Hello from Deep East Texas

Sending the last 6 to the sale barn next week. Prices are still holding on pretty good. Got the feed room in the new barn finished and have enough 4x4's to build a little work bench...that will be Saturday's project. My daughter set up Apple Music on my cell phone (she and her husband have a family plan so she just put me on it). Listening to plenty of Stevie Ray Vaughn along with multiple classic rock artists. Rockin' out and workin' like a dog - wouldn't have it any other way.

Found a guy who may be able to help me get the big gasoline welder going again. Going to give him a shot very soon. Also going to take the 16' trailer to a guy for some much needed repairs. Dad and I built that trailer way back when I was in high school...it's due a bit of a facelift.

Once I get the work bench done and probably some shelving in the barn, I will probably start moving all of the welding stuff down to the barn...along with some other stuff from the old shop near the house. Will probably set up the table saw and other woodworking stuff in the shop by the house. It will be good to be able to spread some of this stuff out. Right now, walking through that shop could be an Olympic event...lol Put out a couple of bales of hay the other day just to see how they would respond. They kind of "eat at it" but there's still a good bit of green grass out there, which they very much prefer. Once the grass goes dormant, I'm sure they'll show a lot more interest in the hay....it's good, clean coastal bermuda.

Here's hoping for a good day at the sale barn next week...y'all take care.

The girls are showing more interest in the hay with this north wind blowing night & day...not cold but the wind makes it seem much cooler than it really is. Put out 4 round bales today and they are staying pretty close to it. Guess we are into the "4 bales and 4 bags of cubes a week" part of the year. Incidentally, the feed bags in feed room didn't have any holes gnawed through them...hopefully the rodent-proofing will continue to work. Will be getting the cows up for one last time this year to send the last six calves to the sale barn Tuesday.

Finished the little work bench (36" x 36" x 68-1/2") with the exception of a small shelf underneath. The odd length comes from using scrap 4x4's for the frame - just cut out the best part of them to use and that's what I wound up with. Pretty much just eyeballed the frame when putting it together. Before putting a top on it thought it might be a good idea to check it for square (I know, I know < that's for that one in the crowd who will say I should have been checking everything for square along the way - you know who you are...lol...there's always one in every crowd...lol, again). Measured across the diagonals - each diagonal was exactly 77-1/4" - not bad for just eyeballing it and flying by the seat of my pants...lol...ripped a piece of plywood for the top and used most of the rest for a vertical backboard about a foot tall. Not bad...it is definitely stout. Managed to get through that yesterday from start to finish with only one trip to town - that might be a record...lol.

Tractor has been serviced and a couple of minor repairs/adjustments made. Should be good to go for this winter.

Last week was four trips to town and not even starting on what I was wanting to do until after 1:00pm:
Started with first trip to town to get some feed. Came back home loaded a few things in the Toyota with the feed. Thought I would take the leaf blower along to blow out the sawdust from building the feed room...oops...need some mix gas - so instead of off-loading everything from the Tacoma to the 3/4 ton farm truck, thought I would just take the 3/4 ton...guess what? 3/4 ton wouldn't start...sigh. I have a little jump box at work but that wasn't helping me here...been toying with getting a second one so I can have one at work & one at home...sooooooo...unloaded everything from Tacoma to 3/4 ton and took the Tacoma to town for mix gas and a jump box. (If you are counting, that is trip #2). Got back, jumped off the 3/4 ton with the jump box with no problems but while jumping it off, noticed that the battery was pretty dang old...not wanting to have to fool with it later this winter decided to go get another battery for it...took the battery out of the 3/4 ton and loaded onto the Tacoma and went into town to get the battery. Got back home, switched battery, and all was well. Right about then, the missus pulls into the driveway and I notice one of her headlights is burned out...got her to raise the hood and pulled the offending light bulb out. Then, trip #4 to town to get a replacement bulb (they came in a pack of 2 that cost nearly sixty bucks - dang! those better be some dang good bulbs). Finally, a little after 1:00pm, went down to the barn to start working on the project that set all of this into motion.

Then, yesterday, made the whole day with only a single early morning run for a few pieces of lumber...go figure.

I am wore out just reading that!! Glad you got it all done.

Work bench is complete. Talked to some guys day before yesterday (Thursday) who are running underground lines along the highway...asked what they were going to do with those big steel spools when they were empty. He said I could have them if I want them...picked up two about 7-1/2 feet in diameter and one 5 feet in diameter today. Can make another round bale feeder with the big ones...thinking on what to do with the smaller one. Took them apart so now I have 4 big "wagon wheels" and 2 small ones.

