Tonight one bull and at least one cow was brought to the field across the road from my hayfield. As dry as the field grass is, you'd think the cattle owner would take cattle out. But this is a different guy. He said his pasture has no grass.
I stopped over to see what was up. There were two guys, an older guy and a younger 30ish guy. I thought the older guy was the owner. The younger guy was the owner. The older guy was Ernie the brand inspector who had helped the owner.
I am not too happy about this. When I initially let my cattle into the hayfield my cattle and Buddy were interested in the cattle across the road. With no bull all Summer those cattle were open, and one cow may have been in heat.
Since then my cattle and Buddy hadn't paid the other cattle too much attention. With all the activity tonight my cattle were at the fence watching. Now with the other bull across the road both he and Buddy stand at their respective fences and watch and bellow at each other. After dark I rode my bicycle by on the road and while my cattle had wandered off to eat, Buddy was standing near my fence and staring across the road.
Both fences are good. My weak link is my barb wire string gate. Last weekend I bought four used gates, two of which I plan to use to someday replace my barb wire string gate. Of course the bulls had to be along the fence where Buddy then stood at my gate. Buddy easily puts his head over the top of the gate.
I put in two metal t-posts to reinforce the gate. But I still wasn't comfortable. So I got two of my corral panels and set them to block the gate. I feel a little better now. I don't want to have to separate two bulls mad at each other.
Buddy is huge. The brand inspector guessed that Buddy could weigh as much as 2500 pounds. That is over 1 ton.
Buddy is twice the size of that little Corriente bull and could easily handle it. Except the other bull has horns.
Friday, August 11, 2017
Wednesday, August 09, 2017
Cattle into the hayfield
Over the past few days I have been wrestling with whether to cut the hayfield a second time or let the cattle in to eat the barley and oats. The field looks so ready to cut. I could maybe get 20 bales. I should cut and bale the field. But after the trouble I had baling the barley and oats in July, I was not looking forward to baling the barley and oats again. And I would have to remove the irrigation mainline pipe in the hayfield. And I believe I have enough hay already baled for the cattle to make it through this Winter.
Since I am irrigating the pastures I have enough grass for the cattle to eat, and they seem satisfied. Would the grass last all the way to Winter is unknown.
I couldn't put the decision off for long as the barley and oats are heading out again. The longer I wait the more the nutrition goes into the heads and seeds. The plant would become like straw and the cattle would only eat the tops and not much else.
Making the decision was like going into water for a swim. You want to, and know you are going to, do it. But what if the water is cold? Delay, delay, delay while you try to decide.
So this evening I opened the gate as the cattle were relatively nearby in the middle pasture. They are use to the sound of the gate's chain rattling against metal when I open a gate and a number of cows stopped eating and looked up at me. I called them and the closest came trotting over and the rest came running.
While they had been eating for several hours, once they got into the hayfield they chowed down like they had been starving.
Here is a 47 second video of the cattle newly in the hayfield: https://youtu.be/2rc-a_lrJeU
Since I am irrigating the pastures I have enough grass for the cattle to eat, and they seem satisfied. Would the grass last all the way to Winter is unknown.
I couldn't put the decision off for long as the barley and oats are heading out again. The longer I wait the more the nutrition goes into the heads and seeds. The plant would become like straw and the cattle would only eat the tops and not much else.
Making the decision was like going into water for a swim. You want to, and know you are going to, do it. But what if the water is cold? Delay, delay, delay while you try to decide.
So this evening I opened the gate as the cattle were relatively nearby in the middle pasture. They are use to the sound of the gate's chain rattling against metal when I open a gate and a number of cows stopped eating and looked up at me. I called them and the closest came trotting over and the rest came running.
While they had been eating for several hours, once they got into the hayfield they chowed down like they had been starving.
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| Buddy entering the hayfield |
Here is a 47 second video of the cattle newly in the hayfield: https://youtu.be/2rc-a_lrJeU
Sunday, August 06, 2017
More hay, balloon, car crash
Today I cut my northern neighbor's field. I hadn't cut it earlier due to my broken haybine, and the grass is in a low area that earlier was wet. That is why the grass is still green and good at this late date. The neighbor's upper field has short grass and is mostly dry and brown so I didn't cut that other than a swath or two along my fence to further remove temptation for my cattle to eat through the fence.
The fixed haybine worked perfectly. For once I had no problems. The haybine kicked up a large rock but I was able to stop and remove it before it caused any problems. After cutting his field last year I now know where the partially hidden old stump is located so I avoided that. The neighbor hadn't moved his rock pile to the side of his field like I had asked earlier this year and he had promised he would do when he refused my offer of moving the rocks for him. It was annoying to watch for and then mow around the rocks.
It only took me a little over two and a half hours to cut this grass.
This evening when I was finishing up moving the irrigation sprinkler pipes a hot air balloon landed in the neighbor's property across the road. The balloon operator appears to have avoided the planted field and landed in the little bit of pasture near the house and trees.
Then during my evening bicycle ride, around dusk, an oncoming car didn't make the curve ahead of me and went into the ditch. The ditch is steep but narrow so the car didn't tip but the car did run into a driveway across the ditch. The car then went airborne and then landed on the other side of the driveway and continued on in the ditch a short ways before coming to a sudden stop against a power pole. I was a few power poles away and impact caused the electric lines to vibrate and then also a few poles. No lines or poles were broken.
The car headlights were on so I could easily see car's route as it drove through the ditch. Lots of dust was still hanging thick in the air and across the road when I rode up to the car whose headlights were still on, even if the car was not running. I was expecting the worst.
The driver's door was open and the air bag had deployed. The male driver was moving and said he was ok when I asked him. He was trying to restart the car with no success. He was more annoyed than upset or in shock. I asked him several times if he was alright and he repeated he was. So after a little bit or watching him trying to restart his car then getting out of the car to see if there was something else he could do, I left.
He had driven around the corner a little too fast and probably had a few too many drinks. Another typical Flathead driver. No wonder our car insurance rates are so high.
The fixed haybine worked perfectly. For once I had no problems. The haybine kicked up a large rock but I was able to stop and remove it before it caused any problems. After cutting his field last year I now know where the partially hidden old stump is located so I avoided that. The neighbor hadn't moved his rock pile to the side of his field like I had asked earlier this year and he had promised he would do when he refused my offer of moving the rocks for him. It was annoying to watch for and then mow around the rocks.
It only took me a little over two and a half hours to cut this grass.
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| The rock pile is the grey circle left of center. |
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| The rock pile is still partially hidden in the remaining tall grass. |
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| Tall grass |
This evening when I was finishing up moving the irrigation sprinkler pipes a hot air balloon landed in the neighbor's property across the road. The balloon operator appears to have avoided the planted field and landed in the little bit of pasture near the house and trees.
Then during my evening bicycle ride, around dusk, an oncoming car didn't make the curve ahead of me and went into the ditch. The ditch is steep but narrow so the car didn't tip but the car did run into a driveway across the ditch. The car then went airborne and then landed on the other side of the driveway and continued on in the ditch a short ways before coming to a sudden stop against a power pole. I was a few power poles away and impact caused the electric lines to vibrate and then also a few poles. No lines or poles were broken.
The car headlights were on so I could easily see car's route as it drove through the ditch. Lots of dust was still hanging thick in the air and across the road when I rode up to the car whose headlights were still on, even if the car was not running. I was expecting the worst.
The driver's door was open and the air bag had deployed. The male driver was moving and said he was ok when I asked him. He was trying to restart the car with no success. He was more annoyed than upset or in shock. I asked him several times if he was alright and he repeated he was. So after a little bit or watching him trying to restart his car then getting out of the car to see if there was something else he could do, I left.
He had driven around the corner a little too fast and probably had a few too many drinks. Another typical Flathead driver. No wonder our car insurance rates are so high.
Friday, August 04, 2017
Calves playing
This evening after I moved the north irrigation sprinkler line and I was walking back to open the valve to let the water into the line when I suddenly noticed the sprinklers were leaning. I was in the middle pasture and looked back to the north pasture where the cattle were located. About four calves had pushed on several risers and tipped the risers over on the connected pipes.
From where I stood I tipped the risers back upright. The calves jumped back when I did so. Then as I continued to walk back to the valve the calves tipped the risers again. I yelled at the calves to 'Knock it off!!!'. It didn't do any good. They were having fun playing this game of tipping the risers after I would straighten them. Eventually I gave up. I walked to the valve and opened it. Once the water came out of the sprinklers the calves moved away. I then had to walk along the entire line dodging the water and tipping each riser back upright.
