Cattle pasture switchup

In the morning when I was in the front yard Mama and Rose stood at the fruit tree and garden gate wanting in.  Nope, didn't happen.

Early afternoon after returning home from getting herbicide I noticed Buddy sticking out of the barn.  I had been leaving the barn door open a crack to let Daisy go in and out to look for mice.  I had a leather strap clipped to the door so the door couldn't be opened further.  Buddy broke the strap and pushed the door open.  I went into the barn through the other door so I could face Buddy and rap on his forehead to get him to back out.  He didn't want to go out but he did.  I shut the door.  He then pushed against the door trying to get in.  While uptown I had gotten several bags of ripe apples from Donna's sister and I used the bag to get Buddy away from the door before he could break it and then led him out of the corral.

At the same time I noticed Beulah and a number other cows had pushed several corral panels on one side of the hay bales against the hay bales.  The cattle has found the one spot against which I hadn't pounded a metal t-post in the ground.  Even though I had field fence  on the corral panels the cows either ate from the hay bales below the corral panels or above the corral panels.  I pushed the corral panels away from the hay bales and used the apples to lure the cows out into the north pasture.

I then led Buddy and the cows to the middle pasture gate and let them in the middle pasture.  Time for a change and that's what they wanted.

With Buddy out of the corral I opened up all of the corral to the calves.  There is grass and weeds to eat in the north part of the corral where Buddy had been.  With more of the corral to roam maybe this will eliminate or slow down the calves from getting hay bellies.

The broken door strap

The corral panels after I pushed them back out away from the hay bales.

The calves in the north part of the corral

Fruit tree and garden day for cattle

I hadn't planned on letting the cattle into the fruit tree and garden area; I just planned on letting them into the NW corner where the ground clover was thick.  But after I moved the corral panels to block off that corner for the cattle I decided to move the panels to around the two apple trees and also protect the rhubarb and strawberry plants and the buffalo berry shrub in the NW corner.  I then opened the gate for the cattle.

They found the open gate in the early afternoon after their morning siesta.  The first few cows sauntered in and started to eat.  Then the others noticed the first few were in the fruit tree and garden area and they came running across the field to join in.

By evening the cattle had eaten the grass down and left.  I closed the gate.  It appears they behaved.  I did see that they moved the fence from over the strawberry plants and bit part of them off.  But they must not have liked the taste as they left the bitten piece on the ground.  Several times I noticed number 7 pushing against the corral panels around the apple trees.  Since the cattle weren't going after the apple tree leaves - that I noticed - I only chased number 7 away from the corral panels once.  I'll see tomorrow if they snuck in some mischief when I wasn't looking.

The cattle mowed the grass well.  Now I don't have to mow it with a lawn mower before Winter.

Buddy spent the day in the corral.  Before I prepared/protected the fruit tree and garden area I nailed several temporary stout boards on the fence where Buddy broke through yesterday.   In the afternoon when I opened the gate for him he preferred to stay in the corral and eat the grass & weeds there.  Later I decided to keep Buddy in the corral for the rest of the day rather than have him go into the mostly eaten fruit tree and garden area for a few hours and potentially push or break something.

Dan and his son stopped by very briefly this afternoon.  Dan hadn't seen Buddy since last October and he remarked on how much bigger Buddy is.  Dan agrees that Buddy certainly weighs more than 2000 lbs , or 1 ton.

Siesta time in the fruit tree and garden area.

The jailbreaks continue

I was bicycling back home after an hour plus ride when it seemed as if my front tire was going flat (again.. as I had just fixed a flat tire a few days ago).  Then a neighbor riding his bicycle in the other direction said he thought my bull was out as it was near the road at my driveway.  I was 2 and 1/2 miles from home.

By the time I got home my bicycle tire was now flat.  Buddy was in my front yard.  From the NE pasture he had pressed against the yard fence popping off the top board.  He hopped over the remaining two boards to get into the pasture.

I re-nailed the board to the fence post.  Buddy scratched against the front house bushes then headed to the patio to look for apples.  None where there.  I did get a bag and using apples as bread crumbs led Buddy into the corral.  He is spending the night in there until I can add a heavy board to this part of the fence.  Otherwise he will walk back to this section and pop the board off again.  With all the fence rebuilds I've done recently I will patch this fence to last the short time the cattle are in the NE pasture as I have no interest in rebuilding this section of fence right now.


