Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

The forecast suggested it would be a windy day today – perfect for drying hay.  As soon as the dew left the downed hay, I began to rake some of the road side windrows.  After an hour or so, the breeze that was available, disappeared.  It became calm.  Not wanting to ruin my hay by having it rained on.  I ceased my raking.  Hours later, I checked the hay that I had turned over.  The hay was still damp.  Without a drying wind, I knew it would not be dry enough to bale on Sunday… it’s suppose to rain on Monday (40%).  I’m glad I didn’t rake all of it.

If I can’t bale, I might as well do some fencing.  A couple days ago I started a small fencing project, allowing the cattle to access the Ritchie brand automatic waterer on the other side of the fence.  What I had done so far was create an eight foot opening in an already established fence line.  I had installed two 6″ cedar posts on each side of the waterer.  The problem was that when I stretched the barbed wire back onto the posts, the posts pulled in the direction of the wire.  If I wanted the fence to last, the newly installed posts needed to be supported with a brace.  Since discovering the New Zealand style support post design, I use it whenever I can.

This is the waterer I installed last year. The New Zealand style post assembly on each side was completed today.

After installing the posts, I took a 16′ cattle panel and “wrapped” it around the waterer and it’s 4′x5′ cement pad.  It fit perfectly and the farm’s Highlanders have not had a problem using it… even with their long horns.

The reason for doing this little project was simple.  The cattle [somehow] kept shutting off the hydrant that filled their stock tank… and I was getting tired of it.  Last night, when I mentioned to Farmer Mike what I was working on and why I was doing it, he asked me why I didn’t simply remove the handle f the hydrant.  I really didn’t have a reply… but I was thinking, “Duh!”

This morning, when I was checking fences of the paddocks that were located south of the creek, panic rushed over me.  At that moment I realized that the pasture, north of the creek, still had 2 of the 4 gates open.  And the butt-kicker of it was that I had turned Farmer Mike’s 5 Ayrshire heifers out  there 2 days ago.  If ever I had an ‘Oh Crap’ moment, this ranked high on the top 100.  I remembered seeing his cattle napping on the hillside yesterday, but not this morning.

As quick as I could, I headed north of the creek with the 4 wheeler.  When I got to the far corner of the NE paddock I saw the heifers.  They were resting in the grass, near the open gates… which were standing wide open.  I looked into the sky and assembled a quick 5 second prayer of thanks before closing the gates and wiring them in place.  After doing so, I also tightened some of the wires in the fences, since that’s what I was doing on the other side of the creek and I had neglected to set down the fencing tool before heading to this side of the creek.

The morning started as many mornings prior – with a walk around the pastures, checking fences.  The weed-load (weeds touching the “hot” wires) is extensive.  I was determined to get SOME spark through the entire fence – from beginning to end.  The problem was not weed-load this time.  Those rotten goats had tangled the hot wire onto the barbed… easy fix.  While walking the fence line, near the creek, I notice our Highlander cattle following me on the other side.  When I walked east… they walked east.  When I walked west, they did as well.  OK… I know what that means.  These furry cattle think they need fresh pasture.

I gave the cattle a little “come bossy,” just to let them know the needed to keep track of me as I was going to open a gate for them.  I’m not sure I needed to give them a call our not, but they seemed to get a little excited after I gave them shout.  When I arrived to the crossing gate for the creek, I already had some of the red cows in the water heading my way.  I no sooner got the gate open before LaVerne (one of our big red cows) was looking around me, trying to get to the fresh pasture grass.  Following her were the other Highlanders… all but Sadie.  Sadie, our dun colored heifer, and her boyfriend Donkey (a donkey) stayed north of the creek, with Farmer Mike’s Ayrshire heifers.  They wanted nothing to with crossing the creek.  So be it.  By now, the other cattle we running and kicking like spring calves in the fresh grass.  And for those who stayed behind, there is way more grass over there than they can eat down.

