We ran just a little short on the last bale so my wife was stretching it out a little bit to cover the last little bit. If you look closely you will notice that we used two different types of material to mulch with. I normally use the end bales of our silage hay tubes as they are not good enough to feed. However, we are switching over to a Styrofoam plug which will save me about 15-20 bales of hay a year so we will not have any more after this year. So, I decided to try a bale of corn stubble. I bale corn stubble bedding for the neighbor and I get some in exchange for bedding the pigs and cows. I was awesome to spread. So much easier than the rotted hay that was all stuck together. Just have to wait and see how well it does for holding down the weeds.
I was finally able to let the cows loose in their new pasture ground. I let them out Friday night and they haven't came back across the creek or even looked at the barn since! They are so happy over there and enjoying it a lot and it makes me happy to see them having fun.
Below is Sally, on the left, and her son Big Red from last summer to her right. He will be one year old at the end of the month and is already nearly as big as our two year old charlais x angus bull.
Here is a pic of Thunder, our charolais x angus bull.
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| Thunder our Charolais x angus bull |
This is Precious and her first calf Pearl. She is also the Thunder's first calf as well!
It didn't take the piggies long to find the new field either. This is Daisy Pig. She was laying in the shade without a care in the world!
Her is Lady. She is the Berkshire guilt I picked up at Christmas time. She absolutely loves to have her tummy scratched. She comes running to us whenever we are in the pasture and if you scratch her belly she will flop down and roll over like a puppy to get some good scratchin!
Another project I have needed to complete is a new hanger system for my pig barn gates. If we mount the gates low enough to keep the babies in the pens with the mommas then they are too low to swing over the deep straw bedding we have in the pens. The only way to then swing the gates is to disassemble them and that is a major pain in the butt, not to mention that they are useless when not on the hinges.
The idea I came up with was a bar system to hang the gates on that would allow them to slide up and spin when needed but still be locked down when I want them to stay put. I also needed to be able to easily remove the gates from the barn when not needed, for cleaning, and for replacement if damaged. I used thread all that I got at the store and welded 4' sections to the bottom hanger for each gate. I then cut the threaded end of each hanger to the needed length and welded the small pieces I cut off to the top hanger for each gate. I then added a thread coupler and a couple of nuts and a washer.
If you look at this pic you will see there is a nut and washer spun down to hold gate to bedding. The top nut locks the coupler in place connecting the two sections. If I need to remove a gate I simply loosen the lock nut, thread the coupler up, rotate the bottom section slightly and spin the retainer nut and washer off, and then slide gate up and off the bar.
Above is one of the gates sitting on a tub to show it raised and below is a pic of it sitting on the ground. My plan is to separate each pen with a gate. This will allow me to remove the door to each pen that I use to keep the sows in with a day or two after birth to give them more space but still keep them isolated from the pasture. In summer I may not even use the pen doors as they mainly will be needed to create a warmer, draft free pen for birthing in the winter. This will also allow the piglets and sows to get to know everyone else before they can actually run together helping lower stress levels when I release everyone.
I also was able to finally finish the rubber flaps on the bottom of the doors. Steven and Josh did a quick fix to put them on during the only cold spell we had this winter and just screwed them to the inside of the doors.
I pulled them back off and added a 2"x2" along the bottom of the doors and then cut flaps to the length needed and then screwed them to the board I added. This allows them to hang under the door out of the way so the water sheds off and they do not rub the walls when sliding open and shut!
I also got tired of having to move my hose for the temp water to the pens every time we wanted in the barn. So I ran it through the new rafters of the barn and snuck it out under the roof and down the corner of the barn right by the hydrant I hook it up to. When I finish the cow shed and concrete all of the pens and the barn this year I plan to install underground water lines to fully eliminate the need for this hose. However, for now, this is a much better system than I had with it just laying on the ground.
I also had help from two of my customers with prepping for the customer party this month. We did a full spring clean up and mulching in early April!
I wasn't able to do this last year and everything got out of hand. It is so nice to have everything neat and clean again and looking good!
These are a few shots of the alleyway between what is now the two new pastures for the cows and pigs. This used to be a constant battle for me to keep cleaned up.
Now the cows are eating right down to the edge of the spring stream and keeping the weeds down. No work required!
This is the southern most end of the alleyway. There is a gate to the left and the right. Once they finish the three acres on the right I will open the gate to the six acres on the left and vise versa. Once I am sure this will stay pasture I will split the six acre side into two 3 acres sections to make it better for rotational grazing.
Well, I hope everyone has a great week. I am looking forward to an awesome year and I can't wait to make first cutting! It is coming up in two weeks!!!
I am also anxiously waiting for the arrival of Frosty's first calf. She is due any day now and I can't wait much longer!
Kenny
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