Silage

I like small square hay bales.  Husband and the boys use the tractor, and put out 2 or 3 large round bales at a time, usually enough to last a week.  Then I am on my own through the week.  I don't use the tractor.

I like small square bales because they are easy to manage- handy for a single person to toss over the fence when we are out of hay.  Unfortunately, they are harder to find in these parts (a lot of work goes into picking up and storing all those bales), cost more, and are more complicated to store.

And then the goats, who never stay where they belong, get into them and make a mess.  Or it snows, (it always snows), and they freeze into solid lumps- turning convenience into a waste of money, time and energy.

Last year we didn't buy any small square bales.  Husband and the boys worked harder making sure there was always enough hay in the pasture.  And if there wasn't- I worried all day until they got home, expecting angry cows to break out and high tail it to the neighbour's.

Sometime through the winter, I watched War Time Farm (again).  This episode, where they attempt to create silage from sugar beet tops, which the cows ransack, and then try creating silage from nettles and weeds made me ponder.  I did some reading on silage, and found this video.  Well that's certainly easier than building a silo!

We often rake mom's yard after cutting, because her grass gets so thick and long, it's almost like mowing a hay field.  I thought to myself that I might experiment with the excess that the critters don't eat right away.

Winter passed, spring arrived in all of its glory, garden went in, fencing began...  It was on the back burner.

And then, as I weeded yesterday, I thought, why not?  The birds aren't even eating a 5 gallon pail of weeds this year (there aren't so many of them), and the cows don't need the weeds right now, since they're still working on mowing down the yard.

After filling two buckets with weeds from the garden, I went looking for garbage bags.  Except, as soon as I entered the house I saw a feed bag filled with recycling.  Because feed bags are plentiful around here, they tend to be put to all sorts of odd uses.  And then I thought, 'I wonder...'

On closer examination, I decided the cat food bags were suitable, more plasticy and air tight.  I gathered a bunch, along with some string, and went back to the garden. 

It takes about 2.5 buckets, or 12.5 gallons of weeds to fill one feed bag.

 Then I sat on the bag, twisted the top, and tied it off. 

Mom called, with weeds to be picked up from her place.  We ended up with four feed bags stuffed with weeds in just one day.  Since it involves so little extra work (bagging and tying), and may be a huge cost saver this winter, I plan to continue.  I mean, what's the worst that can happen?  I might have to compost it next spring.  Well worth the effort in my books.

For now we're storing them in the old coop, until the cows finish in the side yard so I can clean out the hay lean-to and fence it off to keep the critters out when they're back in that yard later in the summer.

Hay for Mildred

Husband cleared a bit of snow so he could drop a round bale into the chicken pen this weekend.  Now Mildred gets to go outside and munch, and chat over the fence with the rest of the critters.  Well, after she stopped trying to swim through the snow to explore the entire pen. 

Toothless and Mindy were quick to come and say hello.  Or maybe to ask who the heck the 'royalty' was who got her own bale of hay!  Sharlotte tried to visit, but Mindy chased her off.

Toothless was very friendly.  They rubbed noses through the fence.

Shiloh came to visit, bringing Tori and Knightmare along with her.  Shiloh is the self appointed welcoming committee around here.  They shared some hay with their long necks reaching over the fence.

Mildred mooed and mooed, calling to Dorie, we think.  Our herd matron will NOT EVEN LOOK AT MILDRED!  #1 thinks she's jealous.  I think she's stuck up.

After Mildred went to bed the first day, as we were getting ready to milk, Mindy decided she just had to have some of that hay.  You know the old adage, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence...  Well, miss Mindy got herself STUCK on the fence.  The snow is deep enough that she could balance halfway with her back legs on one side and her front legs on the other.  On the pasture side where they've got it all packed down good- no problem.  But then she sank through on the chicken pen side, leaving herself in a bit of a predicament.  Luckily for her she was able to roll off onto the pasture side.

#3 got to help #1 with the milking while Husband and I cut some small poplars and put up a new top rail.  The fence is still sagging under the poplars, but there's not much we can do about that until spring.

Hopefully everyone will stay where they belong until then.

Snow

We finally got some snow!  It's been a strange winter so far, with just a dusting.  But this morning we woke up to find a good 6 inches in the open areas, and drifts of over a foot in spots.  It should be a white Solstice after all!

Cows were not as impressed with this change in the weather as I was though.  Poor things will have to walk all the way over

to the round bales to eat.  And that's at least 20 feet.  Knightmare and Oscar weren't too disappointed about everyone else hiding in the barn though.  They seemed to be rather enjoying their breakfast in peace.

We've gone through all of our square bales already, and bought two more loads as well.  It was time to bring in some round bales.  They aren't as nutritious as the square bales, but they certainly last longer.  It keeps all the critters from milling about around the gate first thing in the morning complaining that they're hungry, too.  So now we're feeding a mix of squares and round bales.  We haven't fed any grain yet this winter, and everyone seems to be maintaining their weight so far.

In other news, #2 has been working on snow removal with Grandpa.  He's learning the art of tractor driving and using the bucket.

We butchered two more roosters- weights are looking much better now.  I couldn't find my scale, so I don't have an exact measurement for these, but it was definitely worth the wait.  They're a nice meal size now.  Although, Husband dished out the meat for supper, giving the boys each just a tiny sliver.  He was confused by the single plate of meat.  Me thinks we've been spoiled by those huge turkeys!  The roosters are big enough now to feed my brood, but there wasn't much in the way of leftovers.  We'll get one skimpy chicken rice casserole, but that's all.  Which means I have to cook again tomorrow.  Ble...

