MONTANA "Big Sky Country"

I have mentioned here before that I have a cow in my buddies herd in Montana.  I decided to send another heifer and two bulls out to him this year as well.  However, this year I was able to deliver them myself.  I have been wanting to visit him ever since he moved out there and this year turned out to be a good opportunity to do so.

Well, work ran late on the Friday of our departure so instead of leaving around 4pm like I had hoped we didn't get rolling till 6:30pm.  We did get loaded and rolled out safely and were on our way.

The three of us, Steve, Josh, and I, all took turns driving out.  None of us had a chance to sleep during the day so it was a rotation of one person driving while the other two napped on and off.  Short of a problem with the radiator (that was supposed to be fixed) 100 miles before reaching our destination we had a pretty good trip out.  It was just getting to freezing temps when we left Ohio.  We hit temps as low as 8 degrees on the way out and it was zero in Montana when we reached David's house Saturday evening.

Sunday, after a lazy start to the day, we checked the cattle and tended to some issues there and then headed out to see some of the land and do a little hunting.  

Montana Landscape

I think I spent as much time looking at the landscape as I did looking for deer and other animals!  The climate and landscape is so different there I spent most of my time asking questions and taking it all in.  The rocks you see perched on their pedestals got that way not  due to water erosion, but wind erosion.  The small amount of moisture that does get into the soil freezes and loosens the soil and then the wind blows it away.   

Coulee in Montana

It makes for some pretty sweet views and landscapes!

My first ever successful "Selfie"!!

The wind was a steady 20-30 mph all day long and the temps were around 20 degrees.  That was the coldest it would be all week.  While we were in Montana the cold weather moved east and took all the snow with it!!!!  After getting pretty dang cold the first day the rest of the week was a breeze and didn't seem nearly as nasty as the first night when we arrived!

Pearl's baby girl and David's longhorns.  

I quickly found Pearl and her Longhorn cross heifer.  They are doing quite well and fit right in with the herd.  The plan is next year to possibly bring Pearls little girl back home here to Ohio.  I may change my mind before then but in the mean time I will lend occasional thought to it so I can make the right decision.  

Pearl with her calf.

Monday, after helping David and his wife with a herd check, we loaded up his calves and headed south to Miles City Livestock Commission to sell them.  

Some people might find the auctions boring but if you know what to look for and what to pay attention to you can learn a lot in a hurry.

Miles City Livestock Commission Sale ring.

There were some ranches that had just a few to sell and some that had several semi loads of cattle to sell.  The entire show ring is a large scale so, unlike here where the animal is weighed at drop off and then sold several hours later, these animals are kept fed and watered and weighed at the exact time of sale.  If you look closely at both photos you will notice the computer screen above the auctioneer.  It shows the weight of the current lot for sale and all the information from the last lot sold.  The above picture is of the 24 head lot.  The below picture is after they sold and the next group had just entered the ring.  

Miles City Livestock Commission Sale ring.

I have seen several pictures online of the famous "catwalks" above the cattle pens but never saw one in person.  I was super excited to get to use one for the first time.  

Miles City Livestock Commission Sale catwalk over cattle pens.

This was also my first time seeing over 8000 head of cattle in one place at one time.  

Miles City Livestock Commission Sale catwalk over cattle pens.

They sold almost 9000 head of cattle that day and were still selling when we left town at 6pm that evening.  

Miles City Livestock Commission Sale catwalk over cattle pens.

It is a good thing I didn't have a checkbook or I may have been inclined to purchase a pen or two of these light colored beauties to bring home!

Miles City Livestock Commission Sale catwalk over cattle pens.

As we were leaving the auction barns to head home we looked over at the mountains and saw these little black dots on the top of the hill.  If you look close enough you will see they are cattle.  I am not sure if I could even climb those hills even on all fours but these cattle seemed to have no problem doing so.  There were even some laying down on the side of the hill on the back side of the mountain as well.  

Cattle on mountainside near Miles City Livestock Commission.

