I realize I have been very absent on here. It has been a hectic, hot, busy, hot summer, and for some reason those seem to suck the extra time and energy out of a person faster than cooler summers.
Among my recent activities:
- Helping with hauling water to our house because our house well pump quit working
-Watching a litter of pigs be born
-Photographing my second wedding of the summer
-Getting bulls out of heifers
-Moving heifers from the creek of kosha weed and Russian thistle to the pasture of year-old grass and sunshine.
- Having the most expensive bull we've (err...I bought him) ever purchased be hurt, badly.
-Spending approximately half my working hours for the last two weeks on the phone with Dell, trying to get my laptop to work, and stay working. Grrr... This particular point is one key reason why the blog has been seeing less action lately.
- Finishing the editing of the first wedding of the summer, in spite of this faulty machine I own.
- Working on writing assignments
-Fighting fire
-Sweating...it was over 100 degrees here for a week straight
- Re-tinning the side of our trailer house that the wind blew the old tin off of. Heaven forbid we actually get rain and not have tin on the "new" trailer house.
- Providing moral support when we had to haul more water because a toilet in our garage and one in the trailer house ran all the previously hauled water down the sewer.
- Running errands all over the state
- Spending a weekend at the Sheridan-Wyo Rodeo
- Family Reunion
- Starting the move into the trailer house, which is currently sporting half new and half old tin.
- Checking water
- Checking (looking hopelessly for) grass
- Being very relieved when the house well pump suddenly, with no explanation, started working again. Laughing as my dad called the company he bought it from and chewed on them again, telling them he either wanted it broke or working, why was it not doing one or the other (he is under a lot of stress)
- Preparing to wean and ship and pull more bulls, and getting ready to do the daily fall ranchwork mostly alone as my dad and brother are gearing up to start hauling a massive amount of hay.
I have lots of pictures, and several posts involving those photos, planned for on here. Hopefully I will have a chance to catch up on at least some of my summer activities in the near future! Hope everyone else is having a nice, wet summer : )
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2012
Monday, August 1, 2011
Dozer Work
You may have noticed a lack of cattle related posts in recent weeks. That's because our cattle are busy eating, drinking, growing (the calves) and dealing with the summer heat. We aren't working, moving, hauling or doing a whole lot of anything else with them in the summer months. During this time of year we keep ourselves busy with other tasks, which are designed to improve our ranch for our livestock.
I stopped by to briefly help with this project, and grab some pictures. Here is my brother sawing a piece of pipe to length. He uses different angled, end, valve and other pieces to maneuver the straight pieces of pipe the direction he needs it to go.
Each piece is cleaned, then glued together. If you don't clean each piece well, the glue may not adhere to the surface, and it will leak. When you're talking about a pipeline that's five feet underground, you don't want to dig it up and redo it any more than is absolutely necessary. Pictured above is the jar of pipe cleaner he used.
He thoroughly cleans each piece he is gluing together with the solution.
See the difference cleaning it makes?
Then he cleans the cap he glued to the top of each pipe, which were plumbed into the storage tank later. He temporarily glued these caps on so they could pressure up the line and make sure nothing was leaking before they filled the hole you see in the first picture. Like I said, it's hard to fix a leak that's five feet underground.
Here's the glue he used.
First you have to get the lid off - it's a can of glue, it seals up, and you don't want to run the risk of it leaking all over, so the lid is securely replaced after each use. You apply the glue to both pieces immediately after cleaning - you don't want dust to get it dirty again.
You need to be fast and efficient at this point, so your glue doesn't set up before you shove the pieces together. You also don't want any dust or other matter to get on the glue and potentally prevent it from adhering.
He securely holds each piece in place for several seconds.
Then cleans off the excess glue.
Here it is, all ready to be pressured up and tested.
Kyle gathers up the dozer, and heads to the next job, which was a washed out side hill where another pipeline is located. Without the five feet of dirt over it, these lines would freeze in the winter months, so it was important to get it covered back up this summer.
One of these tasks is referred to at our place as, "dozer work." This includes such tasks as putting in new water tanks, repairing old water tanks, moving dirt to prevent washouts, blading trails for new fencelines, and repairing pipelines.
We have around 15 miles of underground PVC pipe on our ranch. This pipe is used to transport water to all our water tanks (we have around 30), from water wells. We strategically place our tanks in areas where they will be add the most benefit to our cattle and grass. A general rule with livestock is you should never make a cow walk more than one mile to water. We try to follow this idea, and also put water tanks in additional areas to encourage cattle to graze there. Cattle tend to graze hardest in areas nearest a water source, and in our semi-arid part of the world, we can control our grazing by turning water tanks on and off, and consequently moving cattle from area of a pasture to the next. Wildlife also utilize these tanks.
Water is a huge deal in Eastern Wyoming, and we don't like to haul it, and run the risk of running out on a hot day, so we installed all the pipe to ensure a continual water source for our livestock, no matter how hot and dry, or cold, it gets.
