A nice six-inch snow came last night, 3-31-08

[Soapweed]

I feel like a school teacher with all these bright-eyed pupils staring at me.

With a couple teachers' aides to assist

Curious calves

You can't tell it in the picture, but the wind was blowing at least fifty miles per hour.

Peach Blossom enjoying her niece's daughter

They seem to get along quite well.

Kosmo trying his hand at holding a youngster

Cows this morning hunkered up by the barn

We had at least six inches of nice snow. The wind didn't even blow too bad, so the whole moisture event was mighty welcome.

General, commander of nothing

Tough enough to wear a stocking cap

Horses handy when needed

A good old friendly tractor. Didn't miss it until it was gone, and am glad it is now back.

Goose, a pretty good horse.

Two buddies, hoping for a piece of cake

A few selling cows and a handful of yearling steers

A meadow lark that came north too quick

Snow wonder avalanches hit hard

A pivoting pooch; you can tell by the tracks :wink:

Hopefully this blue bell is a sign of spring. :roll:

 

[Yanuck]

Looks like the snow finally found you guys, best thing about it snowing so late in the year is you know it won't be around for long! Peach Blossom looks awfully comfortable with that baby.... maybe she needs to start working on your boys for some grandbabies! :wink: nice pictures as always

 

[Circle M]

your calves are amazing soap they look in top form ....6 inches of snow over night always makes for interesting thoughts as you do a double take first thing when you look out the window :wink: ..i liked the line (tough enough to wear a stocking cap) makes me chuckle up here in Canada we call them Touques eh, lol wich probably makes you chuckle even more

 

[Whitetop]

Soapweed,it looks like you have a Haybuster bale processor on the front of your bale feeding rig. Have you found any easy way to remove strings from the rotor. I have a Haybuster 2650 and like how it works but I use all plastic twine and it can be a real bear to get off the rotor. I have tried a knife but they get dull in no time with the plastic twine Tried a small disk grinder and 4 inch battery skill saw but they wrap up. Have tried wetting it down and using the plasma cutter, that works somewhat but you have to have a garden hose handy because it will start on fire once in awhile. Bought an electric burner (like a straight electric branding iron) last fall but it doesn't get real hot and takes a long time to melt through the twine

 

[Soapweed]

Soapweed,it looks like you have a Haybuster bale processor on the front of your bale feeding rig. Have you found any easy way to remove strings from the rotor. I have a Haybuster 2650 and like how it works but I use all plastic twine and it can be a real bear to get off the rotor. I have tried a knife but they get dull in no time with the plastic twine Tried a small disk grinder and 4 inch battery skill saw but they wrap up. Have tried wetting it down and using the plasma cutter, that works somewhat but you have to have a garden hose handy because it will start on fire once in awhile. Bought an electric burner (like a straight electric branding iron) last fall but it doesn't get real hot and takes a long time to melt through the twine

There isn't a good way to get twine off the roller, unless of course you coerce an energetic young man into doing the job. :wink: I never feed bales with plastic or "biodegradeable" twine with the processor. For bales tied in this fashion we use the Hydra-bed pickups, and cut the twine and gather it up before feeding the hay. With the bales tied with sisal, the processors don't work too bad. The twine actually kind of self-destructs over time. :roll:

 

[Andy]

You can get what they call a hot knife. They sell them at Camack Ranch supply. It basically just melts the twine right off. It works great on plastic but if you have a combo of plastic and sisal you will get some flair ups.

 

[Shorthornguy]

Thanks for the pics. Nice looking calves. That storm system you sent up from Nebraska left us with 6 to 12 inches of wet snow. Lots of wind and drifting snow. Saw a Robin Sunday so Spring will be here soon.

 

[Rodeo Mom]

Nice looking calves, cute baby and what a nice snow. I wish we would have gotten that much. We only had about an inch. We don't need a storm, but would enjoy the moisture! Maybe tomorrow night and Thursday.

 

[CattleArmy]

For getting twine out of unwanted spots my father welded a sickle blade to another piece of metal to act as a handle. You can get in to places and the sickle is sharp enough it comes off. Works good on ptos on mowers where once in awhile when not paying close enough attention and in reed grass it will twirl around there.

 

[Whitetop]

Soapweed,it looks like you have a Haybuster bale processor on the front of your bale feeding rig. Have you found any easy way to remove strings from the rotor. I have a Haybuster 2650 and like how it works but I use all plastic twine and it can be a real bear to get off the rotor. I have tried a knife but they get dull in no time with the plastic twine Tried a small disk grinder and 4 inch battery skill saw but they wrap up. Have tried wetting it down and using the plasma cutter, that works somewhat but you have to have a garden hose handy because it will start on fire once in awhile. Bought an electric burner (like a straight electric branding iron) last fall but it doesn't get real hot and takes a long time to melt through the twine

There isn't a good way to get twine off the roller, unless of course you coerce an energetic young man into doing the job. :wink: I never feed bales with plastic or "biodegradeable" twine with the processor. For bales tied in this fashion we use the Hydra-bed pickups, and cut the twine and gather it up before feeding the hay. With the bales tied with sisal, the processors don't work too bad. The twine actually kind of self-destructs over time. :roll:

I have to use plastic with all the wet conditions we get here( sisal is rotted away when we take the bales out of the feild lots of times). Also I only use the processor to grind soybean and cornstalk bales for bedding for fats. I usually grind about 50 bales before I clean off the rotor. By then the twine is at least 2-3 inches thick with dirt mixed in. No young bucks around this country, they all got sick of listening to all of us older guys in the mid 80s talking about who was being sold out now and wondering if we would be next, so all our sons except one guys one son left for good pay and short hours.

 

[Whitetop]

You can get what they call a hot knife. They sell them at Camack Ranch supply. It basically just melts the twine right off. It works great on plastic but if you have a combo of plastic and sisal you will get some flair ups.

Not familiar with that supply house. what is that knife shaped like? What I have is about 1 inch square with a triangle on the outbound side and about 7 inches long. It gets hot but when you stick it into the rolled up twine it melts in a little ways then seems to cool off and you have to let it heat up again before it will do anything. I know the dirt mixed in doesn't help any. I'm sure if I cleaned it off after every use (about 12 bales it would work better) but by the time I move cattle out , clean out pens, grind bedding back in, move cattle back in and clean up loose ends I'm shot, so burning off the grinder gets left till I have time.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

You can get what they call a hot knife. They sell them at Camack Ranch supply. It basically just melts the twine right off. It works great on plastic but if you have a combo of plastic and sisal you will get some flair ups.

Not familiar with that supply house. what is that knife shaped like? What I have is about 1 inch square with a triangle on the outbound side and about 7 inches long. It gets hot but when you stick it into the rolled up twine it melts in a little ways then seems to cool off and you have to let it heat up again before it will do anything. I know the dirt mixed in doesn't help any. I'm sure if I cleaned it off after every use (about 12 bales it would work better) but by the time I move cattle out , clean out pens, grind bedding back in, move cattle back in and clean up loose ends I'm shot, so burning off the grinder gets left till I have time.

You probably have the same one. It is made by Land H of Manadan. They have a bronze edge and sharp. The ones that are just branding iron element get to hot and have burnt a few processors up in this country.