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!”

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.

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.

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.

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.

With Earth Day due the following day, we experienced ‘green’ today.

Carol came in the house after haying some of the critters in the morning.  She was pretty proud about something.  She asked a couple basic questions about hay… then showed me a $2 bill.  She found it baled into the hay bale.  Who says producing your own hay doesn’t pay?

Another sign of green -  as I was walking the pasture’s fence lines, keeping an eye on the growth of our pasture grasses, I noticed that our wheat has germinated.  Looking across the paddock fence, I could see a slight hue of green in the field that Farmer Mike planted for us last week.  It was exciting to see.  Even though this is our second year of farming I can still appreciate the new growth of the spring growing season.

Our alfalfa/grass field, across the creek, is growing well too.  Today, I decide to get the remaining [last year's] round bales from the edges of the fields, before the new hay growth gets too high.  I wanted to test the farm’s “new” loader to see if it could lift a round bale or not.  I borrowed a bale spear, hooked it to the loader and headed out.  With high hopes, I speared the first bale.  I pulled back the loader control lever and tah-dah… the loader lifted the bale.  I was then able to load bales onto a hay-rack and in no time, I had nearly 20 bales in from the fields and stacked nicely near the barn.  In the time it would normally take to bring 4-5 bales back to the farm I was able to haul them all.  I can see the savings of time and fuel already.  Happy Earth Day to me!  I guess it’s time for me to talk with Farmer Mike about buying one of his custom-made bale spears.  I know I will be able to put it to good use.

On a minor note – I put in a couple posts near the barn yard.  With the pastures growing and looking better every day, I decided to work on a new lane for the goats and sheep.  We have a small, 2 acre paddock that they will need to get to in the next week or so… and as of today, there is no way for the animals to get to it.  The posts I installed will be part of a gate system for the corner of the paddock… and part of the short lane leading to it.

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 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.

This evening I got a call from our neighbors  up the road.  I now have hay to feed the cattle… they used their tractor mounted snow-blower to clear a path to our inventory of grass hay – 25 round bales.  He said it was pretty smooth going, as they have a 2-stage blower.  It cut through the snow pretty easily.  I was sure surprised when I was told how deep the snow was.  My neighbor said he ran into spots that were 5 feet deep.  I’ll try to remember to bring a camera when I go get hay.

25 bales… that’s enough hay to feed the cattle into the month of May.  I’ll go get some hay tomorrow morning, since we’re completely out hay on the place.