Been very busy

Jess and I have been very busy this past month.  My unusual shift schedule happened to have days off during the weekends for the last several weeks, so we were able to work together on the ranch.  This is literally the first chance I've had to post anything. Here is a very concise update on the status of things. 

- All of the 830' by 20' fence line have been cut in the overgrown area.  All but approximately 200 feet have been completely cleared.  The remaining 200 feet are felled tree trunks that need to be moved. 

- 2786 feet of electric fence posts have been installed.  This includes two end H-braces, three corner H-braces, all of the fiber-glass posts, and one 6' by 8' steel gate.  I've also finished installing two of the four 12.5 gauge HT wires.  Once I install the other two wires, that part will be done. 

- Three water-anchored posts have had their steel bases fabricated. 

- A new steel tip for my 8 inch wide auger big has been fabricated and works very well. 

The 8" diameter auger bit had been severely worn down, so cut, bent, and welded a 1/2" piece of steel, so that it could be bolted over the remaining tip.  One-quarter-inch hardened steel edges could then be bolted to the 1/2" steel and replaced when they wore down.  This new tip has a slightly more aggressive cut than the old, worn-down tip did.  It's still manageable, but would probably be dangerous if the auger didn't have a safety brake. 


- All remaining wooden posts and H-braces have been installed for the next 800' of woven-wire fence. 

- The pair of 6' by 8' steel gates have been installed at the vehicle entrance of our ranch. 

- We've placed an order for a 24' steel cattle trailer from Delta trailer company.  It should be ready in a few months.  

Remaining on our list of thing to finish before we can get the first bison are:

- Finish removing the last 200' of trees from the fence line. 

- Install four end h-braces, one corner h-brace, a second gate, and the four wires for the rest of the electric fence. 

- Finish and install the the three water-anchored posts for the water-accessible portion of the electric fencing. 

- Install the electric fence charger. 

If we are able to accomplish these remaining tasks in the next month or two, we should be ready for bison this fall.

A few other things to update:

- We have a flock of at least 15 wild turkeys hanging around the ranch. 

- The two strong beehives one our ranch are still active and seem to be in the middle of a honey flow. 

The flower that all the bees are after now appears to be Lespedeza capitata or "roundhead lespedeza." Everywhere I go on the ranch I see this plant in bloom and several of my bees buzzing around it. 

A Luna Moth.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Front-end loader mounted t-post installer

Image
 Since we started fencing the perimeter of our ranch in 2014, I've strove to increase the rate at which I am able to fence an area.  Among the most recent improvements has been a t-post pusher which is mounted to our tractor's front-end loader bucket.  This device is very simple, but has already saved us countless hours of work. The following photographs illustrate how I use the post pusher.  Aiming: The loader is first positioned with the end of the pusher is close to the ground.  I then maneuver the tractor until the end of the pusher is in alignment with the marked post location.  This is how the lined up pusher looks from the driver's seat of the tractor.  Yes, I know the loader has an issue with the hydraulics cover. Loading:  Once the pusher is aligned, I place the tractor in park, raise the loader arm and insert a t-post into the open end of the pusher.  Tilting:  Correct placement of the t-post is dependent aligning the post along three axises,
Read more

DIY cultipacker-roller

Image
For those of you who are unfamiliar with agricultural equipment, a cultipacker is an implement used to compress soil.  There are several reasons a farmer may use a cultipacker, but, for me, the primary purpose for the cultipacker is to pack down soil that has just been planted with grass seed.  This should greatly improve seed germination in newly planted bison pasture. Five truck tire rims welded together form the shape of the cultipacker.  Technically this is really more of a cultipacker-roller hybrid as the ridged portions on the roller should be more closely spaced on a true cultipacker.  A thick piece of steel tube runs through the center of the rims, which I'll explain later in this post. For added weight each tire rim was filled with concrete after it was welded in place.  A photograph of the roller portion of the cultipacker completed and waiting for the concrete to cure.  The length of steel tube that runs through the center of the roller is welded to the
Read more

Face fly nightmare

Image
Face flies beginning to appear a few days after my initial treatment with AiM-L VetCaps.  I unfortunately don't have any photos of the original mob of flies, which was much worse. Since the forth of July an insect called the face fly ( Musca autumnalis ) has plagued our ranch and caused me a considerable amount of stress.  It was a week ago, on the forth, while doing a routine check on the herd, that I noticed that the bison appeared to be greatly agitated by a surprisingly high number of the flies.  While the sight of flies or other small insects buzzing around grazing animals is nothing unusual, this was something different.  The flies flocked in groups around the eyes and nose of each animal so incessantly that the bisons' natural defenses appeared to be ineffective.  All the blinking, ear flapping, tail wagging, snorting, rolling in soil, and rubbing on trees had little effect.  No matter how many times they did these things the flies would just briefly fly up into the
Read more