Hoping Farmer Mike and his son would find their way over here for some combining AND knowing the weekend was quick approaching, I figured I better make plans for storing wheat… at least until Monday.  The solution was sitting over at my grandparents old farm.  It was a 2500 bu. grain bin, tucked away in the trees.  It was last used about 20-25 years ago.  For all I know, I could still have grain in it.  I hope not.  I called my sister, who takes up residence on the old place and told her my situation and my idea.  She thought it all sounded good.  With the nod, I told her I had to get my chainsaw and a bite to eat and I would be there in about an hour.  When I arrived, she had already gotten a good start on the clean-up.  Using the skid-loader, she was able to push a small pile of rotted boards and such.  It was time to get the saw fired-up.  I cut limbs and she pulled them away.  After about an hour, we had widened the small road past the granary.  It was truly hot and heavy work, but the results proved to be worth every drop of sweat.  There should now be more than enough room to put the auger in-place and still be able to drive past it with a tractor or truck.  Besides being functional, the results were also aesthetically pleasing.  The removal of 25 years of neglect… accomplished!

With the granary area cleared and looking so much better, it was time to see what was in the structure.  Spider-webs and oats was the running theme of the bin’s interior.  The oats felt mushy under foot – weird.  When I tarted scooping the oats out the door, I discovered why it felt soft.  It was rotten – looking more like black, muddy compost than anything else.  It was nasty!

After the task of cleaning the bin, we headed to the grove to retrieve an old auger.  I would need to guess, but I doubt it was ever used by anyone in our family.  It was probably purchased at an auction prior to my dad’s bought with cancer, brought home and sat.  When I looked at it, most of the parts seemed to move.  I was hoping it was in good working order.  My sister and I chained it to the draw-bar of the tractor and pulled it from the jungle of overgrowth.  We got it moved and into place in-front of the bin.  Since the PTO shaft was rusted solid, I poured some wast oil on it, hoping it would loosen by morning, when I might need it.

Back on the homestead, Farmer Mike’s son was done with the harvesting of the oats and was well under way with the wheat.  His dad had picked up a portable moisture tester from another friend and the wheat was testing lower than 13% moisture… perfect for storage conditions.  And as long as wheat prices keep showing a bullish trend, the newly harvested grain will remain storage.

We now have oats in a flare-box and in a truck at Mikes.  We also have a truck and a gravity box full of wheat.  I’m hoping for no over-night rain.  Night-fall was upon us… time to pull the plug.  I’ll unload the wheat in the morning.

… and inspected.

For the most part, I had the fencing project [north of the creek] done yesterday.  But today I added the finishing touches by installing temporary gates to the paddock entrances.   Just before that, I called my local Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS) official and asked him if we could schedule an inspection time/date.  He said, “How about 1:00 PM today?”  My response was, “Um, OK.”  That’s when I put the temp. gates in place and connected the fencer unit.  And right on time, the NRCS guy pulled into the drive.

On an aerial map, I showed him what fences I built/completed and how to get out to the newly installed paddocks.  Roughly a half an hour later, he and his assistant were gone.  I’m hoping everything met government specifications.  That’s how I built the stuff.  I even built it better than what was called for.  While I was fixing the fencing for the goats and sheep (on the south side of the creek) I could see that the inspectors were photographing my fencing – and admiring it, I’m sure.  Once they were gone, the rains came… again.   So far this month, we have had 13 days with precipitation and only 2 day without.  What a change from last year.

Here’s hoping the fencing passed inspection.  Whatever the case, the Scottish Highlander cattle are in some tall grass now.  In some areas of the paddocks, I could only see horns and tail.  I’m assuming all the other parts, in between, are there as well.

After helping the neighbors with chores this morning, I was in the mood to do a little fencing… why not!?  I’m awake already and it looked as though rain was on its way.  “Gitter-done.”

I quick loaded 4 cattle panels onto an old hay-rack.   Recently, I have been using this type of cattle panel as semi-permanent gates.  Today would be no exception.  Once loaded and hooked up to the pick-up, I headed to the new pasture area, north of the creek.  Within 45 minutes, all 4 gates were in place and the new 10 acre pasture was now secure and could be used for grazing.

