SHADEMOBILE – ANOTHER ART-LESS POST

My husband built a new “shademobile” for the cattle, this one much sturdier than the old one, and, perhaps some of you remember the original with its umbrella???
Perhaps some of you farmers and farm gals out there are interested, or you are just a friend of Mike’s and want to learn what he’s up to now. If cows and equipment and inventions don’t interest you, then just skip the rest of this post!

Anyway, here’s a glimpse of the two shademobiles side by side, and it’s apparent that this one is built well, even, perhaps, overbuilt. But it has so far weathered our “severe thunderstorms with hail and damaging winds” as noted by the area forecasters, and it has done well. As you can see from the photo, the old one has survived a couple years in service but not without some severe damage to itself after similar storms. Mike will be rebuilding the roof on that one and it will service the “bull herd” we now have achieved.

Here is the front, where you can see the two water containers (blue tubs) and a partial blue tub in the middle for hay. You will also note the long door on the front which is the head gate. It’s exactly what it sounds like – the cow sticks her head in there and then Mike can push it tight and then can milk her. (Maybe!!! – but only time will tell once she has had her calf). In the next photo the front is down and in the next it’s been cranked up so that it can be moved.

Head gate lowered (in center)

Head gate raised (in center)

The “wings” of awning and the head gate are operated via cables.

Here Mike is letting down the sides – he has a bracer bar that attaches to the side to hold the awning in place and you can see that hanging down in the middle of the awning. The bracer bar acts as a stabilizer for the awning when it is up.

Here it is, ready to mooove. The tractor will be hooked up and then the two jacks on the front will be raised and he can haul it around the property. He has a series of underground pipes around the property that he can hook the hose to and the water tubs are made to swing freely, just as the old one did, so that they remain level even on all of our hills.

And, I know that some of you are wondering what in the heck those things are in the background of some of the photos. The round things are culverts which have been cut down to about 5 foot lengths and then filled with cut and split wood for winter. They work great! In our garage are 5 wooden carts that these can be put on (using the tractor with a "fork" implement) and as we use up the wood my husband and son move the empty culvert out and a new filled one in. Mike used to have to move the carts up and down the hill to fill them so this is a much better system. The square things are also wood carts that my son uses for firewood in the shop.

As Paul Harvey would have said – “and now you know the rest of the story”!

WINTER COWS - and mouse update . . . .

Just had to take a few cow pictures again. The calves are so wooly and fuzzy with their winter coats – and don’t they look stylish with their big purple earrings!

My husband “invented” something to hook onto the back of the tractor to unroll the big round hay bales. I got to see it work for the first time – and it really did! He cuts off the strings that hold the bale together and then drives – either forward or backward, whichever way the bale begins to unwind. (Apparently it’s hard to figure out which way the hay was rolled up, but it doesn’t seem to matter since he can either go forward or backward and the bale will unwind either way). It lays that big bale out into a flat swath of hay – and the cows go for it immediately!

I nearly froze my fingers off driving the Gator up to the field. By the time I got back to the house it was time for a cup of hot chocolate, bundle under the blanket and warm up – and it WAS above 20 degrees (I checked before I went out!!!)

* * * * * *

And now for the mouse update . . . . .
You may recall that there are (were?) mice in my car. 
When I cleaned it out I discovered that those little suckers . . .
      "And now class, for our vocabulary word for the day, change one letter in the word 'suckers' to make a  
       new word" . . . .
. . . had chewed a hole in the top of my left rear seat and chewed most of the way through the seat belt.  OMG!  There was no way for me to open that panel without tearing the car apart, so I placed a glue mousetrap around that area and hoped for the best.
Guess when I take it in for service next time I'll ask them to see what they can find down in that hole - wonder how many times they have been asked to become exterminators - and then get a new seat belt.
It's amazing to me how much damage such tiny little creatures can cause!

SHORT HISTORY OF RED DEVON CATTLE - INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!

On my recent cattle post, Christiane Kingsley noted she had never heard of Red Devon cattle.
Then, in my recent classes, we painted one of our cows, Erin. For some reason, the ladies were fascinated by her and wanted to know more about her and Red Devons in particular.