When I returned home I also found five cows in the fruit tree and garden area.  Beulah, Mama and three other cows. The tomato plant was flat and all but one green tomato was eaten.  The mystery was how the cattle got into the fruit tree and garden area.  The gate and all the fences were ok and too high to jump over.  I went to the neighbor to see if he or she had seen anything.  Nope.

On the way back I stopped and filled a couple plastic bags with fallen apples from the neighbor's yard. I tossed some apples over the fence and to my surprise Beulah was right there pushing the other cows away so she could have all the apples.  Wait a minute!  I looked over and the fruit tree and garden fence and gate were still ok.

I took the bag of apples to the middle of the pasture and dumped them.  I opened the garden gate and the four cattle came out to eat apples.  Then I believe I figured out how the cattle got in (and Beulah out) of the fruit tree and garden area.  The 'gate' is two gates held together by a long bungee cord and a wire around the gates.  The cattle had pushed against the gates and popped the wire off.  As large as the cattle were apparently the bungee stretched but did not break as the cattle pushed through the gate.  I added more wire to hold the gates shut.  Tomorrow will see how successful I was.

Buddy in the yard and four of the cows in the fruit tree and garden area

Former tomato plant

Cattle into the NE pasture again

Irrigating this Summer made a difference.  Usually by now the NE pasture has no extra grass and is mostly dormant.  This year I may have a few days of grass for the cattle to eat. After doing a few last minute preparations for the cattle this morning, this afternoon I let the cattle into the NE pasture after they finished their morning siesta.

Last minute preparations/protections:

Wrapped this tree

I added short pieces of field fence to the parts of the corral panels close to the hay bales as I didn't trust the smaller cows wouldn't try to get their heads through the panels in order to reach the hay.

The cattle were happy to go somewhere new and have new grass.  Yesterday when I was preparing/protecting the NE pasture the cattle stood at the gate and fence and demanded to be let in right then.  They were mad at me then.  Today they were happy with me.

Here is a 1 minute 9 second video of the cattle rushing into the NE pasture when I opened the gate.  Buddy got a little excited.  He must have thought I might try to close the gate on him.   #20 has a bad leg again.  This time it appears to be the right front leg.

https://youtu.be/jOJITyX3-Ns

Jailbreak, tree protection, skunk

My neighbor Calvin came over at 9:30 am this morning.  Rose and Panda had broken a fence wire and were in his pasture.  By the time I got over there Rose had come back through the broken fence to my pasture.  Panda was running back and forth along the fence bawling. I opened the gate and she ran back into my pasture.  I patched the fence.

While the cattle still have green grass in the north pasture the cattle are starting to get restless for new adventures.  Some were pushing against the corral panels to reach grass in the NE pasture.  So I got more corral panels and placed them around the hay bales to protect the bales from the cattle.  I then rebuild a cage around a small pine tree into a large wire fence around the tree.  When the cattle were last in the NE pasture this Summer  I didn't notice this small tree had outgrown its protective cage.  The cattle ate a number of the trees needles.  It doesn't appear the cattle killed the tree but set back its growth.

New tree protection

Tomorrow I will let the cattle in the NE pasture.

A skunk was hit and killed on the road overnight near Jan's house.  She asked me to help her remove the skunk.  We got a shovel and I dug a hole in the ditch and buried the skunk.

River bend fence build

The previous 'fence' was two strands of barb wire on short 2 by 4 boards pounded in the ground.  The 'fence' was on Wyatt's property and went from my property on this side of the river to my property on the other side of the river.  The bend in the river's east channel goes into Wyatt's property.

When I first started to have cattle the 'fence' on Wyatt's property was mostly some strands of old rusty barb wire on a few standing posts and a number of posts laying on the ground.  It was much easier to maintain a fence across this short area than build a fence all along my river boundary.  Wyatt didn't mind.

It wasn't easy for the cattle to get to Wyatt's property.  They had to cross the river from my property to the island; then from the end of the island re-cross the river to Wyatt's property.  Wyatt's property is mostly trees and you'd think the cattle wouldn't be interested, but think again.  Ever so often some of the cattle would get a wild hair and want to explore.  And if you remember from this Summer after I finished the south pasture fence rebuild, within hours the cattle walked around my rebuilt fence by island hopping.

