Such a pastoral scene...or is it?

The past several weeks in northeast Tennessee have been hot and dry, which means that every farmer in the area has been out cutting hay. For all the non-farmers in the area, that means there have been tons of picturesque hay fields to stare at while driving by, with tractors driving through them at seemingly relaxed speeds. But I'm going to let you in on the secret...that beautiful pastoral scene you pass on the road...all is not as it seems. Let's take a quick ride on the tractor....

You've checked the full level on the tractor - running a tractor out of diesel puts the machine out of commission for hours while you crack open the fuel lines - you've got a full tank. Time to fire up the tractor. Pull the lever into run position. Push the clutch. Turn the key. Alright, it's running now. Let's start out with the transmission in high range and put it into reverse as we're hooking up the round baler. Let out the clutch slowly. Back up to the baler and line the draw bar up with the tongue of the baler. When you're lined up, put the transmission in neutral and climb off. Now drop the draw bar pin through the hole in the draw bar and tongue. Hook up your PTO shaft to the tractor, and hook up your two hydraulic lines on the baler to the tractor. Make sure you get them in the right order or all the hydraulic controls will be reversed! Did you remember to check the level of your hydraulic fluid reservoir? Climb back on, we're ready to go bale hay. Oh wait, no we're not. Turn on the PTO so the baler chains start turning. Now climb up on the side of the baler and pour oil on the chains while they are turning so they get nice and greased. Ok, now climb back on, we're finally ready to start baling.

Shew - it's 90 degrees out! You're already sweaty as all get out in the full blaze sun! Let's drive on down to the hay field. At least there will be a slight breeze while you're driving to the hay field...the breeze from the exhaust pipe blowing right on your face. :)

Ok, we're in the hay field. Here's where things start to get interesting. We're lined up with the first row of hay we've raked up to bale. With your foot on the clutch, put the tractor in high range, second gear. Pull the PTO lever to engage it spinning. Now as you let out on the clutch, increase the RPMs on the tractor to 1,800 RPM. That means the PTO shaft on the back of the tractor is going to turn at 1,800 rounds per minute to spin the chains in the baler. Not only is that fast but it's also loud - I hope you remembered your ear plugs! Let's increase the fuel too as we let out on the clutch to increase the tractor speed and run the PTO. In the meantime, the hay is pretty thick so we better turn on the torque amplifier to slow down our ground speed. Ok, now, we're going forwards so you better keep the tractor lined up on the row of hay we're baling. Quick, look over your right shoulder to watch the hay feeding into the throat of the baler. Make sure you're feeding it in evenly. Better pick up a little more on the left, now the right, oh yay the row is big enough to fill up the throat so feed it in the middle. Don't forget to look forward to keep an eye on where you're going. Now look backwards. Now forwards. Now backwards. Watch out for that hole in the field! Don't run over the dogs either as they run around following you. We're at a corner. Don't forget that your baler turns sharper than you so overrun the row a little. Straighten back up. Watch your chamber full indicator. Keep it straight. Look forwards, backwards, watch out for tree limbs, duck! So on and so forth for a few minutes. Uh oh, the chamber indicator on the side of the baler is lined up with the full mark - the bale is ready to wrap with twine. Push in the clutch and put the tractor in neutral to come to a stop. But keep the RPMs up and the PTO running - gosh it's so loud! Turn around in your seat and kick the twine wrapper handle all the way to the left. Now don't get the twine too close to the edge of the bale. Keep your eye on the bale turning. Let it wrap for a few rotations (about 10 seconds). Turn the twine handle to the right a few inches. Let it wrap a few more rotations, count to 10 or 15 to make sure it's rotated enough times. Move the handle and repeat. Again. Again. Now you're on the right hand side of the bale. Don't let the twine get too close to the edge! Ok, the bale is wrapped. Turn the wrapper handle quickly so it cuts the twine and returns to its resting position. Turn off the PTO. Now pull up the hydraulic level so the bale chamber will open and push the bale out the back. Uh oh, the bale didn't roll out all the way. Engage the PTO just barely so the chains will push it out. Now turn off the PTO. Lower the hydraulic handle so the chamber door will bang shut. Slow your RPMs. Push in your clutch, put the tractor in gear and start over. All that in just 4 or 5 minutes tops! Now repeat, over and over until all your hay is baled! And don't forget to check your twine occasionally so you don't run out - that's manual, no indicator to tell you you're getting low. If you run out of twine, you've got to restring it. Not a big deal, but it's time lost.

