Alpacas
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Angel is due anyday now
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Angel is due anytime now. Once again she is very large and her baby is taking laps inside her. She started weaning Destiny about a month ago. We are hoping she will have a trouble free delivery just like all her others.
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Topaz gets trapped in fence
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Alpacas can be deceptively large with their winter coat on but Topaz is a large alpaca. One afternoon I was walking to the stable and noticed him inside two fences. Inside two fences that are about 7 inches apart. Fortunately both fences were flexible. Evidently he had started to graze on the grass between the two fences and kept moving forward with his he...
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Waiting out the storm
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Everyone is taking it easy and waiting out the storm. Since I finished painting the stable I could finish putting a roof on the extension to the stable. I had to wait because to get to the peak of the stable at this end I had to climb to the top of an old aluminum extension ladder and literally stand on my tip toes. I am getting to old to be doing stupid things like that - but it is complete and now they donot have to lay inside on the concrete. The can lay in the dirt where they can see more of...
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Hay Blog
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NEW - Round Bales
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
We have started to roll our own hay. The person that did it for us in the past is retiring so I have to do it on my own.
We purchased a new JD Round Baler and you should have seen my first attempts - sad - very sad!
But I finally got the hang of it.
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Getting ready to make our first square cut
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Today we went around the border and cut. Looking to see how the grass is doing and the condition of the field. Could not believe it but the field is still wet. Will have to wait until sometime this week and hope that we do not get a drenching. But the grass looks really good. We are going to have a lot of Giant Bermuda which gives me a little more protein and great digestibility. The D-- hogs are tearing up the field, especially around the stock tank on the bo...
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Winter Cut in July
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Finally got to get my winter cut. Field was still wet after all the rain we had. The grass was so thick I could not go over 2.5 mph. After we got it cut and rolled, we put down out herbicide and fertilizer - this was about 4 month behind schedule.
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Field just dried out and now more rain
Sunday, April 17, 2016
The fields have just dried out and were ready for our first cutting.
HOWEVER, we are now getting more rain and on top of that we are expected to have major flooding - AGAIN!!
They are forecasting up to 8 inches over the next 3 days. I just want a little rain - maybe 2 or so inches over the next 3 days.
I have cut around the fields and they are ready to go. Last year on our first cutting we have a record number of rolls. This year I am pretty sure we are going to break that ...
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Hogs are tearing up the fields
Saturday, February 6, 2016
With the fields not drying out, the hogs are having a field day. They are ripping it up. I try to repair the field but it is still wet and clogs up my discs then I have to clean them up.
I have to repair the fields from the 4 floods - maybe 5 I forget. The last one was the disaster because the ground was so saturated that the rain just hit the ground and started to flood. I stood about a quarter mile away and could hear the roar of the water. There had to be at least 6 feet because I could no...
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First load of hay 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
First load of hay ready to go to Denton. No one knows what this year is going to bring but so far we have not had a winter.
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Waiting out the rain
Sunday, December 27, 2015
While they are waiting out the most current rain and flood, they are chowing down on hay. This winter they are going through it faster than normal. It is like they know something is coming. They are loading up on fleece.
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Our first Hay Blog Entry
Friday, October 9, 2015
This will be our first hay blog entry.
This has been another dry year and good hay in Texas is hard to come by. I have talked with ranchers that normally have rolled hay but this year they either did not cut because of bad grass or did not have the volume.
Keep up with this blog and we will keep you informed of our hay status.
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Ranch Blog
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Starting to Rebuild fence
Saturday, February 6, 2016
I have started to rebuild the fence line that this summers massive rain fall washed away. What is weird is I have only found some small pieces of wire. Almost everything is gone. There are some T-Posts still standing but they are literally bent in half. These are 7 foot posts with 2 1/2 feet in the ground.
You can see from the picture how high the water was. All of this was under rushing water.
I am trying to rebuild so the fence can handle 5+ feet of rushing water. I am bracing th...
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New John Deere 5085E
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
We are sorry to see an old member of the family go but we traded our John Deere 5403 for a John Deer 5085E. The 5403 was in great shape and never let us down.
John Deere just made us too good an offer. Not to mention we are going from an Open Cap to a Closed one.
There are many new features that will help us - fuel economy, it is about 3,000lbs heavier and that will help when lifting bales of hay high in the air, it is a little longer and that will help smooth out the ride, and many more t...
