From the Field to the Loft

On Friday afternoon, I thought of one of Aesop's fables entitled the Ant and the Grasshopper that I used to read as a boy.  It taught of the virtues of hard work and expending effort now to plan for needs in the future.  I think that story is a good one.  The reason I was thinking of that fable was our task for the afternoon - picking up hay!

Right now, despite the heat and lack of rainfall, the cows and goats still have grass to eat.  That could quickly change if we don't get rain soon.  As insurance, I stopped mowing a portion of the yard so we will have some extra grass if the pasture peters out.  Putting in hard work now and planning now for the winter when there is no grass is always the smart play.

We have purchase hay from the same family down the road for a decade and a half now, and I got a call from out neighbor down the road that they'd be baling hay.  If we show up and pick up bales behind the baler, the price per bale is $8. If we pick it up from their barn after they collected it, the price is $9 per bale.  I told her we'd be picking up behind the baler.  They asked if we could be there shortly after lunch.

I checked the air in the tires of the old trailer.  I was doing the math on it, and I think my grandpa bought that thing in 1976, so it's 50 years old!  I also killed a couple of big wasp nests inside the trailer with some gas.  We hooked up the truck and drove a mile and a half down the road.  We drove down the long driveway and directly into the pasture.  They were busy baling.  The American Flag on the back of the baler was a nice touch.  God Bless America!

The hay had been cut and fluffed the previous day and today the baler was working, leaving square bales lying all over the field.

Tricia is the driver.  Her job description is to drive between the rows of hay and stop when the bales are lined up with the back of the trailer.

The rows are pretty close together so she has to be watchful.

When she stops, my job is to lift the bales into the trailer, stacking them up high and tight.  As I lift each bale I holler the current count of bales and Tricia repeats, so we keep accurate count.

It didn't take long before the trailer was full.  Then we started loading up the truck.  When we had 75 bales in, we called it a day.  The old truck had quite a load and I didn't want to risk breaking the springs.

We paid our neighbors (75 bales @ $8 per bale = $600) and visited with them for a bit.  We started off buying the hay from the Grandpa long ago.  He's passed away and now the daughter and grandson run the operation.  I told Danielle that her Daddy would be proud of them, keeping the family tradition going.  When we pulled out, the center part of the field was wide open.  It once was filled with square bales.  Now they're loaded up and heading a mile and a half east where we'll unload them.

That was hot, hard work, but the fun isn't done yet.  Our young men, Russ and Benjamin, volunteered to help us get the bales stored away in the hayloft in the barn.  This is old-fashioned, manual work!  We have a pulley and a rope on a 4x4.  The rope has a bungee cord on it.  Tricia and Russ unload the hay bales from the truck and trailer and hook them to the bungee cord.

Benjamin and I are up in the loft.  Benjamin pulls the hay up by tugging on the rope.  Each bale weighs around 50 pounds.  I guess I'll stop right here and tell you how good God is.  You are looking at a miracle.  Two years ago Benjamin broke his back and both bones in both legs.  He has titanium rods in both legs and in his back.  Yet here he is, doing work that lots of people can't do.  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!!

As he pulls each bale up, I unhook it from the bungee cord and slide it down and stack it in the loft.  We both must be very careful to not bang our heads (it always happens!) on the rafters and to not fall through the hole in the floor where the ladder leads up.  That would be tragic.  I need to build a trap door.

We counted the bales, reminding each other when 25% of the bales were in the barn and so on and so forth.  When we finished up, we drank cold water and cooled off.  It always feels good to have this behind us.

The hay is in the barn!  There is something to be said about the satisfaction you get in having family together, working toward a common goal with good teamwork and completing the job.  The hay will sit here until December probably before we start feeding hay to the animals.  The ant works all summer in the fields gathering food for the winter months.  The grasshopper, on the other hand, sings and fiddles and dances all summer and makes fun of the ant for working.  But winter is coming.  We remind ourselves that we want to be like the ant and not the grasshopper.

Once the job is done, the ant also has the satisfaction of seeing a beautiful view looking out the opened doors of the hayloft at the top of the barn.

If the Good Lord is willing, we'll be doing the same thing next year at this same time.

They Say That Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Tonight we'll show you the evening routine.  All throughout the day LuLu and Betsy spend quality time together.  Betsy will drink her fill of rich, Jersey milk and then she'll go nap in the shade somewhere, shaking her ears to chase off pesky flies.  LuLu keeps a close eye on her girl as she grazes in the pasture.  As the sun begins baking down and the heat rises to around 96 degrees, the cows find shade under the live oak trees and rest.  They'll nap, conserving energy.  Lots of times, if the moon is bright, they find it is comfortable to graze at night.  

