Round hay bale for the calves

I shouldn't complain but... tossing out a hay bale for the calves twice a day is getting old.  Especially as my stack of small bales is getting smaller.  I estimate I will be a little short of what I'll need to last until the cattle go out to the green grass in the pastures.  Pulling one of my existing large bales into this part of the corral could be tricky to do.

So I called Tim to see if he had some large bales left.  He did.

While I may need several bales (maybe five to be on the safe side?), I don't have a trailer right now to haul multiple bales.  Even if I did, there is still enough snow in the pasture that maneuvering a trailer would be difficult right now.  I drove over with my pickup and got one bale today for the calves. 

Even though the bale is supposed to weigh 1200 lbs, my half ton pickup handled it better than I expected.  I drove home slowly.

I guess I should have bought a second metal feeder.   To prevent the calves from crawling on the bale I used my old broken feeder.  I made sure the bale and feeder were next to the corral fence so I could place the broken side against the fence.

I had to roll the feeder into the corral.  As you can see, Buddy is visiting with the calves. I had to wait until he left.

First I rolled the feeder into the calves part of the corral.  By now the feeder ring completely broken as shown below.  Of course the calves were curious.

I cleared the manure at a location next to the fence and set down a wooden pallet.  Then I decided to take off the pickup's tailgate in case the bale was too heavy for it.   Making this task hard was the bale partly over the tailgate.  Mostly annoying was the calves trying to eat the hay as I worked.  They have no fear of me and were pushing me to get to the hay, else trying to see what I was doing with the socket wrench.

Once I had the tailgate off I pushed the bale out of the pickup.  It wasn't easy, but to my surprise I was able to do it with some effort.  I thought I would have to use Plan B, which was to chain the bale to the railroad tie fence post and then drive away pulling the bale out of the pickup bed.

The calves and cow with the sore leg all swarmed the bale.  I rolled the feeder over to the bale then shooed the cattle away from the hay so I could tip the feeder over the bale. The cow with the sore leg must be getting better as she was right in there to get the hay and I didn't notice much of a limp.   Might have been because of the adrenaline to get to and eat the hay.

540 miles

For the month of February I set a new maximum amount of miles ridden on my bicycle: 540 miles.  The old monthly maximum for a February was 400 miles.  I usually average 155 miles in February.  This February has been wonderful weather-wise.

Frustrations

Today my Uncle Curt and Aunt Cathy had a celebration honoring their 50th wedding anniversary. Because of the cattle I couldn't take time away to travel to Washington State for their celebration. 

Happy 50th Curt and Cathy!

Also this weekend my neighbor Jan is in Vancouver, Washington moving her daughter back to Kalispell. She would have liked me to help them move, and to drive the moving truck back to Kalispell.  But again, I can't because of the cattle.

I could have even combined the two events, if not for the cattle.


The cow with the bad leg is still limping.  Even more today.  Again, nothing looks swollen or wrong.  I am hoping the extra limping is because her leg got stiff since she is laying around more.  The only times I saw her move was after she got up.


Daisy was frustrated with me this morning.  She is not like that cat in the recent video where the cat plays dead to avoid going outside for a walk.  Daisy is the opposite.  She wants to go for a walk outside.  She wants me to come outside and do stuff.  

Yesterday we had a strong cold wind. Daisy spent much of the day inside.  Today the wind was just a light breeze and Daisy was ready to play.  I had stuff to do inside the house this morning and Daisy was very talkative trying to convince me to come outside with her. 

The short time I was outside Daisy rolled all over around my feet.  She picked up all sorts of dead grass and dirt and was quite filthy.  I tried to brush her off as she rolled around but that was dangerous as she then wanted to play with me and started to bat her paws at my hands as she rolled around.  The problem was that she started to get carried away and her claws came out.

Later, when I returned from grocery shopping I found a dead mouse in front of the door.  Daisy had taken her frustrations out on the poor mouse.

But Daisy was happier after I returned home as I then spent time outside splitting logs.  She checked out this and that near where I was working.

How many boards are there Daisy?

I had to sneak back to the house to get my camera as she would follow me everywhere.  Halfway through splitting logs I took a break and walked out to the pasture to check on the large hay bale the cattle have been feeding on.  Daisy wasn't to be seen.  However when I returned there she was sitting waiting for me.  She wasn't too thrilled I had 'left' her.

When I finished splitting logs for the day Daisy wasn't to be seen.  However two minutes after I went inside the house there she was scratching at the door to be let in.  I may not always see her but she keeps an eye on me.

Right now she is using part of the computer keyboard as a pillow and sometimes the F keys go off changing my screen.

While the logs are dry, having sat for a couple of years, I still want them to sit longer after being split to completely dry.  I'll use them for firewood next Winter.

I had to re-stack this pile a second time as when I had put the last log on the pile for the day the stack tipped over.  I was able to jump out of the way and not get hit.