With only a few odds-n-ends to take care of, the Highlanders will be able to cross the creek to enjoy the waiting pasture grasses in an hour or two.  The main task to take care of was the transitioning of the old fence with the new and to make sure the fence wires that crossed the creek were still intact.  The time it took to do this was much less than I thought – easy-shmeezy.  It was now time to let the cattle out (or in, depending on your perspective)… or at least let them know they were able to access the crossing area of the creek.

Once I located most of the cattle, it was time to call them.  Within seconds I have a half dozen, long-horned, cows and heifers running and bucking in my direction.  They know that when I call them it is time to move to new grass… and they were more than a little excited.  Horns were flailing and mud was flying.  Once they got to me, they settled down a little, but when I heard the pounding of hooves, I was quick to turn around to see if they were gunning for me or not.

The cattle waited for me to walk though the gate opening near the crossing before approaching the creek bank themselves.  As they started to eat the grass, I could hear a faint “moooo.”  I looked to the east but couldn’t see anything in the old pasture… then I heard another call.  It was LaVerne and she was running towards me like a big red locomotive.  Apparently, she saw the others eating the grass and she wanted some of that action as well.  Within seconds, she approached the crossing and was ripping the tall dark green grass from the bank, with her mouth.

As the highlander cows and heifers devoured the grassy bank, it started to rain.  I had hoped the girls would cross the creek while I was standing there.  Instead, I simply got wet.  It seemed they were quite content where they were.  Hopefully, they will find their way across the waterway before too long… and w/o incident.  Once out on the north side of the creek, I feel confident they will stay there… it’s the crossing area that concerns me.  Winter was not kind to this portion of the fence line and it was/is a bit entangled and full of duck weed and old cat-tails.   Soaking wet, I headed to the house with fingers crossed.

Carol, the girls and I headed south to the Granite Falls, MN area.  Our mission was to look at a Scottish Highlander bull that we’re interested in leasing for the summer.  We heard of this bull (name Curly) from Farmer Mike, who called me last week.  He asked if we’d found a sire for our four cows.  When I regretfully told him no, he mentioned he had gotten a phone call from a fellow farmer and among other things, this farmer asked if we had gotten a bull for the summer.  It seems the guy’s aunt had a Highlander that she may be willing to lease… and that’s how we got to this point.

The ranch we visited belonged to a gal named Terry (of Red Tail Valley Beef), who raises grass fed Angus/Highlander beef for direct marketing to [I believe] restaurants in the Metro area.  She was a lovely human being with a real passion for what she was doing on her ranch.  Her small spread was nestled in a river valley, with grass as far as the eye could see.  It was a wonderful site… like a mini version of the ranch on the old TV show Bonanza.  As we drove onto the place, Carol mentioned to me that she recognized Terry from an Organic Seminar we attended a year or two ago.  Anyway, after some light chit-chat, she escorted us to the pasture to “meet” Curly.  We first walked past some of her beef cows… a few with calves and then there was Curly.  WOW!  What a handsome little bull.  Immediately, we could tell how he came upon his name.  His forelocks were more curls than long hair.  He was dun in color.  I say he was a “little bull” only because when one thinks of bulls, we think of massive, almost monstrous creatures, but Curly was not that.  He’s a Highlander and as Highlanders should be… he was smaller in size, especially compared to Terry’s cows.

The size of Curly impressed me.  As most folks, who know me, know that I’m not a real big fan of large animals.  Big cattle are less efficient, harder to maintain if things get tough and they don’t dress-out as well as smaller cattle.  Large cattle have a higher ratio of bone and gut (waste) to meat than do smaller creatures.  Personally, I believe it’s easier to sell a small amount of beef than it is to sell lots.  If you want a half of beef, I think one can find room in the deep freeze for 300 lbs of meat much easier than 450 lbs.  Smaller is better. And Curly was small… just right for our cows.

