Silent Sunday- Moving Hay Bales

While my Farmer was gone this week to yet another meeting, I met one of my best farm mom friends for lunch.  I asked her preschooler if he wanted to go with me to check the cows and he said he would if it was OK with mom.  They raise pigs...lots and lots of pigs, so getting to see cows in a pasture up close was apparently something he has not gotten to do before.  As he was leaving, he asked why I had a funny bed on the back of my truck.  His mom took him to where I was picking up some bales to take home and she took this picture story for all of you.  His comment when I got out to shut the gate was, "2 bales!  That's just crazy!!"  LOL  

Enjoy if you have never seen this.

One more note:  It was 28 degrees and the wind chill was 16 degrees.  Yes, my hair was blowing around and yes, I may look cold because I WAS!

UPDATE:  OK, I am pretty much silent, but since I am driving my Dodge Pickup in this post here is the best commercial of the Super Bowl!!

Thank you Dodge!!!

-A Kansas Farm Mom

'Twas the Morning Before Christmas

"Twas the morning before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring...not even MOM!!!

Where was she?!  Shouldn't she be wrapping asked the youngest son?!
Shouldn't she be baking and singing Christmas songs worried the oldest son?!

The weatherman says there's going to be cold weather and possibly snow,

Grain is a source of extra energy for the cows.  Keeping warm on cold days takes lots of extra energy.

so the Kansas Farm Mom and her farmer hubby were out unwrapping hay bales for their girls to keep their tummies full and their bodies warm.

Taking the net wrap off a bale wearing a stocking hat that my Grandma made me before she died. :)

The kids will understand if not everything gets wrapped or baked (even the Cinnamon Roll Muffins).  The cows come first on this ranch.

White Christmas' usually aren't welcome in this part of the land.
Snow makes more chores and leaves less time to spend with the family on Christ's Birthday.

The continuing drought reminds us all that each drop of moisture from the heaven
 is a gift from God.  We thank him for each flake he sends us tomorrow on Christmas mornin'.

Merry Christmas everyone!!


P.S.  If you are new to my blog, follow me on Facebook or follow the link at the top to be notified each time I have a new post.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

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The Drought is Now Bringing Wildfires

 

Last week, we were desperately hoping that Hurricane Isaac would come visit us.  The ponds that our cows drink water out of are in very poor shape.  Right now, we feel we have enough feed for the cows, but the water situation is getting more serious with every rain we miss.  When your entire state is in some level of drought, you will take rain any way you can get it.  As I said in my post There is more to a drought than Short Grass and No Crops, wildfires can get out of control very quickly.  A little over a week ago, our neighbors to the north, including my parents, fought a fire to save cattle, hay, grass and homes.

I was at the Ag Chat Conference in Kansas City when The Farmer looked up and saw smoke to the north of us.  He instinctively called my parents to see where the fire was located between the two of our farms.  As soon as they answered the phone, he realized they were an hour away waiting to watch some of their cattle sell at the Livestock Auction.  Both my dad and my husband continued to call neighbors to find where the fire was and found that was south of my parents pastures by at least 3 miles.  The Farmer continued to the scene of the fire to help out.  When he saw the intensity of the fire and the direction it was headed, he immediately hurried to my parent’s farm to get their firefighting equipment ready. 

As my dad got updates from The Farmer and another neighbor whose son was moving cattle out of the path of the flames, he decided to hurry home (let’s just say we are glad the highway patrol wasn’t looking for speeders).

The fire was kept extremely small compared to some that have burned in other states this summer.  At one point it was a 1.2 miles wide.  Approximately, 1370 acres were burned.  My parents lost 180 acres of grass.  The cattle they were waiting to sell were in that pasture the day before.  Numerous cattle were moved from the path of the fire.  Farmers and ranchers cut fences wherever they could and towed the cattle to safety.  One report from a farmer said that the last cows through the gate where missing the switches from their tail-presumably burnt off.  The only known casualty of the fire was a baby calf.  In one pasture, the herd of cattle busted through a new barbed wire fence.

Due to high winds, the fire jumped 5 county roads and a state highway.  Sparks can be carried by the wind and easily ignite dry grass.  In terms of wild fires, this was small and only lasted about 4 hours, but the damage estimates will give you an idea of how dry things were and how losses can add up in a hurry.

The fire involved 12 different landowners.  Six homes stood in the path of the fire.  Five were saved.  The reports I have been getting from those involved that it is amazing that any of the houses were saved and the firemen and volunteers used all their resources to save these houses. 

Every Rural Fire Truck our county has responded to the fire along with some from 2 other counties.  Farmers and other landowner used garden hoses, four wheelers, UTV’s, tractors with sprayers and tractors with discs worked to contain the fire.  More than 64 people responded to help contain the fire using over 100,000 gallons of water.