Another bad leg

Last Saturday I let cow #40 back with the other cows now that her foot has healed.  Yesterday I discovered cow #20 was limping.  Something is wrong with her front left leg.     Cow #20 is the cow that had an abscess back in 2013.

I tried to divert her into the part of the corral with the calves when she limped into the corral to eat. But she was focused on getting to the feeder to eat with the other cows so I quit before she really screwed up her leg.

Today Dan stopped by to help me herd the cow.  The cattle were all locked in the corral and between the two of us we were able to quickly herd cow #20 into the part of the corral with the calves before the calves got out of that section of the corral.

We couldn't see anything wrong with her leg and foot.  The leg is not swollen and there doesn't appeared to be anything stuck between her hoof.  Mostly likely she stepped on a frozen cow pie or an uneven frozen piece of ground and injured her foot or leg.  I hope that is all it is as I don't want another large vet bill.

At least cow #20 will now have less walking to eat and drink and less jostling and hopefully will quickly heal.

This steer was unnerved by me squatting down to get these photos, and after checking me out, ran off.

Water heater on demand

I signed up for my local electric co-op's peak demand program for electric water heaters.  I get a $4 rebate each month if I allow the electric co-op to turn off power to my water heater during peak energy use times.

During peak demand times Flathead Electric must purchase additional power at a higher rate from their supplier. If Flathead Electric can spread their energy use out more evenly they can avoid going over their demand allocation and hitting Peak Time Events. When they can avoid going over demand allocation they avoid paying the higher cost for power which means lower rates for everyone.


http://www.flatheadelectric.com/energy/peak/rebate.html


This morning an electrician came out and installed the water heater load control unit.  He also upgraded the very old wire coming up from the floor to the water heater and also placed the new wire in the metal tubing partially seen in the photo.  He also added a switch so I don't need to flip the breaker to turn off power to the water heater.  All at no charge.

Saving money and saving energy - what a combination!

Fixed corral gate

That corral gate that slipped off the other day...  I fixed it today.

I couldn't get the main bolt on the hinge to tighten enough to squeeze the hinge tighter and stay up on the gate. So I drilled a hole through the gate below the hinge and put in a bolt so the hinge won't slide down. That should fix it.

Buddy the bull stood in the corral and watched me for a while.  So I had to keep one eye on him.  He behaved.  But I don't trust any bulls.

Moved a cow, and more

Now that the snow melted in the corral I could see the cow that had a sore foot is walking well on bare ground.  So I decided to let her back with the cows.  Yesterday I had pulled out another large hay bale to the north pasture.  Early evening when I let the cattle out of the corral to get to the hay I noticed two things:

1. The gate separating the corral into two sections was now off the lag bolts, but still standing upright.


2. The cow was near the gate.

How the cattle got the gate off the bolts is a mystery. The upper bolt points down and the lower bolt points up so it should be impossible to remove the gate unless the upper clamp is lowered. I had to get a wrench and lower the upper clamp in order to re-install the gate on the bolts.

Since the cow was near the gate I opened it and then stood holding the gate to prevent the calves from walking through it.  Several calves were more interested in rubbing against me.  It was raining lightly and the calves were wet.  Soon I was wet.

The cow just stood there.  She would not move.  I could not leave the gate to encourage her to move.  Finally I gave up.

The next morning when I fed the calves and cow, the calves went right to the new hay and the cow remained laying close to the gate.  First I had to turn off the water filling the water trough. Just then a Jehovah Witness couple drove up and wanted to talk.  I was polite. But when they were trying to tell me the world is getting worse I corrected them.  No, there are less wars than there were historically.  Less people are dying in wars than historically.  They tried to play the 9/11 fear card with terrorism on the increase.  I corrected them.  What about the increase in disease?  I reminded them they were old enough to remember when polio and measles were problems, and now those diseases aren't.  Health-wise things are better for humanity.   I challenged them on other of their 'fear' topics. No, there aren't more natural disasters.  The news does a better job of reporting them so it appears there are more.  And historically more people died in natural disasters than today.  I didn't agree with them when they told me the real ruler running the world was Satan.  Are they Jehovah Witness or satanists?  I bit my tongue.  I told them things in the world are better than they have been in the past.  While there are problems and challenges in the world, things are good. They left me their pamphlet.  I didn't read it.  I'm not into fear.

By the time I got back to moving my cow she was now at the feeder eating hay with the calves.

*argh!*

Late morning I checked and she was alone while the calves were still eating.  I was able to leave the gate open then walk behind her encouraging her to move.  She went through the gate and out to the large bale to join the other cattle.  Beulah was laying down but she immediately got up and walked over to check out the 'new' cow.  Beulah is the boss... or at least she thinks she is.


I noticed the cattle had spilled hay out of the feeder.  *argh!*  I couldn't go and put the loose hay back in the feeder as you can see Buddy pulled his head out of the hay, turned and gave me a look when I moved closer.   Would you approach Buddy and adjust his hay?

