[near horse]

Hi Dennis. Every once in a while I have no butt rope (or baling twine!) handy and I’ve had good success flipping the line(s) over the respective outside of each horse and then backing them. Just that little bit of “feeling restricted” by the presence of something along their outer hip/rear leg is enough to keep them close when backing.

Maybe this is a disaster waiting to happen as I’m pretty green too. It’s not easy being green.

[near horse]

“There is no other site like this one.” Amen to that brother! If you build it, they will come — and we did come. Nice work.

Now if Jen would just let me sell my “Idaho time-share experience with free cell phone”, I’d be even happier —

[near horse]

That’s what you all get for taking 2nd and 3rd cuts! Shame shame shame. 😮

Sorry if I’m asking a simpleton question but on the “heavy grass” George mentioned, was much/any of that lodged? Granted, we only get one cutting here and it’s pretty tall by then but high N, rain w/ wind will create a tangled mess that can challenge your swather let alone the mower. Sometimes you have the top half of grass plants in your path while the root/base is just outside your outer shoe. You would think a sharp setup would handle it but it is a challenge.

[near horse]

” ….. I think everyone needs to come out here to get together for a change! “
We could all dig some fire breaks together. Such a bonding experience.

I did close down my FB account as I was finding myself drawn into arguments I shouldn’t have been wasting my time on (nothing or no one related to DAP).

Also – on a western fire related note – we had a local 20 yr old female fire fighter (Jenny Veseth) killed a few weeks back by falling timber on a fire line. Windy, steep terrain and a snag toppled hitting a 2nd tree that fell and hit her. Terrible. Sketchy as to wether it was even safe to be in there – the hot shot crew pulled out a few hours earlier due to unsafe conditions. Stay safe in the woods. Fire or not.

Thanks for the thoughts and wishes. Things look a lot better now than they did in May!

[near horse]

Frankly, I’m glad that blabber mouth has quieted down. :rolleyes:

Thanks for your concern but I’m still kicking and slowly getting things back up to speed here. Wish we could all get together sometime ….

Hope you’re rebounding from your fire, Scott. IMO – you were like superman defending your place. Awesome.

[near horse]

@Ann 36279 wrote:

I was told by Small Farmers Journal last fall that they had auctioned off and no one had said who had bought the inventory. I have bought a lot of mower parts for my Osbourne and McCormick from them in past years.

Yep – unfortunately they did auction off the whole shebang over a few days last fall – included online bidding as well. No idea if anyone bought a the HD parts etc as one lot but I might have the Balster daughter’s e-mail as she contacted me a week prior to the auction when I inquired about a part for my tedder. Let me know if you want me to search for it.

[near horse]

Hi Ed,

Here’s a couple more –

Samson Harness Shop
Gilbert, MN
218-865-4602
(catalog on request)

Aaron Martin Harness
Ontario, Canada
1-800-367-0639
http://www.aaronmartin.com

Midwest Leather
Garland, UT
1-888-211-3047
(catalog on request)

Coblentz Collar Shop
33448 US 62
Millersburg, OH
1-330-893-3858
(catalog on request)

Sugar Valley Collar Shop
18 Wagon Wheel Lane
Loganton, PA 17747
1-570-725-3499
(catalog on request)

[near horse]

Sorry Kristi. I didn’t see your message until this AM as I had already headed over to the threshing bee. I was the guy with the blue shirt driving one of the header boxes with big red Belgians. Also, I was having quite a bit of trouble getting them to deal with all the new scary stuff – just tried to stay with it and not let them “off the hook”. Exhausting.

The turns executed by the 6 mules on the header (and the teamsters – Stan Riebold and John Obermeyer) were a real thing of beauty. Hope the video was good enough to make the cut for RFDTV – RH.

[near horse]

Hey Kristi,

I’ll be there with my horses.

[near horse]

I agree with Kevin that calf personalities can change from what they seem to be initially.

[near horse]

Granted, we start off w/ day olds and feed them on milk replacer but pretty quickly (say at +/- 2 weeks) they’re looking for more than the 2x feeding of ~4L MR they get. So we put some calf starter in a feeder free-choice as well as throwing in a flake of grass hay. Sooner or later they figure out that this stuff is food too but it varies with the individual calves.

Three months old just means they’ve got a little more “momma time” to get over. Just keep an eye out for sucking on each others penis sheath. The sucking drive is pretty strong. We have had some luck using a bucket that uses a more challenging nipple that makes them really work and spend more time sucking (called MilkBar). It seemed to slow the sucking on each other.

As I recall, the development of the rumen papillae is almost directly related to feed. Exposure to forages stimulates growth that is needed to digest them …..

Andy – your “momma, momma” story reminded me of an old childhood favorite book of mine “Are You My Mother?” where a baby bird thinks all kinds of different things are his momma. Fun Fun Fun.

Tim – I’ve wanted to try the apple fritter idea but everytime I get to the calf pen, there’s no more fritters in my box. Maybe that explains the “big butts” song in my head! 😀

[near horse]

How come when I saw the pictures I heard the song ” Oh I like big butts …” in the background? Seriously, those guys have soe healthy muscling going on – fore and aft. The Holsteins we have Salt, Pepper, Scooter and Stripe all look like the “98 pound weaklings” compared to your steers. Best of luck. Be consistent and persistent and keep us posted on their progress w/ pics of course. Thanks for posting, Andy.

[near horse]

I used that Martin ditcher at Tiller’s years ago. It was really cool as it allows the rider to shift his weight on the moldboard and is good for working over ditches that have started to fill in (each year). I don’t know how effective it would be/is for opening a new ditch — maybe plow a furrow then use ditcher. If Tiller’s has plans available, personally I’d build one ….

[near horse]

Hi Andy,

I used that Martin ditcher at Tiller’s years ago. It was really cool as it allows the rider to shift his weight on the moldboard and is good for working over ditches that have started to fill in (each year). I don’t know how effective it would be/is for opening a new ditch — maybe plow a furrow then use ditcher. If Tiller’s has plans available, personally I’d build one ….

For those of us who want to capture water (i.e. short supply in summer) —- there’s an article called “The Man Who Farms Water” highlighting a small farmer in southern Africa. Also, “Harvesting Rainwater” suggests using contour trenches backfilled with a more permeable substrate (straw/compost ….) to capture water.

If you’re thinking of channeling the water to a holding pond, have you considered harvesting some of the energy of moving water (i.e. Pelton wheel or some such thing)?

[near horse]

Also Samson Harness, Midwest Leather …… and Aaron Martin in Canada.

[Author]

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