Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

As with most of the summer, we have had plenty of rain.   In the last 2 days we’ve received approx. 4 inches of precipitation… enough is enough already.  And with the heavy dew of each morning, it’s getting tough to do things around here.  I was able to get a few miles of the road ditches mowed, but that was about it.  Usually, I am able to mow the entire ditch, but nowadays, the bottoms remain.  Most of the ditches either have water in them or they are so soft with mud only a fool would attempt to cut it.

It looked as if some of the forecasted rain was going to miss us last night, but Carol mentioned that we got some heavy showers last night.  As things we drying of toady, it rained again for 45 minutes or so.  Wonderful.  No mowing hay today.

Tomorrow it is suppose to be windy and sunny.  I’m hoping the wet downed hay will dry a little so I can rake and bale it during the next day or two.  I’d like to get some of our hay field cut as well.  Anticipating the chance to do some baling this week, Carol picked up some baling twine… so we’re ready.

It was nearly too hot to relax.  With a temp of 94°+F, there was not much more to do than work.  I chose work I could on the tractor… of course.  We still had straw bales sitting in the field that needed to be brought in.  For approx. 4 hrs I was hauling round bales out of the field.  I think I could have gotten done tonight, but with the Vikings playing at 7:00pm CST I called it quits at 6:45.

For a Sunday, I am happy to say I got a little work done that needed to get done.

It was a pretty nice day for baling.  Although we had some light rain last night, by noon things were drying up nicely.  After lunch I did some raking, hoping to speed the drying process for the straw.  After a couple of hours, Austin got to sit in the driver’s seat while did some baling.  He looked a little anxious as he had never done this type of work before.  He’s a townie and darn proud of it.  Secretly, I think he likes doing the farm thing when nothing goes wrong.

Austin raking straw with the Farmall H

Austin raked about 15 acres of straw.  It was a big help.

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.

Small grain harvest is upon us, no doubt.  The other day I helped Farmer Mike with the swathing of his field of organic peas and barley, and today I planned on cutting our oats and wheat.  The problem is that it rained last night.  Not much, but enough (2/10th).  When I checked on the small grains in the morning, they were still on the damp side.  Why cut when it is wet, right?  The grains dry quicker when they are standing.

Since I was not able to head to the fields right away, I figured I would do a little work in the farm’s wine vineyard.  After 4 years, we finally have some grape vines that look like they may produce a few berries this year.  To help support these heavier, producing vines, a series of wires must be strung along each row.  Our rows of vines are 400+ ft long so 12.5 ga. high-tensile wire is necessary for the main support wire.  I was able to put wire up on four rows before lunch time.  The vines look so much better running along the wire.  Almost like a real vineyard… lol

After a quick bite to eat, I set out to swath the 12 acres of oats.  When that was completed, I was quick to start swathing the wheat cutting.  Our wheat field is 38 acres large.  I was not expecting to finish the swathing… and I did not get it done.  Of the 38 acres, I would guess I have a good 12-15 acres still standing.  I hope to complete that task in the early afternoon hours of tomorrow.

I keep watching the weather reports and the grain reports.  One looks better than the other.  When our part of the country seems to get rain [at least] once every 3 days, it’s the markets that seem most positive at this time.  In the last month, wheat prices have climbed nearly $1.50.  So that’s encouraging.  Last year, the prices hovered around $8, but $6.50 is better than $5.

The wildlife out here is prolific.  I chased hundreds of pheasants out of the oats and wheat – a true experience.  The best part of the evening was at around 7PM.  I was able to watch a lone deer stroll along the fields, nibbling on some of the freshly cut oats.  You don’t see this kind of the stuff in the city.  This solo doe didn’t seem to mind the noise of the swather… she was in no hurry.

The haying is done for now. This time I baled everything into small square bales for the goats (and Ruby, Madison’s mini horse) this winter. A big thanks goes to our wonderful neighbors who lets me use their old JD 24T baler whenever I need it.

I forgot to look at the bale counter to see how many bales I baled, but if I had to guess, I’d say we have approx. 300-350 in the loft now. This hay is mostly used for the nanny goats when they are in the birthing pens and for the little ones in the nurseries. If we had a skid loader I suppose round bales would be the ticket, but when you a lacking certain things for bale handling, the square bales work just fine.