So now let me ask you, was that as pastoral as it looked speeding by in your car at 55 mph? Somehow I doubt it. If you'd like to find out for sure, I'm sure there's a farmer close by this week who will give you a chance to try things out for yourself! Do your local farmer a favor - give them a gift certificate for a neck massage after hay season is over. There's going to be a huge crick in their neck that needs working out from all that back and forth head turning.

P.S. That's a haybine cutting hay in the picture, not a round baler. But you get the point.

All creatures great and small...want in on the action

Here at S&K Farm we generally deal with fairly large animals, primarily of the bovine and equine variety - fairly large creatures. Here lately, however, Farmer K has had several run-ins with creatures of the smaller variety.

Chapter One:
Farmer K was climbing on top of a trailer loaded with round bales to fasten a haul strap when something hit her in the shoulder. She noticed what looked like a clump of mud fall to the ground. A brief flash entered her head...why would a clump of dirt fall to her shoulder when there's nothing above her but the clear blue sky? About that time, the "clump" hit the ground where it ran off. Yup that's right. It was a mouse. It had jumped from one of the hay bales and bounced off Farmer K. The good note is that Farmer K was too busy fastening straps to react.

Chapter Two:
Howie and Catra are great mousers. They regularly bring little presents to the barn door for Farmer S and Farmer K. Last weekend Catra was playing with a mouse as Farmer K walked up. Catra became slightly distracted from her game and the mole ran into a clump of grass. Of course, Farmer K felt guilty for distracting Catra, so she nudged at the grass trying to entice the mole to make an appearance. Well, it did. Right up Farmer K's boot and down the back of her leg and off through the grass. On the upside, Farmer K saved the mole's life that day. And she didn't even screech!

The morale of the story...there are plenty of creatures left for Howie and Catra to hunt at S&K Farm!

That went well!

Do you ever have an afternoon all planned out...and things are going fine until...? Today was one of those days. Farmer S and Farmer K arrived at the farm to feed for the day. Feeding the first two herds went just like clockwork. Everything was smooth as butter. Then as the first bale of hay was being taken to the 3rd herd, Farmer K noticed a cow where it didn't belong...in the tree nursery. Farmer K and Farmer S went to investigate and sure enough there was Ginger where she didn't belong, and to boot she had a piece of barb wire stuck in her tail. A plan was quickly devised. You see, Ginger is smart enough to know that feed bags contain...you guessed it, feed. So Farmer S & Farmer K quickly enticed Ginger with an empty feed bag into the steer lot. From there, Ginger was enticed, along with the two steers, all the way to the barn with an empty feed bag. Ginger knows what happens in the barn and walked calmly down the alleyway into the squeeze shoot, where Farmer K cut the wire from her tail. She then followed the feed bag all the way back to the field where she belongs. And the two steers were their usual friendly, dog-like selves and followed Farmer S back to their own field.

Better behaving cattle couldn't have been asked for. That is if you don't consider that Ginger somehow managed to escape the field and get into the nursery to begin with. But who's concerned with details?

Just when you thought you've seen it all...

The farming experience is usually all fun and games here at S&K Farm, or at least a mixture of hard work and fun. The past 48 hours have been a little bit of a different story. At 4 PM on Thursday, Farmer K received a call that one of the herds (that's 83 head to be exact) were visiting on the neighbor's farm. Now that doesn't sound too bad...until you consider that particular neighbor doesn't have fencing between himself and the railroad, or really between himself and anything. To remedy the situation, Farmer K, Farmer S and Farmer K' sister and father descended upon the farm to save the day. The herd politely came when called and returned home...all 83. Just like that. So the humans worked on the fence and made sure the fence was up to par and headed home at dark.

Fast forward to Friday morning at 7:30 AM. Farmer S decided to do a drive-by the farm on his way to work at his office job. That drive-by prompted a phone call to Farmer K to say the big herd was out again...all 83 again. So Farmer K, Farmer S and Farmer K's sister and father descended upon the farm again. Let's not forget how wet the grass is at 7:30 AM...soaking. This time the herd wasn't as accommodating as before. After a couple of near stampedes and several attempts to group the herd up, all the cattle were eventually returned to their field. Fences were mended until 1:30 PM. At that time, all the cattle were settled down for the day and laying in the shade.

