Fall's Work

We have completed our harvest.  The last crop in was the corn. We had all of our corn chopped for silage.  Christopher's corn was combined.  It was wet but will be rolled (cracked) to be fed to the cattle in the feedlot. 

We have weaned all of the calves.  We do this in a multiple step process.  I thought I had written about it before, but I guess not.  I will have to try to do it next year.  Anyway, weaning, as you probably can guess, is when the calves and cows are separated so the calf will no longer nurse the cow.  We now have the calves in the feedlot.

Our cattle have been enjoying fall grazing.  There are some grazing a barley field and others are in the corn, pea & canola fields.  After we harvest these crops there is still some waste.  There are ears of corn & pea pods laying in the fields that fell off the plant for some reason, the barley & canola seeds that did the same and have now started growing again making for lush, green grazing.  This is a great way to add value to the crop (that would have otherwise been wasted) and to extend the amount of time that we do not have to feed them hay.  We did get a couple of inches of snow Saturday/Saturday night but that was not enough to end this "aftermath grazing".    Some of the snow has settled away and I hope for a bit of sunshine to take care of the rest that is out in the open areas. 

The men have been busy working on fence repair. There are some new fences being built and others are mended.  Some of this fence was around a field of Sudan Grass that was planted as a cover crop (to help dry out soil that did not get planted in the spring).  We had to wait until after November 1 (government regulation) to utilize this crop.  We plan to let the cattle graze this field as another way to help preserve our winter hay supply.  Our hay supply is a little short this year due to all of the rain we've had.  Most years we can cut hay in sloughs (marshy ponds) and get quite a bit of hay, but this year they still had water in them. 

The forecast sounds like the ground will freeze up this week.  Once that happens we will get busy hauling the hay and straw home.  

No photos this time, but it was time for a farm update instead of Andy!!

Andy's Week 32/52: Here a Chick ,There a Chick

No, Andy is NOT out looking for a girlfriend!!  Our son got himself some chicks.  Those of you who know me know my opinion about owning chickens!  After helping take care of hundreds of them while growing up, I don't care to ever own another one!  Lucky for me these are up at the feedlot (about 1/2 mile from the house).

They are kind of cute though.  These will grow up to lay eggs.  The 'kids' didn't order the meat variety birds because they claim they don't know how to butcher them.  I foresee lessons in their future as I have butchered many chickens.  Homegrown birds make the best eating.

 



Snack Time

Getting a drink

Andy checking out the chicks

Andy finally got the chance to go out to the barn to see them.  I don't think he was too sure about those noisy, stinky little peepers.  He stayed a safe distance away!

(Sorry about the dirty floor.  I know I should have waited until Christopher put down fresh newspapers (or coupons as was the case here!), but I was not going to wait around that long.)

Rolling Feed

Our eldest son, Christopher, was able to purchase oats cleanout from a neighbor.  Cleanout (or Screenings as some call it) is the 'stuff' that is removed when we clean our grain to get most of the weed seeds, and other foreign matter, removed before planting.  The grain goes through a machine that shakes the seeds across various sized screens so, hopefully, only the pure seeds remains.  The rest is cleanout.    The oats cleanout that Christopher was able to purchase is great for feed to our cattle and those in the feedlot. 

Before we feed this we like to run it through a roller mill.  The roller mill cracks the grain making it more digestible for the animal.  We have also done this same process with corn and barley for the same reason.



The whole set up for rolling our feed

 We auger the cleanout (aka grain) from the bluish-grey building (grain bin). 

It goes into the roller mill. 

 

 

 There are two roller mills in my photo.  Yesterday the men tried the red one on legs.  Today, they are using the (formerly red) one that is hooked up to the tractor.  Both of the roller mills do the same job but it was decided that the one on the tractor was doing a better job of cracking the oats.  The one on legs runs with electricity.  The one on the tractor is run by the tractor's PTO (Power Take Off). 

 

Oats Cleanout

 Here is a fairly close photo of the Oats cleanout.  The long, narrow, oval shape is the oats seed.  There is also some straw (the dried stem of the grain plant) and other random seed.  This is what it looks like before it goes through the roller mill. 