For the most part I was the one to get the bales out of the field. Austin has a job, Madison doesn’t like driving the tractor on the steep hills and Carol has been busy getting her mother ready for her surgery date and then again, there is the occasional sales-barn auction. So.. when the mice are out playing, the cat (me) has to do the work when it needs to be done. This morning and early afternoon, I was able to load, unload and stack 3 hay racks of hay. Later, I was glad to have Austin & Carol helping collect the bales (when they could) and Austin & Madison doing the unloading while I stacked the hay in the loft. Haying is a real family event on this farm. The real labor saver was the the old homemade bale elevator that I pulled out of the woods. It works like a charm. I’m quite happy with it.

The next crop to command attention is the wheat. It is or is nearly ripe. It is such an attractive golden tan with the oats next to it just as golden as it could possibly be.

After the storms last night, the downed hay was too wet to rake. What to do, what to do? In the morning, I went out to the field of freshly baled hay. If I can’t rake or bale I might as well roll the bales on their side. If one rolls the bales so the twine stings are not facing the ground, the mice can’t chew on them. The bales were too damp to stack. Like the hay that was down in windrows, the bales also need to dry.

I then put the bale spear on the loader in front of the IH 560 and then hooked the 3 pt bale forks on the back. The small square bales may be too damp to put-up, but the 600lbs round bales of ditch hay were not. I was able to collect 15-20 grass/mix bales that I got baled on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll get another cutting from the ditches this year. Typically, we get two cuttings but this year it looks like we may easily get 3. What a difference a year with rain makes.

Out of the woods on my grandparent’s old farm, AND after cutting down some trees that seemingly impale anything that sets undisturbed for too long, I was able to recover an old, homemade, 30ft, hay elevator that my dad must have purchased years before his death, in 2005. After getting it back to the farm here, Madison and I squirted every chain link with penetrating oil… then she tapped each link with a hammer to break the rust. My initial fear was that if/when I put power to the elevator the chain would break, but it didn’t. Wouldn’t you know it but the old thing ran like a charm. It’s safe to say this year we will have an elevator to use for putting hay in the hayloft. No more throwing the hay up into the loft, no, no, no…. no!

BTW: According to the data recorded on our home weather station, last night we had wind gusts topping 66mph and sustained winds of 55-58mph. The winds were so strong that it took the hood of the pickup and tossed it nearly 25 ft. east.

Carol, Madison & I buckled-down and got to the task of constructing the high-tunnel.  We ran string-line to make sure we had a level building site.  It turned out the one corner of the high-tunnel will be trenched approx. 14″ into the garden bed (hill-side).  Where we placed the building, we thought was the most level area on the farm for it.  We had no idea it was so ‘off.’

The girls laid out the structure’s frame work on the ground, where I then assembled the individual framing units.  Later, Carol and I lifted 2 of the frames into place, over the ground stakes.  Not knowing if the wind would pick-up, we assembled the cross frame supports , tying the 2 pieces together.  It should keep the frame from blowing over.

It was a long, hot day. The first of many, I’m sure.

Shortly after 7:00AM, I set out with the hay rake in tow. Although we didn’t really have a dewy overnight, I still wanted to rake or turn over the hay windrows while the hay had some night-time moisture. When the hay gets too brittle, it loses too much of the drying foliage of the clover, alfalfa and/or grass.  The moisture helps toughen the hay, keeping the leaves attached to the stem. With the windrows being so thick, the hay on the underside was still ‘green’, while the top ¾ was nearly dry.  I thought if I turned the hay over in the morning it would be ready to be baled in a couple of short hours.  I was right.  It was surprising how quick this cutting dried.  I had cut it only 36 hrs beforehand.

It didn’t take too terribly long to get the 10 acres of hay raked.  I knew I would be able to come back to the farm-site, unhook the rake, uncover and hitch onto the baler.. then head out after going over it with the grease gun.  Before being able to do so, I received a call from Farmer Mike.  He was at a farm a few miles away and he needed a little help getting a repair done on his corn planter.  Since I was heading back to the farm anyway, I told him I’d be there in a few minutes.  I jumped on my cycle and helped him out.  About 15 minutes later I was heading home again.  It was a quick fix.

