This week’s Farming Update from Ben

It’s been a good busy week on the farm. Got lots of odds and ends done and I’ve marked several things off my ‘To-Do’ list. 

The chickens enjoyed the straw bales left over from Movie Night on the Farm. 

Sunday, we met Son and DiL at an outdoor wood fired pizza place near Waseca. It was perfect weather, and good pizza. As we were leaving, the owner asked us if we’d come back? Daughter loudly proclaimed, “No, I don’t think so.” Well, they asked. 

Monday I got the haybine hooked up and mowed the roadsides. The haybine is the machine that cuts a swath nine feet wide using a sickle that goes back and forth very fast to cut off the stems of alfalfa or grass. Every now and then an individual section will break. Notice the missing one here: 

It has been a lot of years since I had to replace one of those, just because I don’t cut much anymore, and I’ve forgotten what a pain it is to do it. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten the techniques needed. Or maybe it’s because I’m older. I used to do this out in the field with a hammer and chisel to knock off the old rivets, and then a punch to knock the stub out. Then there’s a gadget to smoosch the new rivet to hold the new section in place. I remember it was always a hassle and I’d be hot and sweaty and covered in bugs and I’d be mad about the whole thing. On Monday I was doing in on the concrete in front of the shop. I’ve also forgotten how little room there is in there. I had one end jacked up to give me more room. And I had a cordless grinder instead of a hammer and chisel. And I use a pneumatic air hammer instead of a hammer and punch. I didn’t get so grumpy about it all. But it sure did bring back some memories. 

Daughter had come to the shop for a visit and she rode with me as I was cutting the roadsides. She took this photo.

Padawan 2, Max, was out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We moved a bunch of stuff around in the shed and I put things on the pallet racks. The trick is only to put stuff up there that won’t be used very often.  The shop looks big until I try to get a tractor in there sideways. 

Neighbor Dave was down checking fence in a section of pasture. It’s the area where the gully was filled in and the new waterway created, so we needed to build a fence to keep the cattle out of that area for this year. I hooked up the brush mower and mowed a path for the temporary fence, then went to the back of the pasture where Dave said the thistles were taller than he was. 

Boy, yeah they were. It has been a long time since I was back in that corner of the pasture. It’s a valley with lots of smaller valleys bisecting it. It is easy to see how thousands of years of erosion have created our farms rolling hills. 

On Thursday Dave and I built the temp fence. It’s just one hot wire. Meaning it’s an electric fence. And his cows are smart, and they know and respect an electric fence. And by ‘electric fence’ I mean the kind of fence that gives you a good “JOLT”  when you touch it. It won’t kill anything, but it sure makes your arm hurt for 10 minutes. I supposed it’s like a taser. If cows learn about electric fences as calves, they do fine. You can’t take wild cattle and expect them to respect an electric fence. I’ve tried that. Electric fences also require insulators on the posts, and not too many weeds. There’s a whole skill involved in building an electric fence. Different skills than are required when making a 4 strand barbed wire fence like the padawans and I did a couple years ago. 

(One of the blogs here; https://trailbaboon.com/2024/06/29/rusty-summer/)

P2 Max and I reshingled the feed building on Wednesday. The old shingles came off surprisingly easy. I had some left over shingles from doing the south side a few years ago. I bought two more bundles of the cheapest shingles the big box store had. Turned out to be a different color but no one cares or can really see the North side of this shed. 

I put more stuff on pallet racks. A pallet of steel fence posts, and a pallet of wood blocks. A few years ago when I had to move these blocks out of what would become the shop, and I first put them on a pallet, I remember Clyde talking about all the blocks they had on their farm. And I have some blocks on a lower shelf so I can get them as needed, and I wondered, why am I saving this pallet of wood blocks?? Just what do I think I’ll be doing that I need that many blocks? Evidently I’m saving them for our kids to throw out when we die. And I threw out a few blocks. But still…I think I am saving too many blocks. But you never know. 

Max and I also got the secondary lawn mower running. Then I did something and it wouldn’t run again. Fixed it and then broke it again. But now it’s running! The hood has a big crack in it. I think I’m gonna have to zip tie the crack together. A new hood top is $176 and I don’t think it’s worth that much. I ordered a new bumper, which is the hinge point at the bottom, and that was $76. This was Kelly’s parents lawnmower, so I need to ask her if she wants a zip tie scar across the top. 

We got .6” of rain on Tuesday evening. A real nice gentle rain. 

I got the roadsides raked and baled on Friday. It wasn’t much. Only 25 bales.

Next week the hot weather is back. I’m thinking of inside jobs. 

EVER SHOCKED YOURSELF? I mean electrically, but whatever makes a good story.

KNOW ANYONE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING?