A wire winder what??

Ally is getting a workout pulling out fence posts!

Don't you think machines make all chores more fun?  Automated vacuum robots, power tools, 4-wheelers, etc...  I love all these too but I'm pretty sure this is magnified 20 times if you're a boy.  A ten year boy.  Or an 80 year old boy for that matter.  They LOVE their automated machines.  I can appreciate them but I don't need to know how they work or why they work.  I just want them to make my life easier.

Enter the wire winder.  Remember my posts earlier about how we built electric fence after corn harvest?  You can read about it here and here.  Well, as they say....what goes up, must come down.  The same is true for temporary fence.  Sometimes the ground is frozen and you can't get the posts back out until the spring thaw.  Fortunately this year, we had unseasonably warm temps and we were able to pull the posts easily.  The only problem is rolling up the miles of wire that you put out.  Luckily we were able to borrow the farmer's handy dandy wire winder that has a small engine and rolls up the wire for you.

Check out this short video clip of my son watching over the process.  It's important to make sure the wire fills the spool evenly.  If done correctly, you can easily unroll it next year and use it again!  This little invention saves us hours of time and frustration getting fence picked up so quickly and easily.  I highly recommend it!!

Choppy Water?!?!

You might have thought you were going to read about a boat outing on the lake with the title of this post but when we "chop water" around here, we usually mean ice.  It's great that we can keep the cows out on stalks or dry pasture for a few months of winter grazing but along with colder temperatures comes water supply issues.  Most of these areas don't have electricity to keep a tank heater going so we are generally left with one option.... Chopping lots of ice!! 

It's a great workout and we check tanks at least once or twice a day to make sure the cattle can get plenty of fresh water.  Often times they break it themselves but if it is too thick, we have to use an axe.  They are very patient to wait their turn at the tank once we open it up for them!  Just another "life on the farm" that gets us some quality time with our kids!  And there may or may not be some snowball fights involved if time allows!

Have you seen the Gingerbread Man??

Do you remember your favorite book as a kid?  Or maybe a favorite that your own kids loved?  That you read from cover to cover every.single.night??  Well, for our family it was the story of the Gingerbread man that ran away to the farm.  So imagine my excitement when I got word from my bestie in South Dakota that her little girl's class has lost their Gingerbread man.  Apparently he escaped when the kids were out at recess one day and word had it he might be headed in our direction.

I watched for days and sure enough.... one day I caught a glimpse of the little guy.  I tried my best to catch him but he was way too fast.  So this is pretty much how it went down...

Run, Run… as fast as you can!
Can't catch me, I'm the HOWARD ELEMENTARY GINGERBREAD MAN!!

I ran from Ann and I ran from her friends,
So if you think you can catch me, just think again!
I'm happy to say, it's much warmer here,
Perhaps tell those kids I’m full of good cheer.

I didn’t know Nebraska had so much SUN,
It sure makes winter a lot more FUN!

I love all your cows and all the horses too!
But if you add anymore it will look like a zoo.
I've met the chickens, the dogs and the cats,
So far I’m lucky I haven’t seen any rats!

My favorite was Lexi the Golden Retriever.
She was so nice, I could hardly believe her!
She shared her bed and gave me a snack,
And told me to always watch my back.

The other dog Trapper gave me a ride,
And said they have lots of coyotes nearby.
So I took his advice and avoided the trees,
Knowing it was so much safer for me!

They have two kids named Ally and Nate.
Lucky for me they left open a gate.
So I chased all the cows and had lots of fun,
And away that I went, off on a run!
 

So please tell Mrs. B and especially Ann,
Nebraska is great for a Gingerbread man!
I will be home soon, you can count on me,
But for now Southwest Nebraska is where I will be!


So there you have it... the day I ALMOST caught the Gingerbread Man.  Keep an eye out... I hear he might be headed in your direction!! 

Field of Dreams...AFTER



Nate delivering posts around the perimeter of the field

If you're keeping up, you would have read yesterday's post about last fall's harvest in southwest Nebraska.  If you missed it, you can catch it here! 

As I was explaining in that post, the leftover cornstalks, leaves, and bits of corn make an awesome spot for our cows to get some winter forage but there's one little problem... FENCE!