After leaving the pasture, we talked about what she wanted from us for leasing her bull.  I asked if she still thought $25/cow was enough.  She thought it was fair… but after a few seconds of thought, she changed her mind.  She asked if we raised turkey… we said we did.  She mentioned how she would be interested in one of our free-range, heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving (instead of a store-bought bird).  She also thought some lamb-chops would be good too.  It seems as though $$$ is over-rated, but we all need food.  Score another point for team barter.  One could say we are trading beef for turkey and lamb.

After we got back from or little road trip, I headed north of the creek to do a few more hours of fencing.  I know have the wires on the east side of the paddock up… not all the insulators are on the posts yet, but the wires are there.  I also had time to finish all my H-post assemblies on the north side of the paddock.  I have more work to do on this side… like measure and mark the positions of the T-posts, install the insulators and then run my wires.  It sure is exciting to see this phase of fencing draw nearer to the end.  Once the perimeter is fenced in, I think I will let the cattle start grazing this area as I subdivide it into 3 smaller paddocks.  The grass right now is quite tall.  A little grazing over the entire pasture will do it some good.

Here it is… finally installed and ready for years and years of trouble free service.  If it can make it through our harsh winter just setting on gravel, it should have no problem providing years of dependable service, being installed correctly on a concrete pad.  The model we have is short enough for goats and sheep to drink from… and yet it’s tall enough for cattle.

Here is our recently installed remote automatic winter waterer

This waterer is located approx. 850 ft from the homestead.  I ran out of time last year to get it installed as I should have, but used it for the cattle anyway.  Because I did not have it on a cement pad I was not able to get paid for it with our NRCS grant money, but the funds should come through this year once the waterer and pad get inspected and approved.

Right now the cattle are locked out of the area where this waterer sets.  They are in a paddock down the lane that boarders the eastern property line.  There I have another remote watering station, consisting of a 60 gal. stock tank.  Currently, they are being fed grass hay in that same paddock.  Next week the pasture grasses will be long enough for me to turn them out.  I wish I could do it now, but timing is very important when practicing managed grazing techniques.

The girls were ill today.  We’re not sure if they had the same ‘yuck’ or not.  The good news is that Madison appears to be getting over the hump (she missed 2 days of school last week), but  Chas still seems to be in the thick of it.  In the afternoon, I stayed home with Chas, while Carol and Madison made a run to Willmar for some medicine and a few ingredients for some home remedy potions.   Chas slept most of the afternoon.

Once Carol got home, I headed out to help the neighbors with chores.  As I understand, illness is hitting them hard as well.  When I returned, Carol jokingly mentioned that she cured Chas… for now – no congestion, no coughing, no nothin.   That was kind of unexpected… we’ll see how long that lasts.

After dinner/supper, some of the critters were letting me know it was time for some hay to be headed their way.  While bringing the cattle their bale of grass-hay, I couldn’t help but notice the oats was starting to show itself.  It seems as though it hasn’t been in the ground long enough, but with the warm weather and rain, it is time to grow I guess.  I was presently surprised to see it.  While I had the tractor running, I decided to run the goats & sheep a bale of grass-hay as well.  They now have a choice between grass or grass/alfalfa mix… kind of a buffet.

This morning I had time to work on one of the farm’s remote watering stations for the most eastern paddock/pasture.  Last fall I had purchased a few 500 ft rolls of 1″, 160 psi, black poly water line.  My intent was to install it last year, but I ran out of time.  Today it would get done.

After chores, I unrolled approx. 1500 ft (3 – 500 ft rolls) of waterline along a primary fence-line and after lunch, I connected them together.  Approx. 2200 ft from the barn we have the watering station in place and functional.  The experts say that if cattle have water nearby, they will drink more and eat more.  In the past, the cattle would come home to get water [maybe] once each day.  The time they spent walking to water is time they should be eating.  OK, I get it… it makes sense.  Then, I saw the proof on the importance of having a nearby water supply.  Within an hour of having the new water tank filled, I saw the cattle walk from their hay, about 60 ft away, to the water and back again.  This time, individuals drank water at their leisure.  Most of the time, when the water is some distance away, the cattle move as a herd.  I was impressed to see this change in behavior.  When we get the goats and sheep out on the paddocks, I assume we will see the same behavior with those types of critters as well.