Red Devon cattle came over with the Pilgrims - you can eat them, milk them, use them for draft purposes (like ox) and tan their hide - all purpose cattle!

They also make great grassfed beef due to genetics (or so we are told!) They are also docile and a bit smaller than most cattle. I could go on and on – apparently they are the “wunderkattle” of the cattle world!!!

As far as docile – the 2 times they have gotten out of the electric fence they have stayed close by – including walking down the drive to the house! The other time my husband just let them stay where they were and moved the electric fence to re-enclose them, then moved them to another pasture!

Now, cattle have a “flight path” or "flight zone" - defined as a cattle's personal space. When you penetrate the flight zone, the animal moves. This distance that will vary from cow to cow. Our cows’ flight zone is “contact!!” My husband can walk right up to them, pet them, touch them, whatever! We went to a seminar to learn how to move the cows utilizing the flight zone – but I don’t think he will ever have to use that information! If he carries the bucket that he puts the alfalfa tablets in (like candy to our cows!) they just come running! My fear is that they will crush him while attempting to get to the bucket!

The only time we have had a problem (so far) is when he got 3 new cows and they got scared and took off. (Their journey from Tennessee being pulled in a trailer behind my son’s pickup, going 80 MPH down the highway MIGHT have had something to do with this sudden fear – I’m just sayin’). Mike and my son recovered 2 in a couple hours, but the other was gone a few days until the neighbor got her into his barn and they could retrieve her.

We are hoping next year for our first slaughter and will try the meat ourselves before we give it to any other “guinea pigs”! Our beef will be completely grassfed – absolutely no grain of any kind – and so far my husband is achieving his goal! I’ll keep you posted!!

(Of course, our farmer neighbors think he’s nuts!)
p.s. They may have reason to think he’s nuts other than this cattle thing, though!

MOOOO!

Meet Erin - she's our biggest gal - bossy as all get out! 

Here's the progression of this painting:

And thus ends the cow posts - at least for now!!!! 

MOOOOOOORE COWS!

We had 5 babies this summer; sadly, one died. But we still have the 4 little ones who scamper around with their mothers! Here is a photo of most of the herd – you can see the little ones – and note that one is on the “wrong side of the fence” at the top middle of this photo. Guess he/she has heard the old saying “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!”
The babies will wander under the fence, but come back when momma calls them!!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES - SUNNY!

Nothing to do with art, just cows!
Some of you may remember the birth of our first calf, Sunny, a little over a year ago. Well, here is a short progression – what a difference a year makes!!!!!

And – even though he’s an animal - he’s even got a birth certificate (imagine that!!!)

FEEDING THOSE COWS

Cows gotta eat! And eat, and eat!
These cows are pretty tame – as you can see by the above photos.
After Mike opens up the electric fence to the new area the cows immediately move into it, you don’t have to ask them twice! And they sink their heads into that new lush grass and chow down! The calf was so short he could walk under the fence and Mike has now lifted it a bit so he still can, but it seems he has also learned not to touch it! Apparently it’s good for the calf to go out ahead of the herd and eat the tastiest grass! (My theory is that, since he will turn into a bull, he most likely will always get the tastiest grass!)

The cows are moved daily to new squares of pasture and, believe this, there is NOT much “cow smell”!
My great uncle ran cows and they were usually in the barn when we went and “peeeyewweeee” did they stink. When you drive in the country and come across cows you usually find them huddled into a corral with a hay bale in the middle surrounded by brown “stuff” that ain’t dirt and they smell. Well, that’s not the natural way to do things.
As I said, our cows are moved daily and in a week (or less) you won’t even know they were there – the “poo” is disintegrated and the grass is beginning to grow up again. Unless you are standing right by their area you won’t smell anything! - and what you do smell isn’t bad.
Mike goes into the enclosure on a daily basis, obviously, to move them, but now he goes in some days to feed them alfalfa tablets. He wanted a way to get them to come to him but not use corn – our cows will be cornless their whole lives, except for eating the husks of the corn on the cob we have.
You can see how tame they are, a couple of them finally letting him pat them on the head. Now as soon as they see that bucket they are all over him! He’s even gotten bitten a couple times! Again, this is something I have no intention of trying – cows are BIG. (Once again, the dog agrees with me!)