Wednesday we had a family thanksgiving dinner and then, after eating way too much to move, we needed to pregnancy check all of David's cows and brand the new heifer and two bulls I brought out with me.  

Getting ready to brand cattle.

I am happy to announce that Pearl is happily pregnant.  I also got to see Davids wife use her Ultrasound machine during the pregnancy check.  It was quite awesome to see some of the new technology available to veterinarians today.  

Another picture of Pearl and her baby. 

I was able to brand the bulls myself.  I spoke about branding in my post when Pearl got her brand and I will discuss it again today.  Here in Ohio, we use mostly ear tags.  We do not have cattle roaming vast areas of land to sustain themselves.  We also do not have problems with cattle rustling (stealing cattle).  In Montana, these are issues that are dealt with daily.  You need a way of marking cattle in such a way that cannot be changed or removed that is easily recognizable and able to be seen from a short distance away.  Cattle hides are very thick and durable.  The brand only burns deep enough to create a scar.  Within just a few minutes the bulls and heifer were back to normal as if nothing had happened.  CRF is my registered brand with the Montana Department of Livestock.  

The new brand on one of the bulls I took to Montana

This is the longhorn bull that David is planning to use for breeding next year.  I do not remember the father's breed but the mother is Longhorn.  He should throw some nice looking calves!

Longhorn x Angus bull.

Thursday I had the opportunity to assist David and his wife on a large herd check.  I got to spend the day running the hydraulic squeeze chute.  The squeeze chute catches the cattle and firmly squeezes them so they cannot kick or jump around during vaccinations, worming, branding, pregnancy checks, and any other animal husbandry that may need done while it is being performed.  It is much safer for the animals as well as those working with them.  

About half way through the herd check I had to stop and take a picture.  This cow was in the herd in upstate Montana 1600 miles from my farm.....however, I swear this has got to be the sister of my sweat heart 50 here at home!!  They look so much alike that I was taken aback when I saw her!

Here is a link to a picture of FIFTY.  What do you think!?

Fifty's long lost twin sister!!!!

Since we hadn't gotten a deer during our 4 hours of hunting on Sunday, and due to us all three managing to contract a stomach flu in the middle of the week, we decided to extend the stay by one day and take advantage of the beautiful Saturday and try our luck one more time.  

Hunting in Montana

We hiked back about three or four miles in a Coulee  to get behind a field where we saw a large number of Mule deer at sun up.   

I had a chance to get a picture of all three of the boys together during our hike.  From left to right, Steven, David, and Josh.

The brothers that brought me to Montana

The views along the way were breathtaking and worth the drive out just to see them.  After about two hours of hiking we reached the plateau we were trying to get to and while there decided to get some pictures.  

Hunting in Montana

From this spot you could see hundreds of miles west and north.  If there was ever a place to have a campsite this was it!

The view to the West.

If I hadn't been there myself I would not believe that it existed.  I felt so full of energy and happiness getting to see this I knew I had to share it.  I want to say these pictures do this spot no justice at all!

The view to the North.

After getting all our pictures and sneaking over the back edge of the field we found......nothing!!!  We kicked up one large and one small doe on the way back to the truck but nothing else. 

If you want to truly understand how far we walked pull the picture up to full screen.  In the left center of the photo you will see a small line of evergreens.  Just forward of that line of trees you will see a snow patch with a black dot.  That dot is the roof of the truck.  About three miles away.  

My last picture is from our last night after the hunt.  We ended up getting two mule deer bucks and headed back home.  We feed the cows and helped David with a couple last minute things and then went back to pack and load up.  I wanted one last pic of the cows enjoying the sun before we let them back out to the pasture.  

We hit the road for home at 6:20am Sunday morning.  I managed to drive 1325 miles and 21 hour back before I was too tired to drive any more and Josh drove for a couple hours while I took a nap and then I finished driving home when I woke back up.  

I cannot wait to go out again.  However, the next time I will be taking the family so I can share this with them.  I definitely can't wait to see more of the west as a family some day in the future when the kids are old enough to enjoy it and remember it!!!

