Sunday, June 30, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Here Comes The Sun
The newest project around the ranch has been the installation of a solar pump for a stock well. One of the pastures that we lease doesn't have any natural water, just a well. Last year we had to run up there every day and start a generator to pump water. It's about 8 miles through the prairie from our house to the well so it got old before long. M had done some research on solar systems and talked to a lady at a booth at the MATE show in Billings in February. They determined what we'd need based on the depth of the well, flow rate, etc. and shipped us everything we'd need.
They had to build a small corral for the solar panel assembly so that the cows couldn't rub on it. M told R what needed to be done and R did most of it by himself. Actually, he didn't do it exactly like M had told him because he saw that it wasn't going to be big enough that way. M was pretty impressed with his work. R was gone for the weekend so on Sunday M enlisted me to help him put the solar panels up. Not sure why he decided to have me help him do a job that required lifting and working over my head other than he thought I'd be good at reading the instructions. We managed to get the two solar panels up on the pole and then added the tracker system. That allows the panels to follow the sun so you get more bang for your buck.
The hard part came on Monday when they had to pull the old pump and put the solar pump down and then hook up the electronics. They seem to have forgotten to send the instructions for that part. The guys had some trouble getting the old pump pulled out but eventually got it, put the new one in, hooked it up and voila, it works!
Yesterday M and R moved the heifers up to that pasture and on Monday they moved another group of cows and calves near Richland. Just one more group to move, but we have more fence repair to do before we can do that.
R was gone over the weekend and left Kobe with us. Talk about busy with two puppies in the house! They played well together, but it was a bit exhausting. Good thing we bought paper towels by the case! R is a little worried about the payback when he has them both for awhile.
C and J are busy spraying, and they can see the end. R is gearing up to start cutting hay. We've had rain showers every few days so the grass is looking great. Keeping our fingers crossed that we get some sprinkles in July.
They had to build a small corral for the solar panel assembly so that the cows couldn't rub on it. M told R what needed to be done and R did most of it by himself. Actually, he didn't do it exactly like M had told him because he saw that it wasn't going to be big enough that way. M was pretty impressed with his work. R was gone for the weekend so on Sunday M enlisted me to help him put the solar panels up. Not sure why he decided to have me help him do a job that required lifting and working over my head other than he thought I'd be good at reading the instructions. We managed to get the two solar panels up on the pole and then added the tracker system. That allows the panels to follow the sun so you get more bang for your buck.
The hard part came on Monday when they had to pull the old pump and put the solar pump down and then hook up the electronics. They seem to have forgotten to send the instructions for that part. The guys had some trouble getting the old pump pulled out but eventually got it, put the new one in, hooked it up and voila, it works!
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| M showing our neighbor how the solar system works. |
Yesterday M and R moved the heifers up to that pasture and on Monday they moved another group of cows and calves near Richland. Just one more group to move, but we have more fence repair to do before we can do that.
R was gone over the weekend and left Kobe with us. Talk about busy with two puppies in the house! They played well together, but it was a bit exhausting. Good thing we bought paper towels by the case! R is a little worried about the payback when he has them both for awhile.
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| Junior and Kobe taking a break. |
Monday, June 17, 2013
Making Babies (we hope)
We continued the breeding process last week. We left the CIDR devices in for ten days and then had the fun job of pulling them out again. At that time we gave them a shot of hormone and applied heat detection patches to their backs. The ones we had last year were self-adhesive, but we had the vet order them in for us this year and they were different. When I opened the box and discovered tubes of adhesive I groaned thinking they were really going to be a pain in my butt to apply. Luckily, M's sister and our niece arrived just in time to take over that job. And, an excellent job they did! Our 15-year-old cousin was helping us again. He was helping work the chute and R was pushing so the three of us shared the job of pulling out the CIDRs. Our niece has a 5-year-old daughter who was asking R all kinds of questions about what we were doing. His response was "I just don't know how to explain it to you".
The next day we started looking for the heat detection patches. They were white when they went on and I thought the black cows looked like walking wounded, all with a white patch on their backs. The cows "ride" each other when in heat and when they do that the patches turn color. The next day we started to see red ones, like they were bleeding through their bandages. Those with red bandages were separated and put in pens to be bred in a few hours.
