Critters are hungry every day. Even on Sunday! Feeding critters takes quite a while around this place. Outdoor chores are usually Doug and Aaron’s daily routine, but I took over for Aaron today while he went to church.
Anyway, feeding chores go like this:
First you fork hay to one bunch of heifer calves at the feed rack. Don't forget to feed the three ponies, & let them in to water! We have Quintus, the stallion, trotting back and forth and tossing his head impatiently. You slide back the iron bolt and push his gate open, but instead of turning left for water, he scoots the other way to check on Symphony and Sonnet, across the alleyway. Redirect him to water. Then block his attempt to return for more pony visiting time. Of course Quintus wants a pat or two, and perhaps a hug around his furry, warm neck. When the stallion is back in his winter paddock, you will need to let the other ponies in for water. Fork them a generous mound of fragrant grass hay. Pony chores are finished for the day.
First you fork hay to one bunch of heifer calves at the feed rack. Don't forget to feed the three ponies, & let them in to water! We have Quintus, the stallion, trotting back and forth and tossing his head impatiently. You slide back the iron bolt and push his gate open, but instead of turning left for water, he scoots the other way to check on Symphony and Sonnet, across the alleyway. Redirect him to water. Then block his attempt to return for more pony visiting time. Of course Quintus wants a pat or two, and perhaps a hug around his furry, warm neck. When the stallion is back in his winter paddock, you will need to let the other ponies in for water. Fork them a generous mound of fragrant grass hay. Pony chores are finished for the day.
Next, while the first bunch of calves is busy at the feed rack eating hay, you fill 18 buckets from the big green grain grinder. Bucket the grain into feed bunks standing handily nearby, for the second bunch of heifers. Yes. There are two groups of heifers to feed, separately.
Start the tractor with grapple loader on the front, and get it out of the shop. A long handled shop broom is required, to push the shop door high enough for the tractor cab to fit underneath. Pull down the shop door to keep curious heifer calves on the outside, where they belong. Catch a tractor ride over to the hay yard. Load the long hay trailer with 4 round bales, put out 2 extra and take a third one down to the bulls. Return with the core of that last bale, in your grapple. Back at the barnyard, roll out a big bale of alfalfa for the second heifer calf bunch. They are finished eating grain. Put them back out in their pasture, where they seem delighted to discover a delicious (although dry) green salad lunch. Next you need to roll out a bale for the first heifer calf bunch, and open the gate for them. Take a bale core to the milk cow (she has some special care calves in with her). Drop it carefully over a section of windbreak. Raise the grapple high! Too close, and you’ll break a board on the windbreak.
Grab that pitchfork, fill the feed rack.
Back in the tractor, take a bale core to the special care cows in the other side of the corral. No need to roll it out. They can help themselves.
Grab that pitchfork, fill the feed rack.
Back in the tractor, take a bale core to the special care cows in the other side of the corral. No need to roll it out. They can help themselves.
Now, return to the hay yard and hitch up to the trailer. Och, this hitch is heavy! There is an additional bale in the grapple on the front of the tractor. These 5 bales go to the main cow bunch. It is a little ways over to them, near the Camel well. Takes maybe 20 minutes to get there, in 3rd gear, tractor speed. The trail we follow leads through two gates, you will need to jump down and open ‘em. This pasture is named for a homesteader who once, long ago, laid claim to the area. We un-hitch tractor from trailer. Each bale is set out on hills surrounding a convenient coulee, your job is to cut and pull netting. Each bale is rolled out, down the hill, leaving behind a long, thick mat of delightful cow dinner, as the bale shrinks. You wait beside an empty hay trailer while a watering hole is chopped in the icy pond below the Camel well. After a tasty but dry mealtime, cows are thirsty.
By now, the winter sun is hanging very low on a pastel horizon. A biting breeze is picking up, you snug your parka zipper and hood closer to your chin. Chill is creeping through insulated boots and multiple layers of thick wool socks. Your dogs shiver and crouch in amongst the sheltering ripples of hay, avoiding frozen mud and snow all around. Time to head home! You jump and pull yourself up onto the high hay trailer, flopping atop soft bundles of used bale netting. It is a fun, jouncing ride back across the prairie to your cozy warm house. The kids are home from church! And, feeding chores are done… until tomorrow.