Here is one such dozer project. My dad and brother put a 1,500 gallon (which is small in ranch/livestock terms) above-ground water storage tank in this location. They did this because on down this line is a tank, and the well pumps water into it at a rate of five gallons a minute. This isn't enough water to keep up with a bunch of thirsty cows or calves.
The storage tank will fix this issue.
It will work like this: when the water tank down the line is full, water will flow on by and fill the storage tank. Then, when all the livestock come and drink a large volume of water out of the tank in a short period of time, water from the storage tank will gravity-flow back down the line at a rate of 30 gallons a minute, keeping the tank full, and ensuring every thirsty creature gets a drink. When everything is done drinking, and the tank is full again, the well will pump more water up the line and re-fill the storage tank.
I stopped by to briefly help with this project, and grab some pictures. Here is my brother sawing a piece of pipe to length. He uses different angled, end, valve and other pieces to maneuver the straight pieces of pipe the direction he needs it to go.Each piece is cleaned, then glued together. If you don't clean each piece well, the glue may not adhere to the surface, and it will leak. When you're talking about a pipeline that's five feet underground, you don't want to dig it up and redo it any more than is absolutely necessary. Pictured above is the jar of pipe cleaner he used.
He thoroughly cleans each piece he is gluing together with the solution.
See the difference cleaning it makes?
Then he cleans the cap he glued to the top of each pipe, which were plumbed into the storage tank later. He temporarily glued these caps on so they could pressure up the line and make sure nothing was leaking before they filled the hole you see in the first picture. Like I said, it's hard to fix a leak that's five feet underground.
Here's the glue he used.
First you have to get the lid off - it's a can of glue, it seals up, and you don't want to run the risk of it leaking all over, so the lid is securely replaced after each use. You apply the glue to both pieces immediately after cleaning - you don't want dust to get it dirty again.
You need to be fast and efficient at this point, so your glue doesn't set up before you shove the pieces together. You also don't want any dust or other matter to get on the glue and potentally prevent it from adhering.
He securely holds each piece in place for several seconds. 
Then cleans off the excess glue.
Here it is, all ready to be pressured up and tested.
Kyle gathers up the dozer, and heads to the next job, which was a washed out side hill where another pipeline is located. Without the five feet of dirt over it, these lines would freeze in the winter months, so it was important to get it covered back up this summer.Since I took these pictures, they pressure tested the line for a couple days, installed the tank and filled the hole back up.
Now all our livestock, and any resident wildlife, will have a sufficient water at any time at the tank located down the line from this location.
Ranchers all over the west are busy this summer, on similar projects that will benefit their livestock year-round.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Rising water
While home last weekend I got a little firsthand exposure to the odd weather eastern Wyoming is experiencing this winter. While flooding occurs somewhat regularly where I'm from in the summer, our winters are usually fairly dry. Flooding in mid-February isn't common.
But, that doesn't mean it can't happen. This is a road on our ranch. I came around the corner you can see and was met by this. Fortunately the road still had a bottom in it (I didn't sink very deep), and we made it through with our feed pickup without issue. However, the area I'm from is known for its mud, as it's a unique combination of clay, sand and gumbo that is a real mess to deal with.
There is a culvert under all that mess somewhere. It's either had the ends smashed in, or there was simply too much water for it.
This is happening over a wide area of the eastern side of the state and is causing some issues.
We've lost one calf that we know of due to the cow slipping on ice. While the water is running in these photos, it still freezes most nights, and causes an accumulation of ice all over pastures.
Like here. This is just one of our pastures, and you can see the potential for a very slick situation if the temperature drops. Ice buildup poses a serious risk to pregnant cows. It can also result in more backward calves, and has us a little concerned about our heifers that will start calving in a couple weeks.
It's also just a mess to have to drive around in while feeding, checking water and hauling hay, and has set schedules back for a lot of people.
This is Dogie Creek, and is usually dry year-round except when it floods. It's certainly usually dry this time of year.
But, regardless of all the mud, water and ice, it's hard for people to say anything negative about moisture where I'm from, which is a semi-arid region. We're all cautiously optimistic these unusually wet conditions will last through the spring and summer months, and result in another year of abundant grass growth.
However, no one would complain too much if it dried up a little from now through the month of March, when most people are calving in the area. As I've mentioned before, weather has a huge impact on day to day ranching activities, and is watched and discussed almost constantly.
Another county road where water has caused parts of the road to wash out. I only drove it in the dark while home, so I didn't get any photos for you. But, it's very rough and very muddy in spots.
This is just south of Lance Creek, and is usually a trickle this time of year.
As you can see, it's flowing right along.
This is even further south of Lance Creek, and again is usually dry this time of year.
These conditions have made feeding more challenging, and increased tension in some areas. Flowing water in February, and the resulting ice when it freezes, doesn't have many fans in eastern Wyoming.
But, there is always a bright side, and another positive aspect of this moisture is that there isn't a frost this year, which means the ground is open and can soak up the water, which is a good sign for early spring grass growth.