We got the cows up Tuesday afternoon to separate out the last 6 calves for the sale barn. discovered that ear tag #19 had calved - a little black bull. That morning when I woke up, I walked outside and saw 3 stray dogs barking at a cow down in the pasture - then noticed that ear tag #19 had calved - a little black bull. (To re-cap, I lost a calf last year to a big gray dog and a couple of smaller red ones...same thing year before last.) Drove down there and ran the dogs off. Came back home, took a shower, and looked down there again - dogs were back. This time I grabbed the little Ruger 10-22 and went back. I hit the big gray one but not with an instant kill shot...he was running OK but yelping loud and for a long time - he was definitely hit. May have hit one of the red ones that was trying to escape under some heavy brush - yelped a few times and disappeared. My guess is the big gray one ran off and died which is fine by me as he is the leader. Haven't seen any of them since.

Went down to finish the work bench today and saw the red cow that I call "Short Bus" (she got her head stuck in the grapple when I first bought her) didn't look nearly as "well-rounded" as earlier in the week - she had a little black bull calf with her. She's being a good momma and has a good disposition but isn't overly bright. So if we include the heifer born at the end of July (either very late or very early depending on how you look at it), that makes 3 calves. I'll keep the July heifer. Of course, the two bulls will eventually hit the sale barn - next June-July.

The 6 sold were all heifers and ranged in weight from 425 lbs. to 605 lbs. and brought from $3.02/lb. to $3.45/lb. Didn't hit the 10k mark but I ain't complaining...a decent little check this late in the year.

Hi y’all…Been pretty busy lately. Have a new addition to the place.

Has come in pretty handy. Might have to pry it from the missus’ fingers though…lol

Got a couple of those big steel spools from some guys running fiber optics and built a good round bale feeder. The cows are going through hay a lot faster than last year. Had to build another hay ring so I can feed 5 bales/week instead of just 4. Finished painting it this afternoon and put it right into service. Maybe these 5 bales will last until Saturday so I can get on a weekend hay feeding schedule. I get off work at 5:00pm and it’s practically dark by 5:30 so feeding on Saturday or Sunday is ideal. They were tearing through 4 bales before the end of the week complicating things. Maybe a 5th roll will carry them to Saturday. We’ll see.

Here’s hoping everyone has had a good Christmas season. Haven’t meant to be unsociable but have been very busy over the past few weeks…been missing CT. I’ll have to do better. Y’all have a safe & happy new year. Hate to think about those raising cattle in the north…I was outside in short sleeves this weekend. Christmas in East Texas…lol

Incidentally, here’s a shot of the new grandson, Silas James

Have blizzard conditions today with 40 mph NW winds and below 0° tonight... cattle have mostly been eating winter stockpile and rejecting most of the hay when I give it to them... thought that they'd for sure switch that up with the snow/cold coming in. Went out and unrolled them some "sympathy hay" on the leeward side of my "tree barn" to fill their gut... had to go and push half the herd over to the hay after I unrolled it. I walked them over there about a half mile... they seemed "happy" as they arrived at it, but before I'd walked a quarter mile away on my way back to the tractor, they were already leaving it to graze the stockpiled grass again... This was taken this morning just as the storm was coming in. It had only been snowing for about a half hour and the winds weren't too much yet.

Pretty good Christmas "bonus"....

A cool front blew in today and the north wind pretty much blew all day long. Temps weren't bad but getting out in the wind made it feel a lot colder. Started out the morning having to separate some of the neighbor's cows from mine and herd them back across to his side of the fence - (his bull, 8 cows, & 4 calves)...went pretty smooth. Patched the spot in the fence where they came through. Then while I had mine closed up in the pasture by the house, went ahead and put out 5 bales of hay...then let the girls out and gave them a couple of bags of cubes. After that, mixed up some Remedy in a 2-gallon sprayer and hit a few thistles that are springing up here and there. There are quite a few so I'll have to do some more of that this weekend.

Still have a couple of early bird bull calves bringing the total to 27 animals. Keeping an eye out for more of those big steel spools - I'd like to build 3 more hay rings...then sell those made out of the black plastic pipe (bought a few years ago) and retire the one old one (1" square tubing). That would be nice. Got the horn installed on the gator (made the missus happy) - the cows have gotten used to the gator and come to it just like they do the truck or tractor. Got a few downed trees that need to be cleaned up and the perpetual battle with brush on fence lines continues. We haven't really had a winter down here yet...been wearing short sleeves in January. Did finally get some badly needed rain last night which was followed by a little drop in temps (par for the course this time of year - when it stops raining, temps go down - an East Texas thing, I suppose).

Here are the prices from this past Wednesday...this is where I sell mine.

Gman, I was in your area last Wednesday. I saw the best ryegrass pastures I have seen this year in the Nacogdoches area. Our winter pastures do not look nearly as good as your area. Center has a good market. Week in and week out it is consistently steady. I have known Randy a long time and he is a good guy.

BC said:

Gman, I was in your area last Wednesday. I saw the best ryegrass pastures I have seen this year in the Nacogdoches area. Our winter pastures do not look nearly as good as your area. Center has a good market. Week in and week out it is consistently steady. I have known Randy a long time and he is a good guy.

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Yes,sir...the rye grass is coming on...mine hasn't gotten going as good as some so far but it is showing...coming up through the dormant coastal grass so my pastures are a combination of green and brown. Ours usually comes in pretty thick a little later, say Feb-March.