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New Member of Family
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Well we said goodbye to our John Deere 5403. She has served us very well over the past several years. Was always ready to go and never let us down. However, I am getting a little older and the Texas summers are getting a little hotter - not climate change - just dryer until this year! We went to our John Deere dealer and as usual they had a really great deal for us that was too good to turn down. Took our 5403 in trade, a good trade I might add, and cut us a deal on a 2015 John De...
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Lost a fence
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Today was the 6th straight day it had not rained so I wanted to see what the last 4 floods had done and if I could cut along the fence line.
I did cut where the stock tank dam over flow is but that was about as far as I got. Even after 6 days of no rain the fields are still filled with water. Water must go down in the ground about 6 inches.
I checked the fence line for the first time and discovered that in one 700 foot section - there was no fence. It has all been washed away. What...
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Finished Painting
Thursday, December 24, 2015
I finally finished the last bit of trim on the stable and loafing shed. It took me awhile but it really looks much better. I still have the hay barns left to do. I will try to deal with them during the winter. If I wait until spring I tend to irritate the red wasp community and their sting does hurt.
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Finshed First Coat of Paint
Monday, October 19, 2015
Well it was a long week end. I have not had this much exercise in a long time.
We finished the stable and a walk in. Took us a full two days and 15 gallons of paint. The end result looked pretty good. Still have to do the trim yet.
One end of the stable is about 28 feet off the ground and my tallest ladder goes 24. It is an old aluminum ladder and very shaky. I think when I do the trim I am going to climb on the roof and lean over.
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Building Maintenance
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
We are working on cleaning up and painting our stables, walk ins and hay barns.
We have the stable and loafing shed sprayed washed down.
We have purchased a paint sprayer because we were not looking forward to long hours in the sun with a tiny paint brush.
We actually got the paint when we did the ranch house 3 years ago so hoping it is still good. It is the best paint Sherman Williams sells.
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Weather Blog
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Not as hot
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Well it is not has hot but it is still hot!! We are in the low 90's but the humidity is still high. The alpacas are handling it well. The rain has tapered off a little but expect some this week - not much I hope.
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Unexpected Mild Winter
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Well the weatherman has blown another one. They said that this would be a colder and wetter than normal winter. Not even close.
Even though we have not had rain in many weeks the weather has not allowed the fields to dry out.
We have had an unusually warm winter. I think we normally would have around 30+ days below freezing. So far I think there have been about 13 and that only lasted a couple of hours. The animals water has not even froze.
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Christmas Flood
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Well here we go again! The weatherman said we would only get .98 inches and so far in the last 6 hours we are over 4 inches.
Since we have moved here the bottom paddock has flooded a total of 3 times. This year it has flooded 5 times.
Roads are closed and north of us in the Dallas / Ft Worth metroplex there have been 8 people so far confirmed dead from more than 11 tornadoes. One hit about 15 miles south of me and another hit about 5 miles northwest of my daughters home.
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More Rain / Fields Flooded / Roads Closed / Damaged
Sunday, November 1, 2015
More rain and more flooding. Grounds were still wet from the floods 3 days ago. Roads that were damaged got worse - some impassable. Normally the water drains off quickly but all the tanks, creeks, rivers, and lakes are full.
Tried to go north to be with my grand children on Halloween but had to take several detours cause of road closures.
It is still raining and more is expected this week.
No...
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More rain on the way
Thursday, October 29, 2015
After historical records last weekend it looks like we are going to get more this weekend. Not going to be a bad but in Navarro county the Red Cross is still helping people recover.
We needed the rain but not all in one day!
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At 18.5" in 30 hours and it is still raining
Saturday, October 24, 2015
We are getting a record rain fall. Last night I45 in Corsicana was closed for more than 12 hours because the path under the interstate that was supposed to carry the water could not handle the volume.
Our all weather roads are not for this weather. Just getting down the street is impossible - even for off road 4x4. Thank goodness for John Deere otherwise we would not be able to get our 4x4 back home.
Engineers on a train, we have the mile long trains that come through Corsicana, ha...
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Almost 12" of rain
Friday, October 23, 2015
Does not rain for about 42 days and then once again the skies have opened up. Couple of months ago we got a record rain fall and here it is again.
Everything is wet. I do not think there is a dry spot anywhere. All the loafing sheds are flooded. I have had to put the animals in stalls in the stable to keep them all dry. I tried to dig a trench around one of the sheds tonight but it was still too wet.
We are getting hit with a Low from California and also Hurricane Patrici...
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Rain expected sometime next week
Thursday, October 15, 2015
We are supposed to see rain next week. I will believe it when I see it. We have been setting record temperatures this week.
Soil has turned so dry that when the cattle walk across the pasture it looks like an early morning fog!
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