[J-L]

Welcome Bill. I’ve been to some places in SD. Some very productive country there. I thought there was a lot of old horse equipment layin around there too, but that was a long time ago when I went through.
It’s good to have more new folks here and some different perspectives are always welcome. As you’ve probably read, there are some interesting folks that post on here. Many people with great experience. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[J-L]

Thanks for the input Stu, I appreciate it.

[J-L]

I’m sorry maki, I’ve never even heard of one. I asked my dad and some others, but no luck there. Must be a fairly local machine. All I’ve ever seen here was McCormick Deering, John Deere, and Case. Oh and one Emerson Brantingham.

[J-L]

Looking great Eric. This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen. You might have to go into business building these!

[J-L]

Hello Jean. Is she a youngster? How long have you had her packing the bit around?
Some of my mules and the ones I’ve broken for other folks played with the bit for a while. Used to drive me nuts on the first one. I was worried that it was a bad habbit. When I got to using her a lot more, she just quit.
All of them have gotten over it and kind of hold the bit where they want it so I don’t keep it all that snug in their mouths.
I did put a curb with a roller in one mule to see if she’d play with that. It really didn’t interest her much. She was the one who did it the longest. I finally just went to riding her and when it became uncomfortable for her she quit.

[J-L]

Sounds great Donn. We were just disking up my alfalfa patch to put some oats in yesterday and the alfalfa is sticking up just enough that a horse could graze it. Wish it would get summer here. Going to feed cows again today.

[J-L]

It’s not a bad thing to mix them in my book. I bale hay with tractors. Haul roundbales to the stackyard with teams. Feed the hay with teams. I put the teams in where ever I can make them work. Raking hay, hauling hay, etc. I think it is just practical to mix machinery and horses/mules/oxen.

[J-L]

Pretty ambitious project blue. Where are you at exactly? That kind of looks like some of the country around Worland.

[J-L]

That’s my Madi. She is a free spirit if there ever was one. Had her out picking sticks for me and she just decided to hitch a ride. Cow turds do not bother this little girl. 7 years old and just loads of fun to be with. The biggest benefit of this ranch is spending time with my kids.

[J-L]

You’re so right about the turbo boost. I made a tire drag with a team (pair) in mind. Used it that way for a couple years and then got a 3 horse evener to use with it and found that I took about half the breathers with the third horse or mule. 4 head on there works even better, but less handy on corners. I’m thinking 3 head will be less cumbersome doing corners with my drill also. Here’s a few pics of my drag and a passenger last week between snow storms.

[J-L]

I’m putting my oats in this week Marshall. I’ve got to get some disking done first. All these snowstorms have put me off about a week. The ground should work up good though.
I know what you mean on the bigger team. When you do heavy work, sometimes you need heavier animals. I have a small mule team (900 lb or so) that I use a lot. Loads of try and heart, but sometimes just too little. Thankfully I have another team or two with more weight.
I am going to put 3 hd on my JD drill this year. I worked 4 on it last year and don’t think that was necessary. I will use the rest on the disk. Going to put 4 abreast on the off set disk and see if they can pull it easy enough to get the work done. Hate to use the tractor if I don’t have to.

[J-L]

I bet it’ll work for you Erik. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. It would be fun to go with you on a run. Great idea.

[J-L]

jac, one thing I usually have plenty of is good hay drying weather. That certainly is something i don’t envy about all you folks that live in wetter climates. That and the fact that I’m still feeding hay at just about a full rate. Not enough grass here yet for the cattle to go off hay. From the looks of Carls’ picture, that neck of the woods is greened up pretty good.

[J-L]

Snowing hard here in Wyoming this morning. I’ve got 3″ laying on the ground and it’s still snowing. Not unusual at all for us. It’s actually more surprising to have rain this time of year than snow.
We try to get our hay oats/alfalfa in the ground right before the 1st of May to catch these snow storms. It’s the best time to get it sprouted.
Back when I was in high school we’d planted 17 acres of oats to nurse up the alfalfa. On the 8th of May we had 34″ of snow. That crop of oat hay was unreal for us. Seems like there really is something extra in snow and rain vs. irrigating water.
This storm and the one last week have been a god send for us. Might heal up our snow pack enough for a decent summer. Some of my friends are starting to lamb right now though and I feel for them.

[J-L]

Cows are how I make my living also. We sell show steers and breeding stock as well. I can’t calve any later than I do as my calves already give up a couple months to most other producers.

I talked to a fellow the other day who was at Troyer’s auction. He said it was a lot of fun and there was an awful lot of stuff there. He came away with two sets of new spotted harness made of the granite finished bio. Three hip drop, lot’s of stainless spots, pretty nice stuff, for a good price.
According to him, there were some bargains to be had in the harness and some other things, but much of everything else sold well.
When my son is big enough to run things for a day or two, I’ll go there as well. He’s almost there (12 yrs old) in his eyes. A few more years. Maybe I’ll venture out to the SFJ auction one year too.

[Author]

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