The Very End of a Round Bale

Cows sure are some wasteful creatures.  Since they are cows and their brains are quite small, they are not concerned with how to effectively devour a bale of hay so that you get the maximum nutritional value from it.  Nope, given the opportunity, they will pull hay out of the bale, step on it, poop on it, pee on it and then lay on it.  Then they will moo and moo, wanting another hay bale to eat on.  Here is Daisy working on the very end of a round bale.

We use a hay ring to at least try to get them to eat responsibly, but the goats can easily get through it.  They, of course, climb on top of it, poop on it, pee on it and lay on it.  Especially at this time of the season where the grass is going dormant, the livestock are eating lots of hay.  They are conditioned so that when they can hear me unchaining the fence, they come to enjoy eating a new, fresh bale that I've rolled into the pasture.

Before that happens, I make sure that they eat everything that they can possibly eat off of the old bale.  I remove the hay ring since there is a 'sweet spot' in the middle that they can't reach when the hay ring still surrounds it.  In doing so, I remove the pallet from the bottom of the bale as they could step on the pallet and hurt themselves.  I usually roll the fresh bale on top of a pallet so that the hay isn't directly on the ground and absorbing water and mud. 

Of course they all come to eat the hay that they previously could not get to.  Naturally they'll stand on top of the hay they are trying to eat, pooping on it and peeing on it.  I always comment that this would be like humans doing the same in their plates of food.  The entire animal family gets involved in this fun.

They just don't know any better.  Poor creatures.  Once they are no longer trying to eat it, I'll roll a fresh bale out in the pasture on top of a pallet and place the hay ring around it.  Rinse.  Wash.  Repeat.

The Incredible Growth of the Water Oak Tree

It wasn't but a couple of years after we moved into our home in 2001 that we erected a zip line in the back yard for the kids.  The picture below shows the zip line from the bottom looking up toward the top.  You can see the handle hanging from a pulley on the cable.  When we originally built it, there was a tree house at the top that you catapulted yourself out of.  The neighbor kids still come over and ride it.  It has provided many smiles over the years.  You can read the First post about the zip line by clicking that underlined hyperlink.

The brace that supports the bottom of the zip line is a piece of steel tubing that was once part of a John Deere Vibra Shank - a farm implement that was in the scrap iron pile and was re-purposed from a work function to one of recreation.

That piece of steel tubing was nailed into a landscape timber with 6 inch nails.  It was anchored into the tree pretty good as it needed to be to support the weight of those children (and adults) who ventured to zip down the zip line.  Over the years the water oak tree has almost completely grown over the landscape timber, only leaving a small portion that it hasn't completely devoured!  It is now working on enveloping the steel tubing.

Here is a little closer look.  I guess this should serve as motivation to us all to keep moving or life will pass you by or grow over you!  It always interests me to see how trees have grown over fences, benches, signs, etc.

Here is a different angle looking at it from the front that shows the portion of landscape timber that hasn't been eaten by the tree.

While one side is anchored to a living water oak tree, the other side is bolted into a portion of an old telephone pole.

Although the kids that once rode the zip line have mostly grown up, the portion of the zip line that remains that hasn't been 'eaten' by the water oak tree stands as a testimony of the fun and joy of childhood and a reminder that time marches on. 

Introducing The New Jeff Davis Parish Dairy Club Livestock Show T-Shirts

Each year our Dairy Club produces t-shirts for all of our livestock exhibitors to wear during the livestock shows.  A custom made t-shirt looks nice and uniform.  It sets our youth apart and it makes them easy to spot in a barn full of young 4-H'ers and FFA'ers.  This year due to the color primarily, but also the message, our youth will really stand out at the parish, district, and state shows.

What do you think?

I like puns and plays on words and this one is pretty good.

It may be a tall order to get Benjamin to wear a PINK shirt after the livestock shows are over, but I think Tricia will gladly appropriate the pink shirt!

Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave...

It is Homecoming Week at Benjamin's school.  It is a frenzied week of activity, games, themed days of dress at school and nighttime pranks.  Last night we heard and witnessed some pranksters from Benjamin's school in our front yard.  This morning I wanted to get a close look at what was going on.  I observed a dew-laden spider web in the side yard draped across the live oak trees that was a pre-cursor to other things I would soon see draped across the live oak trees in the front yard.

Ah yes.  Rolls of toilet paper were strewn all over the yard, hanging from the trees.  They got us good.

When we heard them last night, Benjamin ran out with his Air-Soft gun and chased after them and they left, but they had already unrolled many a roll of Charmin in the yard and in the trees.

They were very brave in that they got right up to Benjamin's bedroom window and wrapped the juniper shrub.

We will... scratch that.  Benjamin will clean this all up once Homecoming week is over.  Homecoming comes one time a year.  The kids all have fun and the local stores see great gross profit margins in their toiletries/paper goods section.  There is great movement in the inventory down the TP aisle.  I guess it is a win-win situation for everyone involved.  Well, almost everyone involved!

"Gastro" From Astro

Disclaimer: If you are eating breakfast while you're about to read this and find that talk about poop is repulsive, you may want to put this to the side for a while and read this while you aren't eating.