After the detour, I baled and baled… then baled some more  It was hot and dirty.  Traveling down the field one way was quite pleasant – I was heading into the wind.  Going the other way was hell.  The dust and chaff, blew right on me.  For hours I was subjected to this.  It sucked.  By evening, I was so hot and tired.  And it seems when you aren’t feeling great, things start to go wrong.  It seems the grass hay was getting very dry and slippery to bale correctly… it was not loading into the baler correctly.  Instead of going into the baler (up and over the pick-up), the baler pick-up assembly was rolling the grass in-front of it, then becoming clogged. I thought I was dirty and miserable before, but when I crawled under the baler to pull the jammed grass out from the baler’s pick-up, I was shoulder deep in fine dust, chopped up hay and dirty chaff.

I decided to call it a day around 8:00PM – 13 hours of haying was enough for one day.  I guess I’ll have hay that gets rained on… we have a forecast of rain and thunderstorms for the overnight and tomorrow morning.  Oh well, I guess I’ll deal with that if/when it comes.  What I need now is a long, cool shower.  A couple of cold ones sound good as well … but they can wait until after the shower.

Much of the day was spent cutting hay with the farm’s old swather.  I first started cutting some of the ditch grass alongside the state highway that passes by the farm.  It was dry, sunny and a little breezy – perfect for drying… and very comfortable to be working in.  After swathing the grass in some of the ditches, I headed north of the creek.  We have a 10+ acre field of organically grown grass/alfalfa hay.  We will use this hay during the winter for the dairy goats and for all the goats and sheep, just before kidding/lambing season.

One thing I’m doing different this year, with regards to the hay cutting, is I’m starting to swath in the center of the field and working out.  According to the local National Resource & Conservation Service (NRCS) office, this pattern is encouraged.  Supposedly, it promotes the ‘flushing’ of wildlife.  It is said to chase the birds and small animals to the outside of the field.  Normally, folks start cutting hay from the outside, working in.  This practice traps critters, often mutilating them with the cutting blades of the cutting equipment.  An alternative [approved] hay cutting pattern is to start swathing on one end or side of the field and moving across, flushing wildlife across the field.

Swathing First Crop Hay

The hay was thick.  The warm, moist spring seemed to be what the fields needed this year.  Even the grass and clover in the ditches are coming in quite dense.

Last week, daughter Madison took some corn out of the farm’s 4 row planter.  She then put them into a baggy, containing a moist paper towel.  Within days she had healthy little corn plants sprouting, then growing their way out of the baggy and into a small container.  We then talked about planting some of the kernels from an ear of pod-corn we had on the wall (for decoration).  A few days ago, she planted 6 kernels – 3 with the pods and 3 without.

As of today, the pod-corn has not germinated.

An ear of pod corn.

Pod-corn is the oldest corn variety known, with one ancestor… that being a grass.

Planting the farm’s corn field was not an easy task.  We started planting on Tuesday afternoon, May 04.  That’s when the problems started.  I had planted only about 5-6 acres when the transmission or clutch or something went out on the Oliver tractor – the tractor I was using to pull the $100, IH #56 corn planter.  Carol and I got the tractor and planter pulled back to the farm-site the next morning.  And then, the rains came.

It wasn’t until Sunday that I was able to start planting again… this time with the 560 Farmall.  Sunday didn’t go any smoother.  After a round or two of planting, I noticed the shafts on the planter boxes would pause at time.  A short time later, the shafts (that turned the planter plates to dump the corn kernels for planting) stopped moving completely.  Out of desperation, I removed the planter boxes at the garage and drove the tractor, with planter in tow, to the neighbor’s place (the previous owner of the planter) to see if they had any ideas that could get me back in the field.  They did and even helped get it working again.

I headed back, but before I could get to the end of the field, the planter stopped working again.  About that time, the neighbors drove up.  They wanted to make sure the planter was working for me.  I felt kind of bad – not allowing them the satisfaction of helping a guy back into the field.

With rain in the forecast, I really wanted/needed to get this corn field planted.  The forecast showed that we were to get rain for the next week.  I was worried.  So…. I called Farmer Mike, explaining I was having troubles with the planter and it looked like mechanical clutch problems.  I also wondered if he was home and if he could help me.  As it was, Mike and his family were not home.  They were on their way back home from a weekend holiday.  The good news was that Mike thought he might have the part that was giving me problems – his family once used IH planters and had a couple in the grove.