But, that doesn't mean it can't happen. This is a road on our ranch. I came around the corner you can see and was met by this. Fortunately the road still had a bottom in it (I didn't sink very deep), and we made it through with our feed pickup without issue. However, the area I'm from is known for its mud, as it's a unique combination of clay, sand and gumbo that is a real mess to deal with.There is a culvert under all that mess somewhere. It's either had the ends smashed in, or there was simply too much water for it.
This is happening over a wide area of the eastern side of the state and is causing some issues.We've lost one calf that we know of due to the cow slipping on ice. While the water is running in these photos, it still freezes most nights, and causes an accumulation of ice all over pastures.
Like here. This is just one of our pastures, and you can see the potential for a very slick situation if the temperature drops. Ice buildup poses a serious risk to pregnant cows. It can also result in more backward calves, and has us a little concerned about our heifers that will start calving in a couple weeks.It's also just a mess to have to drive around in while feeding, checking water and hauling hay, and has set schedules back for a lot of people.
This is Dogie Creek, and is usually dry year-round except when it floods. It's certainly usually dry this time of year.But, regardless of all the mud, water and ice, it's hard for people to say anything negative about moisture where I'm from, which is a semi-arid region. We're all cautiously optimistic these unusually wet conditions will last through the spring and summer months, and result in another year of abundant grass growth.
However, no one would complain too much if it dried up a little from now through the month of March, when most people are calving in the area. As I've mentioned before, weather has a huge impact on day to day ranching activities, and is watched and discussed almost constantly.
Another county road where water has caused parts of the road to wash out. I only drove it in the dark while home, so I didn't get any photos for you. But, it's very rough and very muddy in spots.
This is just south of Lance Creek, and is usually a trickle this time of year.
As you can see, it's flowing right along.
This is even further south of Lance Creek, and again is usually dry this time of year.These conditions have made feeding more challenging, and increased tension in some areas. Flowing water in February, and the resulting ice when it freezes, doesn't have many fans in eastern Wyoming.
But, there is always a bright side, and another positive aspect of this moisture is that there isn't a frost this year, which means the ground is open and can soak up the water, which is a good sign for early spring grass growth.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Working through it
It's been a challenging couple of weeks for my family.
First their house water broke. Which, to understand this you need to know that we have hauled all of the water we used for over a year, on two separate occasions. We also put in the pipeline that supplies water to our house. Water issues, especially those involving our house, cause anxiety levels to spike on our operation. You don't truly appreciate water until you've hauled every drop you use.
Then, yesterday, our calves water broke. Now, while not having water for our personal consumption causes anxiety, our cattle not having water is much, much worse. My mom was home alone, and she handled it well and got it fixed, but it stressed her out.
There has also been an over-abundance of mud this winter, with several inches to over a foot present on the back roads I live on in the past few weeks. This makes feeding take twice as much time some days, and made it impossible to haul water.
Some mornings this mud will be covered in a thin layer of extremely slick ice, which has resulted in the semi's and hay trailers my dad and brother drive sliding off the road and/or getting stuck on more than one occasion. It's also set their schedule way back, and they're behind by a couple weeks now.
This means they won't be caught up until well into calving season. While we calve our cows out on the range, we do bring our heifers in, and watch them. My mother's single request during calving season is to not be left alone with the heifers. While we have very few problems, she doesn't want to be solely responsible if there is an issue. We work very hard to accommodate this - she doesn't make many special requests, and it's looking like this year that will require a little strategic planning.
My mom called last night to vent a little. The first thing she said was, "I'm not complaining, I just had a bad day. I know those are what make you appreciate the good days so much."
Complaining won't get you far where I'm from, and isn't tolerated, and she knows that. But we all also understand the frustrations that come with weather-related setbacks, the stress that comes with having water problems, the feeling you have after a day of everything you touch breaking, and knowing you won't be caught up for weeks.
We're gearing up as a family to deal with these scheduling setbacks, potentially bad weather extending into calving season, and other ranch-related issues.
My role in all of this is to sit in Casper all week, doing my job and worrying (as useless as that is) about not being able to help. I'll probably be home every weekend for the next couple months, minus one in mid-March when I dedicated my time to building ads for the newspaper, which won't happen again. I'll also likely miss a couple Fridays or Mondays to help out as much as possible.
One benefit to me being town all week and home most weekends is I can bring home extra eartags, medicine, salt or anything else needed without them having to make a special trip to town, the closest being an hour (one way) from the ranch.
There are stories like this one happening on farms and ranches all over the country. The weather this winter is making things more difficult than normal in many areas of the country. Things break, and must be fixed. Regardless of any setbacks, we are still working to ensure our animals are taken care of first, and we are doing it together as a family. This is another commonality in agriculture - resilient families working together to care and provide for their animals regardless of things going smoothly, or not.
I called my parents this morning to work out some scheduling things, and they were laughing and my dad was joking (kind of) that since my mom wanted to get away for the day he was going to send her to Chadron to get a 4-wheeler fixed. It's another day and they're ready to go again.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sub-zero H20
The other half of feeding livestock in the winter where I'm from is making sure they have access to water. This often involves chopping ice. There are certainly places that get much colder than eastern Wyoming, but we still do our share of this chore during the winter months.