As I said, I 'maintained' a fence on Wyatt's property.  When I started the 'fence' I didn't have many fence posts so I used two by fours for fence posts.  As the fence was right on the river bank it didn't have to be high.  Cattle couldn't jump over the fence when standing down in the river.  Well... over the years the river changed.  Eroded some here and deposited dirt there.  Now I have a short section that when the water level is low that the cattle can stand on ground and hop over a short fence.

When I rebuilt the south pasture fence I replaced the 5 1/2 ft metal t-posts.  I replaced 32 of them.  Guess how many posts I need to build a proper fence on Wyatt's  property?  Yup.  32.  Exactly.

I waited to do the rebuild until now for a few reasons.  Mainly I waited until Fall as this area along the river gets no wind and is very hot in the Summer and warm in the Fall.  The recent frost also killed the mosquitoes.  And I didn't want the cattle to watch me build the fence as they then would have to check out my work.  The cattle are currently out of sight in the north pasture.

Today I finished the new fence. All the posts are metal - no more rotting wood posts.  The fence is taller.  I hung five strands of barb wire on the new fence.    The new fence should keep the cattle off Wyatt's property.  But... with cattle never say never.

Looking to the island

I added three more t-posts.  The log leaning on the post marks my property line.  On the other side is my property, what I call 'the thumb'.  I added the three posts over to the remnant of the leaning tree trunk to make it harder for the cattle to reach the thumb.

A 27 second video of the fence and river bend: https://youtu.be/pK-7ytwpAVE

Two more pocket gophers

Guess I'm not done trapping pocket gophers.  I got two more the past few days.   One moved into the SW corner of the hayfield next to Wyatt's field and the other one was right on the south pasture fence line with Wyatt's field.

That is all the dirt mounds I see right now but there is still time for more pocket gophers to move in before the ground freezes.

Middle and hayfield fence rebuild

The past week I rebuilt the fence between the middle pasture and hayfield.  This past Summer several cattle stressed the fence when they reached through the fence in an attempt to eat the alfalfa in the hayfield.   Somehow the barb wires did not break but a number of fence posts started to lean heavily.  It would have been bad if the cattle got into the hayfield as they could quite possibly get sick from overeating the rich second alfalfa growth.

So I moved up this fence rebuild in the priority list.  I have until next year, or the year after that when it is once again an alfalfa field, but I know if I didn't rebuild the fence now it wouldn't be done until a year or two from now.

And since the cattle currently had access to both the hayfield and middle pasture it didn't matter if the fence was down during the rebuild.

Last year I had rebuilt this fence from the south end up to the gate I replaced last year. This was 15 posts or about 120 ft.  (http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2015/12/two-gates-in-hayfield-fence.html)

This year I rebuilt the fence from this gate all the way to the north end.  I also replaced the gate and the location of that gate which was near the north end.  I replaced a 4 ft gate with a 8 ft gate.  I moved the gate's location a little more south because I found since I added the 4 ft gate I preferred a gate to be where I placed it now for a better access the the northern half of the middle pasture.

I ended up changing an additional 40 fence posts, of about 320 ft.  Most of the old fence posts were rotted wood posts or 5 1/2 ft long metal t-posts.  I replaced the 5 1/2 ft posts with 6 ft posts.  I changed the fence from a loose 4 strands of barb wire to a tight 7 strand barb wire fence.  Lastly I added a roll and a half of field fence to the barb wire fence to eliminate any chance of a cow sticking her head through the fence to reach into the hayfield.

I have a nice looking strong fence here now.

Before

 After

Clyde checking things out

Buddy checking out the new post.

Tractor problem

As part of weaning the calves I place a large hay bale in the corral for them.  The problem this time is that my tractor yesterday wouldn't start.  It was completely dead. No lights on the console when I turned the key.  I took the battery in to a store to be tested.  It was drained.  Only 5 volts(?) was in the battery.

From Donna I borrowed a battery charger with a 50 amp boost charge.  When the charger said the battery was fully charged I tried it in the tractor.  Nothing.