Well, our winter time hit this weekend...lots of rain/sleet last night. Temps will be at or below freezing for the next week or two. Not complaining...got feed and hay out yesterday (took off an hour early). The girls are going through 5 round bales (5'x6') per week...that's 25 adults and the two calves born in early December. Some of the others are looking pretty well-rounded so I guess they'll start dropping calves...probably in the worst weather, as usual...lol.

Interesting development at work: Our Service Department has a Service Manager and a Service Advisor. The Service Advisor (young guy) is leaving after this coming Friday to teach Ag at Laneville ISD. The Service Manager is moving into a D-Tech position in a month or two. The new Service Manager will start this coming Monday. With the volume of business we do, they are looking to replace this service advisor and add a second one. I have been tapped for one of those positions. Going to training on a new computer system Thursday...didn't hire on to move up the corporate ladder but it looks like that's the way it is going...the bump in pay will be nice although we just bought my wife a new base model Bronco, so three weeks worth of the that raise will go towards that note.

I'm fairly comfortable using a computer (not an IT guy by ANY stretch of the imagination)...I can usually get comfortable with whatever application I need to use. Will be a bit of a challenge to learn the specific applications (there are several) utilized in the Service Department but I'm nothing if not persistent and brutally pragmatic. I suspect I will probably be tapped to move all of the info in our current system into the new system...has to be done manually...can't cut and paste from the current system but I have a plan to make manual transfer a little easier (still a lot of keyboard work).

So if you bring your John Deere equipment to the Nacogdoches store for repairs/service, I might be the guy you speak to in order to get the ball rolling.

Working on taxes...wonder how much we will owe Somalia(?)

On Taxes: Would have actually owed Uncle Sam about $185 but with no tax on overtime, Uncle Sam owes me $111. The no tax on overtime thing goes from tax year 2025 through tax year 2028, if anyone was wondering. Have to put running boards on the wife's new Bronco...not the automatic kind - they are a bit pricey. When she gets back home, I'll knock that out...hopefully fairly quick. Then, take feed down to barn and give some to the girls. The rest of the day will be spent working on a little barn "beautification" project...I'll upload pics when done. Additionally, I have once again been salvaging 4x4's from the scrap pallet pile at work...think I have enough to frame up a 20' work table (counter) at one end of the barn. That little project is a high priority as it will speed up cleaning out Dad's old shop up here at the house. Looking at moving all of the welding stuff down there eventually.

Weather has warmed back up and yesterday was beautiful. Highs during some upcoming days will get into the 70's. Wondering what spring holds for rain...we are a bit behind on rainfall...might have another one of those springs where the rain never seems to stop...then again, maybe not...we'll see. I expect another cool spell this month and one or two next month...that's about par. Also need to finish repairing one of the water troughs (all aboveground stuff so it shouldn't take long).

One more week as the "yard guy" at work then it's climbing the mountain of learning the process and software applications of being a service advisor. We've been playing around in a demo of the new system...my part doesn't seem too bad...just take a little getting used to. New service manager seems like a good guy...I'll have to do what I can to take some of the load off of him...his job and the shop foreman's job is like juggling 25 hand grenades and trying to keep track of which one has the pin pulled out...lol. I don't envy them a bit...hope he stays on a while. My current position is already posted and they are taking applications. Heading out to get on some projects today and enjoying this weather...man, it's beautiful outside today.

Here is the sales report from the Center Livestock Auction this past Wednesday. Prices still seem to be holding. Under 300 pounds bringing over $6.00/lb...wow!

And, steps are on the Bronco, water trough is fixed, feed is stored, and the girls got a couple of bags of cubes. The count was off by one so we went looking for the missing one - the calf that the stray dogs got after several weeks ago. He had found a hole in a fence…herded him back to Mama, then patched the hole in the fence. While feeding, ear tag #18 came walking up with about a day old heifer calf…so, I guess it’s getting time for the games to begin. Will put out hay tomorrow…barn decor had to slide to the back burner.

Here are a couple of pics of the little one.

I either missed it or have forgotten...What kind of business do you work at?

greybeard said:

I either missed it or have forgotten...What kind of business do you work at?

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United Ag & Turf in Nacogdoches, Texas - local John Deere dealership

Off-loaded a couple of Kuhn hay cutters at work…that means I’ll soon have some more 4x4’s once the set up shop brings them in for assembly/inspection…

gman4691 said:

United Ag & Turf in Nacogdoches, Texas - local John Deere dealership

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Ok, I remember now. I have worked at a few of those type places in another lifetime. Kubota, Komatsu, and the Ford tractor place in different regions. Always some kind of upheaval going going on in each. Battles between parts manager and shop manager mostly. Parts guys were bad about selling a part out from under the shop, to a walk in customer, that the shop had waited on for weeks even after the shop manager had already called his customer to say the part finally come in and his tractor should be ready that afternoon. I don't miss that part of it.