This isn't an uncommon site this time of year. These tire tanks are popular where I'm from, and are a great form of recycling as they are made from worn out tires that can't be used on tractors and machinery anymore. The center cement ring is where the float is, and it rarely freezes in this tank. There's enough additional insulation for it to keep above freezing for most of the winter.
Sometimes the ice isn't very thick, especially on this tank because all our calves drink out of it. Having more livestock drinking out of a tank results in more water flowing into it, and it doesn't freeze as fast as a result of that. We also have overflows on a lot of our tanks, and will adjust the floats so they continually overflow just a little, which also results in more water flowing through the system, and less freezing.
But other tanks don't have as many head drinking out of them, or don't have an overflow, or both. This tank doesn't have a covered cement center ring, and you have to chop around the float most days.
After making sure the float is free, we chop a hole for the cattle to drink out of.
Then grab out shovel and scoop out the chunks of ice. We throw them away from the tank so ice doesn't build up around it and cause our cattle to slip and hurt themselves.
We check every tank we have livestock drinking out every day, and if it's frozen we go through this process to make sure all our livestock get a drink. It's just another aspect of ranching in the winter.
This isn't an uncommon site this time of year. These tire tanks are popular where I'm from, and are a great form of recycling as they are made from worn out tires that can't be used on tractors and machinery anymore. The center cement ring is where the float is, and it rarely freezes in this tank. There's enough additional insulation for it to keep above freezing for most of the winter.
Sometimes the ice isn't very thick, especially on this tank because all our calves drink out of it. Having more livestock drinking out of a tank results in more water flowing into it, and it doesn't freeze as fast as a result of that. We also have overflows on a lot of our tanks, and will adjust the floats so they continually overflow just a little, which also results in more water flowing through the system, and less freezing.
But other tanks don't have as many head drinking out of them, or don't have an overflow, or both. This tank doesn't have a covered cement center ring, and you have to chop around the float most days.
After making sure the float is free, we chop a hole for the cattle to drink out of.
Then grab out shovel and scoop out the chunks of ice. We throw them away from the tank so ice doesn't build up around it and cause our cattle to slip and hurt themselves. We check every tank we have livestock drinking out every day, and if it's frozen we go through this process to make sure all our livestock get a drink. It's just another aspect of ranching in the winter.
Friday, July 9, 2010
July 4-5, 2010
My brother and sister came to see me for the fourth and fifth of July. Usually our entire family goes on a weekend fishing trip to the Bighorns just before the the Fourth for a mini vacation. But this year my parents are gallivanting across Vienna, Austria and Germany. So Kyle, Holly and I gallivanted around Alcova and Casper.
First stop was Pathfinder reservoir. It's running over for the first time since the 1980s. I don't know all the specifics, but it was a lot of water and my brother loves seeing stuff like that so off we went. I will hopefully have a post dedicated to the photos I took on the two trips I've made to see it.
A very nice guy took a picture of the three of us so there is an actual photo of me from the day!
Usually off to the left of the photo are rocks you can walk on and there is nothing running under this "closed" walkway. We checked out the dam from all angles, literally. We drove to the other side, walked across the bridge visible in the first photo and hiked all over.
Then we had a picnic in my backyard for Holly. After traipsing all over the mountains she was worn out and promptly fell asleep on the couch following lunch. Kyle and I proceeded to rip all the problematic lilacs out of my front yard. Someone had planted them all across my little front step and they were one of my least favorite things about the house. Now they are gone and hopefully another post will show before, another during, and the pretty after flowers.
Some were a little tough and we pulled them instead of using the hydrobed. There were some staring neighbors, but this method was much easier than digging them out by hand or using a chainsaw.
Then we woke Holly up and took her swimming just up the street from my house. Kyle and I aren't much for swimming, but the pool was actually warm and we made it. Holly absolutely loves swimming and would have happily spent the entire afternoon, evening and night in the pool.
I didn't get a photo of the big, loopy slides. Kyle and Holly each went down one at the same time and I was at the bottom to catch Holly. She started out sitting up, facing forward and shot out the bottom on her stomach and backwards. I plucked her out of the 3-foot deep water and between bouts of laughter asked what happened.
As she wiped water from her face tartly replied "I drowned, Heather!"
I almost drowned her again I was laughing so hard.
First stop was Pathfinder reservoir. It's running over for the first time since the 1980s. I don't know all the specifics, but it was a lot of water and my brother loves seeing stuff like that so off we went. I will hopefully have a post dedicated to the photos I took on the two trips I've made to see it. 
A very nice guy took a picture of the three of us so there is an actual photo of me from the day!
Usually off to the left of the photo are rocks you can walk on and there is nothing running under this "closed" walkway. We checked out the dam from all angles, literally. We drove to the other side, walked across the bridge visible in the first photo and hiked all over.
