[near horse]

On second thought, I’ve not seen head removal by hawks/owls as they don’t have teeth and are more prone to swallow “bites” whole. Some sort of mammal is more likely.

[near horse]

That says you’re on the Clearwater River. The one in Idaho?

[near horse]

Do you have some larger trees or even a power pole near the field? Red-tailed hawks like to sit and watch for prey and then swoop down it rather than flying looking for food.

[near horse]

As the tractor enthusiasts would tell you “you’ve crossed over to the dark side”. No engines roaring and exhaust belching but we like it here 😮 Welcome to DAPNet.

Oh yes, if you’re so inclined, put your marker on our map. We need some more folks out side of the northeast:p

[near horse]

You might look at the carcass again – along the back. If it was a hawk/owl you should see puncture wounds from the talons unless that tissue was destroyed as it was eaten.

[near horse]

Well, for those of us that can’t go, I’ve posted the location of The Farm School and this event on our map so we can see “where” the “what we’re missing” is located! Boo hoo hoo.

Best to all who can attend. Have fun, commune and learn.

[near horse]

Either having the lines in your hands already or being able to see & grab them is top of the list IMO – sorting out (or any control for that matter) can’t happen until you’ve got ’em in hand. So I’m voting for fluorescent orange ends : )

[near horse]

@dominiquer60 30705 wrote:

I use Skype to talk to a friend in Wisconsin, I have never paid a cent, but I started my account years ago, so I am not sure if things have changed since then. It is certainly a good tool to have around.

I think we had to put some money in to open an account but that amount stays the same (ie never gets used).

[near horse]

It’s been awhile since I did mine but what about replacing the locking pawls/springs that allow you to back up w/o the gears engaging? Does that require removal of wheel or not? I did this on a #6 years ago w/ no trouble at all but don’t remember if I had to remove the wheel.

[near horse]

@dlskidmore 30722 wrote:

As for chickens, I’d look at insect sources. There are several systems for culturing insect larvae from compost products.

.

Don’t even ask about the maggot growth and collection system that was developed to try to use in a bear feeding trial!:eek:

[near horse]

Well – I need to modify my earlier post here and agree that from further reading (and calf scours here and there), I think I better understand the “milk/no milk” situation. In reading Essential Guide to Calving by Heather Smith Thomas who’s been raising cattle on Montana range for over 4 decades, it became clear I screwed up some in my electrolyte – milk posting. It seems there’s good evidence (duh) that bicarb can cause milk clotting to be inhibited in the abomasum (screwing up milk digestion) by raising the abomasal pH. It has been suggested to replace bicarb with acetate which will not affect milk digestion OR, as some suggested, separate the milk feeding and electrolytes by 2 hrs or more.

I think our experience has been that 1) scouring calf does not want to suck milk but will gladly drink electrolytes 2) when we force feed milk (tube ’em) I believe it’s getting into the rumen and then ends up triggering a Clostridial enterotoxemia (overeating disease). The Clostridial toxins shut down gut motility, start to cause some bloating and pretty quickly can/will kill the calf. I’m not sure (don’t recall) if we fed electrolytes at the same time we fed milk (sometimes they’ll suck down 1L of milk and quit even though they’re losing 2X that in diarrhea) so we would switch over to electrolytes to ensure hydration was keeping pace.

The reason this is fresh as we just lost a calf to what I believe was enterotoxemia (either Clostridial or E.coli) – no diarrhea at the time, no cough …. just no appetite, depressed lethargic and below normal temps. Should have recognized it but no serious gut discomfort (kicking at gut etc) but no bowel movement w/o my intervention.

So – I’m sorry if I was on my high horse regarding calf diarrhea and electrolytes as I was wrong in my assessment of what was going on (although I can still be off base but getting closer to the target).

[near horse]

I thought the issue was mowing up the hill, not down. Must have misunderstood. George, I can’t imagine my team tipping over on a slope – like a tractor would. Implement, maybe but IME things often “feel” worse than they are (not always) because of our position on the implement vs where the true center of gravity is.

Cameron – please please don’t be embarrassed to ask questions here. That’s what this about – a place to get assistance, opinions etc. To get the full value of DAPNet you need to feel comfortable that we’re all here to help where we can. So ask away ….:o

[near horse]

Hi John,

We use Skype every Sunday to visit with our daughter and son-in-law in Plymouth England. Works pretty good …. sort of like talking to astronauts with the few second “delay” in transmission. Picture – sort of blurry but still for free …….

My wife set up the account and I think you have to put some money into it (like $10 maybe) but then it’s free after that. I’ll ask her for details when she gets home.

[near horse]

Hi Andy,

As I’m sure you’ve thought of, run a small test batch first to make sure it’s palatable in the end. That would be a lot of work to go through to have them reject it.

Also, have you looked at DDG (distiller’s dry grains). Crude protein in the mid 20’s, good palatability, easy to store ….. Unfortunately it’s pretty popular with cattle feeders too so there might be some competition.

I’d investigate any local microbreweries for their spent grains (brewers grains) and, if you’ve got an ethanol plant nearby, see if they’ll sell you some DDG.

Any fish farms near you? Another possible source of cull protein.

I should add that back in my graduate student days in wildlife nutrition I had to feed black bears and grizzlies various diets, one of them being squirrels. I trapped ground squirrels and then to make the diets homogenous, I had to homogenize them by chopping them up and putting them through a blender. There is no blender short of industrial capability that can handle blending chopped squirrels AND even hungry bears didn’t want to eat the nasty looking squirrel glop – probably too much info 😮

[near horse]

Hey Robert,

I assume these would be videos or just steep by step directions w/ photos. Is that right?

[Author]

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