 

 The top of this photo shows the grain going into the roller mill.  The bottom left hand corner is the rolled product getting augered away to the little white hopper bin (see top photo) for storage.  Just above the auger in the bottom corner is the rolled grain coming out of the roller mill. 

This is a closer look. Toward the upper right corner the rolled oats are coming out of the roller mill. The auger in the bottom left is taking it to the hopper bin.

 This is what the grain looks like after it goes through the roller mill. 

You can see how the grain is cracked open.  

Here is a photo of the tractor that makes the roller mill work.  Brett is sitting in the tractor making sure there are no problems.  Sometimes the top hopper (holding area) of the roller mill gets too full so he has to stop the grain from augering until there is room for more grain.  Yesterday he said he had to stop the auger every two seconds and wait for two minutes before there was room for more.  I guess it was better today!

 

Sharing with Farm Photo Friday

This & That update

WOW!!  It has been awhile and lots has been going on.  I suppose that is why it has been awhile!

Let's see, what have we done?   We have finished the small grain harvest, fixed the break-downs, chopped the corn for silage, patched breakdowns, hauled straw & hay, waited for parts ....  You get the idea.  It seems we have had a lot of machinery down time. 

The motor went out of the payloader.  There was an air leak on the semi causing the trailer wheels to lock up.  AND the hydraulics aren't working right on the John Deere tractor/loader.  There were a few days that all three of our hay hauling pieces of equipment were down at the same time.  Well, we are still waiting for the verdict on the payloader.  The semi is fixed.  We are using the tractor until it can get to the dealer's repair shop (this Monday).  The hay hauling project has slowed down tremendously.

We hire the corn chopping done.  There is a man out of Alberta, Canada we hire.  It is the type of job that would take us nearly two weeks to do by ourselves.  It also takes three to four people to do it as we need someone to run the chopper, someone to pack the corn pile and someone to drive truck.  (and a full time mechanic to try to keep things running)  It got to be more efficient for us to hire this custom crew.  They don't require anything from us (except the check!) and we can work on other projects.

Chopping corn & filling the truck on the go

     

Packing the pile

            

 Christopher is finally getting the last of the buildings from the old fertilizer plant.  He had a hard time finding anyone to haul the hopper bins.  Finally, after many calls from two men, they are getting this done.  There were seven hopper bins at the site.  Four for Christopher and three for a man from another town.  I wonder how long until this whole feed mixing plant is up and running on the feedlot?  It is getting late in the comfortable work season.  (a few snowflakes have fallen already)

 

I came upon this big Moose cow yesterday when I was taking tools out to the field for repairs.  A couple of days earlier I saw a young cow moose about 10 miles from here.

 



The cattle are ready to come home.  They are starting to sneak out of pastures looking for green grass.  Not much outside of the fence either as between the first part of June and now we have made had a total of half an inch of rain and most of that came a couple of days ago.  Things are quite dry here, but I don't think we have it as bad as many parts of our nation.

Joining up with a linky party:  Fresh from Farm: Farm Photo Friday

lots of different toys for my boys!

Christopher acquired parts of an old fertilizer plant in a nearby town.  Today was the day to do much of the dismantling of this set up.

The intention here is to get the cat walk and trough augers removed so another crew can come in to haul our four hopper bins to the feedlot.  Also, a mixer will come to our place then perhaps a custom feed mixing enterprise could begin.

C. contracted the crane, its operator and a rigger guy to work with my guys.  We rented a boom lift.  It was a "toy" for my guys to run!  However, most of my men are not real keen on height so it was a bit unnerving for them.

Christopher is terribly afraid of heights.  He told someone today, "Anything higher than a five gallon bucket is too high for me.".  So he watched from below.

He did have to take the boom lift up.  As the day progressed so did his courage (at least a little bit!).

Brett was up on the top most of the day.  Mark was too.

I left before they got done.  All we need now is the crew to haul the bins.  Well, them and all of the work to set everything back up on the feedlot!  And a mixer from Plaza, parts for the roller mill from Canada, the building to be built, and...

