Showing posts with label farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farm. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Friday, August 7, 2015
Progress on projects
While I was in Portland a couple weeks ago, Don was incredibly busy. Not only do we still have large outstanding orders for tankards...
...but there are endless projects we want to accomplish before the snow flies.
Lately we've been stepping outside in the mornings and feeling the breath of fall in the air. The blistering heat we've had all summer appears to be finished, and the days are (thankfully) cooler. This morning it was a decidedly brisk 40F. We don't get much by way of autumn color around here, but what little we get is already setting in.
In other words, time's a-wastin'. Gotta get some stuff done.
The most obvious change I noticed when I got home from my trip was thirty tons of hay in the barn -- a wonderful sight. Thanks to the diligence of a neighbor who is always on the lookout for good hay prices (and who has a flatbed trailer, so we pay him to haul for us), we got this hay for a wonderful price.
Thirty tons is more than enough to get us through the winter; but since we feed the animals in the bull pen year-round, we like to have extra on hand.
We've had a freaky weird summer, much hotter and drier than normal, and all the crops are accelerated. Farmers were cutting hay in June rather than July or August. At the moment hay prices are still a bit high; but we're going to keep an eye on things, and if prices come down as we think they might, we may obtain another thirty tons and tarp it as a hedge. In other words, get another year's worth of hay. Under "bleep" conditions, animals can eat two-year-old hay, though of course it will lose some of its nutritional value.
Another project he accomplished was cleaning out the bull pen. Unlike the lovely feed boxes Don built under the awning by the barn, we still fed the bull (and any animals we tucked in with him for breeding or companionship) over the fence. Needless to say, this was wasteful and resulted in an ever-growing mound of buildup. Additionally, it meant the animals fed outside regardless of rain or snow, so any leftover hay quickly became inedible.
As the mound rose higher, we had to tie cattle panels (some call them hog panels) to the pen rails so the bull couldn't jump over the top. Clearly this massive mound of hay/manure buildup was a problem we needed to address.
So while I was in Portland, and while the rest of the herd was in the pasture, Don let the bull and companion cows into the adjacent paddock (we call it the "feed lot") and closed them out of the bull pen. He opened the gate to the woods, pulled the tractor around into the bull pen, and started hauling out that mound of old rotting hay. My goodness, what a difference to see bare ground once more.
He made an enormous pile on the edge of the woods. In a year, two at most, this will decompose into beautiful "black gold," perfect for gardens.
Recently he's started another project in the bull pen: expanding the shed to accommodate more animals.
Once the expansion is done, he'll build feed boxes inside the sheds to keep the food (and livestock) dry in inclement weather. Obviously this will make things more comfortable for the beasties, as well as be more efficient with hay.
Don also plans to build an enclosed awning outside the bull pen with access to the sheds, so we can feed from inside instead of feeding in rain or snow.
Other "must do" projects before winter is to install gutters on the barn so the feedlot and bull pen don't get saturated in mud. We also want to build another chicken coop -- this one in the yard -- as additional protection for the ladies. Time will tell whether we can get everything done before the snow flies, or if some things must wait for spring.
Incidentally, this is how a farm is built: bit by bit, little by little, project by project.
...but there are endless projects we want to accomplish before the snow flies.
Lately we've been stepping outside in the mornings and feeling the breath of fall in the air. The blistering heat we've had all summer appears to be finished, and the days are (thankfully) cooler. This morning it was a decidedly brisk 40F. We don't get much by way of autumn color around here, but what little we get is already setting in.
In other words, time's a-wastin'. Gotta get some stuff done.
The most obvious change I noticed when I got home from my trip was thirty tons of hay in the barn -- a wonderful sight. Thanks to the diligence of a neighbor who is always on the lookout for good hay prices (and who has a flatbed trailer, so we pay him to haul for us), we got this hay for a wonderful price.
Thirty tons is more than enough to get us through the winter; but since we feed the animals in the bull pen year-round, we like to have extra on hand.
We've had a freaky weird summer, much hotter and drier than normal, and all the crops are accelerated. Farmers were cutting hay in June rather than July or August. At the moment hay prices are still a bit high; but we're going to keep an eye on things, and if prices come down as we think they might, we may obtain another thirty tons and tarp it as a hedge. In other words, get another year's worth of hay. Under "bleep" conditions, animals can eat two-year-old hay, though of course it will lose some of its nutritional value.
