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No rain all summer and now this:

Evans said:
I have been finding that the less I worry about my problems and the less I try to fix things,then the more God does to make ways where there are no ways and make things way better than I ever could have.
The more God does,the easier it is for me to trust him and the more peaceful I am. I just have to trust God and believe.
I'm just amazed at how Jesus has taken all these horrible things in my life that where meant to hurt me and has used them to make things so much better. I have actually been happy when I had every reason not to be and now things are really starting to come together for us.
As far as the other people who received trains instead of brains 😁 just remember that without Goliath we would not have David and without Judas we wouldn't have had a Savior😀
Haha sorry if I sound preachy. Its just that the good Lord has really been coming through for me. Wish I would have been in with him more years ago.
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Don't worry about sounding preachy, that is just awesome, very happy for you!
 
Evans said:
I have been finding that the less I worry about my problems and the less I try to fix things,then the more God does to make ways where there are no ways and make things way better than I ever could have.
The more God does,the easier it is for me to trust him and the more peaceful I am. I just have to trust God and believe.
I'm just amazed at how Jesus has taken all these horrible things in my life that where meant to hurt me and has used them to make things so much better. I have actually been happy when I had every reason not to be and now things are really starting to come together for us.
As far as the other people who received trains instead of brains 😁 just remember that without Goliath we would not have David and without Judas we wouldn't have had a Savior😀
Haha sorry if I sound preachy. Its just that the good Lord has really been coming through for me. Wish I would have been in with him more years ago.
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It is always amazing what God will do for a person when we stand back and put him in charge.
 
webfoot said:
Twenty years of falling timber, I have Stihl saws. Actually the one that broke down is the one I had in my hands when I broke my back nearly 30 years ago. It is an 066 which is a big saw but I don't have to wait for it to cut through something. I am cutting Junipers that some previous owner fell. They are up off the ground on the limbs and nice and dry. Some are pretty big. Several of them a 32 inch bar wont reach straight through on the first 4 or 5 cuts. The other little saw with a 20 inch bar is sort of slow going on that kind. There is a big one I fell to get out of the way on spring development project that was 42 inches on the stump. I am leaving that one to dry for next years firewood.
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about 5 years ago I had some Mexican friends clear out 1/4 mile of 70 year old fence to replace. I didn't have a dozer then. Took them 5 days and kept me busy moving trees with the tractor and sharpening chains. I had one of those good little top handle Stihl saws my wife had bought me for my birthday a couple years before. I wasn't about to turn them loose with that one. Tractor supply had a day after thanksgiving sale on Poulan 18inch heavy duty saws. $99 ea. I bought 3. Gave them 2 to work with. I also bought 2 extra chains for each one. They didn't like to sharpen chains so that is what I did between moving trees. Those Poulan saws would start when my little Stihl owuld not and my bigger Stihl either. I also have a Red Max and an Echo and those Poulans are the ones I go to. I may have to pull them 3 times the first time but they always start.. Also they cut really good. The landscape boys here give me a lot of crap about those Poulans, but to me they are like the old Briggs & Stratton engines. Maybe not the best, but they were reliable...
 
The one bad thing about a Poulan is that once they break, I've found it costs more to repair them than buy a new saw. I love Stihl's and so far I'm happy with the Husky. Other saws do ok but they can't compare to a quality saw at least to me. I don't live in big timber country. But I'd bet they wouldn't work very well on stuff over 12 inches
 
Go to work in the big timber and you will find nothing but Stihl or Husky. And the Stihl will out number by about 10 to 1. As memory serves me this tree was 8 foot 10 inches inside the bark. With about a foot of bark. I have fell bigger but this one I happened to have a camera with.
 

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I would never have imagined a foot of Bark. Never got the chance to see the big timber work up close. Here, about 2 ft is the biggest tree. I have a Bois DÁrc in the front that is over 3 ft diameter. It has been here 200 years..
 
leanin' H said:
The one bad thing about a Poulan is that once they break, I've found it costs more to repair them than buy a new saw. I love Stihl's and so far I'm happy with the Husky. Other saws do ok but they can't compare to a quality saw at least to me. I don't live in big timber country. But I'd bet they wouldn't work very well on stuff over 12 inches
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Right about getting parts etc. We don't have any shops here to work on small engines. There rate is $115-$155/hr. I just wait until there is a sale and get another for $100. So far they are still running strong.
 
damengineer said:
I would never have imagined a foot of Bark. Never got the chance to see the big timber work up close. Here, about 2 ft is the biggest tree. I have a Bois DÁrc in the front that is over 3 ft diameter. It has been here 200 years..
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I learned about Bois d' Arc when I stayed with some cousins on their ranch in East Texas. Bois D' Arc is one tough wood. I remember helping them cut fence posts from Bois D' Arc.
 
webfoot said:
Go to work in the big timber and you will find nothing but Stihl or Husky. And the Stihl will out number by about 10 to 1. As memory serves me this tree was 8 foot 10 inches inside the bark. With about a foot of bark. I have fell bigger but this one I happened to have a camera with.
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30 some years ago I worked a couple of years logging but I was only cutting fence posts compared to what you have in your photo but back then I bought a new stihl 034 made in the USA. Used it steady for two years logging and then kind of once in a while around the farm ever since. I can't believe that it still runs as great as ever. Over the years I think I only put a carb kit in it.
Few years ago I bought a new husky lawn mower because years ago their saws had a good rep. I'm guessing this lawn mower was made in China. What a peace of garbage.
Around here there really isn't any place to get anything fixed. People just buy something and then when it breaks in probably 13 months they throw it away and buy a new one.
 