Then we had a picnic in my backyard for Holly. After traipsing all over the mountains she was worn out and promptly fell asleep on the couch following lunch. Kyle and I proceeded to rip all the problematic lilacs out of my front yard. Someone had planted them all across my little front step and they were one of my least favorite things about the house. Now they are gone and hopefully another post will show before, another during, and the pretty after flowers.
Some were a little tough and we pulled them instead of using the hydrobed. There were some staring neighbors, but this method was much easier than digging them out by hand or using a chainsaw.
Then we woke Holly up and took her swimming just up the street from my house. Kyle and I aren't much for swimming, but the pool was actually warm and we made it. Holly absolutely loves swimming and would have happily spent the entire afternoon, evening and night in the pool.
I didn't get a photo of the big, loopy slides. Kyle and Holly each went down one at the same time and I was at the bottom to catch Holly. She started out sitting up, facing forward and shot out the bottom on her stomach and backwards. I plucked her out of the 3-foot deep water and between bouts of laughter asked what happened. As she wiped water from her face tartly replied "I drowned, Heather!"
I almost drowned her again I was laughing so hard.
Monday, June 14, 2010
A beautiful place
Just a little photo for your enjoyment. This is one of my favorite places in the world-for obvious reasons.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Ranchers and the weather
I am at my parents house tonight. This photo was taken on my way home this evening. Normally there isn't any water in this location.Weather is a big deal to everyone, but I truly believe there is no one that discusses it to the degree farmers and ranchers do. There are meteorologist who don't think about the weather to the extent agriculturalists do.
Let me put it to you this way- My parents know every person on the weather channel by their first name, and they each have their favorites.
This level of interest is because it impacts every action taken on a farm or ranch. For instance, this spring branding and shipping cattle and plowing fields and planting crops are all being delayed in this part of the country because of amount of rain we've had. When there's rain and mud roads become impassable and working cattle becomes difficult with muddy corrals and wet livestock. More work is created when fences are washed out or fields need to be re-worked.
While the weather may cause most peoples morning drive to take longer or make one wish they had remembered their umbrella, it can bring everything to a grinding halt on a farm and ranch. Then, when it stops everything has to be caught up.
So, when there's nothing to but watch it rain, farmers and ranchers talk about the rain. They talk about the weather regardless of the conditions.
No one dares to curse the rain, because we all know it will stop. The recent drought in this part of the country makes people extra cautious to say anything negative about moisture in almost any form. We know hundred plus degree days are looming in coming months and that we should enjoy these much needed inches of moisture.
But at the same time getting cattle worked and crops in the ground is necessary to our livelihood and has far-reaching consequences. Everything you eat, most of your clothes and countless other items you use, need and enjoy daily come from an agriculture beginning. For example, if cotton isn't planted that has a huge impact on the clothing industry. Yes, there is global trading, but U.S. agriculture is top of the line in almost all products, both in quality and level of production.
So we fuss and stew and discuss the weather almost constantly. But it's still raining, so for now everyone will continue to talk and thank God for the moisture.
If it stops we will work cattle tomorrow-and I will be taking my little camera for the first time, so we'll see how that turns out.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
40 ag-related Earth Day practices
Happy Earth Day! It's the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this year and I've read some wonderful stuff earth and agriculture today. One that stood out was 40 things ag does that are great for the earth. Thought I would make own attempt from a beef producers standpoint. So here are 40 things ranchers where I'm from do that are beneficial to the earth every day!
1. Utilize grass, which is indigestible to humans, and feed it to livestock to create a safe, wholesome product that helps feed the world. 85% of U.S. land is unsuitable for crop production, and ranchers use this land to raise livestock and help feed the world.
There, that should cover it :)
Just kidding, I can think of more
2. Recycle. Everything from old rubber tires being used for tanks to saving absolutely everything and finding another use for it. Ranchers have been doing that for decades. You just try to throw away a plastic sac, container, old pair of jeans etc.. that my grandmother has laid her eyes on.
3. Preserve open space. This is very important to the survival of countless plant and animal species.
4. Protect and manage water resources. Ranchers implement progressive, thoughtful water management on their operations that not only benefits their livestock but many plant and wildlife species too.
5. Pick up after themselves. Man I don't like rolling old, rusty barbwire, but keeping the land clean is important.
6. Utilize pesticides and herbicides in a safe, practical manner to control plant and animal species that have a negative impact on the land, livestock, wildlife and people they come into contact with.
7. Poison prairie dogs. I hate prairie dogs with a passion. They compact soil, spread disease, prevent grass from growing and just destroy range land in general. Their holes provide homes for snakes and spiders and are a potential hazard to livestock who can break a leg in them. I really hate prairie dogs.
8. Manage for other problem rodents and predators to protect livestock and vulnerable forms of wildlife.
9. Utilize wind power. Wind mills have been around for a long time and are still used extensively in the west to secure water.
10. Utilize solar power. A growing number of producers are utilizing solar power for a variety of purposes including water, electric fences and power.
11. Implement grazing systems that maximize efficiency. This requires less feed and encourages the growth of higher quality plants.
12. Feed by-products. One example are distillers grains, which are the leftovers after alcohol production. Feedlots and ranchers feed this grain product to cattle, it would otherwise be useless waste.