At around 8 pm, Tricia and I go out to the barn and open the gate.  It's time for the overnight separation.  You see, daytime milk is 100% for Betsy.  However, LuLu's nighttime milk is all ours.  We run LuLu and Betsy into the barn.  LuLu is greeted with a bucket of sweet feed and alfalfa in the trough.  This encourages her to get into the habit of coming in the barn.  We turn the fan on and Tricia waits with LuLu as she eats her supper.

Betsy is run into a stall on the side of the milking stalls to keep her separated from her momma.  They'll moo and fuss and carry-on, but they'll get to get back together in the morning after milking time.

Here's an overview of the separation operation.  I'm in the goat milking stall on the south side of the barn.  When LuLu is finished eating, we'll go ahead and run her out of the barn.  She can go chase down her supper with some water or do whatever she'd like.  We leave the gate to the barnyard open so that she can come at any time of the night and touch noses with Betsy through the gate.  We just don't want Betsy getting her milk.  We have to be considerate neighbors as we do have next door neighbors and sometimes the momma cow will bellow for her calf and it is so loud it could wake the neighborhood!

Elsie, our heifer, comes to check out what's going on.  There is nothing she'd like more than to get a bucket of sweet feed and alfalfa.  She's a pig.  The thing is, we have a little rule: While grass is growing in the pasture, the only way you'll get feed is if you give us a calf and are in milk.  Elsie, you are on the clock.

Tomorrow morning we'll milk LuLu out and then put her and Betsy back together.  Betsy will be so happy to get her share of the milk.

Ripping Out the Feedroom Floor

Imagine my surprise to walk out to the barn in the afternoon to gather eggs and feed the animals and find not one, but two hens, murdered by minks.  One was in just on the path by the gate to the corral and one was stuck in a hole at the bottom right of the photo below.  The mink must have been living underneath the feedroom floor and the chicken was too big to pull through a hole into its sub-floor dwelling.  It was then I decided that the raised platform floor had to go.  Saturday a got the sawzall and cut out the 2x12 flooring. It was quite a job.

There was a strong smell of urine AND many chicken heads and feathers strewn about.  I'm thinking the mink were either living underneath there or making it a daytime hideout from which they could pop out and kill our flock.

Fortunately, it was tax-free day at our local hardware store.  I made up a form around the floor.  Then, we got 21 bags of concrete and poured the concrete mix within the form, using a board to smooth out the concrete until the entire form was filled.  It's called the dry-pour concrete method and it is much easier on your back.  The photo below shows us misting the initial time in order to just turn the concrete dark grey and begin the process.  Each hour after this and for the next 4 hours, you switch from mist to shower and spray the area.  The concrete absorbs the water and sets.

In about 36-48 hours the new floor is ready to walk on.

We swept up the cobwebs and mess that rats make in the barn and then moved everything back in the feedroom.

At least we've removed the minks' hideout.  Now, we focus on trapping and eradicating them before they finish off our flock.

A New Shed for the Bullpen

I started to tell you last week about our new construction project in the back pasture that we call the "bullpen."  It's where we keep the males of the bovine and goat persuasion segregated from the females in order to control breeding times so that the babies come when we want them to come.  The bullpen has no barn, no enclosure to get out of the rain.  It is bordered by woods that provide overhanging shade.  We can and do run them into the barn through a gate that's adjacent if weather gets too bad.

For Nicky the bull, it's not a big deal.  For Popcorn, the billy, he doesn't like the rain and is prone to getting hoof rot.  Tricia asked that we build a small lean-to or shed to provide protection from the elements to the animals in the bullpen.  That project has been on the list for a couple of months and this week, we decided to begin so that we would have it done before the north wind starts to blow and weather deteriorates.

Four 4x4 posts were set in the corners and cemented in.  Curious onlookers supervised the process and got in the way.  I had to move them out of the bullpen after my patience ran a little thin.

I looked at several plans, but none were exactly what I was looking for.  I ended up having no plans and would just play in by ear, wing it, and see how it comes out.  I took measurements and composed my materials list and drove to Stine Lumber to get necessary supplies - about $300 worth, although I did use some lumber I had stashed away in the barn rafters.  Side supports went up.  These add support but also will anchor the tin sides of the shed.

I'm no carpenter - not even on my best day.  I just kind of throw things together.  I used a level and tried my best to make things square.  Experience has taught me that the animals don't care about quality construction as long as it is functional.  The remainder of the walls go up as well as the boards that will support the sloping roof.