I think it worth mentioning… while I was observing the cattle eating and drinking, I heard some Canadian Geese honking away.  At first I couldn’t locate them.  Then I spotted them.  They were across the creek – 2 large Canadian geese, playing in a pond.  This was something I had never seen before.  It was a pretty neat experience.

After helping Farmer Mike with some spring plowing on his newly rented land on Monday, he came over to help me with mine.  We worked the fields on this farm for a little while Mon. night, but finished on Tuesday.  It was fun to be doing the field-work in tandem like we did.  For a few hours we [kinda] felt like bigshots.  Total, we had 10 bottoms in the ground.  In just 2 short working days, we had approx. 70 acres of crop land worked.  It was fun.

As a new farmer I was worried about this spring plowing thing.  I had once heard, “Poor fall plowing is better than good spring plowing.“  I don’t remember who said it, but it was an old timer I talked to at the farmers elevator last fall.  Since then, I’ve worried about my spring plowing project… I think Mike was worried about his as well.  Mike, as with most experienced farmers, has some real horror stories associated with spring plowing.  In normal soil, spring plowing can cause clumping.  Instead of breaking apart over winter, these chunks of dirt seem to get harder and harder.  Crops usually fail.  The soil on this farm (and the land that Farmer Mike is renting) is concidered sandy-loam.  It really doesn’t clump up, due to the lighter, well drained composition of the soil.  Anyway, after we got done with the field work, the spring plowed soil looked very much like the dirt that was worked last fall.  Mike ran across his acreage with a disc… I’m going to leave ours until we’re ready to plant.  I’ll then work it with a digger (or field cultivator), just before planting.  Now we need rain.

I nearly forgot.  After plowing on Monday night Mike’s son informed me that he had talked with someone who said our cattle were out of the fence.  Crap, crap, crap!  I took off up the road looking for the rascals.  The girls (Madison & Carol) jumped in the car and headed east of the place.  They called me saying they found a heifer and Donkey.  That means we are missing 8 head.  I drove around the fields and the girls checked the roadways.  Heading back to the farm, I found them in our alfalfa field.  Needless to say, I’m glad I had the BB gun.  With Carol and Madison’s help, we got the cattle into one of last year’s paddocks.  From there, we chased them accross the creek and into another paddock.  After driving home, I headed out on foot.  With my trusty Red Ryder BB gun in hand, I drove the cattle from paddock to paddock ontil they were penned east of the farm.  I closed the gate and called it a night.  Tomorrow I’ll get them a bail of hay.  It turns out the fencer was grounding out in the goat pen… there was absolutely no spark where the cattle got out.  It’s fixed now!

I was able to dig a new post in where needed- by the gate.  When I first attepted to install the post (a few days ago), I hit frost.  Well, today I used the hand-powered post hole digger.  Although I still hit frost, I was able to dig past it.  Once the hole was dug and the post was in, I finished running our used woven fencing along the parameter of the old barn yard.  I’m hoping the woven wire will keep the goats & sheep in.  I have learned in the past that hot-wires and barbed-wire fencing will eventually get figured out and the critters will escape.  I want those days behind me.

After the “new” fencing was stapled to the posts, I let the goats and sheep out into the new, bigger yard.  Quickly they went to the edges of the new area.  As an extra pracation, I decided to re-install the 2 strands of hot-wires that were once there, before starting this little project.  I no sooner had it up and the charger turned on when I heard a little goat scream.  Just that quick the little goat found its mother to get a couple sucks from her udder.  Whenever the goat babies seemed stressed, they are able to find comfort in a few seconds of nursing on mama.  Ah!  The miracle of milk.

I few more goats got zapped by the fencer before day’s end, but now seem to know their boundries.