Fast forward less than 30 minutes...to the phone call from the neighbor that a cow had been missed when the herd was rounded up. After the 5 minute drive back to the farm, Farmer K determined no cow had been missed. Instead, 10 cows had pushed through the fence again. So Farmer K and her sister, plus Farmer S who left his day job again returned the cows to the correct field. At this point, exasperation was near so the entire herd was sent to the holding pen for the day. The remainder of the day was spent repairing the fence line...or so we thought.

Saturday was spent repairing the fence line, fortifying the line to hold the cows. Now you may wander why the herd suddenly had such horrid behavior. It's all because the grass is greener on the other side, literally. The neighbor's farm is a hayfield so the grass is all tender compared to the herd's pasture. In mid afternoon, Farmer S and Farmer K determined the fence was sufficiently fortified to let the herd out while we could keep tabs on them and continue to work the line. As soon as their pen was opened, the herd made a beeline for the fortified fence line, which withstood the test. For 3 hours the herd wondered up and down the line, bawling like the world was ending, nonstop. Eighty-three bawling cows and calves is a lot irritating noise. At about 5 PM, while working on the fence, Farmer K looked up and uttered an expletive - 20 cows were on the other side of the fence visiting the neighbor's hayfield again! So all the human's started scrambling. The latest hole in the fence was found and plugged while the escapees were rounded up. The entire herd was put back in the holding pen for the night...and that's where they were at 8 PM. Let's just hope they are there on Sunday morning.

If you want to place any bets, the plan for Sunday is to continue to work on the fence line but turn the cows into another field for a few days until they forget the sweet, succulent grass in the neighbor's field. Let us hope this works! If it doesn't, there will probably be a herd for sale cheap sometime soon!

Babies, babies and babies...a lesson on cattle calving seasons

Calving season is finally over with the arrival of this little fellar. We think he's kinda cute!

A little bit of education is in order for our readers...about calving season. A cow will cycle through her "heat" approximately every 3 weeks. After exposure to a bull, if she "takes" or "catches", her gestation period will last 9 months. Typically cow/calf producers like to expose the cows (i.e. let the bull do his thing) for a period of about 45-60 days. The purpose is so that all the calves are born within a fairly tight time frame, referred to as calving season. Producers like a short calving season so calves are all a similar size and weight when they reach selling age. A uniform group of calves will bring a higher price for the cow/calf producer at selling time. Here at S&K Farm our calving season has lasted a little longer than we'd like our first time through but we're just excited to say we've reached the end with only a few speed bumps! Now it's time to get these calves growing like weeds!

The Universal Truth About Farming...

...nothing goes according to plan.

This evening, Farmer S and Farmer K had planned to work on fences. The idea is to get the next field ready for one of the herds to move into. Seems like a reasonable plan for a Friday evening on the farm. That is...until the phone rang. Thank goodness for neighbors. One was kind enough to call and say "You have cows out on the railroad tracks!" Of course, upon hearing those words, Farmer S and Farmer K, both heading to the farm from different directions, proceeded post haste to the farm. Upon arrival, all appeared to be fine. Until...the steers were counted and two were missing. Using the ever present walkie talkies to communicate, Farmer S headed out on the 4-wheeler to find the miscreants, while Farmer K drove up and down the road looking in back yards, front yards and the railroad track. It is certain that all of the neighbors out mowing their yards were questioned about the runaway steers, and quite probably now think Farmer K is strange to say the least. Eventually the correct neighbor is questioned and the location of the missing steers is determined. Neighborhood boys, Farmer S and Farmer K descend upon the unsuspecting runaways - and spend the next two hours trying to get them back in the field. In the end, the two steers determined the best plan was to simply walk back down the railroad track and cross right back through the hole they had made in the fence. Not a mere 10 minutes later a train rolls through - but 10 minutes is all that was needed!

Despite all the threats from Farmer K about how she was going to put the steers in the freezer and then in her belly, they were still friendly enough to come hang out at the fence. #51 (not an escapee) was even inquisitive enough tonight to lick Farmer S's and Farmer K's hands. He may not end up in the freezer after all. Nah, he'll make a tasty steak!

We'll see if tomorrow goes according to plan...don't hold your breath!

And Howie gets a friend

Howie the barn cat did not come through on his hunting skills. Instead, he seems to enjoy being House Cat Howie and hanging out in the barn office.

So, welcome Catra to S&K Farm!

After several days of living in the barn office, Catra has settled in quite nicely and is already leaving hunting trophies in the barn for Farmer S and Farmer K.