Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Mowing again?

I went to mow yesterday afternoon after coming back from one of my paying jobs and found two separate flat tires!  When I parked the tractor the previous day I thought the front left tire was getting a little low, but I was not certain. I was certain the next day. I could have switched over to spraying but the mule had a flat right rear tire and the side wall was all cracked and rotten. So I had to take both tires off and Into Pendleton for repair. Luckily, on the tractor, I could use the bucket to push the whole front end off the ground. No jack required.  As I all things farm related they did not have a spare mule tire on hand, but it would be in the next day. They fixed my tractor tire and then put it in a plastic bag so it could go in my Prius trunk!  Everyone who is a real farmer drives a Prius!  The poor kid bagging the tractor tire was a little flustered. 
I drove back to the farm, installed the tire and took off mowing the upper prime field. I mowed for four hours and got about 8 acres mowed. When the mower is only four feet wide it takes a while. I am now ready to spray all the weeds. 






We are going to spray 2-4-D and see if we get anywhere with the grass coming back. If no success then I will start disking the ground and late this fall plant grass seed. I am not sure what that will cost per acre?  I will have to dig into the cost. I know it is around $1/lb for grass seed. I just don't know how many pounds we need. On a plus note, Annmarie said she saw a few male deer on the property. I put in for a tag with my father but we are limited in our range so I Would like to see a couple of bucks on the farm. I don't know if I have drawn a tag yet so it may be a moot point. 

Today I went in and picked up the mule tire it was ready. Annmarie called me to wish us a happy 21st wedding anniversary. I had totally forgotten. She just remembered yesterday. It gave me time to get her a redneck gift, something she can use and wants to improve on. 

I have a little more mowing to do on the back hillside. I want to mow the sage brush down. The sheep won't eat it and the patch is growing. The same goes for a bigger patch on the other side of the sheep fence. Hopefully, with the sage brush knocked down the grass can grow better. 

I picked up some stakes and twine to mark out the last pasture to be fenced in the upper bottom. I will try and mark it off tonight. I stake the corners and then string up twine on the whole length of fencing to be installed after mowing a path. I then take marking paint and dot the fence line every ten feet for a T-post and then put X on every corner and gate opening.  I like three wooden posts for every corner and two for both sides of a gate opening. I still need to purchase a 16 foot gate. I need two more metal gates for the opening by four corners but I need to measure the opening width still. Gannon almost has the fence tightened and reattached to the posts. We are making good progress this year. 


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