13. Feed all sorts of stuff that would otherwise be waste. Last year I met a guy whose family raised and sold watermelons commercially. Cool huh? Well, when they were done harvesting a field they would turn cattle in to eat any melons deemed unfit for sale for any variety of reasons. He said cows quickly learn to smash the melon with their head or foot to get at the good part.
14. Use eco-friendly vehicles. Did you know that making an electric car takes more energy than you will ever save by driving it? Ranchers use horses a lot, and the only gas they need comes in the form of grass and maybe a few oats.
15. Ranchers help feed the world and the entire U.S. cattle herd accounts for less than 3% of carbon emissions.
16. Taking an environmentalist stance, as can be seen over at Belle of the Blog and doing all the things that are deemed environmentally friendly by the general public, because that's what best for the land and everything on it.
17. Loving our animals, and our land. Ranchers really do. If they didn't they would find something easier to do that wasn't a 24-7 commitment.
18. Put up hay. Haying preserves grass for winter months and also prevents that grass from going to waste in some cases.
19. Buy in bulk. I recently read that buying in bulk reduces the amount of packaging included and also increases efficiency in transporting items as there is less wasted space taken up by the packaging. Go check out a ranch wife's pantry, come back when you're full. It will be stocked and you know she bought as much in bulk as she could in case there was a storm, big crew, busy month, and because she can't just run to the store. I grew up an hour from a grocery store.
20. Fix everything. Again, it's a long way to the parts store too, especially if your truck, baler, swather, or tractor is broke. Fixing things on the ranch saves fuel costs and teaches job skills to a lot of ranch kids.
21.Give to others. If something is no longer useful on one operation, it is often passed on to another outfit that has a purpose for it. We got our sheep loading alley from a sheep producer who upgraded his. Since we only use it twice a year it works for us.
22. Share. My family and two other ranchers bought a calf branding table together and rotate it between everyone. There's no point in each outfit having one because it's a piece of equipment that is only used a few days a year and it's easy to schedule around each other.
23. Borrow. Much like sharing everyone lends their equipment to each other and thus prevents everyone from owning something that is only used occasionally. Everyone uses my family's flatbed, Clydes portable unloading chute, Dixon's big stock trailer and so on.
24. Help each other. Being neighborly saves time and money. It prevents us from having to hire someone who would have to drive long distances to help. It also helps get big jobs done, such as building corrals, picking up a big mess after a flood, putting out a fire and so on.
25. Leave a small footprint. Relative to most homeowners, ranchers put improvements on a very small percentage of their land and work hard to keep the rest in grass production. Roads are few and far between and land is taken care of because the operations livelihood is staked on growing grass.
26. Manage livestock numbers. Preventing overpopulation of the land keeps it in the ideal condition. Keeping livestock numbers at a rate the land can adequately handle ensures the rancher will have grass in the future. It also reduces erosion and often prevents invasive plants from moving in.
27. Managing wildlife numbers. Hunting and other forms of wildlife management reduce the likelihood of a disease outbreak. Wildlife like to eat specific types of grasses and managing numbers ensures there is enough feed for the population, thus reducing starvation. It also limits erosion and invasive plant growth as wildlife can overgraze an area too, and often to a far greater extent than livestock since most producers can't move them from pasture to pasture.
28. Create useful products from everything. One example is wool. There are certain parts of the fleece that are useful because they are urine and manure stained or too coarse. My mom uses these parts to insulate baby trees and keep moisture on them.
29. Making the old new. Many ranchers rebuild engines and entire vehicles and continue using them long after the general public would consider them junk. My dad and brother turned an old one and half ton Ford into a front-end loader we use to feed hay, move heavy objects, load wool bales and just about anything else you can think of. The only tricky thing is there isn't a steering wheel, just hydraulic levers. They also turned the frame around so the steering is backwards and to hit first you go over (right) and down instead of over (left) and up.
30. Find a new use for something. This might tie in with the previous one. But there are instances where ranchers take something and find a completely new use for it, thus extending it's life and eliminating the need to buy something new, drive to town and pick it up, drive home, find out it doesn't fit/work/look right/?/, drive back, get another one....
31. Teach. This is a big one. Ranchers teach their children to care for and preserve the land for future generations. They welcome school groups and anyone else onto their operation to show how it really works and why. It's important to learn about something from a reliable, honest, knowledgeable source and ranchers can do that on a variety of topics including land, water, forestry, livestock, wildlife and anything else mentioned on this list.
32. Get involved. Agriculture is under constant pressure to change from people who have no comprehension of how it works. To show how things really are and why they're done the way they are ranchers are getting involved and that's important, because ranchers do save, protect and preserve more land, water and wildlife than anyone else in my opinion.
33. Produce All Natural. It's a choice and I've touched on this topic before. But some rancher somewhere produces all-natural pretty much anything you can think of. My family produces all-natural wool and we do it an environmentally friendly way. When you choose all natural consider this, it takes 2-3 times more energy to produce an all natural steer than it does to produce one utilizing modern methods. This is because he is around for a longer period of time, eats more feed and requires more care, water and everything else you can think of. It's not a wrong choice, but it's not always the most environmentally friendly choice either.