Astro is Clarabelle's little bull calf that was born last Tuesday.  He's just a little guy, and we want to make sure that he is getting adequate nutrition.  He is Clarabelle's first calf and although she does show motherly instincts, we wanted to check on him.  He is very secretive about when he nurses on her and we've only seen him nursing a few times.

Yesterday evening I brought Clarabelle into the barn to give her some dairy ration mixed with alfalfa.  Little Astro was following her into the barn and suddenly stopped and arched his back.  Yep, you know what is coming...

With one look, I knew that Astro was fine.  He has gotten a good start from Clarabelle's colostrum.  Can you see how that was confirmed?  If not, I'll zoom in.  (Please forgive me)

That nasty looking yellow, slimy poop looks odd.  It looks like he must be sick, but he's not.  Actually, it is just the opposite.  He's healthy and has gotten a good belly-full of Clarabelle's colostrum or first milk.  Colostrum is a special thing that mammals produce just prior to delivery.  It is full of antibodies to give the calf a good head-start in protecting against disease.  It also is higher in protein than milk.  It is vitally important for the calf to nurse and get the colostrum within 6 hours of delivery and definitely within 12 hours.  The cow will continue producing colostrum for about 72 hours and then the milk comes in.

There are numerous benefits for humans to drink colostrum, so we always capture some for us to drink.  We have several quarts of it in the fridge now.  I find that it does not taste as good as milk and has an "oily" consistency or mouth-feel.  Sometimes we freeze some so that if we ever have trouble with a calf unable to nurse, we could thaw it out and bottle feed the calf.  Astro's yellow poops are the evidence that we needed to prove that he got the colostrum he needed from Clarabelle and that he'll grow and be a healthy bull calf.

A Bumper Crop of Sweet Potatoes!

Every year it seems when I post about the harvest of sweet potatoes, we say the same thing, but here goes:

Sweet potatoes are a great crop for several reasons - first and foremost that we NEVER have to plant them!  They come up every year on their own.  I'll clarify that a bit, though.  The first Beauregard sweet potatoes were from sweet potato ends we composted that grew the next year.  We actually did plant 3 Golden Wonder heirloom sweet potatoes a couple of years ago.  After the first years' harvest, they came up with a vengeance and have taken over 1/3 of the garden with their vines.

Beauregard and Golden Wonder Sweet Potato vines

The Garbers raise sweet potatoes in big fields just east of us.  They are heavily mechanized.  We are not.  Here's how we do it - I pull the vines back on a strip about four feet wide and cut the vines, throwing them over the fence to the cows and goats who voraciously devour them and beg for more.  Then, with a shovel, I carefully turn the soil over, pulling sweet potato tubers from the ground.  Yes, sometimes I accidentally cut them in half.

I keep a wagon nearby and we fill it, one by one, with beautiful sweet potatoes.  Behold the perfect sweet potato!:

Sweet potatoes are delicious to eat.  However, they are also good for you, too.  They are a great source of Vitamin C.  They are high in potassium which regulates your heartbeat.  As if to accentuate the fact that sweet potatoes are heart-healthy, I dug this one out of the ground:

I Heart Sweet Potatoes!

I think it is also great for your heart in terms of the cardio-workout you get when you dig them all up.  Boy, were we exhausted!

We had a full wagon and the cows were finished eating the vines.  Now, they came and begged for the sweet potatoes themselves.  We shared a few with the beggars...

We went through the entire wagon and hand sorted them into 5 buckets.  Going clockwise in the photo below - One for the super-large, one for the mediums, one for the cut up ones, one for the small ones, and one for the super small that will be used to feed the cows special treats.

The buckets were poured into onion sacks and they'll be hung in the garage for a couple of months to cure.  This makes them sweeter and helps them store better.

I weighed all the sacks and we harvested a total of 186 pounds of sweet potatoes this year.  A bumper crop!  Not bad for a crop we never have to plant.

Go Astro!

Clarabelle, our Jersey heifer, was expecting her first calf on November 4th.  I checked on her yesterday afternoon and came in and told Tricia and the boys that I thought she may calve before November 1st.  We ate supper and then watched the Astros playing game 6 in the World Series.  At about 11:30 pm I walked outside to check on Clarabelle with a flashlight.

What a surprise greeted me!  Clarabelle had given birth to a baby calf.

I lifted a leg to check out the calf's "under-carriage" and saw that he had 'male equipment.'  We always hope for a heifer, but it's okay.  We figured it was only fitting since he was born during the World Series to give the little guy the name, "Astro!"  As I was watching, he struggled to his feet and stood for the first time.  I took that to mean that the Astros were going to win Game 7 (and they did!)

This morning it was raining, but Clarabelle was licking him and taking care of him.

We also checked to ensure that Astro was nursing on Clarabelle to get the colostrum which is so important to his health, strength, and growth.  He was getting colostrum as Rosie and her little bull looked on from the next pasture.

Astro was shivering, trying to stay warm in the rain so Tricia took him and Clarabelle into the barn where he was able to dry off somewhat and get warm.

As we let him out of the barn, Rosie's bull calf (who was born on September 11th) introduced himself to his cousin, the new kid on the block.

Daisy and Luna are also pregnant.  Hopefully they'll give us heifers.  Regardless, it is always an exciting time when baby calves hit the ground.