Mountain Cowgirl said:
I learned about Bois d' Arc when I stayed with some cousins on their ranch in East Texas. Bois D' Arc is one tough wood. I remember helping them cut fence posts from Bois D' Arc.
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I had an old limb from the big Bois Dárc tree out front that was cut about 20 years ago after a folded disc hit it. My new neighbor took it and turned some bowls from it. I hadheard how pretty it could be, but did not expect it to look so good.
 
deff said:
Our local feed store has ordered in a tanker full from QLF Liquid Supplements. It supposedly contains the mossases, protein, mineral and vitamins needed to make straw a complete ration. We are splitting the load with another customer, each getting 2500 gallons. The straw that I've gotten is fine and chaffee and the bales are fragile. They will be a challenge to handle. The bales explode if you try to tip them on end so we are jury-rigging an injection system to try. If that doesn't work, we'll have to put it out free choice in tanks but I'd sure rather ration it out to try to keep costs down. Every time I've put out free choice supplements, the cows ate about four times the amount that the salesman said they would!
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Are you talking about round bales?
I'm currently feeding barley straw round bales. I stand the bales on end and dump about 13 gallons of molasses on and wait for two to three hours for it to work in the bale. I'm feeding in a corral and they dont have much choice in what they eat but they dont want to eat anything that doesn't have molasses on it but like I said before they have no choice.
Guys who inject their bales do the same as me but dont have to wait 2.5 hours for the molasses to work itself into the bale. Depends on how tight the bale is but if you wait to long the molasses will work through the bale and you will waste it and have a mess on the ground. You can't just inject your bales as they are in your stack yard and leave them. You have to put them on end,inject them and then put them back the way a round bale normally sits on the ground again.
I haul my own molasses home with my truck and tank. Costs me about $60 a bale CND. for the molasses.
My cows dont like to eat wheat straw. Barley they will eat but not if they have something else to eat.
I'm worried about what you are planning. If you feed in a corral and they leave behind a bunch of your straw you can go afterwards with 5 gallon buckets and sprinkle on molasses so they will eat what Shaw you didn't get molasses on but thats a lot of work.
 
Yeah, It's round bales. The cows will be out in the pasture, but they will have to eat the straw or learn to live on snow banks! The wheat straw in this drought is so fine and chopped up that the bales explode if you try to tip them on end. These are good solid 1100 lb. net wrapped bales too! The guy I'm buying the straw from gave up on pouring his and will put the molasses out in stock tanks. I am in awe of the baler he has! I know mine wouldn't have began to bale that stuff. My cows normally accept straw pretty well but this is the first time we have needed to use it for a large part of the ration. In the past we just hauled out a bale or two along with their normal hay whenever that Polar Vortex crap hit. I know that when the net wrap is cut, the bales will explode right there! If injecting them doesn't work, injecting or top dressing those piles of fluff out in the field will be plan B.
 
deff said:
Yeah, It's round bales. The cows will be out in the pasture, but they will have to eat the straw or learn to live on snow banks! The wheat straw in this drought is so fine and chopped up that the bales explode if you try to tip them on end. These are good solid 1100 lb. net wrapped bales too! The guy I'm buying the straw from gave up on pouring his and will put the molasses out in stock tanks. I am in awe of the baler he has! I know mine wouldn't have began to bale that stuff. My cows normally accept straw pretty well but this is the first time we have needed to use it for a large part of the ration. In the past we just hauled out a bale or two along with their normal hay whenever that Polar Vortex crap hit. I know that when the net wrap is cut, the bales will explode right there! If injecting them doesn't work, injecting or top dressing those piles of fluff out in the field will be plan B.
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If you feed this stuff and I'm guessing its from a rotary combine and about like sawdust,well I'm thinking they won't clean it up and then wherever you feed a bale on your pasture what they dont clean up Will kill your grass. Its hard to get rid of the stuff even with a harrow. Thats why I feed in the corral. One year I fed on a stubble field and it even screwed that up. To much residue, took a crazy amount of harrowing just so I could seed in the spring.
That net wrap is just bio degradable grocery bags. Dont matter which brand. I much prefer strings but for rotory combine sawdust you pretty much need net wrap but 2 and 3 wraps isn't enough. I used to use 5 wraps and thats expensive with net wrap being over $300 a roll now. If I remember right a roll will give about 100 Bale's with 5 wraps but thats what it takes to prevent a mess especially if your going to keep the bales for more than a year.
If you top dress with molasses what the leave behind on the field that should work but its a messy hateful job the way I was going about it. Plus mine wouldn't eat anything that didn't have molasses on it so by doing it on the ground after they left the bale it seemed like I was wasting molasses which is a lot more expensive than straw or used to be for me.
 
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These bales have 5 or 6 wraps but are still fragile! Sawdust is a pretty apt description! I have old, sod bound hay fields that I winter and calve on. I normally buy a semi load or two of wheat straw for bedding during storms. Yep, the places I bed requires a year or two for the grass to come back. I use twine on my own bales but it's pretty much impossible to find twine wrapped bales to buy. In this area, rank, stemmy swamp grass or CRP hay is being trucked in for about $330 USD per ton. Wheat straw is about $140 per ton. The liquid supplement will add another $80 or so per ton to the cost. We had 2500 gallons of it delivered today. That's about half of what we anticipate needing. We might try injecting a few bales this weekend and see how it works. I'm not anticipating making a dime on the ranch this year but will be satisfied if I can pay the bills and keep the dang cows alive. This ranch has been in the same family for almost 80 years with all replacements being home raised. I would hate to loose the genetics that are so adapted to this environment. "Living the dream in next year country"!
 

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