Donna had another 50 amp charger.  I tried that.  After a half hour the needle on the charger hadn't moved. I figured the battery wasn't charging.  This morning I took the battery back to be tested.  11 volts(?) this time.  The store employee said the battery should be good.  Charge it again and try again.

I also checked the battery wire connections to the alternator and other engine parts on the tractor.  No corrosion on any thing.  Nothing was loose.

I checked the fuses.  All were good.

When the battery was charged I tried again.  The tractor started right up.

Why?  I don't know.  That is what is troubling.  This could happen again.

I moved a bale of my second cutting alfalfa into the corral for the calves.  Donna handled the gate.  The calves - who had lots of grass to eat and loose hay I had fed them earlier in the wooden feeder - all swarmed the hay bale.

Around and around the bale Donna and I chased them to get them away from the bale so I could drop the metal feeder around the bale.  Finally I was able to drop the feeder without hitting any calves.

For an hour or so the calves shut up and concentrated on eating the hay.

Tonight all the cattle finally shut up.   Last night they bellowed all night long.  And most of today.  The cattle were getting hoarse.  Finally around sunset they quieted down.  All of the cows' udders are huge.

Weaning calves

This afternoon I began to wean this year's calves.  Let the bawling begin!

And within a few hours the bawling did begin.  It has gone on almost non-stop since and continues to this late hour.  Based on last year's weaning I imagine it will go all night with a short lull for the cattle to sleep.

The cattle following me to the corral to start the weaning process.

The cows in the corral after being separated from their calves.

Here is a 2 minute 44 second video of the cattle bawling this evening:  https://youtu.be/UWqyjXdDcnI



 We have a full - to near full - moon tonight.  Great... just great. The better for the cattle to see one another tonight so they can call to one another.

Fence rail break

I try to give the cattle apples away from the fence as they can get rambunctious with pushing and shoving.  And when Buddy pushes... watch out.

The other day, in pursuit of apples, Buddy pushed a cow or calf - I don't remember - and the animal went against the fence.  In the evening when setting something against the fence I found the rail was broken as it then came apart.  I temporarily nailed another rail above the broken rail until I could properly fix the rail the next morning.

Mountain bike

Monday evening at an on-line auction I bought a mountain bicycle.  The bicycle was won on my very last bid as I was not going to bid higher.  Today I picked the bicycle up from the auction building.

Prior to the auction I had visited the building to look at the bicycle in person.  I was able to briefly ride the bicycle in the aisle.  I shifted gears.   When I got the bicycle home and rode it I found I had tested the rear shifter but not the front shifter.  The front would shift to the larger chain-ring but would not stay shifted and would go back to the smaller chain-ring.  So I have to figure out how to fix the index shifting.

It is nice to have a backup bicycle.  And this bicycle I can ride across the pasture if I don't want to walk to the far end of the pasture.

Ear hair

Look at how stylish my one calf is.  She has long strands of brown ear hair.  It is natural but looks like she frosted it to highlight it.

Pie auction

Tonight Donna's Mennonite Church had a free supper then an auction of homemade pies to raise money for a local organization that shelters homeless kids.  Donna made and brought two pumpkin pies and her sister Jane made and brought two coconut and macaroon pies.  I like coconut and macaroon and planned on buying one of Jane's pies.

The pies sold for much more than I expected.  The cheapest pie sold for, I believe, $45 and the most expensive pie (Cherry) sold for $165 and the second most expensive pie (mincemeat) sold for $160.  I believe the organization made almost $2700 on the pies.

Jane's first pie sold for $75.  I waited for the second pie as they had 33 pies and less than 30 bidders.  The second pie sold for $115.  I stopped bidding at $110.  If you told me before this auction that I would spent more than $100 on a pie I would have said you were crazy.   Guess not.

Donna's first pie sold for $60.  I bought her second pie, having lost out on the coconut and macaroon pies.  I ended paying $80.  I only had $59 on me as I didn't think the pies would sell for over $50. Silly me.  I had to borrow money from Donna and Jane in order to pay for my pie.

Donna makes good pies so it was well worth it.

Thursday sunset

Here are a few photos of Thursday's sunset as I worked on another fence rebuild.  As you can see in the photos the weather was a hindrance at times.  Today I had sun, calm, wind, clouds, rain. Over and over.  I had to take break from fence work whenever it rained.