To David and his wonderful wife I say thank you for an awesome and very educational trip.  Without your help and hospitality this could never have happened.  I look forward to future trips and many more happy occasions to see you guys again!

Goodnight,

Kenny 

Getting ready for the trip to Montana!

I was out getting stuff arranged to sort out the two bulls and heifer that are headed to Montana with me next week and found out that the pigs found out how to use the cattle waterer!  Hopefully they get big enough to stand on the ground and use it so they don't get the water dirty.  

So, Steven, Josh, and I are headed to Montana to visit their brother, and my buddy, David.  I am taking him two bulls, one to use and one to sell to a friend of his out there.  I am also taking him a bred heifer to add to the herd where I already have Pearl and her little girl.  

The first picture is of the black bull that is headed out for David to use to breed his cattle.  When I took this picture I didn't realize who all I actually caught in the picture.  The bulls mother is Precious.  Precious is also the mother to Pearl in Montana.  Precious' sisters happened to be in the background.  Just behind the bull is Peanut, 50's heifer from last year.  Directly behind Peanut is Princess, 50's daughter also and mother to a cute little heifer this year as her first calf.  

There is a lot of reasons I am sending this bull to David other than the fact that he needs one.  Most of it all relates to his genetics. 

1.  First of all his grandmother was our first cow here on the farm.  
2. She has only had two bulls in her lifetime and all the others have been heifers.  
3. All of her heifers have had heifers for their first calf and continue to have mostly all heifers.  
4. His grandfather on his moms side is 7AN207 / Bextor.  I very nice bull with great genetics.
5. His Father is Legacy.  
6. His grandmother on his dad's side is Summitcrest Erica.
7. His grandfather on his dad's side is Complete 4u75, a very very nice bull!

Putting all these blood lines together into one bull should produce some awesome calves.  I am excited to see what kind of cattle he produces out west with the longhorns and others he will be bred to!

Next up is the other bull I am sending out for him to sell in the spring.  He is also a legacy calf.  The first picture is of his sister #7 and his Niece #14.  Both are red Angus.  

Here is his picture with his sister and niece in the background.  He is standing next to his nephew.  His nephew is a Thunder calf and is out of #7.  

I wanted to update everyone on Baby Girl's progress.  She is Frosty's daughter who was born while we were away on vacation.  After coming as close to death as possible she has made a full recovery and is doing awesome.  Since her mother dried up while we were taking care of her baby she has no milk to give.  So we are still feeding her twice a day to keep her growing well.  She is on a bucket and is eating hay now as well.  The kids and I decided to train her to be able to be led with a halter and come when called so we can take her to the fair next year.  She is actually getting so well trained that I can open the gate and call her and she will come out of the shed and up to the back door of the house and wait for her milk!  We are most likely going to start training my daughters calf soon as well so we can take them both to the fair next year!

For about two weeks I was very worried that something was wrong with the pigs.  Their noses were all turning a strange brownish/red.  I didn't notice any other problems but I had never seen this before and with the problems we have had this summer I was concerned I might be missing something.  So a couple weeks ago I was out checking the cattle and heard some loud cracking and crunching sounds coming from the pigs behind me.  At first I thought they were chewing on rocks and was quite concerned they would hurt themselves.  Then, I realized what was actually going on.  The Black walnut tree I have in the pasture had a lot of nuts this year, the first time it has had very many at all.  The pigs were eating the nuts!  This explained instantly the brownish/red stained noses everyone had!  They were effectively staining their noses while eating.  

On another note on this topic, I invested in 10 apple trees this year.  They are currently planted on the edge of the garden to let them get bigger as they are just tiny little shoots right now.  Next year I will be building cages to put around them and planting them around the pastures to produce apples for us and the animals to eat.  I am planning on getting anther ten or so this year as well because I would love to have them covering a large area of the pasture and producing wonderful fruits for the pigs and cows to eat every year.  

