Tractor

My Oliver 1850 had a transmission problem about a month ago when I was trying to bale corn stalks.  It turns out that a fork in the transmission was broken and would have taken a lot of $$ in labor to get to the fork to repair the tractor.  Since I've started using the tractor a lot more than I used to and the tractor is as old as I am, this was leading to more age and stress related failure.  Of the tractor that is!  I did put some money into an overhaul over the winter, but the tractor broke twice when doing hay this year.  Tractor breakdown during haying is a big problem and it for sure cost me some hay.  As much as I liked the old Oliver for haying, I had to trade it in on a newer tractor.  It's also a different shade of green.  John Deere green.  I'm hoping for the best with this tractor...

Cattle Move

The cattle were moved from the back of the farm to their winter paddock next to the house.  It worked pretty much as planned without any issue.  The plan was to setup string fencing that kept them from moving out across each of the sections of the pasture.  Once they were in the top part of the pasture the gate was closed on them and they were allowed to wait for a while.  Next George went down with a large round bale on the skidloader to entice them up to the paddock.  The bale was dropped and the cows moved in.  With the gate closed behind them they were safely in their winter home.  That left the calves at the back of the farm.  The way the string fences are setup, the calves are able to slip under the strings and move to where ever they want inside of the pasture or enclosed field.  Since they have been ranging out during the day it allowed us to move the cows without having them together.  We wanted to separate the cows because we needed to wean the calves.  George had the idea that if we moved the cows the calves will run to the cows, which is what they did.  Now the cows and calves are divided by panel and we're waiting for everyone to calm down.  It usually takes a few days for the bawling to stop!

SKUNK! Update

Sharon made the decision to get a batch of new chicks.  I'm not sure of the exact number but Dan said he thinks it's 40 which would be just about the number killed by the skunk.  An interesting note regarding our adult chickens.  We have a large turnip field that has kept its greens even through the cold and the latest snow.  We picked some of the greens and the chickens seem to love them.  Who knew that chickens would like turnip greens?

SKUNK!

Not too long ago a skunk made its way into the young chickens area of the barn.  Sharon heard the chickens in the middle of the night (windows closed and sound asleep - mother hearing...) making a racket.  The thing with a skunk, at least in our experience with chickens, is that they kill first and then come back to eat what they've killed. When Sharon woke me I thought she said there's smoke in the barn!  After saying huh a couple of times I figured out that it was SKUNK!  We ran outside to dispatched the skunk and save what chickens were left.  When we got the skunk cornered in the barn I had a quick thought - when I dispatch this cornered skunk I'm going to end up smelling like skunk, but to save the rest of the chickens I just hoped for the best.  Luck was with me and the skunk never sprayed.  Luck was not with us as far as the chickens were concerned.  Sharon lost 41 of her young chickens to the skunk.  Next was the management decision.  More chicks this late in the year, or smaller flock with new chicks in the spring?