Burning the ditch

It's that time once again.  Time to burn the grass in the ditch next to the ranch.  Instead of going for a bicycle ride this afternoon I realized it was a perfect time to burn the ditch.  Very light wind.  Warm temperatures.   And rain is predicted off-and-on this week starting Monday.

I started at the SE corner of the hayfield as I wanted to also burn the grass along my fence between the hayfield and the house to the south.  Then I would burn the ditch.  But by the time I reached the ditch, the wind was annoying.  The direction changed; and would off-and-on change.  And the wind would pick up slightly.   Years ago, when burning I had a few fires suddenly grow exponentially, and I had to really move fast to put the fire out before I would lose control.  Since then I am very careful when burning.  When I reached the ditch, the direction I would burn would change, and I didn't trust things.  So I put the fire out.

I have a rake to put the fire out.  I would also step on the fire at times to put it out.  Suddenly the back of my ankle on my right leg felt really warm.  I looked down and the back of my pants was on fire at the very bottom.  It was a clean pair of pants, but in the past I got grease on the pants leg from my bicycle chain.  I guess the grease wasn't 100% removed when washing the pants.

My "new" pants

After I put the fire out the wind quit.  Oh... I guess I could burn the ditch safely.  But I had used my last match to start the initial fire.  I went home and got more matches.   This time I decided to start burning the ditch from the north side starting at the driveway, and not from the south side.  The wind started back up lightly.  This way and that again.  But everything was fine.  And eventually I burned the ditch all the way to the south.

The wind quit by the time I got back to the driveway.  Well... I still had time left.  Might as well burn the ditch from the driveway to the north end of the property.   The very north end has tall evergreen trees with long needles.  The needles had fallen a lot and this make the burn more intense.  So I don't like wind when I burn this small section.

Everything went well and all the ditch is now burnt.   So this project is done for the year.

Since I didn't mow the grass in the fruit tree area, I let it burn a little of that grass while I burned the ditch.

The north end of the ditch.

As an aside, see the fence on the right side?  See the gap in the fence?   Earlier this week a truck driving on the road at 10 am went off the road and then over to the fence and through the fence.  The driver was able mostly avoid the tree on the other side of the fence and just rubbed it.  The driver continued turning right and went into a creek.  The property/fence owner said the driver blamed the accident on the truck's rear tires.  Hmmmm....   Once a tow truck pulled the truck out of the creek, the truck driver was able to drive back up onto the road.   Rear tires, eh?   Ya, right.

More photos of the calves this morning

No new calves born today.  Still!!  Come on ladies!  Have your babies now!

Photos of calves this morning

No new calves born today.

This morning I let the cows into the corral for some small hay bales.  While they are in the corral I haul out a large hay bale and then let them out in the late afternoon for them to eat that bale.  Once again I had to use an iron bar to pry the wooden pallets out of the ice inside the hayshed.

Here are a few photos of the calves walking to, and then in, the corral this morning.

Cattle in the sun

A nice warm day today.  This afternoon the cattle laid in the sun.   No new calves born today.  Come on ladies.  Let's get this done.  Have your babies.

The black cow was licking and grooming the red cow's neck and head.  Until I took the photo.  Then she stopped.

Still have ice

Looking at my recent photos you don't see much snow.  I do have ice in spots.   In my hayshed the ground is not level, and some areas collect water from snow melt.  It melted in January briefly then the temperatures got cold again.  The water froze in the hayshed.   Even though our temperatures have been warmer, and most of the snow melted, the ice hasn't melted in the hayshed. 

I've had water inside the hayshed past years.  So now I always place the hay bales on wooden pallets.  Often two pallets high.  As you can see the weight of the bales can press the pallets partially into the dirt when the ground was soft.  Then water.  Then ice.  And sometimes it can be hard to get the pallets out of the ground after I remove the hay bale.

After waiting a number of days for the ice to melt after I removed a hay bale, I gave up and today I used an iron bar to chip and break the ice.  Then using the iron bar I pried the pallet out of the ice and ground.

Splitting a few logs

No new calves today.

The other day I split a few logs to use in my woodburning stove.  I already have enough split pieces to use this year, but these stumps were old and rotting, and the sooner I use them in my wood stove, the better.

