Saturday, January 6, 2010

[Soapweed]

Knife that Sparky made for his brother's 21st birthday

The other side of the Kosmo Kid's new knife. It is made from a file and has been through all the hardening processes.
It should last a long time if it doesn't get lost. :wink:

Sparky

His belt grinder is completely finished now.

With buffing wheel on the side

Fall calvers out roughing it in the hills

They have been here for just a month. They were young cows that came up open last fall. Bulls were turned with them from November 1st
until January 1st. We fed them hay and cake up until the first week of January, and since then they have been in the hills.
They have left-over summer grass, water, salt, mineral, and all the soapweeds they could possibly desire.

Checking me out

Some are starting to eat soapweeds.

On the skyline

Frost in front of faces

Not too fat and not too skinny

Standing black to black

Eating soapweeds

Green veggies are supposed to be good for you.

Yuccaing it up while sharing soapweeds.

They evidently aren't too bad to the taste.

There is plenty of quantity to be had.

A bit of Hereford heritage behind

It must be good.

Rustlers of the range

 

[Northern Rancher]

Looks like snow would bridge on the Soapweed so they can knock it off pretty easily. A tree blew on the fence yesterday and mine took off on a graze-left their hay. Those fall calvers look in good rig.

 

[Soapweed]

Looks like snow would bridge on the Soapweed so they can knock it off pretty easily. A tree blew on the fence yesterday and mine took off on a graze-left their hay. Those fall calvers look in good rig.

Cows won't usually eat soapweeds, so I am kind of proud of these girls for figuring it out. There is plenty of grass in the pasture, so they really aren't being starved into eating the yucca plants.

 

[Northern Rancher]

I was too busy looking at the grazing to mention the good job on that knife-I think by the design Sparky has maybe field dressed one or two-looks pretty practical to me.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

You could always paint the handle orange...like the hay cutter :shock:

I'm kiddin. Nice lookin knife!

I thought the only part they ate was the white pods before they open up in the spring/summer.

 

[salt grass flats]

I HAVE HEARD ABOUT TWO SANDHILLS RANCHERS i KNOW THAT SENT SAMPLE OF THE SOAPWEED IN AND IT TESTED IN THE HIGH 20"S FOR PROTEIN. NOT BAD HUH?

 

[Soapweed]

I HAVE HEARD ABOUT TWO SANDHILLS RANCHERS i KNOW THAT SENT SAMPLE OF THE SOAPWEED IN AND IT TESTED IN THE HIGH 20"S FOR PROTEIN. NOT BAD HUH?

There is some pretty good grass in this pasture. I am thinking that there has to be some grass for roughage and energy, and then the cows will possibly eat the soapweeds. I've seen cattle in pastures where there is practically no grass and lots of soapweeds, and even though the cattle look a little tough, they still won't eat the soapweeds. Herefords are just naturally better at eating yucca, and maybe it takes a bit of Hereford blood in a cow to figure the deal out. If the others will observe, there is a chance they can figure it out, too. :wink:

 

[DustDevil]

I was asking the owner of the ranch where I hunt what was the deal with some long-handled pruning hooks he has hanging under the bunkhouse porch. He said back in the long drouth in the 50's, his Dad made them so he could cut mistletoe down out of the mesquite trees for the cows to eat. He said one cow developed such a liking for it that she'd stand on her hind legs like a goat and eat the ones she could reach.

 

[DustDevil]

PS, pretty cool antler handled knife by Sparky.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

The covering of snow probably softened the soapweed some. I know our cows do better winter grazing with a light covering of snow to soften the grass.

Sharp looking knife. I will have to show it to my SIL. He built one for him self and I made the sheath, Next one is MINE. I will try to get a picture posted soon. He doesn't have quite the shop and tools that Sparky has but did a nice job on his first attempt.

 

[Blkbuckaroo]

Nice knife,like the shop also.

 

[efb]

Seeing Soaps cows eat soapweeds reminds me of the two fellas met for their morning coffee, one says, well I sold my hunting dogs this week just couldn't afford to feed them anymore. His friend says, well you should go down to the grocery store and get all those day old vegtables they give away like I do. He says, well, my dogs wouldn't eat day old vegatables, friend says, mine wouldn't either first 7 days.

 

[gcreekrch]

Seeing Soaps cows eat soapweeds reminds me of the two fellas met for their morning coffee, one says, well I sold my hunting dogs this week just couldn't afford to feed them anymore. His friend says, well you should go down to the grocery store and get all those day old vegtables they give away like I do. He says, well, my dogs wouldn't eat day old vegatables, friend says, mine wouldn't either first 7 days.

Or,

The fella that had a horse and no hay. So he traded the horse for three tons of hay. The nice man he traded with was then kind enough to loan the horse back until the hay was gone. :wink:

 

[Soapweed]

Seeing Soaps cows eat soapweeds reminds me of the two fellas met for their morning coffee, one says, well I sold my hunting dogs this week just couldn't afford to feed them anymore. His friend says, well you should go down to the grocery store and get all those day old vegtables they give away like I do. He says, well, my dogs wouldn't eat day old vegatables, friend says, mine wouldn't either first 7 days.

Or,

The fella that had a horse and no hay. So he traded the horse for three tons of hay. The nice man he traded with was then kind enough to loan the horse back until the hay was gone. :wink:

Sounds about like the way I do stuff. :roll: Once I traded four work horses (valued at $1000 each) for a brand new Little Dickens horse drawn bale feeder priced at $4000. Since I no longer had a team to pull the bale feeder with, I borrowed my neighbor's big pair of mules when I needed them, and let him feed them the rest of the time. :wink: