Weekend well-wrapped

It was -17' when we went out to feed on Sunday a.m. Wrapped doesn't begin to cover the layers I was wearing. By afternoon the temp was 17' on the positive side - amazing the difference.


And we'll be doing it again next weekend. Which will be one more week closer to spring. I can't wait!

Farm watch weekend

On the good news end of things at the farm, the tractor was back up and running last Tuesday, which meant no more hauling small bales and that G's cows could move back out where they belong, ending the livestock juggling act he'd been doing to make sure everything had access to feed and water. The ponies are very content with their new bale.

We fed critters for friends this weekend. Cows, horses, dog, cats. It's a much more pleasant task in the summer, although I don't mind doing it at any season.

But winter means bale-moving. And Friday night dealing with the often tractor turned what should have taken 45 minutes into a three hour marathon.

The entertainment started Friday a.m. at O-dark:thirty when, after we finally got it to crank, the power steering was frozen up. Since we needed it to actually TURN, that didn't bode well. At well below zero and still dark, I lobbied for trying again in the afternoon - the cows were okay, plenty of water and enough bale remains to scavenge for the day. And the weatherman said it we were going to have a heatwave - relatively speaking - nearly 20'.

At 4 p.m. and 17', the power-steering was cooperative, but it was too soon to celebrate. Unfortunately, the hydraulics weren't. No three-bar lift, no claw. Nothing doing. We let it run to see if maybe warming it up would help. Finally, after two hours in the cold monkeying with one thing after another - we could hear the pump trying - it finally whined slowly into action. Sluggish, but a start - the diagnosis? Low on hydraulic fluid, although it wasn't showing as low. Probably some water in the lines somewhere, but at least it was working.

Of course, by that time it was dark. The tractor doesn't have lights, and the bales are 1/2 mile down the road aligned along the fence in the hay field. The drive to which is completely drifted in.

I gave T my headlamp and waited by the cattle pasture gate with the big Maglite stuck in my sleeve and my hands buried under my arms, hopping up and down periodically to keep warm. At least the moon was nice and bright.

Looking down the hill I could see the shadow of the tractor, tiny light atop it blinking in and out of view as T checked for tracks to follow. Turning off the road... coming to a sudden stop, engine revving, and then a lovely streamer of sparks heading skyward. Ummm... bad word, bad word, did the engine just blow? No, I can still hear it running, say a prayer or two and cross my fingers, hop up and down some more... Hooray! It seems to be moving again.... Half an hour later he chugged back up the hill with a bale on both ends, trailed by a line of cows along the fence. The ladies were hungry!

They barely let us get a bale dropped and the strings cut before they were attacking it.

The horses were just as eager to dig into their new bale the next morning.

It being daylight (and slightly warmer), it was a lot easier to navigate.

Rain

The road we took last night
where we drove through the water
CLOSED

As well as three others we tried this morning.
It made getting back and forth between horse-locations
a bit more challenging than usual.

After a rather long night of keeping up with the incoming water in the basement, in the grand scheme of things, we don't have it all that bad. It does give me a new appreciation for the amount of work happening in basements locally and across the nation after the massive rainfall amounts we've been seeing lately, though.

And on the bright side,
I don't think I've ever seen
quite so much of the basement floor -
nor seen it quite so shiny!

Belly rubs are always welcome!

The rest of the ponies at the farm got their shots this morning. (Late, I know, but for whatever reason finding 6 doses of 4-way in one spot was a problem. Next year I'm just going to order it first thing and pay the shipping.) Sunny and Amyra & Rufus already had theirs a while back, but the other six don't get the West-Nile combo, so...

Feeding the cats at the farm this a.m. - there are, at last count, 19 of them, I think. None of which are reproduction-capable, thank goodness! All friendly, too - in fact it's a good idea to check the back of the truck and roll up the windows, as a couple of them have tried to go home with us more than once.

Sunday wrap-up

The tractor's issue - one of them at least - turned out to be needing the clutch bled. The horses have their bale.

And the weekend didn't completely revolve around sheep. I picked up a mineral tub for the horses. They always have a mineral block, but they've been hanging over the fence to gnaw bark. Since they're all round and not squabbling over the hay at feeding time, I'm guessing they're not getting something nutrient-wise from the hay that they need.

After much label reading, the one I picked up is intended for horses getting hay, but not grain. (It has some other attractive qualities, too, but darned if I can recall exactly what they were without the label in front of me.

At any rate, the horses were thrilled.

Star discovered it immediately and left the first teeth marks, but at one time or another they were all nibbling at it. They also upped their water intake - another plus. For now the tub's located up by the waterer, so if they're locked out of water while G fills corn buckets for the sheep we don't have to worry about them eating at it and then not getting in to drink.

I also removed windtangles and checked the geldings' sheathes for stud crud. Too cold to actually do a cleaning, but maybe next weekend. They're also due to be wormed, but I didn't want to introduce the mineral tub and worm both the same weekend, and since I remembered the wrong wormer when I picked it up.... Next weekend for that.

This afternoon we took Aiysha back. I'll miss her furry little body keeping my feet warm tonight.

And discovered that the cows had pushed through one of the upper gates and followed the tractor tracks down to the hay storage area. They were happy enough to be herded back where they belonged, though.



So the weekend started and ended with escapees - none of them equine, thank goodness. Fingers crossed that trend continues.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend, too!

Sunday

The lamb this morning...


We weren't expecting much - honestly, lethargic as it was when we brought it in, neither of us expected it to be alive this morning. But not only was it still alive, but hungry - and vocal about it.

No more lambs, and feeding went smoothly. Except for the tractor. With the battery holding a charge and the oil warm... it still won't move. There's water in the hydraulic lines, and it's frozen. We'll be hauling hay to the horses the hard way this afternoon.