*sigh*
I trapped five pocket gophers today. To avoid the sprinklers and the cattle when they were in the south and middle pastures, I had trapped the pocket gophers in the neighbor's small field across the road from me. After trapping five gophers in that field over the past few days, and perhaps getting rid of all of them in that field for now, today I moved the traps back into my middle and south pastures. I had to fix one trap. With all the use I had made of my traps some are getting worn out.
I finished putting small fences around my willow trees down by the river.
Buddy is following Mama around like she is in heat. She hasn't let him mount her yet but she does like him hanging around her. Buster decided to ape Buddy as I saw him mounting other calves this evening. He can hang on pretty good when the other calf starts to move away from him.
I bicycled 29 miles today but now my rear tire leaks air.
From where I stood I tipped the risers back upright. The calves jumped back when I did so. Then as I continued to walk back to the valve the calves tipped the risers again. I yelled at the calves to 'Knock it off!!!'. It didn't do any good. They were having fun playing this game of tipping the risers after I would straighten them. Eventually I gave up. I walked to the valve and opened it. Once the water came out of the sprinklers the calves moved away. I then had to walk along the entire line dodging the water and tipping each riser back upright.
*sigh*
I trapped five pocket gophers today. To avoid the sprinklers and the cattle when they were in the south and middle pastures, I had trapped the pocket gophers in the neighbor's small field across the road from me. After trapping five gophers in that field over the past few days, and perhaps getting rid of all of them in that field for now, today I moved the traps back into my middle and south pastures. I had to fix one trap. With all the use I had made of my traps some are getting worn out.
I finished putting small fences around my willow trees down by the river.
Buddy is following Mama around like she is in heat. She hasn't let him mount her yet but she does like him hanging around her. Buster decided to ape Buddy as I saw him mounting other calves this evening. He can hang on pretty good when the other calf starts to move away from him.
I bicycled 29 miles today but now my rear tire leaks air.
Thursday, August 03, 2017
Beaver and willows
There is a beaver somewhere in my river. Usually there is no sign of it. But in the Fall the beaver will come and chew down the willow trees along the river bank. The willows that have survived and grew back the next year are now more like bushes than trees. Every year I resolve to put a little fencing around the surviving willows to stop the beaver in the future. Every year something comes up and the fencing doesn't get done.
This year the beaver came early. Yesterday I seen the beaver's work on several willows. Before the beaver could get to the rest of the willows this afternoon I put some fencing around the larger willows. I have a few small single stalk willow trees to fence tomorrow.
This year the beaver came early. Yesterday I seen the beaver's work on several willows. Before the beaver could get to the rest of the willows this afternoon I put some fencing around the larger willows. I have a few small single stalk willow trees to fence tomorrow.
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| A partially chewed willow bush in front of an intact willow bush. |
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| Closer view of the damage. |
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| Another willow chewed up except for a single branch going to the right side. |
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| I also have to protect the willows from the cattle reaching over another fence to eat the willows from the top. |
Tuesday, August 01, 2017
Haybine, golf balls and lawn mower
Yesterday Wyatt fixed my haybine. He did not have to weld the u-joint onto the haybine's PTO shaft. The new knuckle on the u-joint was tight on the PTO shaft and all that was needed was some filing on the worn spines on the PTO shaft.
Here you can see the new knuckle against the collar holding the PTO shaft.
Still trapping pocket gophers. Current area they are located is where I have the irrigation sprinklers now. So I had to suspend trapping for a little bit. There are pocket gophers in the south and one in the middle pastures but the curious cattle mess with the traps and the markers so it is hard to trap the gophers when the cattle can get to the traps.
Over the past few weeks I have found three golf balls in the south pasture and hayfield. The last being found tonight. A neighbor south of my south neighbor likes to hit golf balls. Usually in Wyatt's field as Wyatt doesn't mind. Over the years I would find one golf ball a year in my south pasture. But I am concerned the cattle may try to eat a golf ball as these cattle try to eat everything. I talked with the neighbor to my south and he has found quite a number of balls in his pasture and not pleased at this. So I went and spoke with neighbors. I spoke with the wife whose husband hits the golf balls and asked them not to hit the balls towards my pasture, or my southern neighbor's pasture.
A dry cold front passed through this evening with strong winds. On my abbreviated bicycle ride I saw a guy out mowing the tall dry grass in his extended yard. The grass was so high it killed his lawn mower engine. Our fire restrictions forbid gas engines from operation in places like this between the hours of 1 pm to 1 am. If he hit a rock and caused a spark and then a fire, with the strong winds he would not be able to stop it. As the lawn mower engine was stopped as I rode by I commented that in this wind that if he hit something and caused a spark he wouldn't be able to stop a fire. He answered back, "I know" as he tried to restart his lawn mower. He wasn't all that far from Donna's place so a fire would have been at her place in a matter of minutes.
By noon today I finished mowing my yard. I planned on raking the grass from the taller areas and giving it to the cattle, but by the time I rested the grass had already quickly dried quite a bit and I felt it then wasn't worth the effort to rake it up. I don't have a bagger for my mower.
Here you can see the new knuckle against the collar holding the PTO shaft.
Still trapping pocket gophers. Current area they are located is where I have the irrigation sprinklers now. So I had to suspend trapping for a little bit. There are pocket gophers in the south and one in the middle pastures but the curious cattle mess with the traps and the markers so it is hard to trap the gophers when the cattle can get to the traps.
Over the past few weeks I have found three golf balls in the south pasture and hayfield. The last being found tonight. A neighbor south of my south neighbor likes to hit golf balls. Usually in Wyatt's field as Wyatt doesn't mind. Over the years I would find one golf ball a year in my south pasture. But I am concerned the cattle may try to eat a golf ball as these cattle try to eat everything. I talked with the neighbor to my south and he has found quite a number of balls in his pasture and not pleased at this. So I went and spoke with neighbors. I spoke with the wife whose husband hits the golf balls and asked them not to hit the balls towards my pasture, or my southern neighbor's pasture.
A dry cold front passed through this evening with strong winds. On my abbreviated bicycle ride I saw a guy out mowing the tall dry grass in his extended yard. The grass was so high it killed his lawn mower engine. Our fire restrictions forbid gas engines from operation in places like this between the hours of 1 pm to 1 am. If he hit a rock and caused a spark and then a fire, with the strong winds he would not be able to stop it. As the lawn mower engine was stopped as I rode by I commented that in this wind that if he hit something and caused a spark he wouldn't be able to stop a fire. He answered back, "I know" as he tried to restart his lawn mower. He wasn't all that far from Donna's place so a fire would have been at her place in a matter of minutes.
By noon today I finished mowing my yard. I planned on raking the grass from the taller areas and giving it to the cattle, but by the time I rested the grass had already quickly dried quite a bit and I felt it then wasn't worth the effort to rake it up. I don't have a bagger for my mower.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Skunk
My daily bicycle ride was a little later than usual. It was getting dark a little over three miles from home when, after two vehicles had passed me, a skunk decided to make a dash across the road in front of me. I saw the skunk before it saw me. It was in my lane so I veered to the other lane. When the skunk saw me it whirled around to face me with its claws scratching/skittering on the pavement. Before it could whirl around again I was gone as I started to pedal harder once I saw the skunk and realized I could get around it.
A close encounter.
By the way, today I have finished mowing the weeds in the middle pasture. I even mowed half the yard before the lawn mower ran out of gas and it got too hot (mid 90s). I surprised Daisy, and she surprised me, as when mowing the back yard she came running out from under one of the piles of boards as I mowed near it.
When checking my pocket gopher traps in the hayfield this evening the neighbor's horses came to the corner that meets with the hayfield and south pasture. The calves all came over crowding into the corner to look at the horses.
I checked on Buster. The bands are still on his horns. I doubt the bands will come off, or be rubbed off, as they are now sunk into his horns pretty good. The bands do not appear to be bothering Buster as he is acting as normal as before.
Still moving irrigation pipes across the field each day.
A close encounter.
By the way, today I have finished mowing the weeds in the middle pasture. I even mowed half the yard before the lawn mower ran out of gas and it got too hot (mid 90s). I surprised Daisy, and she surprised me, as when mowing the back yard she came running out from under one of the piles of boards as I mowed near it.
When checking my pocket gopher traps in the hayfield this evening the neighbor's horses came to the corner that meets with the hayfield and south pasture. The calves all came over crowding into the corner to look at the horses.