Linking to:  Rural Thursday  and Farm Photo Friday

The case of the missing calf ... OR ... How to be dumber than a cow/calf pair

Yesterday was somewhat stressful.  We knew that Paige's cow had calved but could not find the little black (or black white face) calf.  You see, Momma (aka 63W) has been enjoying getting out of her pasture and grazing around the feedlot.  So, it was my job to try to find the calf.  Here is a bit of a pictoral story about my afternoon...

This is 63W.  She is out standing in the field (no pun intended).  So I rode 4 wheeler around that area a bit looking for the calf.  No luck...

The steers in the feedlot sure wondered what I was doing!

Nature's Carpet

I needed to walk through the tree grove to see if this cow had tucked her baby into a hiding place.  While walking I saw moss on trees (it looked like Nature's carpet!).  But no calf...

Lady bug on a branch

I found a lady bug crawling on a branch.  She didn't mind having her photo taken.  (This photo is supposed to "lay down" but it automatically "stood up" when I imported it. *shrug*)  Still no baby 63W.  I had better keep looking....

Here is another escape artist - and friend of 63W.  She does not have a calf yet.  She was in the trees by the feedlot which is not the pasture either.  No calf with her, so I kept looking....

Grass carpet

The grass is greening up.  This is a bit of a problem as the cows are tempted when they see green grass!  No wonder they want out.  They don't have to share with the whole herd if they break out!  Lucky for me, the grass is short.  The calf can't hide in short grass.  Well, I give up.  I can't find this calf.  So, I guess I was out-smarted by a cow/calf pair!!  I will have to look again later.

On my way home, I found this newborn calf (in the pasture where it belonged).  It was just trying to figure out how to stand.  Those legs are quite wobbly. It doesn't help that mom keeps trying to clean (lick off the after-birth) the calf.  When she licks the calf, the calf stumbles.  But, after only a few trys, the calf stablized and made it to his destination - food!!  It is thanks to doing this blog that I took the time to watch and learn this.  I have lived on a farm/ranch all of my life and had never taken the time to watch these first few minutes of life.   Usually when I found a new calf, I would just make sure the cow "mothered" (cleaning & loving) the calf and then I would leave.  I looked at the pair today and they are doing just fine.

Today on my home from town I found the 63W pair together.  YAHH!!  Plus, there were two more cows with them (including the one that is pictured above).  When Brett helped me get them in he snapped a photo of the pair so you can see that all is well.  From this location, we just had to put them through the gate so they could join all of their friends in the pasture (in the background).  I hope they all stay in now!

Linking up to:  Farmgirl Friday & Friday Fences

Beautiful days, but no time for camera

We have had unusally warm temps here in north central NoDak the last few days and predicted for the rest of the week.  Our average temp this time of year is around 34 degrees F.  The temps are in the 60's!!  Needless to say, we are enjoying it.  I have taken the camera out for the last couple of days but have only taken one photo.  I get outside and end up helping with the cattle!   It is really hard to run with the big DSLR and long lens wrapped around the neck!!

On Saturday another bunch of calves came to join the feedlot.  So, Mark & the owner of the steers worked those calves.  Brett & I visited with a couple of prospective bull buyers and then did chores.  The cows found a new spot to get out of their field and thought they would enjoy some of the goodies we give to the animals in the feedlot.  So, B. & I had to straighten that mess out.  We didn't get fence fixed as it got dark before all of the extra chores were finished.   So, Sunday morning the cows were back at the feedlot.  We ended up missing church because of it.  Guys fixed fence and got the cows locked into the pasture now.  (It was time as they will start calving any day.)  I spent time visiting my mother-in-law.  She lives on the same farm with a grove of sky high evergreens between us.  She been feeling tough thanks to Rheumatoid Arthritis.  (Hopefully the doctor and drugs will get her better soon.)

Anyway, I had hoped to post a photo with each entry so here is the only photo I have gotten in the past few days.   This just happens to be of some of the afore mentioned evergreens.