The roof rafters, I guess you'd call them are now on, supported by 3 inch screws.  The roof will open to the south, providing protection from the north winds of winter.

The roof is up and now the walls start going in.

The south side will remain wide open, but the other three sides will be closed off.  I assume later on we could gate off the opening, if the need arises.

Russ came by the house Saturday afternoon and helped me cut the tin into 5 foot sections and begin hanging the walls.  I couldn't have done this part alone.

Here's our completed shed.  It's small, yet it will provide a respite from cold winds and rain in the winter.

Here's a look from the west side.  A west side story, you might call it.

The project is complete.  Now it's time to get in the garden and start working on the fall/winter planting.

A New Project That Must Be Completed Before Winter

So that we can quarantine animals, we have a portion of the pasture fenced off in an area we call "the bull pen."  You see, the quarantining I'm talking about is not due to illness, but due to the wanton desires of the male species.  If you don't keep the males separated from the females, we've found that things get a little dangerous.  Wild hanky-panky notwithstanding, if you don't separate the males from the females, you cannot control the breeding date.

We generally keep the bull in the bull pasture until we see a cow or heifer go in heat and then we'll put her in the bull pen with the pull for a day of courtship and romance.  But it's not just the male of the bovine persuasion.  We keep the billy goat, Popcorn, in the bull pen, too.  For similar reasons, but for another as well.  Billy goats are, well, there's not a nice way to put it.  They're gross.  During their season of lust, they pee on themselves, all over their beard, and it stinks.  We don't want to be anywhere around them.

So here's where the project comes into play.  Goats aren't real fond of rainy weather.  The bull pen is gated into the barn, but the barn has the cows and heifer and also the does there.  We need to build some sort of small lean-to shed so that the billy goat and bull can get in out of the weather.  Nothing too big and nothing fancy and certainly nothing expensive.  So I decided to put up an 8x8 simple shed.  It will be closed on three sides and open to the south side.  In winter, it will provide a respite from the rain and north winds. 

Saturday, I enlisted Russ' help and we used a post-hole digger to place four 8 foot 4x4's into the ground in the bull pen and anchored them in with Quik Crete.  I kept the bull and the billy goat out of the bull pen for 24 hours to give the cement time to cure.  Nicky, the bull, has a propensity for rubbing his head on things, and I didn't want him to push the posts after we had worked hard to level them.  After 24 hours I put the bull and the billy back in the bull pen.

They were curious as to what the project was.  What are these posts in our pasture?  I felt sure they would set out to destroy the work we started, but so far, the posts have held firm.

I'll work on this as time allows, day by day, until we have a shelter for the Nicky and Popcorn.  Everyone needs to be able to get out of the rain, right?

A Mountain of Love

In 1979 country music singer, Ronnie Milsap, recorded "Mountain of Love" which reached #2 on the Country charts.  As I was building my "mountain" shown in the photo below, this song was on my mind.  The mountain I constructed consisted of live oak leaves and grass that I had mowed in the yard and then raked up, put in a wagon and dumped right behind the wood chip mulch pile.  I'll let all this compost for a year or two since it has grass seed in it and I don't want to incorporate it into my garden.

The pile (or mountain) is six feet tall!  You can see the wagon that I use to gather the raked up leaves and grass and then dump on the pile.  I use a pitch fork to continue piling it higher and higher.  It took me several days to do, but I got it done.  Yes, there are easier and more efficient ways of doing this, but I only do this for the first mowing of the season, so it doesn't make sense to spend money for an attachment to the mower to bag all the clippings.  Every successive mow, I simply mulch the leaves and grass back into the lawn.

If I didn't rake up the leaves and grass cuttings after this first mow, it would leave a thick bed of leaves and hay that would crowd out and possibly kill the good St. Augustine grass below it.  Here is a photo of part of the yard after raking.  You can see the grass is unencumbered by any leaves or hay on top.

The reason the "Mountain of Love" song was in my head was a reminiscence of long ago when the kids were younger and still living at home.  I had an old John Deere lawn mower that I would use to cut the grass in the pasture.  I would rake the hay into piles and the boys would help me put it into the wagon that I had attached to the back of the mower.  In fact, the old wagon is still out by the barn.  We use it to put hay into to feed the cows.  Cows tend to waste a lot of hay if you just feed them on the ground.

The wagon has seen its better days.  The floor of the wagon has rusted out.  Tricia and I have talked about making a run to the dump to throw away.