East corral fence rebuild

If you remember from back in May when Buddy was sequestered in the corral to keep him away from the cows, whenever a cow would go near the fence Buddy would lay his head on the top rails of the east corral fence and ended up breaking several of them.  Also several posts started to lean outwards.

Buddy had caused even more damage after this photo was taken.

Buddy made a rebuild of this fence a higher priority, especially before the calves are placed in here for their weaning.  I finished the rebuild a few days ago.

I replaced the fence posts - which were still good - with railroad ties to increase the fence's height and to make a more solid post.  I replaced the rails with boards shaved off of logs and tossed on their burn pile by a company down the road.

I also replaced the posts going from the east side over to the water trough and then to the gate against the barn.  The gate was solid and Buddy hadn't bent it like he did the other gate, but he did cause the posts around the gate to lean outwards until I temporarily added braces to support them.  The post next to the water trough is still a post and not a railroad tie but now I use a large diameter and taller than average post in that location.

The post next to the barn has been replaced by a heavy railroad tie.  I added a small metal plate going from the post over to, and attached to, the side of the barn to add extra support to the railroad tie.

The fence is now higher and matches the height of the rest of the corral fence.  At this height Buddy can't get his head over the top of the fence.  As you can see I kept the rails going over to the water trough and then to the gate.  I did add an extra rail to make the fence higher.  I kept the rails here as I often slip through these rails for easier access to the south corral.

The old fence also had wire additions otherwise the cattle could get their heads through the rails to eat grass in the yard.  Eating the grass was not the problem, the problem was when they strained to get more grass and then broke a rail.  While the boards make a narrower space between and most likely will stop the cattle from getting their head through the gaps, I still nailed two of the wire sections onto the new fence.  I have a small nut tree growing just outside the corral and I didn't want to chance that a cow or calf got their head through the fence to eat the small tree.

The third wire section I cut smaller and used on part of the rails on the side.  I can slip through between the supporting middle post and the water trough, and while I haven't had problems with broken rails since adding the middle supporting post,  to be on the safe side I added wire from the east corner to the middle supporting post.

Since I now had a railroad tie to attach the gate to I could now raise the gate a little higher.  Buddy may still get his head on the gate but now he shouldn't be able to get his head over it in order to smell a cow drinking at the water trough.

Buddy's third breakout

About a quarter to nine this morning I looked out my window.  The cattle were in the hayfield relatively near where Buddy breaks the fence.  I thought I had time and went to the bathroom.  When I got out I found Buddy had just broken through the fence in the exact same spot he broke the fence previously.  The metal t-posts I propped against the fence the previous day were useless in stopping Buddy. In the yard next to the broken fence were Buddy, Beulah and three calves.

I had the driveway gate already closed.  So I gathered up my bags of apples and put them in the garage.  Buddy quickly came to the patio for apples and he was surprised to find none.  I had a partially filled bag in hand and I led Buddy into the south part of the corral.

A short time later the calves came back to the corral to check out things.  I got them into the corral with Buddy.

Beulah was left and was still near the house.  I decided to patch the fence before the herd realized there was a hole there.  Then I realized that my two trees in the back yard weren't protected.  Beulah was near the corral and with a little encouragement I got her into the corral also.

Then I fixed the fence.  Later I got three thick boards and nailed on the hayfield side of the fence where Buddy breaks the fence.  If this doesn't stop Buddy then he'll have to stay in the corral until I pull the cattle from the hayfield.

In the short time Beulah was in the yard she broke the arborvitae shrub

Will this stop Buddy tomorrow morning?

Beulah in the back yard with jealous cattle looking on.

In the corral

Someone with Beulah

Daisy returning home after a long night of hunting.

Daisy doesn't mind getting wet from the morning dew. 

Ready for breakfast after a night of hunting.

Again... will this stop Buddy tomorrow morning?

Calf trying to get to the caragana shrub

Of course the cattle must check out the new area I am rebuilding a fence.

Here is a one minute seven second video of Buddy by the broken - now fixed - fence.  Buddy is only rubbing on the fence to scratch an itch but look at how the fence rocks.  https://youtu.be/Cm2H_LqSCEg