Curiousfarmer

Brown Thrasher Eggs

June 14, 2010

Bullfrog tadpole checking out the scenery above the water. Look at how fast it has developed legs compared with the picture in the May 6th post, “Toads and Frogs, Living and Loving.”

Curiousfarmer started with an emphasis on Farmer, but over the first 100 posts, has evolved into an emphasis on Curious. That’s good. I can always be curious.

I started this blog to share what I know about farming. I quickly realized how little I know, and how boring it is to only write what I know. It’s way more fun and interesting to write what I am learning.

I made a mistake on the post, “Fragile Beginnings.” The eggs pictured were not from a Brown Thrasher. The eggs pictured below are from a Brown Thrasher.

Because I wanted to write about the eggs pictured in “Fragile Beginnings,” I had to organize my thoughts. I found out how little I knew, and what I did know was wrong.

I saw a Thrush fly out of the tall grass by the pond. Then I saw the nest and assumed it belonged to the Thrush. I snapped a picture and began to research Thrush on the internet.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any type of Thrush that resembled the bird I saw. So I did some more research and came up with some suspects. After a few more sightings, I knew the bird was a Brown Thrasher. So I wrote the post. There were no pictures I could find of Brown Thrasher eggs.

Today I was driving the ATV past a Gooseberry bush and a Brown Thrasher flew out of the middle of it. I realized she may have a nest, so I checked it out.

“Crap! This is what Brown Thrasher eggs look like.”

I returned and bothered the Brown Thrasher again and snapped a picture. Now I know that there are Brown Thrasher eggs on the internet.

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Placentophagy: Mammals Eating Their Own Placenta

June 10, 2010

Cow eating placenta, shortly after giving birth. Why do they do this? Many other mammals do as well. It’s called placentophagy.

It’s becoming vogue for people to eat placenta. There are purported health benefits. Have you heard of this?

Here is a funny video of Joel Stein, my favorite writer for Time, watching his wife’s placenta being prepared for consumption.

“You’re not going to kiss me with that mouth, are you Mom?”

2 Comments | Curious cattle, Curious diet, Curious nature | Permalink
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Fragile Beginnings

June 5, 2010

A Brown Thrasher made this nest in the Reed Canarygrass along the edge of the pond. Spring rains raised the water level until the nest was over water instead of over land. I thought it would be interesting to see if the fledglings could fly away without drowning. But we will never know, because something, probably a raccoon, waded in the water and took the eggs.

Chaos is too light of a word to describe the homefront. We got Citygirlfriend and boys moved in Monday.

Tuesday, I drove Citygirlfriend and boys to Madison to have Shepherd’s tonsils removed. Tylenol, or Tylenol with Codeine, every three hours ‘round the clock. We lost his antibiotic.

Thursday was Gameboy’s fifth birthday. We had my parents and a couple of friends over to celebrate.

Oh, and the remodeling isn’t finished.

I guess it’s time to let go.

I took Citygirlfriend to a farm conference this past winter. As we listened to the speakers, I told her to watch for the voodoo.

“What do you mean, voodoo?”

“Everyone has some special product or technique they think makes all the difference on their farm.”

“Oh, and what is your voodoo?”

“Probably something I’m not aware of. I like to think I don’t have any.”

“Then how do you think things grow?”

“God, I guess.”

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Building a New Fence III

June 1, 2010

This is the final fencing post.

A metal rod is pounded into the ground and an old disc blade is placed on the ground to protect the soil. The roll of barb-wire is placed on the disc and one end of the wire is tied to the ATV. I use the ATV to pull the wire to the other end of the fence and tie it to the end post.

After your first wire is in place as a guide wire, pound the rest of your posts into the ground. We use a ratio of five metal to one wooden. Metal posts are cheaper and don’t rot; but wooden posts are stronger and resist cattle pushing on the fence better.

A fence-stretcher is attached to the wire. As Dad cranks the handle, I make sure the wire is not caught on any brush and is in line with the fence. I use a pliers because if the fence-stretcher slips off, the wire will slip quickly and cut through your hand.

Once the proper tightness is achieved, the wire is tied to the end post and the fence-stretcher is removed.

A clip is used to secure the wire to the steel post. There are notches on the post and we use these as markers to make sure the wires are evenly spaced.

Staples are used to secure the wire to the wooden posts.

This concludes my fencing posts. If you have any questions, please comment.

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Zerks: Getting Grease to Where It’s Needed

May 28, 2010

Greasing the univeral joint on the power take off, (PTO), shaft of the round baler. A box of grease zerks sits in the upper left corner.

Our early spring continues. We cut hay in May for the first time ever. It’s ready; the grass has headed out and the alfalfa has just started blooming. Now if the weather will cooperate. An inch of rain every Saturday night is all I ask for.

I counted 27 grease zerks on the baler. Some need to be greased every ten hours, some every thirty hours. It takes several minutes to get the baler ready for baling. I used to hate this chore, until I thought about what a grease zerk does.

A grease zerk gets grease to where it’s needed, a place with moving parts, a place of potentially high friction. Grease prevents machinery from wearing out, overheating, breaking down.