So now you know as much about cow wrangling as I do!
(Well, not really – since I know all about getting them into the corral and running them through the squeeze chute and artificial insemination – and trust me, you REALLY don’t want to know about that!!!)

MOOVING COWS - Part 2

Above - happy cows will be tasty cows! (We hope!)

Moving the cows involves moving the electric fence. This is something I vow never to do and the dog agrees with me, since he touched it once and now hides behind the gator until we move through the opened gate and then he knows it’s safe to go in. My husband, on the other hand, has touched it several times (you figure it out!)

There are many wire winders involved, along with many white plastic fence posts that are easily moved, along with some metal fence posts that hold the unspent coils of wire.
The lengths of wire are called “runs”. You need at least two “long runs” that will go the entire length of the pasture area. Between those you have the “short runs” which change on a daily basis – he takes one down for the cows to move into the next area and then closes off the area they just left.

Naturally, the coils of wire do not come on the wire winders - you have to do that yourself.
My husband’s method is to involve three dining room chairs – two to hold the coil of wire on a metal rod and one for him to sit in while he cranks it onto the wire winder. My job is to stand and supervise. (I’m very good at it!) Of course, now we have 2 chairs with marks from the metal rod; oh well, you can’t expect it to last forever!

However, I digress . . .

The long runs have the white plastic fence posts every so often and they will basically stay a long time, until that run is finished. The short runs get their fence posts moved frequently, so he puts just 2 or 3 posts there. (These posts are neat – they have a metal spike on the end - you just push the spike into the ground a little and then step on the part that sticks out at the bottom and, if the ground is soft, they go right in).
Then the coil of wire for that short run will hang onto the metal post and he hooks up a short red wire with what looks like a red clothespin on either end – like a jumper cable – and hooks one end to the electrified wire (very carefully!) and the other end to the run he just put in and it’s now electrified!
The cows don’t seem to have an inclination to come out of the fence; neither the dog nor I will go anywhere near it; but, shockingly(!) the husband is in and out all the time.

Above - putting in a new run - unwinding from the spool as he walks.Above - winding up the wire to open up a new area - you can see the "girls" mooving toward him - they know they will be getting more food.Above - the electric wire - the spool sitting on the metal rod - and a fence post on the right side.

MOOVING COWS - Part 1

I’ll be putting up a series of posts about the cattle which will involve lots of photos so they will be very visual and thereby artistic! – and educational – and maybe even funny. But if you aren’t into cows, don’t give up on me! I’ve got too much going on right now to get much painting done and, also, just gotta keep the hubby happy, ya know! I promise more painting information will come soon!

Moving the cows involves a few steps. In this, Part 1, I will explain moving the “equipment”.

The equipment consists of the water trough onto which is attached the new shade roof and the water hose on a reel with the mineral feeder dragging behind - all of which is referred to as the “shademobile” - See Photo below:
First my husband has to open up a new area for the cows to be moved into (more about this in Part 2).
Then my husband backs either one of the tractors, the gator or the mower up to the hitch (sometimes this requires more than one backing up move, since he has to get it “just so” before it will hook up, and since we have nothing but hills, it’s not always an easy task). Then he hooks it all up and off he goes – slowly! He has to be careful about the angle of the hitch on those hills. Also, because of the hills, the trough is hung on metal rods that allow it to swing so it will remain relatively level. As you can see, the "girls" wait patiently for all of this!We have water lines buried and after so many moves he has to unhook the hose and re-hook it to a new water line. I even got to help do that (lucky me!) My job was to drive the gator to the next water hookup holding the end of the hose while he pulled the hose along farther away from me. That was not bad, I was on flat ground!

Below you can see a water hose in the foreground and Mike mooving the "shademobile" into the area he has just opened up. The "girls" already have their heads down munching on that new grass!The time before that I was simply driving the gator from one area to the next to pick him up and the hill I was driving toward didn’t look that steep so I didn’t have my seat belt on. However, it turned out to be so steep that I began sliding out the side - even though there is a tiny little piece of metal tubing that supposedly will keep you in. (That wasn’t going to hold in my less than tiny butt, I can tell you!) I began sliding left, hanging onto the steering wheel and shrieking before it dawned on me to hang onto the right seat, which I did - - but then it dawned on me that seat would fold down, so then I grabbed onto the other tiny little piece of metal tubing on the right side of the gator (are you getting this image in your head yet!) and drove to where my husband was - - - doubled over with laughter!