Desperado tribute band

Last Saturday Donna and I went to Bigfork to see the Eagles tribute band, Desperado.

The show was held at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts, a place I had never had been before. Donna had, so she knew the fastest way out of the building and best way back to her car to avoid the crowds after the show was over.

The show was sold out.  Both Donna and I noticed the audience was mainly made up of "old" people - not that we are young ourselves.

In addition to the intermission halfway through, the show lasted around three hours.   The band played all the Eagles hits in addition to a few other Eagles songs.  In addition the band played a few solo hits from Joe Walsh.

The band was good and could cover songs from the Eagle's country-rock phase to the hard rock phase of the band.  Each of Desperado's band members took the lead on songs, some with stronger vocals than others.  Musically the band was strong.

I forgot to bring my camera so I had to find a video of the band from the internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAlp4EYXQcs

Turkeys on parade

I haven't seen the turkeys for a long time.  This morning they came parading through the yard...

 to the hayfield where I toss the wood stove's ashes...

 then out to the pasture.

Daisy was looking at the birds out the front window so I got her and carried her to this window so she could see the turkeys.  She was very interested, but not that interested to actually come outside with me when I took the last photo.

Pruning, Manure and Buddy

Today I pruned my two apple trees in the front yard.  Not much to prune - just the new shoots/branches that grew since I pruned it last year.  Then I went over and pruned my neighbor's apple tree.  They never pruned this 'volunteer' tree and the tree was a bit of a mess.  They gave me all the apples from the tree for the cattle last year.  The tree was loaded with apples but they were all small.  Long thin branches bent under the weight of the apples.  The tree's height was also a problem in reaching some of the apples.  I brought the height down some and thinned the tree some to open it up.  A start in pruning as the tree was such a mess it will be a few years of pruning to get it into shape.


I shoveled more manure away from the cattle's feeder south of the barn.  Man! Those cattle produce lots of manure.  And it does smell strong.

I also started on removing manure from the loafing shed.  Once I started on the loafing shed I found it had lots more manure than I thought.

As I worked on the loafing shed Buddy stood and watched the calves and one cow while he chewed his cud.  Three of the calves are heifers which interest him.  This bull is certainly not gay.

Buddy and the calves

Faucet fix

I upgraded the faucet for the livestock tank.  I used to have a short piece of garden hose going from the hydrant to the tank.  The cattle fooled around with the hose when it was cold and the hose cracked.  I cobbled together some odds and ends of pipe laying around and made a more solid water delivery system.

Animal tracks

A couple of times over the past week to ten days I have seen animals tracks going across my yard, into the hayfield out towards the pastures.  Not sure what kind of animal it is.  It does look like a long animal.

Frost and ice and broken bicycle

We had a heavy fog from an inversion all day.  Even though my bicycle was under the entryway porch's roof, the bicycle still got frosted.  The photo doesn't quite capture the frost but you can kind of see frost on the wheel's spokes.

 As you can see, under the snow is a thick layer of ice from when it was warmer and the snow started to melt.

This afternoon I went for a bicycle ride.  I was six miles from home when my bicycle's freewheel quit working.  The freewheel would spin freely in both directions.   The freewheel quit near a house, so after trying to fix the freewheel I asked at the house if I could use their phone to make a call.  The 20-something woman grudgingly let me use her phone.  I called Jan but she wasn't home.  Before I could call Donna the woman said she had a lot going on and that she wanted her phone back.  I walked two miles when Linda, Donna's sister, drove by.  She gave me and my bicycle a ride home.

January 25 sunset

I am now working on shoveling snow off of the large hay bales.  I have over half the snow shoveled off the bales.  I got distracted by the sunset so I didn't finish the snow tonight.

Tonight's sunset...

Grass is greener

I've noticed the cattle like to drink water from the other side of the fence.  Often the cows will drink from the calves side of the fence and the calves will drink from the cow's side of the fence.  Not at the same time of course.

Cool frosty morning

We have been fortunate that Valley inversions have not set in like predicted.  Therefore we see more sun and have cooler and frosty mornings.

As you can see below the colder temps brought an end to melting.  The water turned to ice.  Slippery!   I tried to buy more cat litter yesterday for Daisy.  Walmart was out.  Really?!   It wasn't until Donna mentioned that people are using cat litter on the ice that I realized why.

Daisy walked all around with me in the morning.  Below she went with me to get the mail.  A tough little kitty walking on all that ice.  This evening I carried her from the corral to the house so she wouldn't have to walk more on the ice. Even though she had been outside with me for an hour while I shoveled more snow by the hay bales, Daisy preferred to walk.

Daisy also came with me to feed another bale of hay for the calves.  You can see the frost on them.  Interestingly, the head and neck is frost free on the calf below.

Hungry little calves in the morning.   The cool morning (5 degrees F) worked up an appetite.

Even with the cold temperatures freezing everything, the manure, etc. near the feeder didn't quite freeze.