Saturday

Bright, early, and cold we headed out to the farm. I pushed a bit of hay to the horses and then we hauled corn and fed alfalfa to the outside sheep.

Sorry, guys - no corn for you. You'll have to make do with your alfalfa bale.

The lambs, mostly too small to enjoy getting corn just yet, scurried and scampered out of the way of their mamas rush to the corn feeders. These aren't first-year ewes. Most of them are fairly massive, and the majority out weigh me by a fair amount. I made the mistake of being first in with a bucket, and found myself nearly swept off my feet. With a seething mass of wooliness thigh high all around me, the only thing that kept me upright was the lack of space to fall down.

T, bless him, stood by the gate laughing at me, because once I'd dumped the grain out I was stuck - wedged against the feeder by sheep shoulders. Their bellies are so round that there was space by the feeder, but I couldn't squeeze myself through the press to escape.

He finally took pity on me and dumped his buckets in the other feeder, causing a rush in that direction.

Tractor surgery was next. The battery terminals on the tractor were bad, and we weren't sure about the battery. Turned out it needed a new block heater cable, too.
Back after retrieving the tractor necessities, there were new lambs. Unfortunately, several of them were already dead - even inside the barn with the lamp heaters, it's just so cold...

This one was still fighting, but mama was more interested in already dead sibling to care. In the vet room where it's warm we got it dried off, a bit of milk down it, and hoped for the best.Aiysha curled up next the the little guy and washed his ears - I figured her body heat sure couldn't hurt.

With as much done on that front as we could, we headed over the the vet's to get chores done there. All was peaceful. So after one last lamb check (still hanging in there) we headed home.

Farm weekend - Friday

We had made arrangements with the farm owners to watch the farm this weekend so that they could take a long weekend. They were supposed to go over Christmas, then New Years, but the weather this year hasn't proved too cooperative for traveling.

Escapees

They were able to get away this weekend finally, as aside from lingering cold weather, things were relatively clear. G always leaves extensive directions as to which flock of sheep gets fed what, and this time of year we watch for new lambs, as well.

Ummm... You guys are not where you belong!

The Black Hills Stock Show is underway out in Rapid City - and two sets of friends headed in that direction this weekend. The vet, where Rufus is staying, has a horse competing. His place is also pretty easy - a couple buckets of grain, check the cows & horses, and fill the water tanks. It's cold standing, waiting on the tanks to fill, but not too strenuous.

Run, sheep! Run!

The other stop turned out to be more of a drive-by. We were just back-up feeders in case of emergency.

Friday evening, other than the sheep escape that occurred prior to our arrival (and didn't get beyond the alfalfa bales) things were pretty uneventful. After herding the sheep back where they belonged, haying the horses and collecting Ayisha, we headed back to town.

First order of business? A bath for the little dog. She's so low-slung that she pretty much drags her coat through everything. At the farm she sleeps in her kennel, so a bit of doggie-odor isn't a big deal. But when she stays with us she sleeps on the bed. And she likes to snuggle.
Much nicer to sleep with a cover-hogging but fluffy-clean dog than one that smells of - politely - sheep raisins.

Say it's not... snow!

October 9th, and I drove home in a snowstorm. Bleh!

By the time i got home and changed and we headed do the evening critter check, it had just started to stick to the road edges.

After we counted noses, grained one batch of sheep and verfied that all the waterers were still operational, we went on over to see about Rufus.

Rufus and his bucket

His abscess is much better, and I think this was probably his last round in hot water and Epsom salts.

Belly rubbin's

This morning we happily hadn't gotten as much snow as they predicted, but it was still plenty cool at only 23'.

The ponies were happy to see us, and I was happy to see that the woolly winter coats they're sporting.

Finally fencing & other good things

It was a very good day.

Beautiful for fencing!One of those tiny dots off in the distance is T cutting cedar.

We set some new steel posts, chopped and sawed out a bunch of scrub cedars, strung two wires & hung fence tags. Lots of wire got spliced (with a few bad words, as the splices in the can turned out to be for barbwire, and we were running electric. But a few extra crimps got the job done.

Tomorrow we'll finish up that whole stretch with two more wires, and hopefully get the gates hung.

My arms are tired from the post driver, I'm sun/wind burned, and I know I'm going to sleep well tonight.

New Fence!

We're farm (and dog) sitting for an extended weekend. I never mind being asked, even in the winter, but this has been absolutely perfect weather-wise. Getting up at 5 am to do farm chores before work should make the day that much longer, but I've always been a morning person.

FEED us already!!!!

There's a real sense of accomplishment to having all the sheep fed, the horses checked, and watching the sun come up with someone you love - 'cause darned if I'm doing it all by myself when he's available! ;)

This is our weekend house guest. She's a real sweetie. I'm her surrogate person (she's curled up in an exhausted ball at my feet right now - I think the fencing wore her out, too - lol), so she sticks pretty close. I have Mabel the cat by my keyboard, and puppy-warmed feet. What more can I ask for? Maybe a back rub....

T snapped these on Friday night. First pics and video with my new camera :)

You can see from his ears Thunder's thinking pretty hard. But we managed a few circles under our own power. He actually turned quite nicely to the right. The left, not so much. 'Whoa' worked well, though. Not too shabby for our first foray sans ground control!

Had to pop on Sunny for a five minute ride, too.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the disk that came with the camera was only 32mb. Two pictures and two very brief videos and it was full, darn it. Still, new toy = fun figuring out all the settings. So far, I like it.

Today, I'm thankful for sunshine, fine fall weather, critters (as always), and a satisfactory day's work. Perhaps later I'll be thankful that back rub....