The paper bag holds the shavings or small pieces that happen when I split logs, especially rotting/decaying logs.  The small pieces also get burnt as I don't waste anything.

Root in my driveway

Last week I discovered a tree root (or is it a tree stump?) coming up out of the ground in my driveway. 

A few days later I found another tree root coming out of the ground near this root.  A root?  The trees in the yard aren't close to this spot.  Or is this an old tree stump trying to work its way out of the ground?  Time will tell.

I chopped the roots out of the ground.  I didn't want to drive over them.  Probably wouldn't be good for my tires.

Couple photos of calf 2

After Donna and I banded calf number 3 I walked and check on the rest of the cattle.  As you can see cow number 8 pulled some hay from the feeder to the ground so she and her calf could lay on it.

He looks like a little bull calf, doesn't he?

Calf 3 - Panda's

This morning Panda had her calf.   Another black bull calf.  Third in a row this year.

Donna called me before 8 am telling me I should go out and check for newborn calves as the weather was bad.  I looked outside.  No it wasn't.  Still I went out and check for newborn calves. Later Donna told me when she called it was snowing and the wind was blowing at her place a few miles from my place.  It never snowed or the wind blowed at my place.

The calf had most likely been born less than an hour earlier.  The calf had been licked and cleaned off but his fur was still wet.  He was standing and trying to figure out how to drink milk from his mother.  His scrotum was large so I could tell he was a boy just looking at him when he stood.  I didn't have to get close to tell.

Hours later when Donna and I ear tagged and banded him his fur was dry.  He looked bigger than when I first saw him.  Guess the dried fur made him look bigger.

Since it was just me and not Curtis also helping I had to climb into the pickup bed and sit on the calf while holding his back legs so he wouldn't kick Donna when she was banding him.  The banding and tagging went quick and we were done.

Chain sawing a downed tree

No calves were born today.

Today I had the cows, and Hayes, in the corral; fed them some small bales, and later put out another large hay bale for them.  Since the cows, and Haynes, were in the corral I decided to chainsaw one of the downed trees from last year.

Last year I spent time off-and-on and cut off most of the tree's branches.  The remaining branches held the tree trunk off the ground.  So no hurry to cut up the rest of the tree to use as firewood later.  But I learned the cattle liked to stand under the tree and would rub against some of the branches.  And the first born calf liked to lay under the tree trunk.  I was afraid the cattle would accidently knock the tree over and it would fall on and kill a cow.   So now is the time to cut up the tree.  It is best to do so when the cattle are in the corral.  Otherwise they would be around checking me and the tree out as I cut it.

The wood is something else. Very solid.  I would cut 99% of the tree and the log would still stay up and connected to the tree.  I would either have to cut 100% of the tree or push to break off the log when I was at the 99% cut.  You'd think the log would fall off by the time it was 99% cut.  It's not like the logs are lightweight.

The following photo better shows how tall the tree was off the ground.  I also discovered how solid the supporting branches held the tree off the ground.  I thought the tree would fall over by now.  And the tree wouldn't move if I tried to push it over.  The tree was too tall to safely cut now.  To get the tree down I had to cut the supporting branch on this end.  The tree still stayed up.  I walked to the far end and pushed, and the tree finally fell forward and down. I stayed away from the supporting branches as they flew up and around as the tree trunk fell down.

Then I was able to cut up the rest of the tree trunk.  The to-do list for another day: stack the logs and branches.

Calf 2 - 8's

This morning another calf was born.  #8's calf.   Another black bull calf.   At 3 pm Donna and Curtis helped me band and ear tag the calf.    I again used my pickup bed to hold the calf so we could work on it.  It all went fine.

After the banding and ear tag.  From the look in the calf's face you can tell he was wondering 'what just happened to him'?    The calf was up and around when his mom later ate hay.  The calf was watching mom eat.

Calf 1 - 80's

Today I found a calf has been born.  The calf was clean and active so it most likely was born overnight.  The calf is a bull calf.   The mother is cow #80, the cow that was born with no tail.  The baby calf has a tail.  So, the "no tail" is not a generic condition.

