Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

Carol did a little more gardening this morning inside the high-tunnel and I did a some clean-up on the outside.  Carol made several trips from the garden to the house to get more seed and supplies.  On one of her trips, she grabbed a thermometer to hang in the high-tunnel (some folks call these structures ‘hoop-houses’… they are simply an unheated green-house).  When she first hung the thermometer it was 70°F…  within an hour it was pegged at 120°F. On one of my many trips to and from the house and the shed, I brought a camera to record the temp.  Outside, the temp was inching towards a cool 60°F.

Yep! It's hot. It shows 115° but it got hotter.

One might ask themselves, is 120 degrees too hot to work in?  Carol is proof that the answer in a resounding “No.”

This year we planted a 10 acre field of alfalfa/grass mix hay, with oats as a cover crop.  I wanted the oats not as a grain, but as hay.  For premium quality oat hay, it needs to be cut in the ‘boot’ stage.  This hay is more easily made in drier areas, due to it’s need for ideal drying conditions.  This really isn’t something we felt we could do here, in Minnesota… especially not this year.

The oats hay I wanted is for winter.  I felt a higher energy hay would fit our critters requirements better.  Cutting the oats in the ‘dough’ stage is what I was after.  Earlier last week, I started checking the oats.  It was in the ‘milk’ stage.  When I squeezed the kernel/berry, a white liquid (milk) oozed out.  Later in the week, it was still milky, but like glue.  A few days ago, when I checked the field, much of it was past the dough stage.  It appeared to have entered the seed stage (whatever that stage is called).

Well, we didn’t get the predicted rain last night, but that’s a good thing.  It gave us an extra day to get the bales off the ground.

When I drove the tractor and empty hay rack into the yard, I could see by the expression on Carol and Madison’s faces that they were hoping I would keep driving.  I did not.  Even though the hay on the ground is for feeding the goats in the winter, Carol and Madison never look forward to this part of the haying season.  The thing is… if I got help I’m going to use it.

We have rain in the forecast… again.  Surprise, surprise.

With that in mind, I decided that baling hay should be at the top of my priority list.  I had cut  our east 5 acre field of grass-mix hay and a 3 acre clover-mix paddock/pasture, back on Thursday or Friday (I think).  Around here, a rule of thumb is – if you want to make it rain, just cut your hay.  And on Saturday, we got rain – .8″.  This gives us a nearly 6.5″ for the month.  That said, I didn’t need the downed hay to get rained on again.  With some dew still on the wind-rowed hay, I set out with the Farmall H and rake.  I turned the hay wind-rows, exposing the greener hay to the sun and air.

Yesterday morning I got a call from Farmer Mike.  It was time to harvest the corn, here at Coyote Ridge Farms.  Approx. 5 minutes after the call, he arrived in his truck and his kid, Jake, pulled in with the combine.  Then I was off to his dad’s farm to get the another grain truck.  When Jake arrived, I did notice the older combine, but didn’t think much of it.  It turns-out, Mike had a slight mishap with the newer, bigger [and shinier] combine yesterday – it started on fire.  YIKES!  Nobody got hurt and the field Mike was in didn’t go up in flames, so we’re all thankful for that.  I guess Mike had a date with the insurance adjuster yesterday after lunch.  I guess it went OK.  Any-who… for the day, I was the truck-driver, Mike’s kid did the combining and Mike did the… ummmm… er…  I’m not sure what Mike did… LOL.  Chores, I guess!  He has his own farm to worry about, right?

Yesterday was non-stop… from 6:30am to 11:30pm.

I wanted to get an early start to the 2nd day of hauling grain by getting a load of wheat to the farmers elevator at 8am.  I had the wagon half filled last night, and finished it before heading out in the morning.  Shortly thereafter, the problems started.  Half-way to town (approx 3 miles) I heard a loud “BANG”… and the tractor, with wagon in-tow, coasted to a stop along the highway.  The engine was still running, but it just wasn’t moving.  The coupler chain broke.  The coupler chain is the chain that connects the engine\clutch assembly to the tranny.  I just had this chain replaced earlier this summer.  When I looked for the chain I couldn’t find it on the tractor.  I looked along the highway as well – nothing.  Expecting that the Oliver was down for the count, I called Farmer Mike to ask if he thought our farm’s IH 560 could pulled the wagon full of wheat to town.  He told me that he had pulled approx. the same amount of wheat with a Farmall M in the past… the 560 should be able to handle it “no problem”.  He then told me to double check the tractor for the coupler chain.  Sure enough – I found it and in a crevice, I found the connecting link for the chain.  I might have lucked-out.

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.

Or is it?

After baling for Farmer Mike on some rented land he controls, it was time to do a little baling here on this farm. We have about 3 straw bales remaining for the goats and then we’re out… completely.  The straw we have been using for bedding has been from the stockpile we set aside 2 years ago (2008).  It’s a wonder it’s lasted this long.

A few days ago, Farmer Mike offered his John Deere, small square baler for us to use.  Well, I thought we should take him up on his kind offer.  We have approx. 300+ bales to bale and rain has been in the forecast for days now.  Normally, I would use the the neighbor’s JD 24T baler, but with time being a luxury we did not have, I needed to get our season straw baling done ASAP.

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.