I checked on Buster. The bands are still on his horns. I doubt the bands will come off, or be rubbed off, as they are now sunk into his horns pretty good. The bands do not appear to be bothering Buster as he is acting as normal as before.
Still moving irrigation pipes across the field each day.
Friday, July 28, 2017
Haybine flat tire
The fun never ends. Now that I have my haybine's universal joint fixed ($170), the attention now turns to fixing the end splines on the haybine's PTO shaft. Wyatt thinks he can fix it this weekend.
This afternoon I planned on driving the haybine over to Wyatt's place. I was pulling the haybine with my tractor down the road when I partially turned into a neighbor's driveway to allow room for a truck and trailer behind me to pass by. As they passed me by they told me the haybine's right tire was flat and about to come off the rim. That would explain why the haybine seemed a little more bouncy than usual as I pulled it on a paved road. I think the tire's inner tube blew when I raised and lowered the haybine in order to set the transport pin in order to pull the haybine without needing to rely on hydraulics to hold the haybine up off the ground. I remember the right side suddenly moved more than usual. I put it down to perhaps a sudden movement in raising/lowering the haybine.
I turned around and pulled the haybine home. After I got into the NE pasture and circled around to park the haybine the tire came completely off the rim. Fortunately the tire was not damaged.
I had to dig some ground away in order to get a jack under the haybine's wheel arm. This spot had not been watered so the ground was very hard.
The inner tube had been patched several times before. Of course pulling the haybine on a flat tire, then no tire, ruined the inner tube even further.
I had an hour left before the Les Schwab tire center closed. The good news was that they had an inner tube for my haybine's wheel in stock!
$24 and the tire and tube were put together and inflated by the time they closed at 6 pm. Once the tire was back on the haybine I pulled the haybine over to Wyatt's place. Wyatt just shook his head in amazement when I told him my continued run of luck was the reason I was late in bringing the haybine over.
This afternoon I planned on driving the haybine over to Wyatt's place. I was pulling the haybine with my tractor down the road when I partially turned into a neighbor's driveway to allow room for a truck and trailer behind me to pass by. As they passed me by they told me the haybine's right tire was flat and about to come off the rim. That would explain why the haybine seemed a little more bouncy than usual as I pulled it on a paved road. I think the tire's inner tube blew when I raised and lowered the haybine in order to set the transport pin in order to pull the haybine without needing to rely on hydraulics to hold the haybine up off the ground. I remember the right side suddenly moved more than usual. I put it down to perhaps a sudden movement in raising/lowering the haybine.
I turned around and pulled the haybine home. After I got into the NE pasture and circled around to park the haybine the tire came completely off the rim. Fortunately the tire was not damaged.
I had to dig some ground away in order to get a jack under the haybine's wheel arm. This spot had not been watered so the ground was very hard.
The inner tube had been patched several times before. Of course pulling the haybine on a flat tire, then no tire, ruined the inner tube even further.
I had an hour left before the Les Schwab tire center closed. The good news was that they had an inner tube for my haybine's wheel in stock!
$24 and the tire and tube were put together and inflated by the time they closed at 6 pm. Once the tire was back on the haybine I pulled the haybine over to Wyatt's place. Wyatt just shook his head in amazement when I told him my continued run of luck was the reason I was late in bringing the haybine over.
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| The other tire. What the haybine's tire looks like. |
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Mowing yarrow
Late this morning I mowed some of the yarrow weeds in the middle pasture. I can never seem to get time to spray the weeds and the yarrow has come to seed. It may be too late, but the fastest way to prevent further seed development is to mow the weeds now. And it mowing make it easier to later spray the remaining now ground level plants, as with my irrigating, the yarrow is not drying up and going dormant like it usually does right now.
The mowing also cuts some pasture grass around the yarrow, but the cattle don't really eat the tall grass right now as it is drier and tough, unlike the shorter and tender grass which they favor.
Half of the cattle walked the river around the fence and moved from the south to the middle pasture. The rest of the cattle left in the south pasture mooed and complained until I opened the gate to let them into the middle pasture. So while I mowed, for a while, a number of cattle gathered around to watch me before getting bored and moving on.
I cut one full gas tank's worth of weeds. By then it was after 1 pm. Starting today the county is under fire restrictions due to how dry it is. No fires, and no off road use of gas powered engines between 1 pm and 1 am, other than for agricultural use. While my pastures are irrigated and green, I decided to quit mowing after using one tank of gas, and on yet another hot day, take a nap in the afternoon.
I believe I have one more gas tank of mowing before I get all the yarrow cut. Tomorrow - or the next day - as I already have a number of other tasks I need to do tomorrow.
The mowing also cuts some pasture grass around the yarrow, but the cattle don't really eat the tall grass right now as it is drier and tough, unlike the shorter and tender grass which they favor.
Half of the cattle walked the river around the fence and moved from the south to the middle pasture. The rest of the cattle left in the south pasture mooed and complained until I opened the gate to let them into the middle pasture. So while I mowed, for a while, a number of cattle gathered around to watch me before getting bored and moving on.
I cut one full gas tank's worth of weeds. By then it was after 1 pm. Starting today the county is under fire restrictions due to how dry it is. No fires, and no off road use of gas powered engines between 1 pm and 1 am, other than for agricultural use. While my pastures are irrigated and green, I decided to quit mowing after using one tank of gas, and on yet another hot day, take a nap in the afternoon.
I believe I have one more gas tank of mowing before I get all the yarrow cut. Tomorrow - or the next day - as I already have a number of other tasks I need to do tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Dehorning my holstein calf
Monday I put rubber bands on Buster's, my Holstein calf's, horns. Donna helped me.
First I had to immobilize the calf. I used my calf table as I am not sure if the calf was big enough for the regular head gate to hold him well.
Then Donna used an electric razor to remove the hair from around the calf's horns.
I used the same bander tool to put the bands over the horns as when I band to castrate steers. The problem I had this time was that the bands wanted to roll down and off the horns. To solve that problem I used a small file and filed a groove around each horn where the hair ends. After all one doesn't want to remove the horn too close to the skull.
The calf wasn't bothered by my filing on his horn. I didn't want to file too much as I can imagine too much would become raw. Once I had a small groove I slipped each band into place. The area where I filed the groove, while very firm to hard, was not hard, hard where no hair grew. I waited a bit and the band settled and compressed into the groove for a firmer fit. While my filing didn't bother the calf, as the band began to constrict against his horn, the calf began to react.
Once I was certain the band would not roll off on its own I released the calf from the calf table. The calf then walked around shaking his head. He would lay down and lay his head on the ground for a while. Then he would get up and walk around shaking his head before laying down again and rubbing his head on the ground.
After I bit I let him out of the corral to be reunited with the rest of the cattle. I checked up on him three hours later and he was walking around grazing on grass and no longer shaking his head. Today I checked on him several times and he seems fine. Understandably he was wary of me when I approached close enough to make sure the bands were still on his horns. They were. I think he is now comfortably numb from the bands. Now I wait to see how long it will take before the horns fall off. The previous time I dehorned a calf with bands, the horns were much larger and it took almost eight weeks. I expected that it will not take as long this time.
First I had to immobilize the calf. I used my calf table as I am not sure if the calf was big enough for the regular head gate to hold him well.
Then Donna used an electric razor to remove the hair from around the calf's horns.
I used the same bander tool to put the bands over the horns as when I band to castrate steers. The problem I had this time was that the bands wanted to roll down and off the horns. To solve that problem I used a small file and filed a groove around each horn where the hair ends. After all one doesn't want to remove the horn too close to the skull.
The calf wasn't bothered by my filing on his horn. I didn't want to file too much as I can imagine too much would become raw. Once I had a small groove I slipped each band into place. The area where I filed the groove, while very firm to hard, was not hard, hard where no hair grew. I waited a bit and the band settled and compressed into the groove for a firmer fit. While my filing didn't bother the calf, as the band began to constrict against his horn, the calf began to react.
Once I was certain the band would not roll off on its own I released the calf from the calf table. The calf then walked around shaking his head. He would lay down and lay his head on the ground for a while. Then he would get up and walk around shaking his head before laying down again and rubbing his head on the ground.