We had a half-inch of rain that night so on Friday we were working in muck again. We bred some early in the morning and then took a break and then we had a big bunch to do Friday afternoon. Our AI person had another friend come help him so that it would go faster and he wouldn't get so worn out. By Friday afternoon (the third time through the chute in ten days) the cows were as tired of us as we were of them and weren't as easy to work with. Plus, the hotshot ran out of battery. Not good. We left a gate open so that once they were bred they could go out of the corral into a holding area before being sent out to pasture. M told me that if he missed catching one in the head gate to run and close that gate. Unfortunately, that either meant crossing quicksand in the corral or taking a longer way around. I said I would run like the wind. M said it would be okay if I didn't get there in time as long as I did a face plant in the mud and he got to see it. Nice guy. I did have to make that run a couple of times, especially toward the end when everyone was getting tired. I was never so glad to see a cattle oiler salesman as I was that day because I had to run home and write him a check so I missed out on the last few. I'm still wondering who thought it was a good idea to do 120 head. We were all pooped.
We took it a little easier over the weekend although R and M put some bulls out on Saturday morning. M has the scar to show he was working. They had a bull loaded in the trailer and were going to gate it in the front of the trailer. When M went to close the gate it kicked the gate which came back and whacked him and give him a nice gash in his forehead. I tell everyone that he mouthed off one too many times and I let him have it.
It was a pretty laid back weekend, though. J and K and the baby went camping at the lake, C and his wife went out of town for a wedding, R went to Glasgow to a demolition derby and we went to see M's parents, sister and her family for the evening. Sunday we had a bit of a come-and-go family day at the parents' house for Father's Day.
Today M and R moved the heifers to their summer pasture. We have a couple more groups of cows to move and a couple more bulls to put out and then we feel like we can take a breath before haying starts and hope we made a bunch of babies.
The next day we started looking for the heat detection patches. They were white when they went on and I thought the black cows looked like walking wounded, all with a white patch on their backs. The cows "ride" each other when in heat and when they do that the patches turn color. The next day we started to see red ones, like they were bleeding through their bandages. Those with red bandages were separated and put in pens to be bred in a few hours.
We had a half-inch of rain that night so on Friday we were working in muck again. We bred some early in the morning and then took a break and then we had a big bunch to do Friday afternoon. Our AI person had another friend come help him so that it would go faster and he wouldn't get so worn out. By Friday afternoon (the third time through the chute in ten days) the cows were as tired of us as we were of them and weren't as easy to work with. Plus, the hotshot ran out of battery. Not good. We left a gate open so that once they were bred they could go out of the corral into a holding area before being sent out to pasture. M told me that if he missed catching one in the head gate to run and close that gate. Unfortunately, that either meant crossing quicksand in the corral or taking a longer way around. I said I would run like the wind. M said it would be okay if I didn't get there in time as long as I did a face plant in the mud and he got to see it. Nice guy. I did have to make that run a couple of times, especially toward the end when everyone was getting tired. I was never so glad to see a cattle oiler salesman as I was that day because I had to run home and write him a check so I missed out on the last few. I'm still wondering who thought it was a good idea to do 120 head. We were all pooped.
We took it a little easier over the weekend although R and M put some bulls out on Saturday morning. M has the scar to show he was working. They had a bull loaded in the trailer and were going to gate it in the front of the trailer. When M went to close the gate it kicked the gate which came back and whacked him and give him a nice gash in his forehead. I tell everyone that he mouthed off one too many times and I let him have it.
It was a pretty laid back weekend, though. J and K and the baby went camping at the lake, C and his wife went out of town for a wedding, R went to Glasgow to a demolition derby and we went to see M's parents, sister and her family for the evening. Sunday we had a bit of a come-and-go family day at the parents' house for Father's Day.
Today M and R moved the heifers to their summer pasture. We have a couple more groups of cows to move and a couple more bulls to put out and then we feel like we can take a breath before haying starts and hope we made a bunch of babies.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Hey, Could You......?
My day....
"Hey, could you watch my dog? I'm fencing at the river and don't want to take him". Sure, two puppies will be no trouble at all. R's puppy (Kobe) is half border collie and have lab and is about 10 weeks old, I think. Ours (Junior) is full border collie and 7 weeks old. We haven't had a full-time puppy since 1995 so it's a bit of an adjustment for us. Kobe is growing by leaps and bounds and looks so huge compared to Junior. Junior was a bit intimidated at first, but he definitely held his own and let Kobe know when he'd had enough. It was nonstop motion here for a few hours. I did have to try to mow my lawn, though, so they went to puppy jail for a little while.