Another project he accomplished was cleaning out the bull pen. Unlike the lovely feed boxes Don built under the awning by the barn, we still fed the bull (and any animals we tucked in with him for breeding or companionship) over the fence. Needless to say, this was wasteful and resulted in an ever-growing mound of buildup. Additionally, it meant the animals fed outside regardless of rain or snow, so any leftover hay quickly became inedible.
As the mound rose higher, we had to tie cattle panels (some call them hog panels) to the pen rails so the bull couldn't jump over the top. Clearly this massive mound of hay/manure buildup was a problem we needed to address.
So while I was in Portland, and while the rest of the herd was in the pasture, Don let the bull and companion cows into the adjacent paddock (we call it the "feed lot") and closed them out of the bull pen. He opened the gate to the woods, pulled the tractor around into the bull pen, and started hauling out that mound of old rotting hay. My goodness, what a difference to see bare ground once more.
He made an enormous pile on the edge of the woods. In a year, two at most, this will decompose into beautiful "black gold," perfect for gardens.
Recently he's started another project in the bull pen: expanding the shed to accommodate more animals.
Once the expansion is done, he'll build feed boxes inside the sheds to keep the food (and livestock) dry in inclement weather. Obviously this will make things more comfortable for the beasties, as well as be more efficient with hay.
Don also plans to build an enclosed awning outside the bull pen with access to the sheds, so we can feed from inside instead of feeding in rain or snow.
Other "must do" projects before winter is to install gutters on the barn so the feedlot and bull pen don't get saturated in mud. We also want to build another chicken coop -- this one in the yard -- as additional protection for the ladies. Time will tell whether we can get everything done before the snow flies, or if some things must wait for spring.
Incidentally, this is how a farm is built: bit by bit, little by little, project by project.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
35-acre farm for $200?
My friend Jessica sent this to me. Due to declining health, it seems a couple with a 35-acre farm in Virginia are willing to let it go for $200 and a winning thousand-word essay. See details here.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Welcome to Jurassic Farm
It has been a Very. Long. Day. And a noisy one too.
Polly yelled the whole day through. I let her out of her pen this morning and let her meet Matilda and the Brat Pack (Smokey and Pearly, as well as little Thor). The calves all yelled. Polly yelled back. We sometimes jokingly call our farm Jurassic Farm because of all the noise (reminiscent of the dinosaurs in the movie Jurassic Park). Today was one of those days.
I think I was secretly hoping that Matilda - maternal, will-nurse-everyone Matilda - would "adopt" Polly on sight and ease the poor kid's loneliness.
Nothing doing. While she certainly wasn't aggressive, Matilda left no doubt as to who was boss.
Things went better with Thor. You could almost hear Polly thinking, "All right! A kid brother!"
Polly was lonely. Where she came from, there was mama and no other cows, so she didn't have to deal with anything as primitive as a pecking order. But here, she has to get used to being the low gal on the totem pole. She certainly made friends with Thor and Smokey, and as the day went on Matilda was more and more tolerant, but no one really "warmed" to the poor kid.
And she kept trying to sniff out Matilda, doubtless recognizing a mother figure when she saw one.
And all day long, she yelled until I thought she would go hoarse. At last in the afternoon I closed her into her pen. Younger Daughter and her friend Miss Calamity spent some time brushing and petting her.
Meanwhile there's been a shrieking wind all day, the bull and steer got loose and kicked up their heels in a flamboyant fashion across the neighbor's land until we could round them up, and the sucking mud continues to squelch everywhere. I have a column and an article due tomorrow, the chicks have gone past the awww-cute stage into the stinky stage, and the State of Idaho is claiming we owe them $1054.16 (which we most assuredly do NOT).
Maybe things will be better tomorrow.
Polly yelled the whole day through. I let her out of her pen this morning and let her meet Matilda and the Brat Pack (Smokey and Pearly, as well as little Thor). The calves all yelled. Polly yelled back. We sometimes jokingly call our farm Jurassic Farm because of all the noise (reminiscent of the dinosaurs in the movie Jurassic Park). Today was one of those days.
I think I was secretly hoping that Matilda - maternal, will-nurse-everyone Matilda - would "adopt" Polly on sight and ease the poor kid's loneliness.