34. Car pool. Gosh I don't know how many times I have been crammed in a single cab pickup with 4-5 other people for a long drive (we're talking several hours) We also had a horse for everyone in the trailer, now that's carpooling. I was so impressed when we got our first extended cab pickup, it was amazing!
35. Eating right. Ranchers eat their own product. It doesn't get much more "locally grown" than that. Beyond that several garden and most that do take any extra produce to church or school or the post office and "share" it with everyone else in the community.
36. Never stop learning. The more you know the better you are. That goes for land management, raising crops and anything else associated with agriculture. Farmers and ranchers know what's new and what works and what doesn't and they are constantly looking for and learning new ways to do something better and more efficiently.
37. Increase efficiency. For example the U.S. had 37 million fewer head of cattle in 2008 than in 1975, but still produced the same pounds of beef. This is due to improved management as a result of increased knowledge and the constant desire to be better.
38. Flexibility. You have to be flexible to manage land and other resources in the best way possible and most ranchers work hard to continually improve their management system, thus improving their range conditions.
39. Utilize modern technology. There are certainly environmental benefits to be found through using modern technology in some instances. Farmers can improve application practices through using GPS systems in their machinery. Beef producers use Electronic ID tags to increase consumer confidence and to provide traceback and age and source information on animals.
40. Do these things every day. It's one thing to celebrate earth day on April 22, but all of these things I've listed are done on ranches across the country on a daily basis. Every day is earth day in agriculture!
1. Utilize grass, which is indigestible to humans, and feed it to livestock to create a safe, wholesome product that helps feed the world. 85% of U.S. land is unsuitable for crop production, and ranchers use this land to raise livestock and help feed the world.
There, that should cover it :)
Just kidding, I can think of more
2. Recycle. Everything from old rubber tires being used for tanks to saving absolutely everything and finding another use for it. Ranchers have been doing that for decades. You just try to throw away a plastic sac, container, old pair of jeans etc.. that my grandmother has laid her eyes on.
3. Preserve open space. This is very important to the survival of countless plant and animal species.
4. Protect and manage water resources. Ranchers implement progressive, thoughtful water management on their operations that not only benefits their livestock but many plant and wildlife species too.
5. Pick up after themselves. Man I don't like rolling old, rusty barbwire, but keeping the land clean is important.
6. Utilize pesticides and herbicides in a safe, practical manner to control plant and animal species that have a negative impact on the land, livestock, wildlife and people they come into contact with.
7. Poison prairie dogs. I hate prairie dogs with a passion. They compact soil, spread disease, prevent grass from growing and just destroy range land in general. Their holes provide homes for snakes and spiders and are a potential hazard to livestock who can break a leg in them. I really hate prairie dogs.
8. Manage for other problem rodents and predators to protect livestock and vulnerable forms of wildlife.
9. Utilize wind power. Wind mills have been around for a long time and are still used extensively in the west to secure water.
10. Utilize solar power. A growing number of producers are utilizing solar power for a variety of purposes including water, electric fences and power.
11. Implement grazing systems that maximize efficiency. This requires less feed and encourages the growth of higher quality plants.
12. Feed by-products. One example are distillers grains, which are the leftovers after alcohol production. Feedlots and ranchers feed this grain product to cattle, it would otherwise be useless waste.
13. Feed all sorts of stuff that would otherwise be waste. Last year I met a guy whose family raised and sold watermelons commercially. Cool huh? Well, when they were done harvesting a field they would turn cattle in to eat any melons deemed unfit for sale for any variety of reasons. He said cows quickly learn to smash the melon with their head or foot to get at the good part.
14. Use eco-friendly vehicles. Did you know that making an electric car takes more energy than you will ever save by driving it? Ranchers use horses a lot, and the only gas they need comes in the form of grass and maybe a few oats.
15. Ranchers help feed the world and the entire U.S. cattle herd accounts for less than 3% of carbon emissions.
16. Taking an environmentalist stance, as can be seen over at Belle of the Blog and doing all the things that are deemed environmentally friendly by the general public, because that's what best for the land and everything on it.
17. Loving our animals, and our land. Ranchers really do. If they didn't they would find something easier to do that wasn't a 24-7 commitment.
18. Put up hay. Haying preserves grass for winter months and also prevents that grass from going to waste in some cases.
19. Buy in bulk. I recently read that buying in bulk reduces the amount of packaging included and also increases efficiency in transporting items as there is less wasted space taken up by the packaging. Go check out a ranch wife's pantry, come back when you're full. It will be stocked and you know she bought as much in bulk as she could in case there was a storm, big crew, busy month, and because she can't just run to the store. I grew up an hour from a grocery store.
20. Fix everything. Again, it's a long way to the parts store too, especially if your truck, baler, swather, or tractor is broke. Fixing things on the ranch saves fuel costs and teaches job skills to a lot of ranch kids.