"Hey, could you take lunch to J, C and Jared?" Uh, sure, but I have two puppies and no ideas for lunch. No problem, sandwiches all around and Kobe in the dog crate while Junior made the trip to the field. I think Kobe wore him out because he had a nap in the pickup.
"Hey, could you help us move and give us a ride back to town since it looks like it's going to rain?" Sure, I have nothing else to do. That plan changed when a wheel bearing went out of the roller so I just had to flag J to Richland.
"Hey, could you come help me fence? I need one more hand." Sure, who needs more than ten minutes at home? This time Junior went to the crate and Kobe went fencing. R was stringing out a new wire and needed some help. I thought I'd just be there for a minute but then he wanted me to start clipping the wire to the posts at one end while he started on the other. Then it started to rain a little, then harder. Then we ran out of clips and came home.
Kobe went home, Junior is taking another nap, and I am having some tea to warm up. Tomorrow we get to pull things out of cow vaginas (probably in the rain) so stay tuned!
"Hey, could you watch my dog? I'm fencing at the river and don't want to take him". Sure, two puppies will be no trouble at all. R's puppy (Kobe) is half border collie and have lab and is about 10 weeks old, I think. Ours (Junior) is full border collie and 7 weeks old. We haven't had a full-time puppy since 1995 so it's a bit of an adjustment for us. Kobe is growing by leaps and bounds and looks so huge compared to Junior. Junior was a bit intimidated at first, but he definitely held his own and let Kobe know when he'd had enough. It was nonstop motion here for a few hours. I did have to try to mow my lawn, though, so they went to puppy jail for a little while.
"Hey, could you take lunch to J, C and Jared?" Uh, sure, but I have two puppies and no ideas for lunch. No problem, sandwiches all around and Kobe in the dog crate while Junior made the trip to the field. I think Kobe wore him out because he had a nap in the pickup.
"Hey, could you help us move and give us a ride back to town since it looks like it's going to rain?" Sure, I have nothing else to do. That plan changed when a wheel bearing went out of the roller so I just had to flag J to Richland.
"Hey, could you come help me fence? I need one more hand." Sure, who needs more than ten minutes at home? This time Junior went to the crate and Kobe went fencing. R was stringing out a new wire and needed some help. I thought I'd just be there for a minute but then he wanted me to start clipping the wire to the posts at one end while he started on the other. Then it started to rain a little, then harder. Then we ran out of clips and came home.
Kobe went home, Junior is taking another nap, and I am having some tea to warm up. Tomorrow we get to pull things out of cow vaginas (probably in the rain) so stay tuned!
Monday, June 3, 2013
Head 'Em up, Moooove 'Em Out!
We had 2 !/2 inches of rain through Thursday and Friday and that meant no farming. No farming meant cow work all weekend. The first order of business was moving our bulls (again) to make room for our replacement heifers. I swear those poor bulls are going to get dizzy, but at least they know where they're going. Next up was moving the heifers home to start our synchronization process to get them ready to AI. We had to move them a couple of miles and it went really smoothly with M and R on the 4-wheelers and me in the Jeep watching gates.
We had a quick lunch at R's house and then had to move our cows and calves from home east to near where the heifers had been. Usually the hardest part of that move is right at the start and through the first gate, but that went just fine. We normally try to stop them there and let them pair up some before we continue on. M was opening and closing gates and didn't get there fast enough and the lead pairs were in a hurry. We ended up with some calves at the back who couldn't find their mamas and kept turning back until M couldn't hold them by himself. I went to tell R to close the next gate so that they could group up, but I was too late as the lead bunch was already a quarter mile past the gate. We were having no luck with the calves so had to bring the whole bunch back and try again. Some of those calves we had to chase back three times and were really afraid of getting them too played out. There was still one holdout by the first gate and Bob the fencer, who had come along to help, thought it would be a good idea to try to rope it. R got it by a leg while Bob tried to rope it and R somehow got a good kick to the man parts and went down. He probably didn't appreciate the rest of us laughing at him. That was the end of that and we finally managed to chase the calf to the rest of the herd and got them all moving again and to their final destination. M stayed there for awhile to move mineral tubs and keep an eye on the calves while R and his girlfriend and I went to R's house to make supper. R swears it was the worst move ever, but M says he has a short memory.
