Tater Tots

I was watching a YouTube video on small shrubs and they talked about one called Tater Tot.  It is an arborvitae that only gets 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall.  

It sounded perfect for a rock garden.  And with a name that cute I was definitely on the lookout for one.  And imagine my surprise when I actually found them at Rural King.
 

I bought three and tried them all around the rock garden.

I finally settled on their placement and planted them.

Have you ever seen a shrub so cute?

I have also been planting a few more things, this dianthus that I divided from another part of the yard. 

A leftover Tommy Toe plant and a zucchini that I didn’t have room for in the vegetable garden.

Some candy tuft

and purple columbine that were one the clearance rack at Lowe’s.  I think things are coming along nicely.  

South Poll Sale

Friday we headed to Appomattox with Mike, Virginia, Sadie and Allie for a South Poll sale.  Virginia likes that they are small and very docile.  Mike likes whatever makes Virginia happy.

The breed is supposed to be good for easy fleshing on 100% grass, heat tolerance, and tender meat.  So they could be ideal for raising to sell off the farm for freezer beef. 
 Like with everything, there are a few really good marketers for the product (South Poll cattle) and then a bit of a cult like following.  The bred has not been in existence for long, since the 90’s, so the supply is limited. This all makes for some high prices. 

They had a nice location for the sale.  They also had a field day with lectures and a pasture walk, but with a toddler and a baby we thought it best not to try that.

There were a few yearling bulls, open heifers, bred heifers and cow/calf pairs.

Joe was a little interested in the pairs, thinking if he got a big price for the calf later, he wouldn’t have much invested in the cow.  Mike and Virginia were more interested in a bull.   But it didn’t matter.  Things went much higher than either of us wanted to pay.   I think people get overly excited at an auction. 

So the next step if we want one is to just find someone selling private treaty. 

Tick Control ?

 We have never used a back rubber before, but thought with the current tick issue we would give it a try.

I am using Ultra Boss with diesel fuel on the rubber.  I have face flaps, fabric that hangs down to rub on the cow’s face, but thought I would wait to tie those one once the cows get use to the back rubber.

We have hung it across a gate hole and put the salt feeder on the other side.  Now we will wait and see is the cows will go under it and if it will kill the ticks.

Door To Nowhere

I finally finished my door to disguise the power meter.

Except for the paint, I used all salvaged materials.
 

With a few more plantings I think it will blend right in.

Plus, it opens to allow access to the panels.

I am pretty pleased with the results.

Off To A Bad Start

We were going to go trail riding Sunday.  I had Draper and Hugo caught and brushed, the truck loaded and ready to go.  

 And it wouldn’t start.   After some tinkering, Joe got it started but wasn’t comfortable hauling the horses and then possibly getting stranded.  So after some riding around in the barn, I traded out Draper for Otoelene and we spent a couple of hours riding around the farm instead.

We went though the woods, 

Around in some rough areas, 

Down the gravel road,

Though the gorge, 

Checking the cows and found a new calf, 

And out in the field.  It was a nice ride, just not a trail ride.  Then in the afternoon Sadie was here and wanted to ride.  So after a little break, Otoelene was called back into service.

I really love Sadie’s riding outfit, the tutu is adorable.

And after some riding and singing in the barn,

We went out for another little trail ride down the driveway.  Sadie said she was ready to ride all day, but I’m not so sure.  Anyway, we had a nice ending to a bad start. 

Cattle, Goats and Sadie

Yesterday, we started out working cattle.

 Joe had once again done all of the preliminary work of getting the cattle up.  I just had to help catch and give shots.

We were only working our 22 replacement heifers and deworming some Herefords Joe bought last year.  Everything work pretty smoothly.

Then inthe afternoon we decided to get the goats up and work them.

I did the prep work for that.  Those little kids can pour through a fence like water so there is lots of hole blocking to be done.  Usually I get out a bunch of plywood.  But I saw a pile of old tin Joe had saved from when we had a new roof put on the barn a couple of years ago. It was much lighter to move around than the plywood and worked perfectly.

We banded all of the bucklings. I am pretty sure there were 3 boys to every girl.  I caught them all one at a time for Joe to band.  We then dewormed the nannies and I trimmed some of the bad feet.  It was a big job and we are glad that it is over with.  Today we turned them out of the kidding field to roam around the rest of the farm.  We sorted out the  two billies hoping we can keep them to use again this year.  And there are two nannies that haven’t kidded yet.  We will try to keep them with the billies until they kid.

Then Sadie came for a visit today.  She went with us for the afternoon  and evening goat feeding.

And she helped us plan the garden.

I think she really enjoyed the farm work.

It has been a busy couple of days.

New Sprayer

Joe got the backpack sprayer out a couple of weeks ago only to find out that it has started leaking.  I said I could try to work on it but he said he wanted a new one.  I guess sometimes you just want a change. 

 He was very happy to hit a sale at Tractor Supply plus he used our $10 Tractor Supply rewards.  He said he felt like he had a couponing win.

He has already sprayed several tank fulls.  So far it is working like it should.

Couponing #83

There was another clearance event this past weekend.  Since I have a pretty significant stockpile, I only get things that end up being free.  I think I did pretty good this time.

 $150 worth of products, and I actually made $5.85 after all my rebates.  They are paying me to take things out of the store.

Job To Do

Joe finally had a job for me and Otoelene to do today.

He had some cow/calf pairs to sort out from the cows that haven’t calved yet, and move across the creek.
 This job was right up Otoelene’s alley.  One of the calves was lagging behind and Otoelene kept trying to push it with her body or gently bite it.

That is nine more pairs moved out.

Then there was another job of moving heifers and their calves to another field.  They were all hanging out on a steep hillside in the trees.  It was tricky getting them started but once Otoelene and I got them moving it the right direction it went smoothly.

Awesome ride with an awesome horse.

Sadie and Allie Friday

Sadie threw up at daycare Thursday so they said she had to stay home Friday.  Since Virginia was working and Mike had things to do, I got to keep Sadie for the afternoon.  There was lots to do so it was a good thing she wasn't at all sick. 

We visited the dogs,

saw a new baby goat,

and lots of other baby goats.  Kid count - 112.

She helped me plant flowers and blow bubbles.  When she wanted to fly a kite I said we couldn't because the wind wasn't blowing.  Later, a little storm came up and she got all excited and said we could fly a kite now because, "the wind was on."

Later, Virginia brought Allie after daycare.  They enjoyed playing in the grass.   I tried to teach Sadie how to roll down the hill.  Allie crawled everywhere until her knees were green. 

Sadie asked several times to go feed the horses but we never made it there.  We will save that for next time. 

For now, it is time for the clean up crew.