The friction in my life is about to increase. I’m going from being a Norwegian Bachelor Farmer to Married With Children. This weekend is the big move.

I’ve been reading a book by Andrew Bernstein called “The Myth of Stress.” He contends that there is no such thing as stress, outside of what occurs in your mind. He leads a process called “ActivInsight ,” in which a stressful thought is negated. I like it, but we will see how it does in my world.

I’m thinking of “ActivInsight” as a zerk. Other zerks in my life are faith, family, friends, farming. Zerks, help me get grease to where it’s needed.

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Building a New Fence II

May 25, 2010

Brace posts with metal brace and brace wire running diagonally from upper second post to lower end post. Once you’ve decided where to put your fence, put your brace posts in. You need a set of brace posts on each end of your fence in order to pull the barb-wire tight.

You can also have more, based on your needs. We put six sets of brace posts in this quarter mile of fence because we put a space for a gate, and had to fence across two valleys.

We use six-inch diameter, eight-foot long, creosote-treated posts and pound them into the ground about three feet for our brace posts. The posts in the interior of the fence are five-inch diameter, seven-foot long creosote-treated posts. We have found no other wood treatment comes close to creosote for preserving wood from rotting. It is frustrating to build a new fence and watch the wooden posts rot off in ten or fifteen years.

The metal brace is secured to the posts with a lag-bolt. We put our brace in level, about two-thirds up the posts. Many people are putting the brace at the top. The old-fashioned way is to put the brace at an angle. This has the tendency to pull one of the brace posts out of the ground, though.

The brace wire is run through a staple at the top of the second post, around the posts, and through a staple at the bottom of the end post. After it is tied, I use the handle of a fencing pliers to wind it, thereby tightening it. This pulls the two posts together against the brace, making an excellent anchor to stretch barb-wire for your fence.

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Body Language in Cattle

May 21, 2010

Citygirlfriend helped us move the herd to the next pasture. The young calves are slow to move unless they are at their mother’s side.

Citygirlfriend did fine. I didn’t go far from her, though. I worried she wouldn’t recognize dangerous body language in the mother cows.

The cow above is protective of her new calf, but neutral. When I approached her, look at how her body language changed. She is telling me she won’t back off and I better.

What do you see?

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Building a New Fence

May 11, 2010

I’m finally getting around to posting the photos and writing about making our new fence. We made the fence the week after my post, “Tearing Out Fence.”

This is a quarter mile of fence. Pictured above is the post pounder on the front of our tractor. It is a machine that pounds posts into the soft ground without the need for digging a hole. It saves a lot of time. We purchased it new for $2,000 a couple of years ago. It replaced the one we had used the previous thirty years.

Most of the materials needed to build the fence are pictured below. We used 100 steel posts, 15 5×7 wooden posts, 12 6×8 wooden posts, 6 ten’ steel braces, 1 roll of brace wire, 5 rolls of barb-wire, staples, and clips.

The costs for the materials are as follows.

100 steel posts @ $3.95 each, equals $395.

15 5×7 wooden posts @$12 each, equals $180.

12 6×8 wooden posts @$18 each, equals $216.

6 ten’ steel braces @$14.99 each, equals $90.

1 roll of brace wire @$10.99 each, equals $11.

5 rolls of barb-wire @$64.95 each, equals $325.

Clips are included with the purchase of the steel posts and staples are relatively cheap.

So the grand total is $1217. Multiplied times four equals the cost per mile, $4868. Not a cheap fence, but we expect it to last thirty years.

Will I be around to build its replacement? Who will I be working with?

Following posts will go into more fence-building detail with pictures and explanations.

After and before pictures.

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Found Frogs: Gray Tree Frog

May 8, 2010

Two of the barrels under one corner of the raft were leaking. We pulled it out of the pond with a tractor, jacked up the corner, unbolted the barrels, and paused, because we heard something.

“Wait a minute. Do you hear that? It sounds like frogs.”

I kicked a barrel loose and two Gray Tree Frogs fell on the ground. They must have climbed up onto the barrels underneath the raft.

So now I’m thinking the frog eggs in the last post belong to the Gray Tree Frog.

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Toads and Frogs, Living and Loving

May 6, 2010

I love toads and frogs. The first week of May always finds me searching for eggs and tadpoles.

Look at the mating toads surrounded by eggs. The male is smaller than the female. Sometimes they have a threesome.

Frogs seem more discrete in their mating behavior. I have often heard their mating call; but have never seen them coupled.

Toad eggs are in long strings. Frog eggs are in clumps, like grapes. Look at the frog eggs below. Don’t frogs just seem more organized? Is nature organized?

I don’t know which species of frog I should attribute these eggs. They may be the eggs of the Spring Peeper. They may also be the eggs of the Bullfrog.

Bullfrog tadpoles are unique. Instead of working to get out of the water fast, like toads, bullfrog tadpoles spend the first year of their life chillin’ in the water, and change into frogs their second summer.

Below is a bullfrog tadpole I caught along the water’s edge. Maybe I will post some more photos throughout the summer as their legs lengthen and their tail shortens. Would you like that?