After I bit I let him out of the corral to be reunited with the rest of the cattle. I checked up on him three hours later and he was walking around grazing on grass and no longer shaking his head. Today I checked on him several times and he seems fine. Understandably he was wary of me when I approached close enough to make sure the bands were still on his horns. They were. I think he is now comfortably numb from the bands. Now I wait to see how long it will take before the horns fall off. The previous time I dehorned a calf with bands, the horns were much larger and it took almost eight weeks. I expected that it will not take as long this time.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Getting up early
I got up two hours earlier than I normally do. I hadn't gone to bed earlier, I just slept two less hours. I got up earlier to get more stuff done and to beat the heat. I figure I could take a nap in the afternoon to catch up on my sleep.
I got the rest of the sprinkler line laid out. I also needed an extra 1/2 length pipe along the north side of the ranch, and of course the pipe was along the fence on the south side.
The pipe I bent and damaged last week, I cut the bad end off. It was four feet cut off. Later I will fix the end.
I picked up two more pickup loads of hay from the hayfield so I could then irrigate the hayfield today.
After the one pickup load the side door in the barn was full. I still have a little room through the main barn door and I unloaded the second load there. I have one more load of hay to rake and store in the barn tomorrow and then that will be it for hay for now. There are also a few areas of loose hay south of the irrigation mainline but those areas will get wet and go back into the soil as I can't get to them using my pickup.
I put rubber bands on Buster's horns in order to dehorn him. More on that in a future post.
I then ate breakfast at 3:30 pm. I had been up and working since 8 am.
I fell asleep for 20 minutes then woke up and went out to start up the irrigation pump. I had three sprinklers acting up and not working. Two I was able to run a wire through its nozzle to open the flow. The third sprinkler I had to take off in order to remove a small bit of wood. While doing that I had a geyser twice my height until I could screw the sprinkler back on. Fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
As this line runs along the road then turns and goes along the north fence in the NE pasture, I had to readjust a few sprinkler locations to avoid getting the road wet and also to miss the hay bales in the NE pasture. Again, fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
I also removed the grass and weeds that got sucked against the intake pipe's screen.
So I have very good water pressure.
But now it was after 6 pm, the time of the day when I have energy. So much for taking a few hours nap to catch up on my sleep.
I went out and set my five pocket gopher traps as a number of pocket gophers have moved in from the neighbors and it has been driving me crazy, especially since I had no time to set the traps earlier.
Then I rode my bicycle for 18 miles until dark.
I think I'll sleep in tomorrow.
I got the rest of the sprinkler line laid out. I also needed an extra 1/2 length pipe along the north side of the ranch, and of course the pipe was along the fence on the south side.
The pipe I bent and damaged last week, I cut the bad end off. It was four feet cut off. Later I will fix the end.
I picked up two more pickup loads of hay from the hayfield so I could then irrigate the hayfield today.
After the one pickup load the side door in the barn was full. I still have a little room through the main barn door and I unloaded the second load there. I have one more load of hay to rake and store in the barn tomorrow and then that will be it for hay for now. There are also a few areas of loose hay south of the irrigation mainline but those areas will get wet and go back into the soil as I can't get to them using my pickup.
I put rubber bands on Buster's horns in order to dehorn him. More on that in a future post.
I then ate breakfast at 3:30 pm. I had been up and working since 8 am.
I fell asleep for 20 minutes then woke up and went out to start up the irrigation pump. I had three sprinklers acting up and not working. Two I was able to run a wire through its nozzle to open the flow. The third sprinkler I had to take off in order to remove a small bit of wood. While doing that I had a geyser twice my height until I could screw the sprinkler back on. Fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
As this line runs along the road then turns and goes along the north fence in the NE pasture, I had to readjust a few sprinkler locations to avoid getting the road wet and also to miss the hay bales in the NE pasture. Again, fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
I also removed the grass and weeds that got sucked against the intake pipe's screen.
So I have very good water pressure.
But now it was after 6 pm, the time of the day when I have energy. So much for taking a few hours nap to catch up on my sleep.
I went out and set my five pocket gopher traps as a number of pocket gophers have moved in from the neighbors and it has been driving me crazy, especially since I had no time to set the traps earlier.
Then I rode my bicycle for 18 miles until dark.
I think I'll sleep in tomorrow.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Irrigation and hay work continues
Each project would be enough to do on a hot and windy day, but I had two big projects today.
The first project was to move the north sprinkler line from the far west side of the ranch over to the far east side. A long way. Also for this new location, the line wraps around to also water part of the NE pasture, so more pipes needed to be added to the sprinkler line. I haven't hooked up the pipes once the line crosses the driveway as I plan to do that just before I open the valve to begin watering using that line. I haven't laid all the pipes yet because of the other major project of the day: cleaning up the loose hay in the NE pasture from the failed attempt to re-bale several broken bales.
This area may not look like much but it is two bales worth of hay spread out, and once I raked and loaded it into the pickup, the hay filled the pickup bed four times.
Normally I keep some open space in the barn for an unforeseen event. The first was when Donna decided to completely clean out her hayshed of the old hay. I would take her old hay for bedding for the cattle this Winter and if they ate some of the hay, fine. She had more than I expected, but I could handle it.
But then I had this year's problems with my hay crop. I had four pickup loads of loose hay from what was in the NE pasture. I still have probably a pickup load or two of loose hay still in the hayfield. While I have some room left in the barn the space is getting small and I have to pile the hay up high. The smaller area means more work to make the hay fit instead of just shoveling the hay out of the pickup and into the barn.
Below is the result of one pickup load of hay.
It was dark by the time I unloaded the fourth pickup load. The NE pasture was now open to having irrigation pipes and watering. However, some of the loose hay in the hayfield is where the water would go if I turned the sprinklers on. I just couldn't that area cleaned before dark.
So, I turned off the irrigation pump for the night. The current area being watered had been watered a few hours over one day, and one day of water is plenty.
So the plan for tomorrow is to get the rest of the loose hay raked and put into the barn and then the irrigation turned back on. It is hot and dry and the ground needs watering. While it is eastern Montana that is in a severe drought, we are not. Yet. The weather forecast is for 90s all this coming week and no rain. So we are heading in the direction of drought. While my photos show green, when riding my bicycle I see a number of fields in the area drying up and turning brown.
With the heat and wind and work today I stopped a number of times and took time to drink and drink and drink water. With all the water I drank I still hardly peed.
The first project was to move the north sprinkler line from the far west side of the ranch over to the far east side. A long way. Also for this new location, the line wraps around to also water part of the NE pasture, so more pipes needed to be added to the sprinkler line. I haven't hooked up the pipes once the line crosses the driveway as I plan to do that just before I open the valve to begin watering using that line. I haven't laid all the pipes yet because of the other major project of the day: cleaning up the loose hay in the NE pasture from the failed attempt to re-bale several broken bales.
This area may not look like much but it is two bales worth of hay spread out, and once I raked and loaded it into the pickup, the hay filled the pickup bed four times.
Normally I keep some open space in the barn for an unforeseen event. The first was when Donna decided to completely clean out her hayshed of the old hay. I would take her old hay for bedding for the cattle this Winter and if they ate some of the hay, fine. She had more than I expected, but I could handle it.
But then I had this year's problems with my hay crop. I had four pickup loads of loose hay from what was in the NE pasture. I still have probably a pickup load or two of loose hay still in the hayfield. While I have some room left in the barn the space is getting small and I have to pile the hay up high. The smaller area means more work to make the hay fit instead of just shoveling the hay out of the pickup and into the barn.
Below is the result of one pickup load of hay.
It was dark by the time I unloaded the fourth pickup load. The NE pasture was now open to having irrigation pipes and watering. However, some of the loose hay in the hayfield is where the water would go if I turned the sprinklers on. I just couldn't that area cleaned before dark.
So, I turned off the irrigation pump for the night. The current area being watered had been watered a few hours over one day, and one day of water is plenty.
So the plan for tomorrow is to get the rest of the loose hay raked and put into the barn and then the irrigation turned back on. It is hot and dry and the ground needs watering. While it is eastern Montana that is in a severe drought, we are not. Yet. The weather forecast is for 90s all this coming week and no rain. So we are heading in the direction of drought. While my photos show green, when riding my bicycle I see a number of fields in the area drying up and turning brown.
With the heat and wind and work today I stopped a number of times and took time to drink and drink and drink water. With all the water I drank I still hardly peed.
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Peas
Today I found a pea plant at the edge of my field that survived my haybine. There were small pea pods on the plant. I ate the peas. They were good.
I cleaned the baler and put it away.
I have raked some of the leftover hay from when I tried to re-bale the broken bales. I still have several areas to rake.