The logging company has been working on the crown land behind our property this week.  So far we've seen lots of equipment go in, and two tractor trailer loads of logs come out.  Husband took a drive back to see where they were at.  It's way out there, past the creek at moose camp.  They've put a temporary bridge in.  Which means we won't have access to the scraps they leave behind in the spring.

We went to the Santa Claus Parade the other night.  It doesn't seem to matter how many of these things we attend, or where we watch from, my children are always on the opposite side of me.  That's #2's backside on the far left.  It was -13°C, so the marching band was reduced to drums.  He was disappointed he didn't get to play his baritone.  I was happy he didn't come home with it frozen to his face.

The Littles were happy to attend.  It was the first small town parade we've been to in years.  Every business in town seemed to be well represented with free gifts for the public- pens, construction paper, teddy bears, Santa hats, and candy.  Wow, I can not believe the candy.  #3 said it was better than Hallowe'en.  Just as much candy, and all he had to do was stand there.  It was pretty funny when a float with little ones was going by, and one little girl cried out 'We have to give the candy away!' as she tossed a bag towards us.  Too cute.

#2 made the basketball team at school.  They played in their first tournament last week, and won both games.  Their first home game is on Wednesday.  I'm hoping we get to go and watch.  Husband's been stealing my car to go to work (4 wheel drive), and we won't all fit in the truck.  Hopefully the weather will be good so he can take the truck to work.

We've got a new system in place this year to tell us when the buses are cancelled.  The radio stations around here don't seem to be aware that some of us are up at crazy hours to get ready for school.  The Bigs' bus comes at 7:03.  The radio stations announce cancellations at 7:15 or later.  Last year I'd go out and tell #1 to come back inside after he waited out in the cold all that time.  This year, #2 has made friends with the bus driver's son.  He comes downstairs in the morning and tells me whether the buses are cancelled or not.  Texting does have it's uses.

I've been spending many of these cold winter days curled up with a good...   kindle.  My other present arrived early, and Husband never makes me wait.  I don't think he likes to wrap, lol.  It's just the standard, original version.  No fancy Kindle fire available up here, north of the border.  But I love it.  Much more than I thought I would, actually.  In the past I haven't bought very many new books.  It's always cheaper to buy from thrift stores or used book stores, and there aren't a lot of books that I couldn't wait to find a used copy of. 

We bought the first kindle for #1 in September.  Finding large print books for him has always been a pain, and finding a copy to use at the same time as his class was even more so.  I read most of his books to him last year.  When he came home with Stephen King this year- well that was it.  I am NOT reading that.  (I read about 3/4 of The Shining when I was a teen and have avoided Stephen King ever since.  He terrifies me).    So we bought him the fancier kindle, with audio book and text to speech capabilities.  It's been working out really well for him.  I downloaded a couple hundred classics for him (free public domain titles), as well as the books he's needed for school.  And when he wasn't using it, I borrowed his kindle a few times.

So I kind of wanted one of my own, but I thought I wouldn't use it that much, because I'm unlikely to start selling off my kids to start paying for new books.  But present day was coming, and Husband likes his shopping made easy.  So he talked me into it.

The kindle arrived, and I set it up on the same account, which let me download all of #1's books for free.  Then I added a bunch more classics to my list.  I had just finished one of those when a friend from highschool mentioned that she was pleasantly surprised with her book club's choice.  I got the title from her and looked it up. 

30 Pieces of Silver by Carolyn McCray

The reviews sounded interesting, and the price was right, so I bought it.  And I really liked it.  It was very detailed, fast paced, hard to put down.  And it introduced me to the world of Indie publishing.  Or independent publishing.  Or self publishing.  Almost as good as public domain books, there are a ton of books available from new authors for as little as 99¢.

So, while I'm still unlikely to ever keep up with the New York Times best sellers list, I have a variety of reading material at great prices available at my finger tips at all times!

Hay Days & A Barn Facelift

We did hay this year with our neighbours up the road. Their farm, their hay, their equipment, our labour.

Weather was wonky, as usual, and there were some equipment failures in the beginning, but by the end of August we had hay coming in, and still no hay shed.

That worked out ok though, since we were able to stand on the hay while we did construction.  Easier than a ladder when you're weilding large beams.  Skids on the ground for a floor, logs, poles, and spikes for construction materials, and plastic for the roof.

 #2 decided to replace that old board they've been climbing over for the past four years with a real gate.  That'll make feeding much easier this winter.  He's such a good kid, worrying about his mama like that.

The hay kept coming.  Awesome.  553 bales in the end.  We'll need to build another hay shed for next year.  For this year, we have two stacks piled under tarps.  We're already feeding a bit of hay now, as the grass in the pasture is getting pretty sparse.  Most of these stacks will probably be gone before winter really sets in.

The last load was just me and the littles in September.  The bigs had gone back to highschool.

Earlier this year husband used the tractor to push the barn back up on it's foundation.  It's getting kind of old, and, unfortunately, was not constructed well to begin with, made out of 2X4s and pressboard mostly.  It had never been painted, the pressboard was peeling, and the bottom was rotted out.  And the critters knocked the doors off AGAIN!

We added a couple rows of 1X6s to the bottom of each side to patch the holes and strengthen the base.  Then I started on the paint job.  #3 and #4 helped out the first day, cause you know, it's always fun to paint on the FIRST day...


I couldn't quite reach that patch on the top with the ladder I was using.  I had taken the big ladder back to the house to work on the chimney.  I figured I'd just get that later, instead of carting the ladder back and forth.  Wouldn't you know it though- it's rained every day since I finished the chimney.  The patch remains unpainted.

The back side of the barn doesn't have as much slope on the ground, so I was able to get all the way to the top.

I painted the north side of the barn beige a couple of years ago.  That's where the hay lean-to is.  I'll give it a fresh coat of paint in the spring.