With the satisfaction of the goat fencing, I thought I’d tackle the nagging problem I had with the ‘new’ high-tensile fencing.  Ever sence it was installed, there as been a short in it… it’s grounding out somewhere, but I could never seem to locate the problem.  I decided to take another look.  Without the need to get shocked, I had Carol unplug the fence charger.  Wouldn’t you know… within 5 minutes of the fencer being off, I watched some of the cattle break out of the paddock they were in.  Oh Crap!  I quick ran back to the barn and got the fencer plugged in, hopefully I can keep some of the remaining cattle from getting out.  It seemed to work.

Trying to lure the escapees back in, I rolled a grass bale into the paddock.  Just that quick, the cattle that were out, broke back in.  With the fencer on, I carefully repaired the fence.  I then moved to discovering where the pesky short was.  Walking the fenceline, I stopped at each and every fence post.  I was sure to inspect every possible area that was likely to be the cause of my problem.  From time to time, I set my fencing pliers against the steel post and touching each hot wire.  As I moved down the fence, the spark seemed to get weaker and weaker – I must be getting close.

Towards the end of my hike, I decide to touch the pliers to a lower, non-electrict wire… it sparked.  HUH?  But that’s impossible.  There is no leads connecting it to a hot wire.  I walk back-and-forth trying to locate the problem – nothing.  OK.  I thought it must be a plant touching a hot wire to the other wire, making it now hot.  I cut bush after bucs until all were gone.  Still… there was juice in the one wire.  Crap, crap, crap!  It’s got to be grass or something.  With that notion, I started removing any and all dried grass. Eureka!  It turns out that what looks like grass isn’t always grass.  A piece of rusty wire was making contact to both the hot wire and the neutral.  After its removal, I then tried touching my piers to the fence post and wire… SNAP!  Sure enough, I had found the problem.  Finally.

After helping Farmer Mike install some brand spanking new high-tensile fencing I decided to do a little here on the place.  We still have a little ice and snow in places so I’m mot going to attempt to put in post just yet, but I can do a some fence repair.  Last year when I dug-in the water lines for the remote watering stations, I had to remove some of the fence.  I guess now is as good as anytime to put them back up.

It is finally starting to feel like spring around here.  The weather is reaching it’s normal high temps. of 30ºF and beyond.  The creek that runs through the farm has opened up.  And best of all, we haven’t had frozen water pipes in the house for close to a week.  Just a week ago we still had 17″ of snow and now we have about 8″ of the stuff.  The bad part of it all is that the mud is showing up.

In the barn, I installed a small flood light for the outdoor goat & sheep pen (east of the barn).  Now when we want to do a late night baby-check, it will be much easier to do.  Small things can make so much easier.

This morning and tonight, I’ve been helping the neighbors with milking chores  Tonight, Madison went with to help feed baby calves.  While observing some larger cattle she noticed one heifer laying down.  The heifer was in labor and Madison knew it… she kept a good eye in the animal.  When chore was finished, the calf was yet to be born.  We scooted the heifer into the barn for safety sake.  About 9:15, I got a call fro the neighbor – the calf needed to be pulled.  Madison came with.  We put the chains on the calf’s legs and the neighbor and I pulled.  After only 5 minutes of hard pulling a new calf was born.  It was huge.  Since the mother was in the stall we carried the calf to where it’s mother could lick it dry.  This Holstein calf must have weighed 80+ lbs.  It was so much bigger than the normal sized calf that was born last week.  I will be helping with chores Sunday at 5am and then again at 5 pm.

Oh yeah… I nearly forgot.   Carol made approx. 2 lbs of Mozzarella cheese from our farm’s goat milk.  Carol has had some minor problems with some of the Mozzarella recipes out there.  She decided to heat the salt brine water a few degrees warmer and the cheese turned out so much better – it stretched better than it ever has.  It turns out that in some cases, goat cheese needs to be heated at least 2ºF warmer than cow milk (unless the recipe specifies goat milk).