After supper M and I went to take a grain truck to J who was seeding north of where we had moved the cows. He and C had picked up a demo tractor and drill to finish the last 900 acres of seeding. There were still some lone calves when we went by on the way up to the field, but only one or two when we came back. Sadly, they'll only stay there for a few days before we'll move them again.
I woke up Sunday morning thinking of a lazy Sunday then realized that wasn't going to happen. We had to bring in the heifers and give them shots and insert a CIDR device into their vaginas. Yep, all sorts of fun in the cow business! The device is silicone impregnated with progesterone. In ten days we have to run them all through again and pull them out. We enlisted R's girlfriend to help, and she did great. She works as a medical assistant in a clinic so isn't fazed by this stuff. She has a 4-year-old boy and we also had our 15-year-old cousin helping. We're thinking they got quite the education, and we're interested to find out what the 4-year-old has to say about his weekend when he goes back to daycare today! He was just in his glory playing in the mud and water in the corral. I bet he smelled good by the time we were done!
Everyone was played out by the time we ran 121 head through, but our day was far from over. Jared, R, J and I headed to Opheim so J could finish seeding there and move his tractor home while Jared and R brought trucks and I pulled an auger back. M was seeding here while we were doing that.
When I got back I went to check the heifers and found one out. She was right by the gate wanting back in so I opened it and she was just about through when she spooked and ran the other way. I made one attempt to get her back in and then gave up. R got her in when he got back.
There was rain in the forecast so J was going to seed into the night and M was up at 4:00 am to go out. He got a few hours in before the rain set in. It should be a lazy Monday since it is raining, but I have to catch up on laundry and bills. Sigh........
We had a quick lunch at R's house and then had to move our cows and calves from home east to near where the heifers had been. Usually the hardest part of that move is right at the start and through the first gate, but that went just fine. We normally try to stop them there and let them pair up some before we continue on. M was opening and closing gates and didn't get there fast enough and the lead pairs were in a hurry. We ended up with some calves at the back who couldn't find their mamas and kept turning back until M couldn't hold them by himself. I went to tell R to close the next gate so that they could group up, but I was too late as the lead bunch was already a quarter mile past the gate. We were having no luck with the calves so had to bring the whole bunch back and try again. Some of those calves we had to chase back three times and were really afraid of getting them too played out. There was still one holdout by the first gate and Bob the fencer, who had come along to help, thought it would be a good idea to try to rope it. R got it by a leg while Bob tried to rope it and R somehow got a good kick to the man parts and went down. He probably didn't appreciate the rest of us laughing at him. That was the end of that and we finally managed to chase the calf to the rest of the herd and got them all moving again and to their final destination. M stayed there for awhile to move mineral tubs and keep an eye on the calves while R and his girlfriend and I went to R's house to make supper. R swears it was the worst move ever, but M says he has a short memory.
After supper M and I went to take a grain truck to J who was seeding north of where we had moved the cows. He and C had picked up a demo tractor and drill to finish the last 900 acres of seeding. There were still some lone calves when we went by on the way up to the field, but only one or two when we came back. Sadly, they'll only stay there for a few days before we'll move them again.
I woke up Sunday morning thinking of a lazy Sunday then realized that wasn't going to happen. We had to bring in the heifers and give them shots and insert a CIDR device into their vaginas. Yep, all sorts of fun in the cow business! The device is silicone impregnated with progesterone. In ten days we have to run them all through again and pull them out. We enlisted R's girlfriend to help, and she did great. She works as a medical assistant in a clinic so isn't fazed by this stuff. She has a 4-year-old boy and we also had our 15-year-old cousin helping. We're thinking they got quite the education, and we're interested to find out what the 4-year-old has to say about his weekend when he goes back to daycare today! He was just in his glory playing in the mud and water in the corral. I bet he smelled good by the time we were done!
Everyone was played out by the time we ran 121 head through, but our day was far from over. Jared, R, J and I headed to Opheim so J could finish seeding there and move his tractor home while Jared and R brought trucks and I pulled an auger back. M was seeding here while we were doing that.
When I got back I went to check the heifers and found one out. She was right by the gate wanting back in so I opened it and she was just about through when she spooked and ran the other way. I made one attempt to get her back in and then gave up. R got her in when he got back.
There was rain in the forecast so J was going to seed into the night and M was up at 4:00 am to go out. He got a few hours in before the rain set in. It should be a lazy Monday since it is raining, but I have to catch up on laundry and bills. Sigh........
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