Tonight the north end of the irrigation reached the river and tomorrow the pipes must be moved back to the east end of the ranch. The irrigation is making a difference. There are a few small areas in the north pasture where the water didn't overlap. One can easily tell where they are due to the poorer condition of the grass.
Yesterday I let the cattle into the north pasture to eat the grass there.
Last night I saw Buddy stand near cow #80. Hmmm. Tonight I saw cow number #80 nuzzle and lick Buddy. I haven't seen Buddy act like she is in heat.... so far. This past Spring cow #80 didn't have her calf until five weeks after the first calf was born. She apparently missed her first heat cycle last year. Looks like the same thing has happened again.
I cleaned the baler and put it away.
I have raked some of the leftover hay from when I tried to re-bale the broken bales. I still have several areas to rake.
Tonight the north end of the irrigation reached the river and tomorrow the pipes must be moved back to the east end of the ranch. The irrigation is making a difference. There are a few small areas in the north pasture where the water didn't overlap. One can easily tell where they are due to the poorer condition of the grass.
Yesterday I let the cattle into the north pasture to eat the grass there.
Last night I saw Buddy stand near cow #80. Hmmm. Tonight I saw cow number #80 nuzzle and lick Buddy. I haven't seen Buddy act like she is in heat.... so far. This past Spring cow #80 didn't have her calf until five weeks after the first calf was born. She apparently missed her first heat cycle last year. Looks like the same thing has happened again.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Irrigation and Wyatt's hay
Today I completed extending the mainline irrigation pipe, moving the two active sprinkler lines, and moving the backup sprinkler line from the south pasture to the hayfield. This took much of the day. The nice thing is the pump started right up pumping water when I re-started the pump.
I was about to hook up the extended mainline when I seen Wyatt picking up a load of hay bales he just made. I waited and then had him deliver me one load using a path through the south pasture then the hayfield to reach my barn. This way I could avoid Wyatt driving through the middle pasture where the cattle currently are located. The cattle are in the middle pasture because they elected yesterday to walk in the river around the south/middle pasture fence.
I was able to only put the top row of eight bales into the barn this evening before dark. The rest will be moved tomorrow.
I have the ladder and several long boards against the hay bales as the top bales in the outside rows kind of wanted to lean outward.
I was about to hook up the extended mainline when I seen Wyatt picking up a load of hay bales he just made. I waited and then had him deliver me one load using a path through the south pasture then the hayfield to reach my barn. This way I could avoid Wyatt driving through the middle pasture where the cattle currently are located. The cattle are in the middle pasture because they elected yesterday to walk in the river around the south/middle pasture fence.
I was able to only put the top row of eight bales into the barn this evening before dark. The rest will be moved tomorrow.
I have the ladder and several long boards against the hay bales as the top bales in the outside rows kind of wanted to lean outward.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Hay bales and irrigation continued
Today my goals were:
Once I dumped the bale, I cleared the loose hay from around the baler and then decided to run the baler to drop the loose hay in the baler out the back.
Gee... the twine that wouldn't go in the baler when the bad bale was inside somehow got sucked into the baler when the baler was empty. I had to get a knife and cut the twine along the roller as the twine was tightly stuck.
- Move the remaining 8 hay bales from the hayfield over to the NE pasture,
- Cleanup the hay flakes left in the hayfield and re-bale the four totally broken hay bales,
- Extend the mainline irrigation pipe across the hayfield,
- Move the two sprinkler lines
What I got done...
I moved the eight hay bales. It went well. Only one bale flaked once. I finished moving the bales by noon.
I cleaned up the hay flakes then turned my attention to re-baling the broken bales. From the hay flake pickup I had about a fifth of a bale made. I re-baled two broken bales and used a little from the third bale before I had a full hay bale made. I know I lost a little hay in the re-baling from the broken and fine hay too fine to be picked up by the baler, but it wasn't that much lost. I put down most of the 'shrinkage' due to the new bale being more compressed than the old bale.
It was now 3 pm. It took me three hours to clean the field and re-bale two bales. I went to work on the last two bales. They were a challenge. Once I finally got all the hay re-baled I had about a half of a bale. More shrinkage.
I tried to wrap twine around the bale. The twine would not go into the baler. There was either too much loose hay in the baler or the hay to go into the baler was too fine. I tried using some hay that had not been re-baled yet. But then I used the wrong lever. I started to open the back door and not move the twine tube. I didn't open the door but I must have moved it just enough because the bale would no longer spin in the baler. All the bales I made this year and this was the first time I used the wrong lever.
So I had to dump the bale. But then it would not come out of the baler. I had to use a long crowbar and pry the bale out of the baler. Other than it really wasn't much of a bale but a collection of hay "glommed" together. The bale came out in pieces.
It was now 5 pm. I would have better off just using a pitchfork and loading the hay in my pickup to be offloaded in the barn as loose hay. Because that is what I will have to do tomorrow. In addition I will have to rake up the chewed up hay spread around the field as I attempted to re-bale the last broken bale.
What a mess. And I still have work to do with hay tomorrow.
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| The remains of two full bales |
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| What a mess. |
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| The hay bale once I pried it out of the baler. |
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| Look a how fine the hay became after I re-baled it. |
Once I dumped the bale, I cleared the loose hay from around the baler and then decided to run the baler to drop the loose hay in the baler out the back.
Gee... the twine that wouldn't go in the baler when the bad bale was inside somehow got sucked into the baler when the baler was empty. I had to get a knife and cut the twine along the roller as the twine was tightly stuck.
I did a quick check of the belts. They were all in the right spots. The bottom belt that had jumped the divider yesterday was also still in its spot. I did noticed the left side of the belt that goes under the metal in the far lower left side of the photo was out of the metal and starting to ride on top of the metal. So I used a smaller crowbar and pried the belt back under the metal.
Then after a late lunch I turned my attention to the irrigation pipes. I moved the two sprinkler lines. The northern line I moved over one valve. The south line was at the western end of the ranch. I drug all its pipes to the very eastern end of the ranch to start watering the hayfield again. For now I am leaving on the third line in the south pasture that I have used to relieve water pressure when switching lines.
By the time I got the pipes moved it was getting dark. And I was running low on energy. The mainline extension and sprinkler line addition will have to wait till tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Hay bale and irrigation blues
This hay is getting on my last nerve. I've about had it. I should have been done with this a week ago and here I am still struggling with the hay.
Today I planned on moving all the hay bales to the NE pasture. All didn't get done. I had problems with loose twine, hay flaking off of bales, and bales falling apart. Some twine was only partially wrapped around bales and I ended up wrapping by hand some ends back around and around some bales. All this took time.
I drove slow carrying bales to reduce parts from being shook off the bales. Some bales fell apart when I lifted them up and I had to leave them in the field. One bale flaked and flaked until I reached the gate and a small bump caused the bale to fall completely apart. I was left with a small core around the bale spear. The bale blocked the gate so I had to spent some time moving the hay out of the gate and to the side. Some of this bale's flakes were "sheets" of hay. Mixed with loose hay it can be hard to move the "sheets" of hay.
I have 8 bales left to move from the hayfield.
Then when I took a break to move the sprinkler lines I encountered two sprinkler pipes I couldn't unhook. The hooked part was at the top of a high point which put pressure on the hook. The pipes in each direction dropped and then rose by their ends. That trapped the water in the pipes making them hard to move. I was able to unhook the second pipe from the third pipe but raising the center hooked area did not drain the water. Turning the hooked area to the side to relieve pressure did not work. Nothing worked. So I drug the hooked section over to try to get away from the higher area.
Dumb move. With my strength I easily moved the pipes. But the one pipe end didn't move and the pipe kinked badly. So badly as to ruin the pipe. Maybe I can salvage the pipe by cutting off the three feet to the kinked section.
So I had to go get an unused pipe. More time wasted when I need to get the hay bales moved. I am at the river end south of the mainline and tomorrow I need to move that line of pipes back to the hayfield. Which has hay bales, broken bales, and flakes here and there. Tomorrow I need to move the rest of the bales, then get the baler out to re-bale the flakes and broken bales. Then lay the mainline pipe across the hayfield, then move the one sprinkler line.
Right. You know with the luck I am having now this won't go as planned.
Today I planned on moving all the hay bales to the NE pasture. All didn't get done. I had problems with loose twine, hay flaking off of bales, and bales falling apart. Some twine was only partially wrapped around bales and I ended up wrapping by hand some ends back around and around some bales. All this took time.
