Horray Hay

[CrealCritter]

Both mowers broke, one pretty serious will require welding.

 

[baymule]

How much hay cutting did they get done?

 

[CrealCritter]

How much hay cutting did they get done?

Not much, too thick. Will need to be bush hogged.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Nice looking guy. Do you have a friend for him?
I would love to raise a couple of steer, we have some friends who have expressed interest in splitting the cost of raising beef with us. There is a place not far from us that butchers for private consumers.

 

[CrealCritter]

Talking with little John (preacher John's son) about beefers. He told me at the auction he has bought bottle feeder calf and they seemed to do well. Less cost, more work up front and more time to mature like an extra year to butchering weight. But he said it might be a good option to start building a herd. Any comments on this?

 

[wyoDreamer]

I think one of the worries of bottle feeder calves if if they have gotten colostrum from their mothers before they were taken away. It is important for them to get that first milk from their mom so they can build up their immunity.
But I don't have cows, so I may be wrong about this.
They also need multiple, daily feedings until they are weaned off the milk replacer.

 

[CrealCritter]

This is the worst of the worst here at the farm. This little patch of an acre or so was the hog pen according to my neighbor who grew up here. You can see it's been abandoned for at least 10 years. The willow trees you see growing up are pits where the hogs would wallow in the mud. One pit is about 10 foot deep.

Our plans were to clean it up and plant fruit trees there. But now I'm not so sure if it could be used as a hog pen again or not? Its awful close to the house. Honestly I'm not sure I want hogs that close to the house. They stink and flies are something else.

You can see underneath the 6' high weeds is grass. I ran the zero turn along the fence row on the right hand side picture so I could get back there without wading through weeds that are waist deep.

Here is the biggest and deepest wallow pit. There are two pits, one much smaller and swallower. This pit has to be a good 10' deep from where I'm standing.

The hog pen is a flipping mess. It's going to take a lot to clean it up enough for planting fruit trees. I'm thinking about renting a bull dozer for a day to get this cleaned up.

But like I told my wife, once we get it cleaned up and we put it in weekly mow with the finish mower, it'll help it stay clean and eventually look like the rest of the yard.

IDK... Any ideas or advise on what you would do with this would surely be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[CrealCritter]

In Wyoming, they hang rocks on the outside corners of the fence to keep it tight, lol. I lost my pictures of that, but it really tickled my funny bone to see a boulder wrapped in wire and hanging off the backside of a wooden post about a foot off the ground. I am sure it is a lot easier to hang a boulder than to try and dig another post hole in that rocky, clayey, granite mess that they call soil out there.

I like the big bolder idea

But if you visit illinois and if you see the top of a fence post painted purple, or purple colored rings around a tree, it means no trespassing and no hunting. I kid you not, it's the law here in Illinois.

Why purple you ask? Well I guess if your color blind you can still make this color out. This law was put into place because people got tired of replacing old crappy wind torn and faded no trespassing and no hunting signs. They even sell no hunting purple spray paint in the store. Crazy hu?

 

[FarmerJamie]

@CrealCritter I have been quietly reading and enjoying this thread. My only suggestion is perhaps to contact the local ag office? Who knows, there might be a program available to help you?