Nothing doing. While she certainly wasn't aggressive, Matilda left no doubt as to who was boss.
Things went better with Thor. You could almost hear Polly thinking, "All right! A kid brother!"
Polly was lonely. Where she came from, there was mama and no other cows, so she didn't have to deal with anything as primitive as a pecking order. But here, she has to get used to being the low gal on the totem pole. She certainly made friends with Thor and Smokey, and as the day went on Matilda was more and more tolerant, but no one really "warmed" to the poor kid.
And she kept trying to sniff out Matilda, doubtless recognizing a mother figure when she saw one.
And all day long, she yelled until I thought she would go hoarse. At last in the afternoon I closed her into her pen. Younger Daughter and her friend Miss Calamity spent some time brushing and petting her.
Meanwhile there's been a shrieking wind all day, the bull and steer got loose and kicked up their heels in a flamboyant fashion across the neighbor's land until we could round them up, and the sucking mud continues to squelch everywhere. I have a column and an article due tomorrow, the chicks have gone past the awww-cute stage into the stinky stage, and the State of Idaho is claiming we owe them $1054.16 (which we most assuredly do NOT).
Maybe things will be better tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Picking up Polly
We have our new little Jersey heifer! We picked her up today.
Not without some effort, of course. Don spent a lot of time constructing a nice little pen to put her in.
In the process we found where one of the hens has been secretly laying her eggs - on the shelf above the pen. (Busted!)
Then this morning we woke up early and hit the road by 7 am. It takes us a good 4 1/2 hours to drive to this remote farm, and we were pulling a neighbor's borrowed horse trailer to boot. Don was driving - white-knuckled most of the time - and he did a superb job.
The sellers, Dave and Lynne and their four kids (the oldest is off at college) are an absolutely charming homeschooling family. We wished we could have visited with them longer, but we had a vet appointment at 1:30 and had to hustle.
We put a halter and lead rope on Polly and led her out of her pen.
She's beautifully lead-trained for such a young animal, and I led her to the trailer without any trouble.
Getting her into the trailer actually went pretty well too.
Polly's poor mama was upset, as you can imagine. It's always sad to break up a family.
Next stop: The Deer Park Veterinary Clinic, a massive facility that specializes in large-animal work.
I think they could treat an elephant if they were asked to do so.
This tortuous-looking device is actually a custom-made squeeze chute. Oooh, were we jealous! We want one too.
Don backed the trailer up to the proper bay and led her inside.
Poor Polly wasn't too happy about this device, as you can imagine. Here she got her Bang's vaccination, an ear tag and ear tattoo, and a health checkup. With all the paperwork in order, we were soon on our way.
After an immensely long drive home (poor Don was exhausted!), we backed her out of the trailer...
...and tucked her into her new pen.
Oh my she was unhappy! Poor little girl, taken from her mama and bounced over roads for many hours and poked with needles and tagged and tattooed in her sore ear and now put into a strange pen!
And to top it off, everyone was staring at her!
"I want my mama!"
Can you see her new ear tag and tattoo dye?
We spent some time with her, scratching and petting, but she wasn't in the mood to be cuddled. She's still trying to get used to her new environment, and as I post this I'm hearing a lot of bawling. Still, she's tucked into the barn warm and snug. There's a howling wind at the moment, with more rain threatening, and we wanted her protected for the night. Tomorrow we'll let her out to meet her new herdmates.
Not without some effort, of course. Don spent a lot of time constructing a nice little pen to put her in.
In the process we found where one of the hens has been secretly laying her eggs - on the shelf above the pen. (Busted!)
Then this morning we woke up early and hit the road by 7 am. It takes us a good 4 1/2 hours to drive to this remote farm, and we were pulling a neighbor's borrowed horse trailer to boot. Don was driving - white-knuckled most of the time - and he did a superb job.
The sellers, Dave and Lynne and their four kids (the oldest is off at college) are an absolutely charming homeschooling family. We wished we could have visited with them longer, but we had a vet appointment at 1:30 and had to hustle.
We put a halter and lead rope on Polly and led her out of her pen.
She's beautifully lead-trained for such a young animal, and I led her to the trailer without any trouble.
Getting her into the trailer actually went pretty well too.
Polly's poor mama was upset, as you can imagine. It's always sad to break up a family.