Turned out that part of the sliding problem was due to the fresh cow **** combined with the angle of the hill. But I made it! (Sadly – for you, not me – no one was around to take a photo!)

SAYONARA UMBRELLA!

Well, the cow umbrella is no longer needed.

My husband went to a yet another cattle seminar (who knew – they are kind of like watercolor workshops for us!!!!!!!) and learned that the water for the cows must be kept cool. So, that involved the creation of an aluminum roof that will not only protect the water from the heat but is larger for the cows to go under during the heat of the day.

They seem content! But I kind of miss seeing that perky umbrella!

CATCHING UP!

After a week of illness and a week to recuperate and get back into the swing of things, I’m still catching up – which is why I’ve been slow to blog.

Sunny Update
As you can see – Sunny is getting big (above). And that’s him with his mom and his other moms around the water trough! (below). They do like their umbrella, too!Computer Woes
I’m in the process of buying a new computer – and I’M AFRAID! But my computer is old – in dog and computer years it is ancient – and has been running v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. I’ve decided it’s better to update it on my time and terms rather than wait for it to die suddenly and then I’m really in a jam.
I always hear the horror stories, and I know I’ll have to go with that Vista thing and then all my Word documents will be different. And I must have access to all of my pictures, so I’m a little afraid of that process. And then, will all my “favorites” still be there? How does that stuff work?
Why do they have to change things that work just fine? “New and improved” – I did NOT ask for that!

This and that . . . .
Yesterday, a beautiful sunny, although unbelievably hot day, I spent a few hours driving with 10,000 or so of my closest friends on what we refer to as the “Cin-Day Corridor” – the miles of I-75 between Cincinnati and Dayton, OH.
And that’s when I felt YOUR pain. (Yes, YOUR pain!) Because I realize that even if your roads need fixing they will not be fixed, not this summer anyway. “Why?” you are asking? Very simple - there will be no orange barrels or concrete dividers in your area of the country with which to close down your roads. Because every single orange barrel and concrete divider in the country is located in the above mentioned “Cin-Day Corridor”.
Yep – they are rebuilding the road, and the ramps. And, did I mention they also built a new outlet mall. Which opened yesterday. And which was apparently only open for that one day, judging by the cars attempting to exit both Northbound and Southbound to reach it before it suddenly disappeared – managing to block all of the right lanes and part of the middle lanes to do so. Once again, great planning by the “powers that be”. Always open the new mall before completing the exit ramps to said mall, and, of course, wait until the entire roadway for miles in both directions is completely torn up. That’s a great day to open the new mall, don’t you think!
And this gets me to thinking of some other odd things we here in the Cincinnati area take for granted. We have a “Big Mac” bridge!!! (It’s actual name is the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, but since it’s got huge yellow arches it’s got a nickname!)
We also have “sun delays” during the morning rush hour. That refers to our western citizens heading east on sunny mornings. Apparently we are the only city in the universe that has these, and because of a “sun delay” you can be late for work and everyone will understand! “Sun delays” can also account for a large percentage of accidents, since you can claim you did not see that car approaching because of the sun blinding you. (Most of those accidents are not fatal, although maybe some of them should be???!!!!)
We say “please” when we mean “what” or “huh?” We say “excuse me” when we really want YOU to get out of the way!
And apparently we are one of the top cities in the nation for road rage (something I’ve had for years and which now has a name!) Maybe it has something to do with sun delays and the Cin-Day Corridor!

Don’t forget the Giveaway!
RULES FOR THE GIVEAWAY:
1 - You must leave a comment on my blog – don’t worry – I have the comment moderation active so if you don’t want the world to see it, just me, that’s fine; just mention that in the comment and I won’t post it.

2 - Each comment you leave will equal 1 chance to win – (so vote early and vote often – ha, ha). I will pick a winner on September 1 by putting slips with your name in a “hat” and drawing the winner (i.e. if you leave 5 comments on my blog between now and then, there will be 5 slips with your name that could be potential winners!)

