions of bellowing in response to the calves.   Beulah's udder was swollen and massive for all the milk she was producing.  Some of the cows had minor hoarseness.   Mama, who usually just "meeps" when she moos, had found her voice today and was actually mooing at times.

Starting to wean my calves

This morning the low temperature at my place was 24 degrees.  It was cold enough to quickly kill the English Walnut tree's leaves and cause them to immediately fall off the tree.

I decided to start weaning the calves this afternoon.  At 1 pm Donna came and helped me sort the calves from the cows.  First we moved cow #20 from the south corral to the loading corral so she would be out of the way.  As Donna started to herd the #20, the cow began to jump and buck a little to move away from Donna, to her surprise.  Donna now thinks the cow is 99.5% recovered from her broken leg.  She also thought cow 20 was a little wild.  Maybe it was because she was by herself for so long while recovering from her broken leg.

Then we let the cows and calves into the south corral.  The cows went to the hay left by cow 20 and the Vitalix mineral tub.  So it was fairly easy to get the calves into the north corral as the cows pushed them away from the goodies.    Once the cows ate all the hay we moved them back to the hayfield.  For now I will leave the cows in the hayfield instead of letting them into the north pasture.  Instead of letting the cows eat the taller lusher grass, maybe they will stop producing milk sooner.

Waiting in the loading corral while we move cow 20 back to the south corral.

Buster has lost one of this horns, the left one. The right horn still hasn't fallen off yet.

When it came time to move cow 20 back to the south corral she got wild again.  Instead of coming out of the loading ramp area after I opened the gate she tried to jump over another wooden gate.  There was no need to do that as we weren't pushing her.     She came down on top of the gate breaking it and then getting hung up on the gate.  While we pondered on how we would get her off the broken gate she began to wiggle further breaking the gate and she was able to back off the gate.  We then herded her into the south corral.

Great.   So much for my plans for the day.  My long term goal was to replace the wooden gate some day, but now the cattle rearranged my plans once again.

I happened to have a small metal gate that would work.  I would prefer a green HW or a Powder River gate as they are heavier metal, but I think this gray gate will be strong enough.

To use this gate I had to add another post.  The wooden gate had been four feet wide and this metal gate was only three feet wide so I couldn't place the gate on the railroad tie post.

I'm not confident the gate's little chain will hold the gate shut against pressure of the cattle.  So I decided to add an extra board to help hold the gate shut as seen below.

I also decided to make the gate open to the right instead of the left like the wooden gate.  Usually people helping me are outside the loading ramp to the right and this will make it easier for them to help push the gate closed from the outside.

Here is a 1 minute 31 second video of the calves this afternoon starting to call for their mothers.

https://youtu.be/MoQNDrLKeMY

The calling and mooing wasn't too bad when the video was taken.   After I fixed the gate I finished working on a fence outside the corral.  As time went on the cows and calves started mooing more and louder.  Each was feeding off the other.   At one point I heard wood and metal straining.  I looked over and Beulah was trying to force her way through the middle/north pasture fence between the gate and the stack of logs.  She couldn't get through, but give her time and she may break something and get through.  I went over and chased her away from the opening she was trying to make.  I added some temporary boards and eventually she went elsewhere.

I closed the gates on the driveway at the road in case the cattle decide to break into the yard to try to get closer to their calves overnight.

As the sun set the mooing got more intense.  Even in the house with all the windows closed I can hear the cows and calves bellowing almost non-stop.  It is going to be a long several days until they get past this and I can again think straight when working outside.

Sunset

Fall colors

My English walnut tree. Now that the tree is older the leaves don't immediately die and turn brown at the first sign of frost.

Cherry tree that died back and is now re-growing.

Apricot tree that died back due to the deer some years ago and is now trying to re-grow.

Apricot tree

Apricot tree  (even with the fence around it, the cattle 'trimmed' it up).

The last photos are of my oldest - and biggest - serviceberry bush.  I was surprised to find some berries.  Usually the birds get them before I do.  And usually the berries appear in July/August.   The berries were still good to eat.