The last week or so has been productive. I hesitate to use the word "busy" as I read an article stating that the word "busy" is a "toxic" term or some such concept. At any rate, I have been working as usual and on top of that cleaning up the farm and getting ready for winter which from the looks of things this morning is nigh upon us.
Saturday I spent the entire day cleaning and repairing the southeast stall in the barn. I noticed sometime last spring that it was "flooded" with diarrhea from the cattle but of course could not know which of them did it. It certainly was a great deal more than just a little bit. I don't know if it came from Rose before she died or not. In either case, during the warm weather, I thought I would allow it to dry before attacking it. What I did notice was that there was what looked like a railroad tie on the floor and couldn't for the life of me figure out how that got there until I realized that it was the 6 x 6 that formed the closure of the stall and held the gate in place. Once I realized that, I had to pick it up, clean it off and reset it in the right place so the stall gate would meet within 1/2" of it. This worked out OK and I put some more 2x4 ties to the side of it to hold it to the 8x8 that formed the pillar of the hay mow. Got the gate lined up and drilled a new hole for the gate lock. Cleaning that stall and the feed bunk next to it was NOT, repeat NOT FUN but had to be done. I shoveled more s**t than I could possibly have imagined, much of which stuck to the wall like a hard glue. I rinsed it down with a hose but could tell more might need to be done. O well, that is life on a farm, I guess.
I am supposed to be getting a breeding pair of Llama. A fellow who has a herd of them wants to divest and is giving them away to "good homes." I figure my place ought to be just that. I have enough pasture and barn space for them and since it will be a breeding pair, my barn with the calving stall and head gate should be ideal for that. While I don't know all that much about Llama, it will be a trip back to the books for me. If these two manage to breed well, maybe I'll have enough to sell some wool or make some nice wool clothing from what they produce.
The rocket heater is working "as advertised". I get a lot of heat from it, but since the room is about 35x35 and 15 feet tall the cubic foot calculation is about 13000 and that takes a lot of heat. I had it burning up a storm on Sunday and added my LP furnace which hangs in the ceiling to it. That seemed to work well because the furnace has a pretty powerful fan to circulate the heat. Having done that made the room very tolerable for working and I started a new project using my lathe and welding.
I found that I needed a reel for fence wire spools. They are about 14" in diameter and about 12" long. I saw something I liked in the farm supply store and decided to make my own rather than buy theirs. I have the steel to do it. While I didn't use their plan exactly, the steel that I use will be just as strong, if not stronger. I got the parts cut out and had to put the shaft on the lathe and turn it down from 7/8" to 5/8" which was not difficult. Since I am at the very early stages of learning to machine on a lathe, I tried to do it as accurately as I could. After calculating the amount of material I would have to remove, I began turning and somehow, no matter what I did, I over-shot by 20/1000 on one end and 10/1000" on the other. I have to be a lot more careful when approaching my finished dimension but since I was using a caliper rather than micrometer, that may have made the difference. I have to admit though that I found the work challenging and fun to do. This particular project required cutting the steel which I do with a chop saw and steel cutting disk, welding the parts together, boring a hole in the exact right place with a drill press (so that the steel 2x2 tubing lined up correctly with the hole in the receiver of the hitch) and turning the shaft on a lathe. Each operation is an exercise in and of itself. I am getting better with accuracy which is my goal and I will have a functional object when it is all done.
I did notice that I have managed to get all of the debris off the ground all over the farm so I won't hit it or damage any equipment when moving snow this winter. Of course, looking out the window of my house while eating breakfast and seeing big white "things" falling from the sky this morning, re-emphasized the importance of having the ground cleaned up.
I harvested all my winter squash on Friday. I have more butternut and buttercup squash than I realized. I have (needless to say) been eating a lot of squash lately. The zucchini squash is not as good as the other two so I don't think I'll plant more than one of those next year. I really like the butternut squash and it is easy to bake and eat so that will be where I put my effort next season. I will say those two squashes took over most of the garden while I was away so I never was able to see or find the cucumber plant, the pepper plants or the other things I planted. I will however, emphasize how important the dried cow manure was to the success of this garden. I have a lot more to move before the snow flies so I can till it all in and have it ready for next spring. I have NEVER added any chemical fertilizer to my garden and with the current inventory of animals (chickens and cows) there is little liklihood that I ever will need anything else.
I did decide to order a new tractor. I am getting a JD 3520 with a loader, back hoe and front mounted snowblower. It will be able to handle the sickle mower so I can cut hay without having to use the really big tractor for that. I should be getting that delivered sometime this next week. They have been working to put it together at the local JD dealership. I am NOT clear as to why it didn't come finished at the factory but then I am not an expert on those sorts of things. Not an expert either but we ran about 30 JDs over the years and had to order and wait for all but one [built on spec by the dealer.] farmers have different needs and tend to plan ahead so I think one of their smart boys figured it out that it was cheaper to have the dealer add all the bells and snow blowers, loaders. backhoes etc. We have a CAT plant here in town and they do the same thing with their 'Bobcat' model There are only two shipped from the plant, those with tracks, and those that use wheels, everything else is dealer installed.~gd
My hope is that the loader and the back hoe will be easy enough to mount and dismount so I can use the tractor for other things such as the garden in the spring. I have the cultivator, landscape rake, tiller, sickle mower, box blade and baler so all I need now is a wheel rake. I have a dump rake and while it works, it is a bit unwieldy to handle. I have a one row planter so I can do all of my own work as needed. With the 9 or so acres of tillable land currently used to grow feed corn and soy beans, I am getting to the point where I can grow enough of what I need each year to be about as "SS" as one would like to imagine. This to me, is the goal.
Next season, I want to plant at least 1-2 acres of wheat so I can have that as well.Keep in mind that small grains like wheat oats & rye must be dried for mold free storage.~gd I have been thinking about using the tilable fields to increase my food production but with all the time I spend working outside the farm, I can't do that yet and be efficient with it. I may decide to break some more ground out in the south pasture for more cultivation but only in places where the cattle "DON'T GO". That will require some fencing so it may have to wait for a while.
I need a better water source for my cattle in the south pasture. I have the stock pond at the east end but no fence to keep the cattle from going "where they want". Now that I have the back hoe, I will be able to dig some trenches to divert the water where I want it to go when it overflows the stock pond and allow the cattle to drink from that rather than have them stuck coming to the barn for the Richie which despite it supposed to be freeze tolerant, requires two heaters to prevent freezing at times. That is EXPENSIVE. Solar power does NOT provide enough electricity to handle 2000 watts/24h/day. Not sure what I'll do if the grid goes down but I will do something...believe me.
Got the fence panels to improve the hog yard for next year. They will have to learn to live with the cattle and the Llama.I suggest you read up on Hogs They are major pests here in the south. They love meat and will take down cattle to feed upon, boars and old sows will go after humans too. He went to the outhouse but the hogs ate him is more than just a funny story! you don't read about boar fights because they are just to mean and smart to fight like bulls.~gd
Buddy is in the operating room this morning. He won't be a HE when he gets home, but he'll still be my best boy.
Things keep going on...
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//