Well, until Farmer Mike was back home, I thought I’d try to figure out this clutch mechanism.  About 45 minutes later, I had the planter drive clutch in pieces before me and I could now see why things didn’t work.  The clutch was so worn it just slipped… yet, it looked simple enough to be repaired.  I grabbed my little angle grinder and started to remove material.  With about 15 minute of grinding, I had two parts that looked like they fit together… as they should.  I quick slapped the planter clutch and drive assembly back together.  For the rest of the night I planted corn.

On my last round I discovered the planter plate shafts weren’t turning… again.  When I climbed off the tractor to take a closer look, I could see that the drive chain was missing.  By this time it was quite dark and I could not located the chain.  I had no idea how long I had been planting… or maybe I should say, “not planting.”  If I could have found the chain, I could tell how far I got with the corn.

The next morning (May 10), we still had not received the forecasted rain.  This is good.  I quick got dressed and walked the field to see if I could find the chain.  I waked back and forth… up and down the rows… nothing.  I gave up after about an hour of looking.  I then called Farmer Mike.  I wanted to know where I should go to buy a new chain.  He mentioned that he may be able to make me a chain at his shop.  He needed to know what size and how long of a chain I needed.  I couldn’t tell him.  I explained the chain was somewhere out in the field and I couldn’t find it.  He asked me a couple of question about how I planted.  I told him and he suggested I look for corn kernels at the end-rows.  Where I could find corn kernels, was where the planter was still working… where there were none, was after the point of where the chain came off of the planter.  Armed with that info, I set out again to located the chain.  Within 5 minutes I had the chain in hand.  It looked repairable.

I went into the house and grabbed a paper clip to use in place of a cotter-pin and installed the drive chain.  Long-story-short, I finished the corn planing for the season.  I was sure to call my more than helpful neighbors and Farmer Mike to thank them for their input and their help.  Without them, I would not have been able to get the field finished before the rains.

5 hours after I got the field planted, it started to rain… and is suppose to continue for the next 4 days.

I got the 20 acres of corn ground worked with the digger so it would be ready for me to plant, later in the afternoon.  I then went over to Farmer Mike’s place to pick up my seed (he has a shed and was storing the seed for me).

The wind was blowing pretty good and in the open field it felt kinda cool.  Last year I planted corn with the IH 560, this year I would try it with the Oliver (it has a cab).  Once in the field, I made a couple adjustments to the planter and figured I had it planting seed at the right depth.  After a few rounds, the planter’s drive chain started to slip on the gears.  Time to go back to the yard to make an adjustment.  I got that done and headed back to the field.  This time, everything seemed to working perfectly… my rows were straight and looking good.  Then all of a sudden, a loud clanking sound came from the underside of the tractor.  I quick pushed in the clutch and the sound ceased.  I slowly let the clutch out… and nothing – the tractor wouldn’t move.  I then tried the other gears… still nothing.  I noticed that I wasn’t able to shift into 1st or 3rd gear…  that was odd.  What was even more odd is that I was able to shift into the gears without engaging the clutch.  THIS CANNOT BE GOOD!  Crap, crap, crap!!!  I got [maybe] 25% of the field planted.

The tractor will need to sit in the middle of the field overnight, until I have some help to get it pulled back to the farm.  The stinker of it is that I just bought the tractor last fall.  Money well spent?  It doesn’t look like it.  I really need this tractor.

Some time ago, Farmer Mike taught me that when the Swallows show-up in this part of the country, it’s time to plant the corn. It seems the swallows migrate to this area when there are bugs/insects to eat … and not before.

What does this have to do with corn? Good question. I think we established that swallows eat insects… the thing is, insects need warm temps and living soil, plants and seeds to survive. When these things start to present themselves, we then know that the earth is ready to receive corn seeds – germination may commence.  Thus… the arrival of swallows tells us corn-planting season is here.

Farmer Mike called last Friday to let me know that he had a couple of barn swallows arrive in his dairy barn and that he was sure more would be showing-up shortly. For us, we have Bank Swallows. Out in one of the paddocks we have a small gravel-pit, where there are hundreds of swallow holes in the walls of the pit.  Well, today I walked the pasture fences and there were 100′s… maybe 1,000′s of swallows flying around, sitting on the fence wires, while others were scooping insects out of the creek water. So, for the record… the swallows are back.

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.