Cutting some tree trunks

The last week I have been spending a little time most days using my chainsaw to cut up the trees that blew over in the north and middle pastures this Winter.

What was left of the north pasture tree that blew over this Winter.

Part of the tree that blew over last year onto the apple tree.

Most of the tree that blew over last year onto the apple tree.

It was getting dark when I started to cut the middle pasture tree that blew over this Winter.

Another day when I finished cutting the middle pasture tree.

Another view of the middle pasture tree after it was cut up into pieces.

I trimmed part of the root on a tree that blew over a number of years ago.  I'll cut up the rest of the tree later.

An old tree stump that I left for the cattle to rub against.

Diamond came to watch me stack the cut logs.

Switch and fight

This afternoon I planned on putting out another large hay bale.  Prior to that I put some small hay bales in the corral so the cattle would be there while I put out a large hay bale.  Sugar and her calf are doing fine, but I wanted them in the south corral so the new calf wouldn't have to be around the rest of the herd in the corral as there is not as much room to move around as there is out in the pasture.

It was easy to get Sugar and her calf in the south corral.  Sugar went to eat at the feeder there.  As I put out small hay bales to prepare for the rest of the cattle, I noticed Sugar was now fighting with Speckles and cow #60.  Once again the females fight.  I think that Sugar didn't want the other calves or cows checking out her calf.

The fight didn't last too long. The cows went their separate ways.

Then I let the rest of the cattle into the main corral.

After I put out the large hay bale in the afternoon, I let the cows out to eat.  Toby is a slow walker and was last so I closed the gate before he reached it.  Then I put him in the south corral.  Then I let the three cows and their calves out to join the other cows in the pasture.  I left Muscles in the corral with Toby.  Muscles is getting taller but he needs to eat more to get fat.

With only Toby and Muscles in the corral I now have room in case I need to put a new calf and her mother in the south corral for a short while.  The temperature forecast for the upcoming week has highs in the low 40s and overnight lows in the 20s.

After the cows and calves joined the rest of the cows the calves went crazy and ran around and around checking things out.  The mothers were concerned and for a little while I could see more fighting by the mother cows.

Calf 3's new ear tag

This afternoon Donna helped me when I put a new ear tag on Sugar's calf.  The calf is doing fine.

The calf is not mad.  He just has Toby's face and look.

Calf 3 - Sugar's

Late this afternoon I found the third calf of the year out in the north pasture.  While the calves' due date shouldn't start until March 10, based on how Sugar had been looking recently, I shouldn't be surprised she had her calf early.  The calf is another heifer.

I don't know when the calf was born.  But as the calf was pretty dry, and moved around fairly well, the calf could have been born late last night or this morning.   Yesterday when I  let the cattle out of the corral so they could go eat from the latest large hay bale I put out in the pasture, Sugar was acting a little odd as she followed the other cattle out to the hay bale.  I checked and did not find a calf at that time.  I should have checked this morning but my new cat, Rascal, had spent the night sleeping on the bed next to me, and in the morning wanted more attention from me and didn't want me to leave.

When I first found the calf it was laying on a little bit of left over hay near the feeder in the pasture.  Last year's steer calf was next to the new calf and checking it out.  No mother around.  Most of the cattle were eating hay from the feeder and the mother didn't come over when I checked if the calf was a male or female calf.  I went over and checked on the rest of the cows standing under trees and near the north fence to see if there was a calf over there.  No.  When I returned to the new calf Sugar stopped eating and walked over to her calf.  I then saw Sugar's udder and it is massive.

Since I had lost a calf last year to a colder than expected night, this time I didn't want to leave this calf in the pasture and wanted to move her and Sugar to the corral for a night or two.  Donna came to help me.  When Sugar saw Donna she took her calf and walked away.  Donna thought the calf was moving great and would survive staying in the pasture overnight.  But since the calf easily followed Sugar I figured I could herd Sugar to the corral and the calf would follow.  I didn't want to carry the calf all the way across the pasture.

Sugar kept walking away from Donna so herding was pretty easy.  But when we had a quarter of the pasture left to cross Sugar didn't want to go to the corral.  So I had to push the calf to walk into the corral. Sugar followed.

Since the covered area in the south part of the corral was full with the two cows, their calves, and Muscles, I put some straw in the loafing shed for Sugar and her calf.  I closed the corral gate so they would stay in the corral and the other cattle wouldn't come into the corral.  When I herded Sugar and her calf into the corral, last year's steer calf was very interested and would follow right along until we got to the corral.