21.Give to others. If something is no longer useful on one operation, it is often passed on to another outfit that has a purpose for it. We got our sheep loading alley from a sheep producer who upgraded his. Since we only use it twice a year it works for us.
22. Share. My family and two other ranchers bought a calf branding table together and rotate it between everyone. There's no point in each outfit having one because it's a piece of equipment that is only used a few days a year and it's easy to schedule around each other.
23. Borrow. Much like sharing everyone lends their equipment to each other and thus prevents everyone from owning something that is only used occasionally. Everyone uses my family's flatbed, Clydes portable unloading chute, Dixon's big stock trailer and so on.
24. Help each other. Being neighborly saves time and money. It prevents us from having to hire someone who would have to drive long distances to help. It also helps get big jobs done, such as building corrals, picking up a big mess after a flood, putting out a fire and so on.
25. Leave a small footprint. Relative to most homeowners, ranchers put improvements on a very small percentage of their land and work hard to keep the rest in grass production. Roads are few and far between and land is taken care of because the operations livelihood is staked on growing grass.
26. Manage livestock numbers. Preventing overpopulation of the land keeps it in the ideal condition. Keeping livestock numbers at a rate the land can adequately handle ensures the rancher will have grass in the future. It also reduces erosion and often prevents invasive plants from moving in.
27. Managing wildlife numbers. Hunting and other forms of wildlife management reduce the likelihood of a disease outbreak. Wildlife like to eat specific types of grasses and managing numbers ensures there is enough feed for the population, thus reducing starvation. It also limits erosion and invasive plant growth as wildlife can overgraze an area too, and often to a far greater extent than livestock since most producers can't move them from pasture to pasture.
28. Create useful products from everything. One example is wool. There are certain parts of the fleece that are useful because they are urine and manure stained or too coarse. My mom uses these parts to insulate baby trees and keep moisture on them.
29. Making the old new. Many ranchers rebuild engines and entire vehicles and continue using them long after the general public would consider them junk. My dad and brother turned an old one and half ton Ford into a front-end loader we use to feed hay, move heavy objects, load wool bales and just about anything else you can think of. The only tricky thing is there isn't a steering wheel, just hydraulic levers. They also turned the frame around so the steering is backwards and to hit first you go over (right) and down instead of over (left) and up.
30. Find a new use for something. This might tie in with the previous one. But there are instances where ranchers take something and find a completely new use for it, thus extending it's life and eliminating the need to buy something new, drive to town and pick it up, drive home, find out it doesn't fit/work/look right/?/, drive back, get another one....
31. Teach. This is a big one. Ranchers teach their children to care for and preserve the land for future generations. They welcome school groups and anyone else onto their operation to show how it really works and why. It's important to learn about something from a reliable, honest, knowledgeable source and ranchers can do that on a variety of topics including land, water, forestry, livestock, wildlife and anything else mentioned on this list.
32. Get involved. Agriculture is under constant pressure to change from people who have no comprehension of how it works. To show how things really are and why they're done the way they are ranchers are getting involved and that's important, because ranchers do save, protect and preserve more land, water and wildlife than anyone else in my opinion.
33. Produce All Natural. It's a choice and I've touched on this topic before. But some rancher somewhere produces all-natural pretty much anything you can think of. My family produces all-natural wool and we do it an environmentally friendly way. When you choose all natural consider this, it takes 2-3 times more energy to produce an all natural steer than it does to produce one utilizing modern methods. This is because he is around for a longer period of time, eats more feed and requires more care, water and everything else you can think of. It's not a wrong choice, but it's not always the most environmentally friendly choice either.
34. Car pool. Gosh I don't know how many times I have been crammed in a single cab pickup with 4-5 other people for a long drive (we're talking several hours) We also had a horse for everyone in the trailer, now that's carpooling. I was so impressed when we got our first extended cab pickup, it was amazing!
35. Eating right. Ranchers eat their own product. It doesn't get much more "locally grown" than that. Beyond that several garden and most that do take any extra produce to church or school or the post office and "share" it with everyone else in the community.
36. Never stop learning. The more you know the better you are. That goes for land management, raising crops and anything else associated with agriculture. Farmers and ranchers know what's new and what works and what doesn't and they are constantly looking for and learning new ways to do something better and more efficiently.
37. Increase efficiency. For example the U.S. had 37 million fewer head of cattle in 2008 than in 1975, but still produced the same pounds of beef. This is due to improved management as a result of increased knowledge and the constant desire to be better.
38. Flexibility. You have to be flexible to manage land and other resources in the best way possible and most ranchers work hard to continually improve their management system, thus improving their range conditions.
39. Utilize modern technology. There are certainly environmental benefits to be found through using modern technology in some instances. Farmers can improve application practices through using GPS systems in their machinery. Beef producers use Electronic ID tags to increase consumer confidence and to provide traceback and age and source information on animals.
40. Do these things every day. It's one thing to celebrate earth day on April 22, but all of these things I've listed are done on ranches across the country on a daily basis. Every day is earth day in agriculture!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)