Next stop: The Deer Park Veterinary Clinic, a massive facility that specializes in large-animal work.
I think they could treat an elephant if they were asked to do so.
This tortuous-looking device is actually a custom-made squeeze chute. Oooh, were we jealous! We want one too.
Don backed the trailer up to the proper bay and led her inside.
Poor Polly wasn't too happy about this device, as you can imagine. Here she got her Bang's vaccination, an ear tag and ear tattoo, and a health checkup. With all the paperwork in order, we were soon on our way.
After an immensely long drive home (poor Don was exhausted!), we backed her out of the trailer...
...and tucked her into her new pen.
Oh my she was unhappy! Poor little girl, taken from her mama and bounced over roads for many hours and poked with needles and tagged and tattooed in her sore ear and now put into a strange pen!
And to top it off, everyone was staring at her!
"I want my mama!"
Can you see her new ear tag and tattoo dye?
We spent some time with her, scratching and petting, but she wasn't in the mood to be cuddled. She's still trying to get used to her new environment, and as I post this I'm hearing a lot of bawling. Still, she's tucked into the barn warm and snug. There's a howling wind at the moment, with more rain threatening, and we wanted her protected for the night. Tomorrow we'll let her out to meet her new herdmates.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Like well -oiled machinery
Sorry I've been so quiet today. I was putting the finishing touches on the Spring 2011 issue of the Dexter Journal, the quarterly magazine for the Purebred Dexter Cattle Association.
I was busily engaged in emailing the magazine to the printers when the cry went up, "The horse is out!" This was quickly followed by, "And all the cows too!"
Like well-oiled machinery, all four of us sprang into action: donning mud boots (it's spring after all), grabbing push poles, and marshaling into a force to scoot the animals back into the woods. Naturally a squall was threatening (the livestock never escape during good weather).
Brit (the horse) is the one who causes most of the trouble whenever the livestock get out. Cows herd easily but horses don't. So I lured her into Matilda's pen and locked her in so she couldn't gallop around in high spirits and scatter the rest of the herd while we attempted to round them up. She was not amused.
While the girls manned the driveway, Don scooted the animals toward the bull pen, which has a gate into the corral.
I can't blame them for wanting to escape, it's pretty muddy back there right now. Have you ever seen a more grumpy-looking herd?
Next step is to temporarily repair the escape route, in this case a gate post that had rotted and given way, resulting in the fencing being wrenched off the barn wall. Grunt.
(Notice our high-tech repair job.)
Then to make things more complicated, the interior barn gate wouldn't open - the gate had sagged on its hinges - so I couldn't let Brit out in the barn. I had to lead her outside first and then into the barn through another door.
It seems like everything is falling apart around here all of a sudden. That's what happens at the end of winter when the ground thaws and sucking mud is everywhere. Don said he was going to have to take the whole day tomorrow and fix stuff up. Double grunt.
Just another day o' country living.
I was busily engaged in emailing the magazine to the printers when the cry went up, "The horse is out!" This was quickly followed by, "And all the cows too!"
Like well-oiled machinery, all four of us sprang into action: donning mud boots (it's spring after all), grabbing push poles, and marshaling into a force to scoot the animals back into the woods. Naturally a squall was threatening (the livestock never escape during good weather).
Brit (the horse) is the one who causes most of the trouble whenever the livestock get out. Cows herd easily but horses don't. So I lured her into Matilda's pen and locked her in so she couldn't gallop around in high spirits and scatter the rest of the herd while we attempted to round them up. She was not amused.
While the girls manned the driveway, Don scooted the animals toward the bull pen, which has a gate into the corral.
I can't blame them for wanting to escape, it's pretty muddy back there right now. Have you ever seen a more grumpy-looking herd?
Next step is to temporarily repair the escape route, in this case a gate post that had rotted and given way, resulting in the fencing being wrenched off the barn wall. Grunt.
(Notice our high-tech repair job.)
Then to make things more complicated, the interior barn gate wouldn't open - the gate had sagged on its hinges - so I couldn't let Brit out in the barn. I had to lead her outside first and then into the barn through another door.
It seems like everything is falling apart around here all of a sudden. That's what happens at the end of winter when the ground thaws and sucking mud is everywhere. Don said he was going to have to take the whole day tomorrow and fix stuff up. Double grunt.
Just another day o' country living.
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