Back to the story.  The boys would bring the wagon-loads of way and would dump it in our barn.  You see, when we built our barn, there was a gap beneath the tin on the bottom and ground level.  The photo below shows a 2x4 that is ground level.  Actually, there's about 5 inches of tin below that.  Between the tin and the ground was a gap that allowed cold winds in the winter to blow through as we milked.  When it rained hard, rainwater would flow into the barn.  Over time all that hay composted down and it became the floor to the barn, effectively raising ground level.   The animals only stay in the barn if the weather is bad, so we don't have to muck out the stalls and through the poop outside. 

Here's a cute photo of Agnes and her Baby girl, Penny.  Like in the previous photo, you can see another photo showing how ground level is about 5 inches higher than it originally was.

It took a lot of work and a lot of hay to be moved into the barn to accomplish this task.  Mountains of hay was brought in and spread out.  My boys did a lot of work!  They moved mountains of hay in our labor of love.

Hay Day Part II

In our post from last week, you might have watched as we moved 75 bales of Alicia Bermuda hay from our neighbor's barn into our garage.  We didn't want it to rain on the hay and we didn't have the manpower to hoist the bales up into the barn.  Although the words were not spoken aloud, there was some concern about the hay spontaneously combusting and burning down the house.  Fortunately, that didn't happen!

Since I'm still on a limitation for lifting heavy things as I recover from my surgery, my brother-in-law and sister offered to come help finish up the job and brought 3 of their 6 boys and Russ came over, too.  Dad and Mom came, and we used Dad's truck to load up the hay.  His truck is bigger than our red Toyota so we could fit more bales in it..  So Saturday morning after everyone was in from the teal pond, we met at 10 AM and got ready to work.  Loading the hay went very fast!  

We were able to get 17 bales max in the Toyota.  I wish we would have counted how many we were able to load Dad's Ford with.  He pulled away from the garage so we could throw more on top.  I say "we," but I didn't do much at all.  Tricia was cooking a lunch for the work crew and making homemade ice cream for the feed once the job was completed.

We had moved the cattle trailer earlier and rolled the round bales into one line in order to provide access to the gate to drive the truck laden with hay out to the barn.  It was a bluebird day, with low humidity and mild temperatures and the sun shone brightly through the trees.

The nosy cows (Rosie, Elsie, and LuLu) gathered round to inspect all the hoopla that was going on at the barn.  Shortly thereafter all 7 of the goats showed up as well.  It was too much!  I ran the goats into the barn.  They are just trouble - like a bunch of bad kids, just getting in the way and onto everyone's nerves.

Dad backed his truck up to the barn and we opened the doors to the loft and installed the pulley on the 4x4.  The hay bales are attached to the rope by bungee cord and then the rope is pulled through the pulley and each bale is hoisted up into the loft for stacking.

You can get an idea of the process from this shot from inside of the loft.  Once the bales were swung inside, the bales are slid on the floor to the back of the loft and stacked.  The 2x12's on the floor are worn smooth from pushing the bales on the floor year after year.

The bales are stacked 3 across and four high.  As more and more hay was brought up into the barn, the shorter the distance the hay had to be pushed as the loft filled up with hay that will sustain the livestock over the winter until the spring grass comes in.

Finally, the last bale was pulled up into the loft.  We figured we'd get a photo of the bale.  That's the one were were looking for to finish up the job!  The aroma of the fresh cured hay filled the barn.  It's a scent I associate with the anticipation of fall.

Top: Brett, Landry, Graham, Russ.  Bottom: Dad & Hayes

It really didn't take long at all with all the help.  We went inside, circled up, held hands and prayed.  Then we had nachos with ground meat and beans, cheese peppers, onions, lettuce, and sour cream with lots of visiting, telling stories and laughing, followed up by finishing off a cannister of homemade vanilla ice cream made with LuLu's heavy cream.  (It was her contribution for getting the hay for her to get her through the winter.)  We took one more photo with all the working hands:

L to R: Me, Landry, Brett, Jenny, Graham, Dad, Hayes & Russ.  Not pictured: Mom and Tricia who were photographers

Despite the work, we all had a wonderful time.  When you are laughing and cutting up and enjoying one another, time passes quickly.  I'll say this, I have been blessed by God to have an incredible family that supports you in your time of need, who prays for you without ceasing, who will drop everything and rush over to provide manual labor or encouragement when needed.  Thanking the Good Lord for all the blessings in our lives.  We are not worthy of all the blessings He's bestowed upon us.  Never, ever, ever, take family for granted.  Enjoy every precious moment you get to spend with them!