Lastly I wanted to share a personal milestone for my wife and I.   In August we had our 10th anniversary.  To celebrate we decided to go to the Buckeyes vs. Illinois game on November the 1st.  Our first actual date was on November 2nd, 2002 and I took her to the Buckeyes vs. Minnesota game.  The rest is history after that.  It was just as cold this time as it was back then!  Even though it was cold we had a great time.  

On that day back in 2002 I never thought we would be where we are today.  So much to be thankful for and so much potential for the future!  The future is yours to create, the best time to start is yesterday!!!

Have a great day everyone!

Kenny

I have barn lights!!!!

Growing up on the farm as a kid I used to hate it when we were out all night.  The main reason for that was because there was never enough light to see what you were doing.  Because of this I decided if I ever had to be at night for my own stuff I would not be out in the dark!

I added lights to my tractor and still want a couple more.  Now I finally had a chance to do the same with the new barn.  Due to the rain I got home from work early on Tuesday, that gave me just the break I needed to get the new lights installed in the new cow shed.  

Pig shed with Fluorescent lights installed.  

I am currently limited on power supply in the barn.  I have two power supplies.  One 12 gauge wire with 15 amps that I installed years ago from the garage, and one 10 gauge wire coming from the house with 30 amps.   

Originally I had just the pig waterer on the house circuit and had all the conduit installed to later tie it into the barn system because it has a better load supply.  Last winter we found the waterer frozen on day during the -20 degree weather last winter.   Unbeknownst to me, the GFI on the waterer circuit tripped and there was no power to keep the waterer thawed out.  After this happened I decided I needed a way to be sure the power was always on.  The only way to do this was to finish the connection to the barn.  I did this as soon as the weather permitted.  Now, as long as the lights turn on in the pig shed and the cow shed I am certain the power is on to the waterer!  The circuit from the garage feeds only the original barn and feed bin.  That keeps me from overloading the garage supply and the one line feeding the barn.  

Now, I explained the power situation for a reason.  Due to the limited amount of power available I am forced to be conservative with what I use.  When I started remodeling everything the only affordable options were regular incandescent bulbs and Fluorescent bulbs.  The fluorescent  bulbs use a lot less energy but take forever to get bright when it is cold out.  So, I was excited to see that there are affordable LED options now and decided to spend the money and try some.  

LED lights installed in the new cow shed.  

I got two different kinds to try first.  The above picture shows the one style.  They are more of a blue/white light and do not flood as much as the second option shown below.  They are still very bright and come on immediately, but do not flood the area with light and are not as warm of a color as the one pictured below.  

LED lights installed in the new cow shed.  

I decided to also change how I was going to light the new pad where the feeder is located.  I had one 500 watt Halogen light on the end of the pig shed.  It is the largest power consumer in the barn other than the fans I use in the summer.  But, it was free and I needed a big light so I decided to use it for now till I find an acceptable LED replacement.  Plus, this allowed me to see if it would do what I wanted as well before I spend money on LED lights.  

I extended a 2 x 4  five feet above the roof of the cow shed to get the light up higher in the air so it would light more from above rather than the across.  It works great.  It not only lights up the entire new pad but also lights up a large portion of the bottom enough to see if there are cows down there.  

Since I was already on the roof installing the light I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a couple of cool pictures of everything from above.  

From where the light is mounted, if want to and can find the right lights, I could light the entire bottom.  If I do this I would re-route the wiring so I could install another switch just for the big lights.  

If you look closely at the picture below you can see the posts for the fence to keep the cattle off the creek and right in the center.  From this side of the creek up to the barn is where they have access from late autumn till I let them out to the pasture in the spring.  This limits damage to the pastures and allows me to keep a closer eye on them during the rough winter.  That is why I am considering some big LED lights for the roof to light up the bottom.  In the winter with snow on the ground I could easily turn on the lights and see if everyone is OK even after dark.  

