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| This used to be a field of peas. |
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| And a wheat field. |
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Oh, Hail!
The nasty stuff finally hit us on Saturday. It was a bit of a deceiving storm. I was home in the afternoon mowing and noticed that the sky was getting dark so I finished up, took my laundry off the clothesline and went inside. J called awhile later to see if it was raining here. The wind had come up and the way the sky looked I thought it should be pouring, but it only sprinkled here. I watched a nasty cloud that was headed to the southeast so thought the heavy stuff had missed us. Wrong!
It appeared that the storm hit about at the barn at R's. There must have been a raging river through the yard there that took out this brace. Notice the tree branch stuck in the brace that washed down from the house. There are branches and leaves everywhere! R's girlfriend was here for the weekend and her car was covered in leaves and grass when they got home. When she got it cleaned off she discovered lots of hail damage.
We took a little farm tour on Sunday morning. Talk about depressing. Almost all our peas are wiped out as well as the neigbor's who we farm for. These pictures were taken about 18 hours after the storm and look at this bank of hail.
Not only is there the financial loss, but it creates a mess and changes plans for next year. We don't want it to be a weedy mess so will have to spray it all again, and it is pretty sandy soil so we're worried about it blowing if it gets dry (which is always does here at some point). We still have lots of good crops out there, so we hope any future storms don't bring hail to any of that.
I'm trying to look on the bright side...a shorter harvest. Maybe we'll be able to make the race in Kansas this fall.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Long Weekend....and Week
Our weekend was a little crazy because we were the only members of the whole family that were home. R was in a wedding near Helena and left Wednesday night leaving his puppy with us. C headed to Canada on Friday while J left on Wednesday to see an orthopedic doctor (more on that later) and a reunion of K's family on the weekend. Thankfully, Jared came to help us instead of going to the lake with his parents. That was, however, a bit of a mixed blessing.
M had Jared on the swather while he was trying to bale, but the swather was having some issues that Jared wasn't able to deal with. M is used to calling J or C to figure out what could be wrong and fixing it so he could continue with his baling while conditions were right. He was feeling very alone with no backup. Add to that the fact that he was baling about 30 miles from where Jared was swathing.
In the midst of that I did the unthinkable. He asked if I would come help him get his tractor unstuck and I said I was too busy, which I was. My nephew was going to come the next day to do some trim work for me so I was trying to get some stain and varnish on the trim and later was headed to town for a massage and couldn't reschedule it. I was sure he was somewhere where he shouldn't have gone so didn't feel very sorry for him. A few days before he had sent me to get Jared unstuck and all I did was get myself stuck so I didn't want to go there again.
While R was gone I had to deal with the DirecTV installation at his house. That was interesting considering the technician looked like he (and I use that term loosely) was in the middle of a sex change. Josie (Joseph) had some manly features but had a ponytail and was wearing a cap that said "Cowgirl" with bling, women's jeans, eye makeup and I'm pretty sure a bra. Hard not to stare, I'll tell you. I was disappointed that no one saw him/her but me. He was from Miles City and had an 8-year-old son. None of that computes in my mind!
R and J were home by Sunday night but that didn't improve things much. J has a separated shoulder from tipping over his side-by-side while chasing the neighbor's cows out of our lentil field. You can imagine how happy that whole situation made him. The doctor is recommending that he just wait and see how it feels in a month or so and then determine if he needs surgery. Of course, it's his right shoulder so that makes it even more disabling. Jared will have to be his right hand man for awhile. Hopefully, he won't try to do too much too soon. We were really feeling sorry for K putting up with him while in pain and crabby plus a baby and a dog and several days in Billings. She was happy to see him head to the farm on Monday.
R moved the swather to Opheim but continued to have problems and ended up making two parts runs to Glasgow. Then he smacked a deer on the way home. Not a good day! The next day we had rain so they spent more time working on the swather but had to wait for a part to come in. Hopefully, it is rolling now.
While they were waiting for the parts to come in they did some fencing so that we can move our big bunch of cows when we get some time. We've had some bull trouble in one of our other pastures. The neighbor has 150 heifers that aren't to be bred but aren't spayed next to our pasture so the bull wanted to go visiting. They moved our herd back across the road a week or two ago so that four fences and a road might keep him with the herd he was supposed to be with long enough to get them bred. R moved the cows back yesterday and brought the bull home. The only traveling he'll be doing now will be to the sales ring.
M says we are going to disappear for a week but I'm not holding my breath. He still has a lot of haying left to do.