Good luck!

POSSUM PALETTE

The other day I couldn’t stand looking at my palette – just had to wash it off and clean it up – which got me to thinking that I should share the following info with you:
Here is a photo (and this photo is of the cleaned up version, believe it or not!) of the palette I usually use – it’s called a “Possum Palette” – and is a bit more expensive than traditional palettes. I have been using this one for quite a few years.
As you can see, it has round cups that fit into depressions around the palette. The cups are plastic with attached lids – I have a few of them open in the photo. (The only problem with mine is that the cups will fall out if I tilt the palette – the newer models have a ridge in the cup holder area and they won’t fall out).
It comes with 22 cups, but you can purchase more (I think they come 8 cups in a plastic box).
There are a few things I love about this palette: (1) the paint tends to stay moist for much longer periods in the cups; (2) I am not locked into using paints previously squeezed out into my palette – it’s so easy to pull out one cup and insert another; and (3) since I sometimes paint on more than one painting at a time – it’s great to pull cups out and place them into a butcher tray for different paintings.
I am personally responsible for 30+ people buying these palettes – hint, hint to the company!!! If you want one you can purchase it from Daniel Smith or Cheap Joe’s (wait for a sale for a better price!!!)
I also like the butcher trays, but have recently found another product – it’s plastic and a bit cheaper and does not have that curve in the center that you seem to have with the butcher trays. It’s made by Mijello and is called a peelable palette – since you can peel off traditional acrylics. (That does not work for my fluid acrylics, though; I just wipe them off and hope for the best!). It works just fine for my watercolors, too. I’m pretty sure I got it at ASW (or maybe it was Jerry’s).
Anyway – just thought I would share!

P.S. - SUNNY (as my husband says he will be named) is doing fine - getting bigger - but I only see him in the evening when we take our gator ride and my camera will not take photos in low light, never has and apparently never will. So, for now, no Sunny photos!

IT'S A BOY . . . .

. . . . we think!

Here are photos of our new arrival – our first “grandcalf”. (I now have a “granddog” and a “grandcalf” – apparently the closest I will ever get to a “grandchild”).

Just a few minutes old and mama is cleaning him up. We were concerned about her mothering skills since this is her first calf – seems she knew just what to do.



A few minutes later – a bit more awake!


Trying to stand up, front legs first – not working for him! Trying again, back legs first – not quite there yet. I stood in the field several more minutes to try to get a photo of his first steps - until my husband decided he had better things to do, so I left with him in the gator rather than hike all the way back up the hill – we have A LOT OF HILLS to hike up and down. . . . .
. . . . which is why, several hours later, after he got his legs under him, the calf managed to fall/roll down a hill and wedge himself under the barbed wire fence. My son pushed him up the hill and he went to mama.
Then, yesterday, my husband informed me he couldn’t find the calf – then found him outside the perimeter fence (again, barbed wire, and my husband has the cut to prove it!) and carried him up and pushed him back under. This morning he said he can’t find him at all – one hopes he did not get carried off and eaten last night (we have coyotes, plus large neighbor dogs plus who knows what in them woods!) – I’ll keep you posted.
And, yes, I have now decided this must be a boy – a girl would have figured out the first time not to roll down the hill and under the fence – best to stay by mom for snack time!!!
If it truly is a boy – his name is “Sonny”. If it turns out to be a girl it will be “Sunny” – since mom is “Sunshine”!
p.s. Day 3 – Sonny lives! He was outside the electric fence laying in the tall pasture grasses – we were specifically searching for him and didn’t see him until we were about 10 feet away - the dog was with us and saw him too, but didn’t bother him and came immediately away from him when we called.

All of you real ranchers out there are no doubt laughing at us. All of the books on cattle that my husband has read and seminars he has attended – and he had to call two of the local farmers for pointers on baby calves! He had 9 cows years ago before we lived out here and we have seen the young calves laying in the fields – but neither of us realized that when they are first born the mother hides them. And since the area our cows are in gets eaten and trampled down there is no place for him to hide, thus he has to go outside that area in order to hide.

Guess we will be going day to day with him and hoping for the best until he gets bigger and more mobile.