This was the first calf born this year, a week after the first chance a calf could be born based on when I let the bull to start breeding the cows.

Donna said that since the calf was a male, and was born on St. Patrick's Day, the calf's name is: Patrick.  Sounds good to me.

Donna says Patrick has his father's (Toby's) face.

Since the calf was a male I need help banding this calf to make him a steer.  I can't hold the calf and band him at the same time.   Donna is suffering from nerve pain and can't move easily.  Donna suggested instead of kneeling on the ground and hold the calf down, that I should lift the calf and put him in the bed of my pickup.  Donna then can stand and do the banding.   I also asked my neighbor Curtis for help in case Donna wouldn't be able to help. 

I put one of my livestock trailer rubber mats in the pickup bed.  I caught the calf even though it was trying to walk away from me.  I put the calf in the pickup bed.  Curtis held the calf's back legs, and I held the calf's front legs and head.  Donna was able to band the calf.  It took a few tries as the calf's testicles kept wanting to go up back in the body as Donna was working to get the band around them.

One down, 12 to go.

When I first found the calf.

The mother watching over her new calf.

After the calf was banded and ear tagged.   You can also see the mother with no tail.

The calf that was born last August was fascinated by the new calf.  Later I still saw this older calf near the new calf.  I guess the older calf likes someone closer to her size.  The cows tend not to care much for the older calf.

"Why are you taking a picture?"

Bicycle chain and window

Things can be hard, when they should be easy.

This afternoon I worked on upgrading/fixing my bicycle.  I ride so much, parts wear out.   I go through a bicycle chain and freewheel every year.  This time I needed to also replace the middle chainring on my crankarm.  The company apparently doesn't make that model of crankarm anymore.  So last Fall I looked and looked and finally found on Amazon a chainring with the number of teeth I had, and wanted, that looked like it would work with my chainring.   Things slowed down as the chainring supplier was not Amazon itself, and the supplier sent me the wrong chainring.  It wasn't even close.  Because it was from a supplier and not from an Amazon warehouse it took longer to get the correct chainring.  Once I got the correct chainring it was Winter.  In the meantime I used one of the other chainrings on my crankarm and waited until it got warmer.

Chains stretch over time and that is why they need to be replaced.  A stretched chain wear on parts.  A few weeks ago the other chainring wore out.  Then I used the small chainring the past few weeks and this chainring was beginning to wear out as I waited for warm weather in order to replace the parts.  If I knew this was going to happen I would have bought a new crankarm instead of just one chainring.  Oh well.

It quit raining by afternoon today, and it was warm enough, so I decided to work on my bicycle.

I had to take the crankarm off.  I have special tool for that.  One side of the tool removes a bolt, and that worked fine.  The other side of the tool then removes the arm from the bicycle bolt.  That didn't work.  One screws the tool into the threads on the crankarm and then one screws another part of the tool to pull/force the arm off the bicycle.  What didn't work was the threads somehow had gotten stripped / loose and the tool would come off the arm instead of forcing the arm off.  Eventually I used a hammer and a metal punch and pounded the arm off.    Okay... not ideal, but it worked.

The replaced chainring was the middle chainring.  I took the chainrings apart and cleaned them.  When I put the new chainring on, it didn't seem to have a gap between the large and middle chainring.  Huh?  I don't know why. The chainring had the correct number of holes to bolt them together, but no real gap between the rings.  I figured out I could put a washer around each of the five bolts to make a gap and then fasten the rings together.  But the washers weren't quite large enough to fit around the bolts.  I didn't want to find and put larger washers on the bolts.  I decided to drill the washer holes larger.  My drill bits are sharp.  You'd think it would be easy to drill washers.  No.  I had to put the washers in a vice to hold them as I drilled. It was still difficult to drill the holes larger.  The washers got very hot as I drilled.  Finally I got them drilled.

When I put the third chainring on I also had to put washers on those bolts to create a larger gap.  A least I had washers that fit on those bolts and didn't have to drill them.

Then to replace the freewheel.  My freewheel remover tool didn't fit.  Freewheel tools usually have four teeth for some freewheel models or multiple teeth for other models.  This was a multiple teeth freewheel.  But the tool would not fit.  I thought it was because the nut on my wheel axle was in the way.  To get the nut off was hard as it was inside the freewheel opening.  One usually takes the freewheel off before trying to get the nut off.  But I couldn't get the freewheel off. 