In the midst of that I did the unthinkable. He asked if I would come help him get his tractor unstuck and I said I was too busy, which I was. My nephew was going to come the next day to do some trim work for me so I was trying to get some stain and varnish on the trim and later was headed to town for a massage and couldn't reschedule it. I was sure he was somewhere where he shouldn't have gone so didn't feel very sorry for him. A few days before he had sent me to get Jared unstuck and all I did was get myself stuck so I didn't want to go there again.
While R was gone I had to deal with the DirecTV installation at his house. That was interesting considering the technician looked like he (and I use that term loosely) was in the middle of a sex change. Josie (Joseph) had some manly features but had a ponytail and was wearing a cap that said "Cowgirl" with bling, women's jeans, eye makeup and I'm pretty sure a bra. Hard not to stare, I'll tell you. I was disappointed that no one saw him/her but me. He was from Miles City and had an 8-year-old son. None of that computes in my mind!
R and J were home by Sunday night but that didn't improve things much. J has a separated shoulder from tipping over his side-by-side while chasing the neighbor's cows out of our lentil field. You can imagine how happy that whole situation made him. The doctor is recommending that he just wait and see how it feels in a month or so and then determine if he needs surgery. Of course, it's his right shoulder so that makes it even more disabling. Jared will have to be his right hand man for awhile. Hopefully, he won't try to do too much too soon. We were really feeling sorry for K putting up with him while in pain and crabby plus a baby and a dog and several days in Billings. She was happy to see him head to the farm on Monday.
R moved the swather to Opheim but continued to have problems and ended up making two parts runs to Glasgow. Then he smacked a deer on the way home. Not a good day! The next day we had rain so they spent more time working on the swather but had to wait for a part to come in. Hopefully, it is rolling now.
While they were waiting for the parts to come in they did some fencing so that we can move our big bunch of cows when we get some time. We've had some bull trouble in one of our other pastures. The neighbor has 150 heifers that aren't to be bred but aren't spayed next to our pasture so the bull wanted to go visiting. They moved our herd back across the road a week or two ago so that four fences and a road might keep him with the herd he was supposed to be with long enough to get them bred. R moved the cows back yesterday and brought the bull home. The only traveling he'll be doing now will be to the sales ring.
M says we are going to disappear for a week but I'm not holding my breath. He still has a lot of haying left to do.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
50 Shades of Green
Everyone comments on how green it is here this year, but as I was looking across the fields the other day it occurred to me that there are so many shades of green. From the mint green of the pea fields to the kelly green of the wheat to the olive green of the grass hills. Throw in the white flowers on the peas, the yellow flowers on the mustard and the purple alfalfa flowers in the hay fields and there is a riot of color. Then add the smells; of the mint in the bogs, the sweet clover and now the alfalfa. I walked out my front door this morning and was assaulted by the beautiful smell of alfalfa. I could go on about the numerous wildflowers, most of which are past their prime by now. One day when they were at their peak we were moving cows and I spent more time looking at the ground to see what was growing than I did watching where I was going!
Some years by this time the dog days of summer have arrived and everything is turning brown, but thankfully, we have had some July rains (affectionately known as "money makers") this year. I had lots of opportunities to gaze across the prairie today as first I made the trek to check on the solar pump. That's about 8 miles of prairie trail (and 3 gates) to the east and takes about an hour to get there and back. Then later I took backroads to pick up M who was baling even farther east. I enjoy the sight of what some people may call nothingness, just wide open prairie under the big sky.
Some years by this time the dog days of summer have arrived and everything is turning brown, but thankfully, we have had some July rains (affectionately known as "money makers") this year. I had lots of opportunities to gaze across the prairie today as first I made the trek to check on the solar pump. That's about 8 miles of prairie trail (and 3 gates) to the east and takes about an hour to get there and back. Then later I took backroads to pick up M who was baling even farther east. I enjoy the sight of what some people may call nothingness, just wide open prairie under the big sky.
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| Peas flowering |
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| Peas, wheat, lentils and mustard |
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| Peas, wheat and grass hills |
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Haying (There Goes July)
It's official, haying has begun. R started the season off by swathing the highway ditches and then moved to some leased land early last week. M gave him some days off so that he wouldn't get too far ahead of the baler which wasn't even out of the shed yet, and then we had rain so they're not making fast progress. M raked some this morning and did finally make some bales this afternoon, but there is more rain in the forecast for the next few days so he's not sure he wants to lay any more on the ground right now. Last year it seemed like the haying season went on forever. R tells me it won't be so bad this year since he's here to help. I hope he's right. I'm still holding out a small glimmer of hope that we'll have time to do something fun before we get into harvest.
Even M took the 4th off and we took in the festivities for the Scobey Centennial celebration. The high point of my day was babysitting my granddaughter for a couple of hours and getting some smiles from her.
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.
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