Pictures from the hay stack

[Triple_S]

Had a rough start to the 2011 calving season so I decided to build a calving pen. I bought a few cows from a neighbor that started calving mid January and coyotes got 2 out of the first 3. We are really eaten up with the dang things this year. Called the wildlife department and they gave me a depredation permit. He said coyotes in the area were mostly scavengers but I probably had 1 or 2 that had figured out they could kill calves. If they get through the first night they usually are fine. Anyways, my new calving pen is 6 strands of barbed wire with a hot wire between the bottom 3 barbed wires including a hot wire about 6 inches from the ground.

The heavys in the new pen. I can see the whole pen on top of the hay in the barn.

Decent pair of binoculars and you don't even have to leave the barn.

Septic tank works pretty good for watering cattle

Working corral. I just replaced my preifert chute with the powder river a few months ago. I needed the preifert to be moblile since we have a few different farms so it stays on its little trailer now. So far I like the powder river pretty good. It has what I would call the old style head gate that swings and then a second headgate that stretches their neck out. My cows don't know to pull back when they are caught so you can lock the second headgate though. By the time you get them stretched out right you could have been done already.

Good spot for some coyote calling too. Not that I've ever had any luck at it. Only coyotes I've ever shot were out of the tractor.

 

[leanin' H]

Hope you thump a bunch of coyotes. That would sure be sickening to lose calves to a stinkin' yote. Looks like a nice set up. Hope it works well for ya.

 

[Hayguy]

what a nice looking handling facility, and no snow!. next to gophers, coyote's are my second favorite target,good luck poking a few. and did i mention no snow, wow

 

[Justin]

very nice lookin set-up. neat and clean, i like it. you need to get some sh!t spattered on that chute though :wink:

 

[per]

Funny, I was expecting to see you driving over a 3 tier stack on a hard drift. It was a pleasant surprise to see your view was different than my nightmare.

 

[Justin]

Funny, I was expecting to see you driving over a 3 tier stack on a hard drift. It was a pleasant surprise to see your view was different than my nightmare.

:lol: :lol: i was too.

 

[nd]

VERY NICE setup!!

 

[sic 'em reds]

Looks like a great set-up you have there. Your hunting spot is perfect being under cover and out of site!!

 

[floyd]

Nice working corral. Is it open enough so the roof doesn't sweat?

 

[cure]

Nice looking set of corrals. Don't think your alone on the coyote problem had my first calf born yesertday when I went on to feed last night there were five of them on it poor little guy didn't even stand a chance. . I guess me and mr ruger are going to become best friends again

 

[Triple_S]

We don't get alot of snow around here. This year has actually had a good bit of snow for us. We've had 2 storms, one left 2" and the other left 5-6". It never sticks around for long and leaves a muddy mess. We did get a dusting of snow this morning but it was gone by 10am.

Just to be honest, this is the most photogenic part of my operation. I have beat up corral panels, broken boards, hay feeders that look like footballs, and rutted, muddy lots just like anybody else. But thanks for the nice comments.

There's a slim chance I'll get a chance to shoot the coyotes that are a problem. All I can get to come up calling is foxes. I ordered some traps from up in MN that should be here next week. Got a good friend that's had a lot of luck trapping them so we're going to set some traps around the place. Trapping season is over the end of Feb. but with my permit I can keep them out as long as I let anything else I catch go. (Haven't exactly figured out how to do that safely yet. This will be a first for me)

 

[George]

I'm surprised the coyotes would come with the hot wire 6" off the ground I have been quite pleased with the control I get! How powerful is the charger? The one I have puts out 12.5 joules and let me tell you that hurts!

Sure looks like a great place to calve.

 

[bhudson]

What part of North Carolina do you live? I live 40 east of Charlotte and also have a lot of Coyotes, but have not have any problems with them yet.(knock on wood)

 

[Triple_S]

George I haven't had any signs of coyotes inside the electric part. On open pasture where there is only barbed wire is where I was loosing calves. That's the reason I built the new pen.

Bhudson we aren't far apart at all if you mean 40 miles east of Charlotte. That's about what I'd call us without look at the map.

 

[bhudson]

Our Farm is outside of Albemarle NC. Is this the first year Coyote have gave you problems?

 

[Big Swede]

I don't know how to post a link but my cousin is in the process of making a DVD of predator hunting and if you go to oneillops on youtube and click on predator hunting suppressed you'll get some idea of what coyote hunting is South Dakota is like. Good luck and shoot to kill.

 

[Triple_S]

We lost 4 newborns last year. Two of them I found with the guts eaten out (typical coyote kill from what I hear), one went completely missing (not going to guarantee it was a coyotes fault), and one I had to put down. I drove up and saw 2 coyotes run out of the pasture. Went down to the cow and she had trampled the calf trying to keep them away. Its hips were completely loose so I had no choice.

 

[George]

Glad to hear the hot wire is keeping the coyotes at bay. I calve in a 16 acre hillside that can be seen from the barn except for about 2 acres around a pond for water.

I had problems with both coyotes and neighbor's dogs when it was just fenced with barb wire but took the fences out and smoothed everything with a dozer to make it easy to maintain and now have 2 strands of Hi tensil one about mid thigh and one about 8" and my dogs wait at the gate to be let in or out and no more problems with the neighbor dogs or coyotes.

Where I have pastures with woven wire that I can't bear to remove I put one strand of hi tensil about mid thigh which keeps the cattle off and keeps other animals from climbing and I can drop a short wire down if I find a place where pest are getting under.

Several years ago one of my neighbors tried to sue me as I had " ruined a $30,000.00 coon dog" as the dog would no longer climb fences. You should see what happens when a dog tries to climb a woven wire fence and has several feet well grounded on the woven wire and hits the hot wire! This is from someone that stays on unemployment and lives in a shack. The hearing lasted about 2 hours and the Judge ruled that my fences were legal and he should hunt where he had permission!

One of my son's friends has shot 2 dogs so far this year - - - they get out and run the cattle and horses and then the town people just cry how terrible we are but I have not had to do that since I went to the hot wires!

 

[bhudson]

What county in NC is your ranch?[/b]