After the storm

Perhaps you watch the weather and heard about the west getting pounded with snow this week? We were right in the path of the storm, and couldn't have been happier about the prospective moisture! However, it did come in blizzard form, which wasn't anyone's first choice, but dry as it has been around here no one was complaining.
When we have a blizzard, we try to get our cattle fed up ahead of time, then we leave them alone during the storm. Our rough, deep draws (small canyons) provide awesome protection, and our cows are used to taking care of themselves. If we were to try to feed in the middle of a blizzard, it would cause the cows to leave their protection, and result in more problems and calf deaths than if we just leave them alone. The cows will hole up somewhere out of the elements, and keep their calves warm and cared for too.
Everyone was fed well on Monday, then left alone as several inches of snow and some serious winds blew through our part of Wyoming Monday afternoon through Tuesday night. Today our top priority was getting our cows fed, which took extra time and equipment compared to a normal feed day. Here's how it went:

First ones out on the county road this morning, which was hard to see at times.

This is always a problem spot. While my mom, sister and I were in the lead until here, we had to stop and wait for backup.

Here he comes, working his way through.

Getting closer. Aside from us, one other family will be grateful for this road being cleared so they can feed their livestock too.

Making an extra pass to help those of us in pickups get through.

I was the cake pickup driver.

My brother and his girlfriend Sam were in the hay pickup. Everyone came to help feed this morning so they could see the cattle, help, and find out how much snow we really got. This is the most moisture we've had in well over a year, and the first blizzard in just as long. We were all excited about the moisture and concerned about our animals.

We got plenty of snow blown into some places, and I got stuck.

and pushed out

 

 

We eventually made it the roughly 6 miles from our house to where we were feeding - a carefully selected, south facing bowl out of the wind and right next to one of our rough draws. This was also where the cattle were fed prior to the storm, after taking into account which direction the wind was expected to blow out of, and which way the cattle would drift as a result. We always make sure we feed in a location that causes the cattle to drift into a draw when a blizzard or cold weather hits.

 

 

 There was more getting stuck, With our sagebrush and rolling plains, sometimes it's very difficult to tell where the snow is deep.

 Dad packed a path in the snow prior to feeding.

 The cows came from various directions,

 However, the majority trickled in from this draw, called Cedar Draw, which was where we hoped they would end up. While you can't see it in my photo, this draw includes shear cliff walls several stories high in places, thick brush and cedar trees, sandstone overhangs, some that are almost caves, and many twists and turns, all of which are about perfect for a cow to weather a storm in. You can only get a horse across it in about four places along its approximately 1/2 mile length.

 As more cows arrived, dad ran a couple straw bales through the hay buster, both to fill and warm up the cows and to give the calves something warm and dry to lay on.

 He unloaded  the bales off the stuck hay pickup, and worked a long time on getting him out of there.

When everyone arrived, we fed the cake and dad ran a combination of oat, grass and alfalfa hay through the hay buster for them.

 

 

 I took a lot of pictures - several of the cute calves. It was great to see so many newborns arrive healthy and alive. It's one thing to know they'll probably be fine, and another to know and see them and make sure all is well. No one rested real well the last couple days as the bad weather went through as a result of worrying over our livestock, in addition to being excited to actually be getting some decent moisture.

 Finally, we headed home. Here's the bunch from the road. Tucked out of the wind, getting full, and still right beside a good draw in case it gets cold and windy tonight.

 Then we ate lunch, while heading out to the second bunch to feed them. Normally our feed days are done at 12:30 p.m. at the latest. We weren't even done with the first bunch by that time today. So, dad and I ate on the go to make sure we had plenty of time to get our second bunch of younger cows fed, regardless of any setbacks we might encounter.

 Off we go, up another one mile of two-track road with our hay and cake.

 Our three year olds were also stragically fed so they would drift into this draw, which also offers great protection. While the cows looked a little rough, I'm not sure these guys even noticed there was a storm. They were happy and content.

 The same process was repeated. They were fed a combination of grass and alfalfa hay and also given a straw bale, mainly as bedding, and filler if they want it.

 Here's my dad laying in some straw in another little bowl that drops right into the draw for the calves in this bunch.

It was immediately put to use.

And after that, at 4 p.m., we were finished for the day. While the blizzard may have made feeding more difficult and time consuming today, it also provided us with desperately needed moisture that will be the difference between selling out and making it another year for some people. We're all very grateful for it, and the chances we have for more later this week!

The Hay Buster

We purchased a hay buster this winter. This is a machine that grinds up hay and feeds it onto the ground, or into a bunk, for livestock. The benefit of grinding hay is livestock can better consume and digest hay if it's already been ground into smaller pieces. We are utilizing this machine to make some of the poorer quality hay we have on hand more palatable to our calves. If we didn't grind it,they would pick through it and consume less of the total volume of hay we fed them due to its coarseness. It still has nutritional value, but in its whole form it's not as appealing to the calves.

This is what it looks like. You back up to each bale, and pick it up with the arms on the back that are holding the second bale in place. We don't have the right mirrors on our tractor yet, so there have been some pretty humorous attempts at getting backed up to a hay bale the driver couldn't see.

Here are the controls, which run the hay buster.  The lever with the blue tape and handwriting on it is used to run the arms, and pick up hay bales and drop them into the grinder. The red-handled lever next to the blue one, and the lever on the right side of the photo that slides back and forth are used to feed the bale once it's in the grinder. Just ignore the rest of those controls for this job : )

Here is what the inside of the hay buster looks like. When you adjust the levers in the cab appropriately, the chains in the bottom move, and the whole unit works to tear the hay bale into smaller pieces, and shoot it out the side on the left in the photo.

As the feeder, this is how it looks to drive the tractor. The calves love their hay, and often start heading toward the house when they hear the tractor start in the morning.

When you reach the feed grounds, there is a specific order to things. First, you get the tractor, which is a manual and has two gear shifting knobs (technical terminology at its finest), and a lot of gear choices. You need to get into a relatively low (slow) gear.
Second, you have to turn on the lever that slides in the photo of the controls, and let it get up to speed. I apologize for those of you that know all the accurate terminology. I am not that mechanical, I just know how to run the stuff.
Third, you let out the clutch and start moving, while pushing the red handled lever forward, which turns on the actual grinder.
The result is that the hay bale starts spinning as the grinder chews it up and spits it out on the ground. You can manually adjust how coarse or fine it will chop the hay, and how wide of a pile it spits out on the machine. The size and width of the pile on the ground is also impacted by how fast or slow you drive.

The second bale just rests on the back until you're done feeding the first. Then you run the arm control to dump it into the grinder.

Here's what it looks like from outside the tractor.

Feeding, like most ranch tasks, can be a dirty, dusty job.

But the calves don't mind.

Then, when you're done with the last bale, you pull the red handled lever back, turn off the one that slides, and head for home.

This is what the hay looks like after being run through the buster. We don't have it set to chop the hay extremely fine, partially because we're feeding on the ground. But, the difference in palatability is noticable, and my dad is just tickled with his purchase.