Note to self.  Don't make a compost pile right next to the cattle paddock.  Especially if old moldy bales are on the pile.  Today the sun melted the snow off of the top of a bale on the compost pile which is right next to the cattle paddock.  The bull decided he wanted to reach that bale so he pushed on the cattle panel until it broke the welds on the panel.  Then he was half in the paddock and half out so he could enjoy the moldy hay.  Sara ran in to say the bull was out!  The got everyone moving.  It wasn't as bad as I thought, but we did have to dig down through the snow and drop another panel in place.  And just for good measure I torched the bale to discourage any of the cattle from wanting to try that bale again.

Today I was going to do equipment maintenance, but as with many days this year, the weather turned me back.  I took the round baler to my brothers farm so that I could do yearly maintenance on it in his shop but all I did was drop it off and head back home.  The wind is howling and the snow is blowing and drifting today, so instead of being out I've decided to research 2010's vegetables and also start researching the grasses and forages for grazing.  I pulled up last years vegetable spreadsheet to see when I started germinating our plants in '09.  It looks like I started germination for the first run of plants about the middle of March.  That gives me a little time to make this year's list and place my orders.  We're looking into working with a co-op this year and I kind of volunteered for summer squash and cucumbers.  I chose these two vegetables because they are the easiest plants to pick, don't take much tending and will save us something that we lack during the summer - time.  These two crops also work really well in our beds and mulch system.  So at the very least, we'll plant summer squash and cucumbers in quantity.  The other items will be sold as part of our product selection direct.  We tried the farmers market last year and found the time vs. return to be out of balance, so until something changes we'll probably continue to direct market our products.  The next step is to determine what our customers want in vegetables.

Snow, Snow, Snow Oh Yeah and Cold, Cold, Cold

It's been a while since I updated the blog.  There hasn't been much going on around the farm unless you count moving snow for hours at a time.  With the tractor in the shop for an overhaul, moving snow has been reduced to using a skid loader and I have literally spent whole days moving snow.  The last bout with the snow took about 9 hours just to clear the lane and that didn't include the time that George spent clearing the snow down to the cattle.  I did sell some hay at auction that brought great money and I've made some individual deliveries too.  But in general the snow and cold have dominated everything from equipment maintenance to setting up bunks for the cows.  We've lost a couple of small steers this winter and to make sure that everyone is getting enough energy to get through the winter I dropped a couple of large wooden feed bunks into the cattle paddock area.  We've been supplementing the cow's hay with oats that I held back from our oat harvest in 2009.  The cows and especially the horses love oats and eat themlike candy, which is why I can't pour it too them too fast or they can actually make themselves sick from over eating.  A challenge has cropped up however.  Keeping the cows from crowding the calves/steers out of the feed bunks.  The first thing I tried was to pull a hot wire off of the electric fence.  Knowing that the snow is insulating the ground and knowing too that the fence charger is weak from the snow pulling the wires down and covering them, I ran both a + an a - within inches of each other.  Turns out that the cows like oats more than they mind being shocked.  I haven't tested the wire to see what the volts are, but I can occasionally hear the snap of the shock, so it has to be some volts, but obviously not enough to deter them.  I also put one of the bunks right by a set of small trees but the cows weave their heads through the trees and still pinch the calves.  I guess I can try building some wood fences to the bunk, but I'm pretty sure the cows will push against anything I build hard enough to break them loose.  We're still thinking, but suggestions are welcome!

Last week we sold some hay and everything went well.  No issues or problems which is good.  This week the weather is going back to normal - cold and blowing snow.  I wanted to leave first thing this morning to work on my truck before I haul my tractor down to O'Brien county for an overhaul.  But when I looked down the lane all I see is snow about 2 1/2' deep across the lane.  I'll have to get the tractor fired up and blow the snow out.  I have a twinge of doubt about taking the tractor in for an overhaul.  Once the tractor is in the shop I'll have to clear the lane with the skidloader, and that's not a good thought, but the tractor has to go in.  At the rate that I'm burning through the oil I'll need to buy oil every time I fill up with fuel. 

Hauling Hay

The weather has warmed up this past week and has given us a little time to do other things besides move snow.  Today I took some hay to the sale barn and this let me open up the hoop building a little more and will allow us to move through the hoop building to load small square bales from the west end to the east end of the hoop building and to leave the hay rack inside the east side of the hoop building until it's sold.  I checked on my hay inventory after delivering the hay and I've got quite a few more straw bales left than I thought but don't have as many alfalfa bales as I thought.  To take the hay to the sale barn today I used my brother's big hay rack.  His rack has huge timbers that run the length of the hay rack and sawn railroad ties for cross boards.  I loaded 10 bales that weighed a minimum of 1100 pounds each for a total minimum weight of 11,000 pounds.  The only problem I had taking the hay to town was that the hay rack sways when I drive over 25mph with a load on it, so it takes a while to get it down the road going 25mph down a 65mph highway.  They hay market has been down this year but it's nice alfalfa hay so I hope it brings good money.  You never know though...

Cold

Okay, it's cold.  Really, really cold.  And today the wind is blowing the snow we got yesterday into whiteout conditions.  When I was out filling the cattle tank this morning the cows were crowded into a corner of the paddock with their backsides to the wind.  One of the horses was even packed in with the cows.  This year's weather has been a culling year on local wildlife.  We left a 10ac field fallow for the animals but for the last month or more it is only providing minimal cover since it's filled with snow.  Only the plants that are above 3' are showing which isn't providing any cover.  There are a few holes in the tall grasses and forbes but there are very few.  The big bluestem that we time our grazing to optimize is totally snowed under too.  Acres of animal cover is of little use when we have this kind of snow.  I'm always amazed that anything survives this kind of winter, that doesn't migrate or hibernate, but in the spring there will be survivors.  fewer survivors and only the strongest will be around in the spring after this winter. 

Yesterday morning we had an official -34 degrees in the town just south of us and our outdoor thermometer said the same when we got up.  Now that is cold!  Sharon went to take the boys to hockey practice yesterday morning and the diesel truck gelled up half way down the lane.  The truck had 50/50 fuel which is 50% #1 diesel, and 50% #2 diesel.  #1 has a "cloud" point of -40 and #2 is much higher, so you end up with -20's or so, but not -30's...  So I fired up the skid loader which runs #1 only to pull the truck down the lane.  That then gelled and would only idle back to its storage location.  That left the truck stuck in the lane and a hay customer on the way.  Luckily my brother was over and we used his truck to pull my truck back down the lane.  Then Sharon and I used our 4x4 "farm" truck  to run to town to purchased a torpedo heater to put on equipment that has frozen.   The hay customer was able to get down the lane and back out in 4x4.  Now today that it's only -2 we can work on getting the skid loader running, the lane cleared, and the truck running.  Looks like we'll miss church today...