[J-L]

Nylon just rubs worse than leather. If you use them very much, they all get rub marks somewhere, even with leather harness. I covered one set of Nylon tugs with a sheep hide and it still didn’t keep it from rubbing this particular mule across her ribs. The way she’s made, there is just no avoiding it.

[J-L]

Sounds like it’s going well Kirsten. Sheep men (or women) start lambing around the 1st of May here. It was -2 here this a.m. and would have been darn tough on a lamb.
Tell us a little bit about your flock. What breed or breeds etc.?

[J-L]

Please do feel free to look me up. I have a small ranch here and am home pretty much all the time (some where on the ranch) and if you need to lay up with your horses I have corrals and hay.
Most people don’t know about the Uinta’s. Pretty cool little mountain range that gets to near 14,000′. I live south of Mtn. View on the way to the mountains.

[J-L]

Hey CIW, thought you dropped off the edge of the world or something. CIW is a blacksmith by trade and does some great things with metal. A little beyond my ranch kid duct tape and baling wire stuff.

[J-L]

I live down by Ft. Bridger, Lyman, Mtn. View area (very south west corner). We all travel to the Pinedale, Big Piney, Jackson area a lot playing sports and hunting and fishing. I really liked the Hoback country and love to visit the Wind Rivers. I used to swing up through that country shoeing horses for the dude outfits as well. I’ve been doing a little thinning for private landowners around here to keep down the fire danger, similar to what you have pictured (but with mules). I’ll bet it’s been interesting going so far and wide working like you do. Makes for some good reading and love the pictures.

[J-L]

Nice job Ben. I wish I had known you were out here in Wyoming. Would have been fun to visit you. I have wandered around in the Hoback area a bit. It can be steep in places. Did you enjoy it?

[J-L]

I taught Ruthie the wonder mule to jump. It has come in handy a few times. I got cornered in some thick brush chasing cows and didn’t want to go back through it, so I just threw my coat over the top wire (4 1/2′ high fence) and jumped her over. My friends helping gather had to go back through the jungle with their horses.

It was easy to teach. I started with a pole on the ground and worked up from there. Just used the end of my lead rope or longe line and got her going over and worked up to level with my chin. If they have the confidence to do it, they can jump pretty high.

One downfall is that Ruth can now go anywhere she wants and does so frequently. Last summer she got busted by the cops (again) for visiting the neighbor (new lady from California). She was afraid of Ruth and called the cops to get the ‘vicious mule’ out of her yard. The vicious mule would walk over to her and try to get her arse scratched which scared this lady.
When I got up there the deputy was pretty nice about it. I jumped on her back and rode her home with no bridle, halter or saddle which made him laugh pretty hard. The subdivision is pretty well used to her now and don’t mind her visiting. Still, it’s the last mule I trained to jump.

I think you’ll have fun doing it and learn some things about mules at the same time. They can be a very fun animal to work with.

[J-L]

I just bought a Miller Big 40 (it’s not here yet, still in Rock Springs). I have been without a good welder for 5 or 6 years now and it’s been a pain in the neck.
I bought a cheap wirefeed from Walmart and should have saved my money. As I tend to make things out of the scrap pile (don’t we all) flux core wire and a cheap welder are next to worthless for that. It does a little better with new, clean metal.
I have welded with the torch as well, as a matter of fact one of our requirements in shop class was welding in high school. My teacher made us learn to weld with baling wire. I have had to do that a few times since and it works well.
When I’m welding the heavier metal, I like the 7018. That stuff makes for a good, stout weld. I did use a friends Hobart gas shielded wirefeed. For most things, that’s a good welder.
Everbody ought to have a grinder anyway, they come in handy for a lot of things besides grinding off my Turkey Turd welds.

[J-L]

I’d say yes to that question. Mine do both most every day. I think it makes them better for it in all honesty. The more different jobs you do with an animal the better they get.

[J-L]

Big John, you’re a good sport for putting that one up for all to see. Just looking some sulky plows, they look like they could be prone to doing just that. With all the rocks I have around here (big rocks) I think I’d be bucked off my plow more than I’d be on it.

[J-L]

Geoff, I’m not an expert on plows by any means, but that’s in better shape than anything I’ve found. I have another JD two way plow that may be a parts machine. That’s usually what I find around this rock pile we call Wyoming.
For what it’s worth, that plow doesn’t look bad from the pictures. If you can get it bought reasonably, I’d do it.

[J-L]

Looks like that works great Tim and nice team.
My bales are heavier and sometimes frozen down. I straightend hay hooks doing that. Lostfarmer’s neighbor made me a couple pairs of stouter hooks that are 5/8 inch high carbon steel. They work very well.
What you demonstrate is that you can do anything with a round bale with a broke team. Roll it, turn it, tip it, what ever. Just a simple skid works fine for moving them a ways.
I like seeing us all using our brains to figure out a way around using tractors for this kind of thing. It’s actually fun. One thing I’ve noticed is that the more of this you do with your teams, them better their handle gets. It’s similar to pulling logs out of the timber in that you have to manuever in tight spots (in my stackyards) and do lot’s of backing, turning, etc.

[J-L]

That’s a pretty little team of mules. I like my mules for the same reason you mention. They (most of them) will wait for you to get them out of a bind like that, without getting hurt or tearing up your equipment. I’ve had mine stuck a few times in big drifts or bare spots, bogs, whatever. They usually look back at me like “Way to go dummy, now get me out of this mess.”
I have one black mule that will lay down until I go up to her head and talk to her, then she’ll get back to her feet and let me help her out. You can’t get her to do it with a whip, or cussing. Funny animals, some times they’re more like a dog or a little kid.
The method that Donn describes is how I break a trail in the deep snow. Usually when I go into a new stackyard or whatever, I have to break a trail like that so I can get the bobsled in and out. It works better than just baling into it hooked to your sled.
Thanks for the pictures. Nice mules.

[J-L]

There were a few 7′ mowers around here. My uncle still has the #4 JD that he and my dad used when they took over running this part of the ranch from my great grand dad. They used it with a good sized team for that time (1600 lb or so).
I asked my uncle if it was any worse than other mowers and he said he liked it fine. He also said they were almost fanatical about having the knives sharp and the mower timed though.
I found it hard to believe that it would be that useful on heavy grass hay. In that day they didn’t fertilize, but according to my dad they still put up some good hay crops at times.
With the little bit of mowing I have done with my 6′ mower, I don’t think I’d want a 7′ though. Hopefully this summer I can get my 5′ mower running and see which bar length I like the best. Interesting stuff.

[J-L]

Our situation is similar to Near Horse’s. Damn little snow. We are getting very nervous about next summer and I am considering buying some cheaper hay right now as I may not be able to raise enough judging from the snowpack. But we had the same situation last year and April 1st or so we had 2′ of snow one night and then June came along and we packed in a bunch of snow.

Jason, you’re experiencing a Wyoming like winter there it sounds like. Most years we are in your situation but are used to it. Still, long about the middle of March you get really sick of it. I’m starting to tire of even this mild winter we’re having.

My dad always told me no matter how easy the winter was, try to have half of your hay left the 1st of March. That way you can make it ’til turn out on grass in this country. I should be in good shape this year. We’ll see about next. Loooong way until spring yet.

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