Most of the corn fields are not surrounded by permanent fence as it creates difficulty getting equipment around.  Like lots of other cattlemen in the area, we are responsible for building a temporary fence that's economical, quick to put up and take down, and most importantly, secure enough to keep the cattle in a safe place. 

Ally attaching insulators to hold the wire.

The first step in a successful fencing project is the right supplies and a great crew.  Like most cattle producers, we use a simple, temporary single wire fence that is electrified.  It's amazing how the cattle know to stay away from it.  It doesn't hurt them (or us for that matter) if they touch it but it's enough of a deterrent that you don't do it again anytime soon!   

Nate is adding the wire to the insulators.

We put in temporary metal posts, attach insulators to hold the wire, and then run a metal wire around the outside of the field.  It's a team effort and it goes pretty fast when everyone pitches in.  This year the ground wasn't frozen yet and the weather was awesome so it wasn't too tough.  We've had other years when the ground is so dry or frozen that you can hardly pound a post in and the weather is less than cooperative. 

 

 

 A word of caution when you live in a small town and build fence on the highway... you get a lot of "honks" and visitors who stop to chat!  It's always fun to see who will stop in and offer to lend a hand! (Or just watch us work in most cases!!)

 

At the end of the day, we make sure the fence is electrified all the way around and usually leave it for several days so the deer learn that it's there.  They will knock it down for a few days but eventually they learn to jump over it.  Once this happens, the cows can be turned out to the Field of Dreams.  As long as the weather is kind, this is a great spot for them to do some late fall / early winter grazing until they come home for calving!

Happy cows in their "Field of Dreams"

 

Field of Dreams... BEFORE

It seems like I post about this every year (or at least take a lot of pictures with good intentions) but there's just something about the transformation of a corn field that's ready for harvest turning into a grazing wonderland for cows.  This post is about corn harvest that took place last fall and how it affected our cows!! For my Ag-in-the-Classroom kids, here are a few facts about farmground:

• Nationally, farmers average 160 bushels per acre.  It will be higher in areas of larger rainfall or irrigation and lower in areas with poor soil quality or dry growing conditions.
• An acre is about the size of a football field minus the end-zones.
• A bushel of corn weighs about 56 pounds.
• A semi truck can haul about 55,000 lbs of corn in a load
• Here's a story problem for you kids out there...  The farmer that I rent from has a 100 acre field.  He harvested 160 bu per acre. How many semi loads of corn did he haul out of the field?

The answer is....16 semi loads! (100 acres x 160 bu/acre x 56 lbs per bu) divided by 55,000 lbs per truck = 16.2 semi loads!  That's a lot of corn from one small field!  Some fields are hundreds of acres so you can imagine how much those make!

Check out this video I made while my son was riding with the neighbor in his combine!

So what happens once the corn is harvested??  Well, that's where we come in.  The field is left with lots of stalks & leaves off the corn plant as well as a little corn that might have been missed or left behind.  This makes perfect winter grazing material for our cows!  Think about the timing for a minute... corn harvest is usually in early fall when the grass is starting to go dormant in the pastures.  The cows are ready to move on to other forage sources and it's best for the pastures to move the cattle off and let the grass recover and be ready for next spring.  Mother Nature has perfect timing as this is when the corn fields are ready for grazing. 

There's just one little problem... FENCE.  Come back tomorrow to learn how we tackle this little problem and get our cows out to their Field of Dreams!!

New and Improved

Hi everyone!  Remember me?  It's been a while... a LONG while.  But I'm back to posting and I've changed my site.  I imported my favorite and most popular posts from my old blog so if you'd like to reminisce with me, go right ahead.  My kids have grown, our livestock population has expanded, and in general, we've made all sorts of progress!

One of my big goals with this new site is to post more up-to-date info for the Nebraska Ag-In-The-Classroom project. I have been involved in this for a few years now and I just love sharing our farm stories with the kids.  They come up with the BEST questions for us!!  So if you have questions or have interest in the program, please send me a message or contact the director via the link above.

So Happy 2016 to all of you!!!  Join me on my New Year's Resolution to share my family's story that's all about agriculture and a few surprise posts too!  Consider this your official invitation to follow along!  We have great farm "tails" to tell!!