I drove slow carrying bales to reduce parts from being shook off the bales. Some bales fell apart when I lifted them up and I had to leave them in the field. One bale flaked and flaked until I reached the gate and a small bump caused the bale to fall completely apart. I was left with a small core around the bale spear. The bale blocked the gate so I had to spent some time moving the hay out of the gate and to the side. Some of this bale's flakes were "sheets" of hay. Mixed with loose hay it can be hard to move the "sheets" of hay.
I have 8 bales left to move from the hayfield.
Then when I took a break to move the sprinkler lines I encountered two sprinkler pipes I couldn't unhook. The hooked part was at the top of a high point which put pressure on the hook. The pipes in each direction dropped and then rose by their ends. That trapped the water in the pipes making them hard to move. I was able to unhook the second pipe from the third pipe but raising the center hooked area did not drain the water. Turning the hooked area to the side to relieve pressure did not work. Nothing worked. So I drug the hooked section over to try to get away from the higher area.
Dumb move. With my strength I easily moved the pipes. But the one pipe end didn't move and the pipe kinked badly. So badly as to ruin the pipe. Maybe I can salvage the pipe by cutting off the three feet to the kinked section.
So I had to go get an unused pipe. More time wasted when I need to get the hay bales moved. I am at the river end south of the mainline and tomorrow I need to move that line of pipes back to the hayfield. Which has hay bales, broken bales, and flakes here and there. Tomorrow I need to move the rest of the bales, then get the baler out to re-bale the flakes and broken bales. Then lay the mainline pipe across the hayfield, then move the one sprinkler line.
Right. You know with the luck I am having now this won't go as planned.
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| An example of a bale that needs to be re-baled. |
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| Some of the bales that were good enough to be moved, still are in poor shape. |
Monday, July 17, 2017
Baler cleaning and more blues
I cleaned my baler this afternoon. What I thought would take an hour or so took all afternoon. Initially I planned on doing minor cleaning as I plan on cutting and baling another neighbor's field once my haybine's u-joint is fixed. But I got carried away and did a thorough cleaning.
During the cleaning I noticed one chain was wrong. The chain was on the wrong side of a pulley. The following photo was taken after I fixed the problem. The right red arrow shows the pulley. Since the pulley was not tensioning the chain, the chain rubbed on a piece of metal (shown by left arrow).
The chain fix wasn't too bad to do. The next problem was more difficult.
Once I finished cleaning the baler, I opened the baler door to do a last check inside. That is when I noticed the problem with one of the bottom belts. The rightmost belt was under the next belt.
How the belt got across the disc divider (shown by the red arrows) is a mystery. I looked in the baler's manual and their only solution was how to remove everything in order to change bottom belts. Unlike the top belts, the bottom belts do not have "stitches" one can remove to take a belt off. For a bottom belt one must take off:
So the baler is clean and put away for now. But for not as long as I had planned. This evening I started to move the hay bales to the NE pasture. Some bales were loose, others were not twined well. To wrap twine around a bale, I tie the end of the twine to some hay, toss it into the pickup, then run the baler to suck the twine and a little more into the baler, then keep the bale spinning so the twine wraps around the bale. It seems as if on some bales the starting twine with hay did not 'stick' well and the twine wrapped loosely. I picked up a couple bales and part of the bale fell down. On one bale so much hay fell that the twine fell too and then the whole bale fell apart. Other bales only lost small chunks when lifted. Most bales are holding together but I drive slowly as I am afraid a big bump may shake some of the bale loose.
On some bales the end of the twine did not stick to the bale, and when I drove the tractor, twine got caught under the tractor's tire and then the twine started to come off the bale. For all bales I now check for a loose twine end after I lift the bale, further slowing my work down.
I only got ten bales moved before dark. Once I get all the bales moved I'll see how much of a mess I will have to clean up.
For the one bale that fell mostly apart I will have to re-bale it. Oh joy. The fun never ends with this barley, oats and pea hay.
During the cleaning I noticed one chain was wrong. The chain was on the wrong side of a pulley. The following photo was taken after I fixed the problem. The right red arrow shows the pulley. Since the pulley was not tensioning the chain, the chain rubbed on a piece of metal (shown by left arrow).
The chain fix wasn't too bad to do. The next problem was more difficult.
Once I finished cleaning the baler, I opened the baler door to do a last check inside. That is when I noticed the problem with one of the bottom belts. The rightmost belt was under the next belt.
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| View from the front of the baler. |
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| View from inside the baler. |
How the belt got across the disc divider (shown by the red arrows) is a mystery. I looked in the baler's manual and their only solution was how to remove everything in order to change bottom belts. Unlike the top belts, the bottom belts do not have "stitches" one can remove to take a belt off. For a bottom belt one must take off:
- the twine box in order to reach bolts, nuts, and cotter pines behind the box, then
- the pickup bar (the faded yellow seen in a previous photo), then
- the roll bar, then
- the bar with the disc dividers.
Man, o man! A lot of work!
Maybe there is some way I can pry the belt back into the correct place. I was able to unhook the tensioning bars for the disc divider. That gave me a little more play. Still the belt had to go over the one disc divider.
I had gotten my neighbor Curtis to come over and look in case he had other ideas. With both of us using crowbars we worked and worked and finally got the belt back into place. Since the belts were on top of one another they were pinched by two roller bars (seen in photo with the yellow pickup bar). Curtis used a crowbar to pry the rollers apart while I worked the belt sideways until they no longer were on top of one another. Then I used a smaller crowbar to get the edge of the belt over the disc divider. Then more working and prying and pulling to get all of the belt over the divider.
I re-tensioned the disc divider and hope that prevents this from happening in the future.
In the photo with the yellow pickup bar you can see one bottom belt has a tear. I think I can still use the belt for now - as replacing the belt would be a major undertaking.
So the baler is clean and put away for now. But for not as long as I had planned. This evening I started to move the hay bales to the NE pasture. Some bales were loose, others were not twined well. To wrap twine around a bale, I tie the end of the twine to some hay, toss it into the pickup, then run the baler to suck the twine and a little more into the baler, then keep the bale spinning so the twine wraps around the bale. It seems as if on some bales the starting twine with hay did not 'stick' well and the twine wrapped loosely. I picked up a couple bales and part of the bale fell down. On one bale so much hay fell that the twine fell too and then the whole bale fell apart. Other bales only lost small chunks when lifted. Most bales are holding together but I drive slowly as I am afraid a big bump may shake some of the bale loose.
On some bales the end of the twine did not stick to the bale, and when I drove the tractor, twine got caught under the tractor's tire and then the twine started to come off the bale. For all bales I now check for a loose twine end after I lift the bale, further slowing my work down.
I only got ten bales moved before dark. Once I get all the bales moved I'll see how much of a mess I will have to clean up.
For the one bale that fell mostly apart I will have to re-bale it. Oh joy. The fun never ends with this barley, oats and pea hay.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Irrigation pipe switch and fix
Now that the baling is over life is calming down. I was able to do some chores put off by the baling, such as, taking a shower, buying groceries, washing clothes.
I also worked on my irrigation system. It appears a pipe near the beginning came apart enough to reduce the water pressure enough to cause the pump to turn off. I had a problem once before with this pipe separating a little and leaking. So this time I replaced the pipe.
The replaced pipe was similar to the one in the following photo. Minus the clamp (and stick). The old pipe fit into the pipe in the second photo with the valve. To keep the two pipes together I wired the pipe without the clamp to the opening for the hook. I have a few pipes in the mainline like this. The difference is those pipes are more inside the mainline and not near the end. The other pipes in the mainline keep the wired pipes from slipping out.
Oh, the reason for the stick is to keep the pipes from slipping. While the design should allow the pipes to move enough to where the clamp holds against the lip and not have a leak, sometimes that movement is enough to allow a small leak to occur where the pipes come together.
I had one pipe available where Dad had replaced the half circle clamp with a hook as the half circle clamp doesn't work on pipes with valves and hook openings. This hook setup will hold the pipes together.
I also reinforced the elbow. I had some metal pipes and posts around the elbow but over time the pipes and posts moved. The elbow has a small leak which softens the ground. I added a two by four board between the tree and pipe next to the elbow. I'll watch to see if these changes stops the pipes near the elbow from moving in the future.
I moved the two sprinkler lines and started my pump. It started pumping water right away. So it does appear my pump packing tightening solved my pump starting problem.
Before I started the pump I added some mainline pipe a little over a third across my hayfield. In about three to five days I will complete watering the pastures. I am going to move the sprinkler lines back to the hayfield. The cut hayfield has stayed green and looks to be wanting to grow so I will see how much grows if I add water to what I just cut. Why I added only a third of the mainline pipes was to break up the task of carrying all those heavy steel pipes into multiple days, and I haven't moved the hay bales out of the hayfield yet.