I put out new straw and Donna and I got Sugar and her calf to the straw area.  When I got hay to add to that area, Sugar and her calf left.  Donna was nearby this area and Sugar wasn't trusting Donna.  So I had to push the calf all the way across the corral and back to the straw area.  She didn't want to move so it took some effort to push her along.  Most of the corral was mud as the cattle over the past few years ate the grass and then pulled up the grass roots.  So I was getting frustrated and annoyed, which Donna called me out on.

After a night or two I will let them out of the corral as I'm sure the calf will survive.

Sugar

Chainsaw work

I need to do something.  Can't stay in bed all day moping for Daisy.  A few days ago I pruned some of the branches from my apple trees.  Late this afternoon I put a new chain on my chainsaw and cut some tree trunks.  I have a few box elder trees growing right next to my pole shed.  They were planted by the birds many years ago.  One tree is growing right against the wall.  So I have been trimming it back slowly year by year while a younger tree near this tree, and a little away from the wall, is growing.  Of the "bad" tree I was down to it only having two large trunks growing away from the pole shed.  The two trunks were because the tree trunk growing out of the ground right against the wall, had split into two trunks and then grew sideways and up away from the wall.  Today I cut off one of the split trunks using the chainsaw.  Next year I will remove the other trunk.

Then I cut up the tree in the north pasture that had fallen down earlier this Winter.  This is the tree the cattle ate all the needles off of.   Earlier I had cut up half the tree using a handsaw.  With the chainsaw I cut the rest of the tree.  I left the older stump alone as the cattle like to rub against that stump.

As you can see some branches went right into the ground, then froze in place.

I then cut up another smaller tree that had blown over right along the north/middle pastures fence.  Then I started cutting up the tree trunk from the tree that fell over on top of the apple tree last year.  That tree can be seen in the background of the first photo.  I was able to easily cut up the short section on the left of the photo. 

Then the longer section was a challenge.  The end of the tree was laying on the ground.  I thought I could cut the section laying on the ground and then remove that section.  But the end of the tree was frozen to/into the ground.  As I was removing the chainsaw, the longer section of the tree trunk then broke off and dropped slightly to the ground.  This action trapped my chainsaw blade and chain in the cut.

Using a large earlier cut log section I tried to knock this section loose from the ground.  I couldn't.  I had to go home and get a sledgehammer.  After a number of blows I finally broke this section from the ground which then freed my chainsaw.

I decided to call it quits for the day.

Calf 2's ear tag

This afternoon I put an ear tag on calf 2.  She made it through the night fine.  At midnight I saw the cows and their calves, and also Muscles, were all laying on the hay in the shelter.

In the morning before I ear tagged the calf...

Last year's calves, and a cow, were all looking at the new calf this morning.

After I ear tagged the calf.

In this photo calf 1 and 2 look to be the same size.  But they are not.

A couple of photos of calf 1 who is sharing the corral with calf 2.  The reason calf 1 has an orange tag is that was the last orange tag I had left.  Previously I tagged the female calves with orange tags, but last year when I thought I now needed new calf tags, orange wasn't available so I changed to using yellow tags for the females.

Calf 2 born in 2021

Surprise!!!  A calf was born this afternoon.   What a surprise!   I don't let the bull be with the cows (except for the accidental breeding of cow 60) until June 1, so that should mean the earliest calves will be born is around March 10.  I just double checked the gestation chart.   Today is about 16 days early.  I know babies can be born early, but this early?  Thankfully the calf looks to be fine, and doesn't look to be premature.  Speckles is the mother.  Last year she had twin calves.  They were born March 27.  A few days ago I noticed a few of the other cows - not Speckles - looked pregnant and getting closer.  I thought at the time, I wouldn't be surprised if you gave birth right away on March 10.  Now I will have to check the cows more often to make sure there is not another calf born early.

The calf was born this afternoon. It is another heifer.  I went out around 4:30 pm to check on and count the cattle and check the hay.  I had given the cattle another large hay bale yesterday.  At the far end of the cattle - the middle of the pasture - I saw a black shape on the ground next to a cow. They were under a large tree and the black shape didn't look to be one of the tree's roots that are partially above ground at their start from the tree trunk.  I walked and found a baby calf.

The calf had been licked by her mother, but these days and temperatures, it takes longer to become completely dry.  My guess is that the calf was an hour or two old.  The calf's fur looked to be the same 'wetness' as the calf born in January, and that calf was less than three hours old when I found her.

