Rainy day feeding time. Best to do before the rain thickens. This is a off ground feeder station to a select few cows. Part of the herd, always willing to eat. Calves finishing off the hay ring. Looks to be a stranger made a visit, neighbors Charlois I suspect. Hay ring sets on solid rock and will not become muddy in the worst rains. 'Wasted hay" will become dry in just a few hours and provides a safe dry area for calves and prevents young calves from being stuck in mud and being trampled by the cows. More cattle to feed. What first appears as a flat area to the right is a gently sloping area of rock base, this aids in keeping a healthy herd and a good feeding mud free zone. Same bunch. Small herd that serves as a watch group when with calves, early warning system. Corral also serves as a isolation pen/loading pen/ med center to isolate other animals in a smaller pen attached by alley ways. Back at the Barn. Time for coffee. Always more work to do, those stumps will come out by spring and allow a little more pasture. Next to that (left) is a fowl pen some 20 feet by 40 feet sectioned off for multi use. Rabbit/small animal pens are closer to the house and in view from the master bed room as are shop and pump house doors, security. Selfie. Cat House, well timed in its completion,
Nice photos.....thanks. Here's a round bale feeder I built some years back. The front 'gate' hinges open, I insert a 4x5 round bale with spear, then close the gate back. I buy my bales right out of the field, store in a shed (last pic) and fill the feeder as needed, so the hay never gets wet. They waste a lot less using this feeder.
Word to the wise, if you haven't fed cattle or horses before, a hay ring or bunk with a cover will both save hay, seems to get wet, mildew or mold, and go bad in days, and if it is eaten from the ground, the animals can ingest the intestinal worm eggs that pass thru the intestines and are on the soil. Very common with people who have a couple horses and a small area to feed them in here in NH. At best the animals will not gain weight, have a rough coat, and little energy, at worst it will kill them. Dad always fed the cows and dry stock in the barn and feeder cattle in h style feeders. The hay was in covered feeders, before the round bails, and the h bunks were filled using an unloading auger from a wagon. If you plan to have a couple of animals, don't care if it is rabbits or elephants, to help feed you after the SHTF, you have to at least help some one else in order to get hands on experience. I know for sure from just looking at the pictures that HK_User could tell you from a hundred feet away that one of his animals was sick, the way they hold their heads, the way they look at you, how they hold their backs, how they walk and lay down, how they approach and eat at the feed area. In addition, he can probably remember each of the animals and notice if their behavior pattern changes. Raising beautiful animals like those in the pictures is a skill and an art and has to be learned and is very difficult to learn from a book. A cow with some problems will hold their head and back in such a way, that a good farmer will run to see what is wrong, while the average person will not even notice a problem. In areas with some kinds of flies, danger of infections, etc, a good farmer will check every animal each time he sees it for cuts, limping, infections, worm heaves. etc and probably can't even tell you that he does. If you are thinking of horses or cattle, look up bloat, worms, corn poisoning, twisted gut, poisonous plants, scours, mastitis, undulant fever, Bangs disease, bovine TB, Tick and fly diseases, and a hundred other things. A good farmer, with animals kept separate until known disease free, vet care, getting rid of bad plants, proper feeding, etc, will have few problems, but if you do not know what you are doing, the learning curve can be very high now, and impossible after a colapse. Love good cattle porn, respect those that can have good looking animals and a good area for them. Thank you for the pictures.
Thank you for the compliment. With that being said I went back and listed some ways how the land and fencing is used and why. We grew up with parents who both came from real farms in a rural area of Mo. We didn't even know how much we knew until later in life. Need to do a biopsy or suture a wound on man or beast, set a bone etc we were well trained. Animals always tell you how they are, just listen to them.
Is it wrong that seeing all of HK's hamburger on the hoof made my mouth water? *sigh* guess I better set a couple steaks out of the freezer for tomorrow!
Walk-in cooler where mine end up. I have to cut them in quarters to handle and even then a quarter often runs 200lbs. Nicely marbeled Porterhouse steak Bulk hamburger wife pats out individual burgers, puts on cookie sheets to pre-freeze before we vacuum pack so the vac doesn't squish 'em down to mush: Grinding/bagging up 1lb bags of hamburger: (Pork sausage in this photo, but process is the same)
Well my neighbour just passed on Sunday . What a SHITSHOW !!! Remember were on Farms and ranches here.Fences are 8 feet high to stop field rats jumping I'll edit add when I get time and the right mind