I got my electric bill for last month's irrigation. I didn't irrigate the entire month. My electricity cost came to $300. Plus almost $49 a month as the basic charge for the privilege of being connected to the grid.
I also worked on my irrigation system. It appears a pipe near the beginning came apart enough to reduce the water pressure enough to cause the pump to turn off. I had a problem once before with this pipe separating a little and leaking. So this time I replaced the pipe.
The replaced pipe was similar to the one in the following photo. Minus the clamp (and stick). The old pipe fit into the pipe in the second photo with the valve. To keep the two pipes together I wired the pipe without the clamp to the opening for the hook. I have a few pipes in the mainline like this. The difference is those pipes are more inside the mainline and not near the end. The other pipes in the mainline keep the wired pipes from slipping out.
Oh, the reason for the stick is to keep the pipes from slipping. While the design should allow the pipes to move enough to where the clamp holds against the lip and not have a leak, sometimes that movement is enough to allow a small leak to occur where the pipes come together.
I had one pipe available where Dad had replaced the half circle clamp with a hook as the half circle clamp doesn't work on pipes with valves and hook openings. This hook setup will hold the pipes together.
I also reinforced the elbow. I had some metal pipes and posts around the elbow but over time the pipes and posts moved. The elbow has a small leak which softens the ground. I added a two by four board between the tree and pipe next to the elbow. I'll watch to see if these changes stops the pipes near the elbow from moving in the future.
I moved the two sprinkler lines and started my pump. It started pumping water right away. So it does appear my pump packing tightening solved my pump starting problem.
Before I started the pump I added some mainline pipe a little over a third across my hayfield. In about three to five days I will complete watering the pastures. I am going to move the sprinkler lines back to the hayfield. The cut hayfield has stayed green and looks to be wanting to grow so I will see how much grows if I add water to what I just cut. Why I added only a third of the mainline pipes was to break up the task of carrying all those heavy steel pipes into multiple days, and I haven't moved the hay bales out of the hayfield yet.
I got my electric bill for last month's irrigation. I didn't irrigate the entire month. My electricity cost came to $300. Plus almost $49 a month as the basic charge for the privilege of being connected to the grid.
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Baling finally done
This year baling my field has been a nightmare. Earlier I had mentioned the problems the first day of baling with my John Deere 510 baler. Yesterday started out bad. Almost immediately one of the small belts started migrating over and under the wide belt next to it. I dumped the small bale. I remembered last year when I cleaned the baler I saw twine wrapped around some of the baler's rollers. I thought it was from twine accidentally sucked into the baler. Now I wondered if it was to help keep the belts from migrating on the very smooth rollers.
I crawled into the baler and wrapped some twine around a roller between the wide and next small belt.
I tried again, and again the small belt started migrating. I dumped that bale and crawled into the baler and wrapped twine around a few more rollers.
In the back I noticed the brackets for most of the belts - to hold them from migrating - were worn through (most likely due to friction from the bets over the many years) and it was possible for a few belts to migrate out of their bracket. But that was only one spot in a baler with a half dozen rollers. Still it may be good to close the gap. Curtis welds and I checked if he was available. Not at the current time.
I tried making another bale. The belt started to slip but then I started going around a corner and went off the windrow and the belt slipped back into the correct position. I was able to make a bale.
Then on the next bale the belt didn't slip, but looking back I noticed the area under the right wide belt had much less hay than the rest of the bale. Can this be why a wide belt twists? I then remembered the manual talking about weaving when beginning to pick up hay. I hadn't need to do it before. I started picking up hay on the right side of the baler and then the bale went to being consistent all the way across.
From then on I weaved while picking up hay until the bale was a decent size in the baler. Then weaved occasionally after that. This worked. I did have a few times later in the day when one or the other side ended up with a little less hay. No belt twisting but wrapping the bale with twine wasn't as good. I never noticed this until I dumped the bale from the baler. If I suspected that one side seemed less I would pick up hay on that side until the bale looked consistent. However, with all the dust floating in the air and landing on the tractor's window, the light on the dust at times made it difficult to see into the baler from the tractor.
The hay by now was very dry as the air was dry and the temperatures were in the mid 90s. The hay would break down when baling, especially when rotating to wrap twine around the bale. I usually had plenty of chaff left after dumping a bale.
Later I was able to adjust the drive speed/gear in relation to the PTO speed and reduced the amount of chaff. The speed adjustment reduced the amount of loose hay in the baler but not under the belts and that usually was what got ground up when rotating during twining.
I had a number of twine issues. A roll of twine has two ends sticking out of the roll: one to the baler and the other to tie to the next roll of twine. When I finished one roll and started a new roll, there was just enough resistance in the new roll to break the twine. I was partway through twining a bale and had to start over after I re-threaded the twine through the baler's stays and tube.
Then for a while whenever I cut the twine when done, the twine would shrink back inside the tube where I could not reach it. I would have to crawl under the baler and push a wire through the tube. Finally the spring-back quit.
My routine was to always tie the end of the twine to the grill guard.
Tying the twine was because last year the twine slipped from the tube while picking up hay and a lot of twine got sucked with the hay into the bale. It took me over a half hour to pull the twine out of the bale when I fed the bale to the cattle.
Well, once again the twine got sucked into the bale. I always tie the twine after cutting but apparently must have forgotten once. This Winter I will find out how much twine got sucked into the bale.
A number of times the bale didn't want to come out of the baler when the back door was opened. I would have to close and reopen the door several times. If that didn't work, then put the tractor in gear and make a quick start. One bale was especially hard to get out. I ended up breaking the hydraulic that open/closes the baler.
There is a bolt holding the hydraulic arm to the baler door. The bolt came out enough that the hydraulic arm came off the arm.
I had to unhook the tractor, put on a bale spear and use that to lift the baler door up so I could use a new bolt to reattach the hydraulic arm to the baler door.
I don't know if the old bolt (now with stripped threads) had a nut. But I put a nut on this new bolt.
I then had to use the bale spear to "pull" the bale out of the baler. This resulted in a bale with hole in the side and some hay puffed out.
I hooked up the tractor to the baler and went out to bale more. I forgot the rope used to cut the twine from the tractor. When I looked for the rope I found the end of it on the baler lever. The rest was broken off when it was sucked into the baler. I had to find a new rope.
In the afternoon I had the left small belt slide under the wide belt next to it. I had to dump the bale (and re-bale it). After I fixed the belt by sliding and maneuvering it back into place I set off to bale. I forgot to close the baler's door and went around part of the field for a while before I noticed a bale was forming. Then I noticed the door wasn't closed.
For a while it seemed as if every bale had some sort of problem. Off and on I doubted I would get all the hay baled on Friday. But in the evening the problems disappeared and I made progress.
I was down to three windrows left and enough time to bale everything before dark.
I counted my chickens before they hatched. I baled one row but shortly after I started on the second (right) row I noticed extra hay coming out the front of the baler. I stopped and looked. The bale was not uniform and the left side under the belt was much less than the rest of the bale and belts. The left belt was very slack. Then I saw where the belt was twisted.
I had 2/3 to 3/4 of a bale and I decided to try to twine it. I got much of the bale twined before it appeared the belt was starting to catch in the baler. So I dumped the bale. The bale didn't want to come out, but since I was near the house, I got a crowbar and pried the bale out enough that when I drove forward the bale fell the rest of the way out. I think I have enough twine to hold the bale together.
Some hay jammed between the brackets and a roller. Was the reason for the problem?
I had to take the belt apart. Then I pulled the belt out of the baler. Then I had to rethread the belt back in the baler over and under rollers and through brackets. Then wire the belt back together. It was dark by the time I was done. So much for finishing all the baling by dark.
The 20% chance of rain on Saturday was for the afternoon. After 9 am Donna called me to warn me that blue rain clouds were to the West and coming. So much for sleeping in. The last two rows made 1 and 1/2 bales and I had no problems with it. I then went around the field picked up odds and ends of missed hay, mostly on the corners. I also went by some funky bales that had loose hay around them due to being poorly twined or misshapen or both.
One bale was so bad that I decided to re-bale it. The twine was barely tight and the bale was very misshapen. Since things had been going well the rain clouds were going north around the ranch - like what usually happens in the Summer.
The bale only partially unrolled. Other parts clumped together and other parts were just a thick loose mess. I tried spreading the hay out, picking up some with the baler, then spreading out more hay. Two times I had thick clumps that jammed in the baler's intake. I had to stop and pull all the hay out I could so the intake would work again.
Yesterday I had to use a rag to clean the back tractor window each time I got out as the dust collected on the window. There was no wind yesterday and I wished for a breeze. I got a breeze today and regretted it. When spreading the hay or unclogging the baler the hay would blow into my face.
Then the hay to be re-baled was already broken down and short and often as the baler's twines would spin to pick the hay up off the ground and into the baler's rollers the hay would blow to the side of the baler. Back and forth and back and forth - over and over - before I finally got all of the former bale into the baler.
When things looked bad then more rain clouds would form or drops started to fall. When things got better and started working again the clouds went around and the drops stopped. Mother Nature would cruelly keep the pressure on.
Now I started with almost a half bale in the baler. Once I re-baled the former bale I ended up with a little over three-fourths of a bale. At the end of the re-baling a little of the former bale was on the ground due to the pieces being so small the baler couldn't find it up, but it wasn't all that much. Where did almost three-fourths of a bale go? Was the former bale so loose it wasn't a true full bale?
I haven't done an extra count but I think I ended up with about 50 bales.
I am so glad I am done as baling oat hay, barley hay and peas was a nightmare.
Once I finished baling I parked the tractor and baler and went in the house to eat breakfast. It was now after noon. I was tired and laid down just after 1 pm. I woke up at 4:45 pm after a hard sleep. I was that tired.
I crawled into the baler and wrapped some twine around a roller between the wide and next small belt.
I tried again, and again the small belt started migrating. I dumped that bale and crawled into the baler and wrapped twine around a few more rollers.
In the back I noticed the brackets for most of the belts - to hold them from migrating - were worn through (most likely due to friction from the bets over the many years) and it was possible for a few belts to migrate out of their bracket. But that was only one spot in a baler with a half dozen rollers. Still it may be good to close the gap. Curtis welds and I checked if he was available. Not at the current time.
Then on the next bale the belt didn't slip, but looking back I noticed the area under the right wide belt had much less hay than the rest of the bale. Can this be why a wide belt twists? I then remembered the manual talking about weaving when beginning to pick up hay. I hadn't need to do it before. I started picking up hay on the right side of the baler and then the bale went to being consistent all the way across.
From then on I weaved while picking up hay until the bale was a decent size in the baler. Then weaved occasionally after that. This worked. I did have a few times later in the day when one or the other side ended up with a little less hay. No belt twisting but wrapping the bale with twine wasn't as good. I never noticed this until I dumped the bale from the baler. If I suspected that one side seemed less I would pick up hay on that side until the bale looked consistent. However, with all the dust floating in the air and landing on the tractor's window, the light on the dust at times made it difficult to see into the baler from the tractor.
The hay by now was very dry as the air was dry and the temperatures were in the mid 90s. The hay would break down when baling, especially when rotating to wrap twine around the bale. I usually had plenty of chaff left after dumping a bale.
Later I was able to adjust the drive speed/gear in relation to the PTO speed and reduced the amount of chaff. The speed adjustment reduced the amount of loose hay in the baler but not under the belts and that usually was what got ground up when rotating during twining.
I had a number of twine issues. A roll of twine has two ends sticking out of the roll: one to the baler and the other to tie to the next roll of twine. When I finished one roll and started a new roll, there was just enough resistance in the new roll to break the twine. I was partway through twining a bale and had to start over after I re-threaded the twine through the baler's stays and tube.
Then for a while whenever I cut the twine when done, the twine would shrink back inside the tube where I could not reach it. I would have to crawl under the baler and push a wire through the tube. Finally the spring-back quit.
My routine was to always tie the end of the twine to the grill guard.
Tying the twine was because last year the twine slipped from the tube while picking up hay and a lot of twine got sucked with the hay into the bale. It took me over a half hour to pull the twine out of the bale when I fed the bale to the cattle.
Well, once again the twine got sucked into the bale. I always tie the twine after cutting but apparently must have forgotten once. This Winter I will find out how much twine got sucked into the bale.
A number of times the bale didn't want to come out of the baler when the back door was opened. I would have to close and reopen the door several times. If that didn't work, then put the tractor in gear and make a quick start. One bale was especially hard to get out. I ended up breaking the hydraulic that open/closes the baler.
 |
| Broken baler door now resting against the bale. |
I had to unhook the tractor, put on a bale spear and use that to lift the baler door up so I could use a new bolt to reattach the hydraulic arm to the baler door.
I don't know if the old bolt (now with stripped threads) had a nut. But I put a nut on this new bolt.
I then had to use the bale spear to "pull" the bale out of the baler. This resulted in a bale with hole in the side and some hay puffed out.
I hooked up the tractor to the baler and went out to bale more. I forgot the rope used to cut the twine from the tractor. When I looked for the rope I found the end of it on the baler lever. The rest was broken off when it was sucked into the baler. I had to find a new rope.
In the afternoon I had the left small belt slide under the wide belt next to it. I had to dump the bale (and re-bale it). After I fixed the belt by sliding and maneuvering it back into place I set off to bale. I forgot to close the baler's door and went around part of the field for a while before I noticed a bale was forming. Then I noticed the door wasn't closed.
For a while it seemed as if every bale had some sort of problem. Off and on I doubted I would get all the hay baled on Friday. But in the evening the problems disappeared and I made progress.
I was down to three windrows left and enough time to bale everything before dark.
I counted my chickens before they hatched. I baled one row but shortly after I started on the second (right) row I noticed extra hay coming out the front of the baler. I stopped and looked. The bale was not uniform and the left side under the belt was much less than the rest of the bale and belts. The left belt was very slack. Then I saw where the belt was twisted.
I had 2/3 to 3/4 of a bale and I decided to try to twine it. I got much of the bale twined before it appeared the belt was starting to catch in the baler. So I dumped the bale. The bale didn't want to come out, but since I was near the house, I got a crowbar and pried the bale out enough that when I drove forward the bale fell the rest of the way out. I think I have enough twine to hold the bale together.
Some hay jammed between the brackets and a roller. Was the reason for the problem?
I had to take the belt apart. Then I pulled the belt out of the baler. Then I had to rethread the belt back in the baler over and under rollers and through brackets. Then wire the belt back together. It was dark by the time I was done. So much for finishing all the baling by dark.
The 20% chance of rain on Saturday was for the afternoon. After 9 am Donna called me to warn me that blue rain clouds were to the West and coming. So much for sleeping in. The last two rows made 1 and 1/2 bales and I had no problems with it. I then went around the field picked up odds and ends of missed hay, mostly on the corners. I also went by some funky bales that had loose hay around them due to being poorly twined or misshapen or both.
One bale was so bad that I decided to re-bale it. The twine was barely tight and the bale was very misshapen. Since things had been going well the rain clouds were going north around the ranch - like what usually happens in the Summer.
The bale only partially unrolled. Other parts clumped together and other parts were just a thick loose mess. I tried spreading the hay out, picking up some with the baler, then spreading out more hay. Two times I had thick clumps that jammed in the baler's intake. I had to stop and pull all the hay out I could so the intake would work again.
Yesterday I had to use a rag to clean the back tractor window each time I got out as the dust collected on the window. There was no wind yesterday and I wished for a breeze. I got a breeze today and regretted it. When spreading the hay or unclogging the baler the hay would blow into my face.
Then the hay to be re-baled was already broken down and short and often as the baler's twines would spin to pick the hay up off the ground and into the baler's rollers the hay would blow to the side of the baler. Back and forth and back and forth - over and over - before I finally got all of the former bale into the baler.
When things looked bad then more rain clouds would form or drops started to fall. When things got better and started working again the clouds went around and the drops stopped. Mother Nature would cruelly keep the pressure on.
Now I started with almost a half bale in the baler. Once I re-baled the former bale I ended up with a little over three-fourths of a bale. At the end of the re-baling a little of the former bale was on the ground due to the pieces being so small the baler couldn't find it up, but it wasn't all that much. Where did almost three-fourths of a bale go? Was the former bale so loose it wasn't a true full bale?
I haven't done an extra count but I think I ended up with about 50 bales.
I am so glad I am done as baling oat hay, barley hay and peas was a nightmare.
Once I finished baling I parked the tractor and baler and went in the house to eat breakfast. It was now after noon. I was tired and laid down just after 1 pm. I woke up at 4:45 pm after a hard sleep. I was that tired.
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