Many times it is easier to fight fire with fire which is how my father, husband and one of the neighbors decided to stop the fire its farthest reaches.  They dropped matches along the road so the fire had to back into the wind-this is called a back fire.  A back fire seldom has very big flames and most of the time can be contained much easier than a “Head Fire” that has the wind at its back.  Luckily they had enough help from neighbors and the fire trucks and enough time that they got the back fire started in time to stop the head fire and stop the path of destruction. 

Here is the damage estimates that appeared in the local newspapers.

  

·         28 electic poles lost or in need of replacement.

·         8.25 miles of fences at a loss of almost $124,000

·         315 large round bales of hay at a value of $30,000

·         Unknown value of gas and oilfield equipment was lost as well.

·         One home lost-priceless.

As you can see, even a small fire can have a tremendous economic impact to a community.  Please be careful if you are in one of the areas of drought.  This fire was either started by a hot brake on a passing car or a thrown cigarette.  It is extremely dry and it is supposed to be hot around here again this week.  I hope there won’t be any more of the phone calls that are asking where the smoke is, but if there are, please be considerate of those volunteering their time.  Don’t come out just to see the fire.  Come see it after the fire is out.  I have been told that the amount of people coming out of town to see the fire hampered efforts and really made things dangerous for those trying to protect their livelihood.

Here is what the pastures looked like before the fire.

 Stay safe everyone and have a great week!

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Prairie Hay-More Winter Cow Feed

In a normal year, we would be getting ready to start putting up what we call prairie hay.  Our area, like much of the country is in a drought, so we moved up the prairie hay season a couple of weeks.

Prairie hay is the native grass that has always been here.  We live on the outer edge of the Flint Hills, the largest Tallgrass prairie area left in the world.  You can find a bit more information about the Tallgrass prairie here.

If you look across these fields from the road, it looks like a sea of grass, but if you stop and walk through the grass you will find there is a mixture of grasses, legumes and other broadleaf plants.   

The grass is the highest in nutrients when it is little and slowly loses quality as it grows.  We try to find the right balance of quality and quantity when we time our hay cutting.

We cut the hay with our tractor and mower and lay the hay out flat.  This lets the hay dry much quicker than if it were in a narrow pile. 

I was spoiled this year and the Farmer let me drive his tractor that can steer itself.  It has this cool little mini computer that is attached to a GPS satellite receiver.  All I had to do was turn the steering wheel at the end of the field and get the tractor pointed in the right direction, then push the little steering wheel  icon in the bottom corner and the tractor and satellites take over.

All this hands free driving allowed me to take a lot of pictures and video.  It also gave me a lot of time to think about how to add to the blog and how to get all the pages organized. 

After the hay lays in the field for a day (or less when it was as hot and dry as it was last week), we rake two of the mower swaths into a “windrow.”  A windrow in a long pile of hay that the baler can pick up.

Here is a video of our high school hired help raking through the field.  He was not too amused by being recorded and wouldn’t even wave at me.

He also took a video from the tractor cab while I drove.  This is what I could see from the tractor cab.

The Farmer drove the tractor that baled the hay for us. 

The baler rolls the hay into a giant hay roll kind of like a cinnamon roll.  

The baler makes the bales very tight so (hopefully) moisture can’t seep into the bale.  Moisture will make the hay rot or mold which isn’t good for livestock.  We also put net wrap on the outside of the bales to try to keep water from seeping in as well.

All of our hay barns are full, so this hay will be stored outside until it is fed.   

We try to put the bales in rows with enough room between the rows that air can circulate around them and keep things from rotting.  The bales are pushed tightly together to reduce water infiltration.

Our area is very dry.  We have had temperatures well over 90 degrees for several weeks and the south wind is blowing hard every day.  The ground is drying out really quickly.  In your yard, you may have  an irrigation system to keep your lawn green.  In our area, there is not very much ground that is irrigated, so when it gets hot and dry like this, the crops start to suffer and the yields are probably decreasing by the day.  If you don’t mind, say a prayer for rain for us tonight, we sure could use it.

My little 4-H’er has been busy getting projects ready for the fair.  He polished these rocks for 6 weeks this winter and then made me this set.  I can’t wait for the fair to get over so I can wear this set!!!  I have such a sweet kid.

He will tell you that these are Uruguayan Beach Agates.  Aren't they beautiful!

He has also been baking his little heart out which means my summer weight loss program isn’t going so well.  This is a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Have a great rest of the week everyone and try to stay cool!  Don’t forget you can get daily updates, parenting tips and a few quick kitchen ideas(when I remember) on my Kansas FarmMom Facebook Page and don't forget to share my blog with your friends!

These are the first videos we have tried to record.  I obviously need a video camera and not my still camera that can take video.  I will add that to my wish list.  

Just joined the  Farmgirl Friday party over at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House.  Be sure to tell them Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom sent you.

-A Kansas Farm Mom