Fortunately the high temperature today was 47 degrees.  The calf was not shivering and she was laying next to her mother on the dry ground under a large tree.  But this is February. The overnight low temperature will be in the 30s; snow is on the ground; and it was raining lightly.  The calf needed to go into the corral and be with the other cow and her calf in the straw.

Donna came to help me.  I brought along a plastic shed to transport the calf.  We found the calf and her mother under another tree nearby the first tree.  The calf was standing.  I wasn't sure it would stay on the sled so I picked the calf up and carried it.  I'm getting old as I had to stop and rest three times by the time I reached the corral.  Mama, the grandmother cow, ran over to see what Donna and I were doing.  More what I was doing as Mama then saw me carrying a calf.  Fortunately Mama only kept an eye on me and didn't attack me.  Mama is protective of calves.

Yesterday I had put out more straw to lay on for cow 60, her calf and "Muscles", the calf with white muscle disease.  Part of the straw was already starting to get wet, so I got more straw out for them to lay on.  The calf was warm when I carried it, but now it was starting to shiver slightly.  Speckles laid down on the straw.  Eventually the calf laid down next to Speckles.  Being newborn the calf still is figuring out how to lay down.

Cow 60, her calf and Muscles were eating hay when we arrived.  While we were there they stayed away from the straw area.  Since then I looked several times to see how all were doing.  Donna and I were worried that cow 60 can be a bully and were concerned she might chase Speckles and her calf from the straw.  Thankfully she didn't.

The first time I checked on them all but Muscles were laying on the straw.  Cow 60 doesn't like Muscles to lay near her.  I had to look for the newborn calf.  She wasn't laying by Speckles but was laying right next to cow 60's back.  I had to get up close to check that cow 60 didn't lay on the calf.  Cow 60 then got up when I reached to touch the calf to make sure her legs weren't under cow 60.  The calf was fine.

I just checked a few minutes ago.  Cow 60 and her calf were by the hay feeder.  Muscles was standing in the rain next the straw area. Speckles and her calf were laying in a different spot in the hay, and were laying right next to one another.

Only a couple of photos.  I'll get better photos tomorrow when Donna and I tag the new calf's ear.

Since the calf was not completely dry, Donna rubbed the calf a little drier with a towel.  The calf didn't want to stand still and would walk away from Donna as she rubbed it.

Snow. More than predicted

One to three inches of snow was predicted overnight and today.  A little snow fell before I went to bed late last night.  The next morning at 8 am when I fed the cattle I found lots of snow.  My guess is four to five inches of snow.

I shoveled a little snow, then went back to sleep.  When I got up later the snow had quit.  I spent the afternoon shoveling snow from the house to the backyard.  Then outside the hayshed.  Then I cleared a number of circles out in the north pasture to place the late afternoon hay for the cattle.  I still have snow in the rest of the backyard to shovel, and the front driveway.  I did shovel the driveway where the tires go.

By the time I was done it was 7:30 pm, after dark.  And I'm a little tired and sore.

The forecast starting late morning tomorrow is for more snow.  Four to seven inches of more snow by the time Sunday ends.  Plus the wind will pick up and the temperature will drop below zero.  I plan to put a larger hay bale outside the corral tomorrow so I don't have to fed the cattle for a few days.

I put some more straw for the cow and her calf to lay on in their sheltered area as their previous straw was getting compacted.

Winter is coming again.

No bicycle riding today.

Are you bothering my child?

I want to check your pants leg again.  That ok?

No, I'm not your Mama.  I don't have milk.

Yum. Yum.  Food!

In the blue tub is a mineral supplement for the cows to lick.

By noon the sun came out.  The temperature got up to 41 degrees today and it was nice outside.

At one point I thought the next weather and snow was coming before I would be done shoveling the snow.  But the clouds didn't come closer before sundown and they stayed up against the mountains during the rest of the afternoon.

January bicycle miles

I planned on riding my bicycle less this year than last year.  So far, that is not happening.  January 2020 I rode 460 miles, the second highest total.   January 2021 I rode 530 miles, now the second highest total. 

The highest January mileage total is 550 miles. So if I had planned on riding more miles I could have set a new high mileage total for January.

Calf 1 Day 3

Another good day for the baby calf.   In the morning when I was out to feed hay to the cattle the baby calf was with his mother.  She then decided to come over and check me out.

Then back to mama to drink.

Here is a 1 minute 54 second video of the calf checking me out: https://youtu.be/aG-SoGfRW4Q

At the end of the afternoon when I fed the cattle a second time the calf had energy.  She was running around the corral where she and her mother are located.  She has a lot of energy for a calf that is barely three days old.