On some other topics I am currently reassessing my options for hay and hay sales.  Due to the very wet year I was unable to get the dry hay I needed to fill any of my hay orders.  This is probably going to turn out to be a good thing.  Since I had to take the cows off the pasture I needed to start feeding hay.  They are eating 1.5 bales per day already and it isn't even cold out.  This winter when the temps plummet they will most likely eat at least two possibly three bales per day.  At that consumption rate I will barely have enough hay to get me through the winter to next hay season.  

Another thing is after tracking my hay production over the last several years I am noticing that the bales per acre I am getting here on the farm have dropped off sharply due to the age of the fields.  So, I have decided it is time to replant with a new and more balanced crop.  I will be seeding the fields down with a Clover, Alfalfa, Orchard grass mix in the spring with a cover crop of Oats to make as silage feed early so I don't miss any production. 

I was also fortunate enough this year to pick up a couple of customers for Custom Hay work.  After making their hay and seeing how well their fields produced compared to mine I had to do some serious number crunching.  It quickly became evident that I am spending way to much time and money making hay on fields that are not producing near enough per acre to justify the cost.  So this coming year I will either need to reduce the number of cuttings to reduce the costs, replant to a new crop, or lose those fields and put the money I am spending their into new fields that I can get the production I need off of them.  I am most likely going to do a mix of all three by letting one or two go, reducing cuttings down to two on the rest, and reseeding and pushing the others.

Lots of decisions to make this winter!!!

Have a great day everyone and GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!

Kenny

Corral is almost complete.

Of all the days this past week once again I only had Sunday free to try to accomplish anything here around the farm.  The kids stayed at my parents house Saturday night because my wife and I had a wedding to attend so we got to enjoy sleeping in for a few hours.  After a nice peaceful breakfast I headed out to the barn to see if I could get a couple of things completed.

It turned out to be one of the most productive days I have had since breaking my finger this summer!  Short of mounting one gate and purchasing one more I managed to complete the corral.  On top of that I also cleaned the pig shed and the cow shed and the feed pad.  I also rearranged the pigs and bedded the barn!

Now, on to the part that I am sure you are wanting to see.....the finished product!  First off, here is the gate between the pig lots and the feed pad.  This is to allow me access to the pig shed for cleaning without having to go out on the driveway to get to the storage area.  

Pig lots gate with height restriction.

This shows the gate shut.  This is how it will normally be kept.  If you look closely you will see the new height restriction that used to be on the corner of the cow shed has now been located to the left of the gate.  

Pig lots gate with height restriction.

Here is one more picture from a different angle showing the railing boards along the walkway the pigs use to get to the sow lot.  

Pig lots gate with height restriction.

The first few pictures were taken earlier in the day.  The rest were taken after I was finished and had a chance to cut all the polls to their finished height.  Next up we have a picture of the finished railings on the south side looking in the west end of the feed pad.  The manure storage is to the right.

Finished corral with manure storage in the corner.

Here is the finished railing around the cattle waterer.  It turned out pretty decent.  You can also see Baby Girl, the calf we have been bottle/bucket feeding, in the back ground of the picture.  I let her out to run with the cows to get her used to everybody. 

Cobett Cattle waterer installed in concrete feed pad.

Here is a shot from the inside of the corral showing the other side of the waterer.  

Cobett Cattle waterer installed in concrete feed pad.

This picture show the cattle side of the corral where the walkway for the pigs is located.  

Here is a picture I took while standing on the rails above the waterer.  You can see that Baconator was even demonstrating how to use the walkway to access the barn from the sow lot to my back left.  

Heavy use feed pad with built in walkway for pigs.  

Here is a picture of the manure storage area.  This is only two weeks of manure....and I thought I would have plenty of space!!!  I will be able to stack it as it dries out but it will still be a pretty big pile if we have a nasty drawn out winter!

Manure storage on heavy use pad.

My last picture is of baby girl and my wife.  As I said I am starting to let Baby Girl out to run with the cows in hopes to get her on hay and possibly start feeding on the cows as well.  She is doing very well and is adapting quickly to the rest of the herd!

Now, off to bed, 5am comes very early!

Kenny