I worked and worked and worked and finally got the nut off.  Then when I used the freewheel tool I found it still didn't work.  Huh?  It should.  What is going on?   Then I finally remembered that maybe I had another multiple teeth freewheel tool.  Or do I?

I went and looked in my bicycle tool box and found hidden in a container another multiple freewheel remover tool.  This one worked.  And I never even had to remove the wheel axle and bolt for this tool to work.  Argh.

Why can't the freewheel manufacturers make only one way for a freewheel remover to work?

It was easier to replace the chain as everything worked as it was supposed to.

Now my bicycle works fine and there is no occasional chain slippage on worn freewheel or chainring teeth.

Then I had to put out a small hay bale for the cows to eat by sundown.  Because it is muddy I wear mud boots.  I can barely tuck my pants in the boots.  Even so, somehow when I am around hay some hay gets inside my boots and on my pants that are in the boots.  How?  I don't know.   When I take the boots off I try to do so outside on my porch so as not to track mud or hay in the house.   Hay sticks to me so I try to rub it off.  I was standing and using the other leg to rub on my pants to remove the hay. When I ride my bicycle my balance is 100% normal. When I stand my balance is not quite 100% normal. I lost my balance and fell.  Into my storm door.  I went through the glass window.  No cuts as I was wearing my coat and gloves.  But I had lots of glass to clean up from the porch.

In this world, things that should go easy, don't.

Argh.

Btw - no calves have been born yet.  Come on cows, get with it.

Cattle on a cool day

We briefly warmed up to 32 degrees this afternoon.  The sun was out, and it felt warm.  Earlier I took videos of the cattle.  It looks warm but you can see the heifer's breath in the video.

Later in the video, one cow (Speckles) is licking from the SmartLic container for extra minerals and vitamins, and other cows are laying in the sun.

The video is 51 seconds long: https://youtu.be/AzgRBRfY1lI

Three of the replacement heifers.

Broken tree stump

A tree stump I had cleaned up around last year, and then left for the cattle to rub against, didn't last as long as I thought.  A few days ago I seen the stump broken off.  So another stump to dig or burn this Spring.

The weather is changing.  Tonight, and through all of Wednesday, a cold front is coming.  Some snow, but mainly strong wind and very cold temperatures and windchills.   This afternoon when I put out another large hay bale for the cows (and bull), instead of putting the bale in the middle pasture, I put the bale in the north pasture a short distance from the corral.  That way the cows (and bull), when not eating, can go in the corral and loafing shed to get out of the wind.

Maria's limp is gone

My cow, Maria, got a bad limp about a week ago. I think she had fallen on one of the icy areas we have in the pasture now. I put her in the corral with the heifers so she didn't have to walk much. I expected it would take another 10 days or more for her to heal and stop limping. But today when I went out to put another hay bale in the corral, she was walking fine. So I let her out of the corral to join the other cows.

Here is a 52 second video of Maria walking out of the corral today: https://youtu.be/va4uAuK-rCU

Ponds in the hayfield

I took a few photos of some ponds in the hayfield.  This was early afternoon so the ponds were larger by evening.  I checked the weather and it said we reached a high of 68 degrees this afternoon.  It certainly didn't feel that warm.  Maybe it felt like the low 50s?    At least today I didn't feel cold air when I bicycled.  A few weeks ago when our high that day was 56 degrees I could feel the cold in the air as I rode my bicycle.  Maybe it was because today has a little wind and the wind mixed and took the cold air away?

The pasture doesn't show it, but the hayfield still has plenty of ice.

Maria still has a bad limp, but after three days it looks to be a little better.  The healing will take a while.  I want the snow and ice to melt to make it easier for her (and me!) to walk.  The cows have more manure than the heifers.  So in the main corral I have stacks of manure.  It is like a field of rocks as the manure freezes hard!  After letting the cows out of the corral to go to the large hay bale today I used a shovel and went around part of the corral to knock manure stacks over.  Under the stacks of manure were stacks of ice.