Ranch Management Task Likes and Dislikes

[boondocks]

Love love love to set polywire and step in posts on a huge field on a nice fall day. We have woods on every side and it's beautiful when the leaves are turning. I usually do it all by myself (loving it) then complain mightily that I had to do it all myself ;-) .

Hate: when I'm done polywiring, get the electric going and the cows turned in, then come dark the deer tear it up (yes, even with flags everywhere on it), and there goes the fence. (And, once, the cows. Whole herd).
Next day: lather, rinse, repeat. Set fence, deer take it out.
Did that about 5 times last fall. It got old real fast, checking and fixing fence at midnight and again at 7am.

Love seeing calves born, of course. From a bit off (eg unassisted!)

Good thread

 

[torogmc81]

Love:
Dragging pastures. Greatly enjoy watching dry patties get pulled up and blown to pieces!! :banana:
Buying and selling.
Working calves/cows
Letting the heard out in spring onto green thick pasture
Don't mind fencing and improvemnts because it is a necessity

Hate:

Mud mud mud
Checking fence on foot for grounded hot.
Checking/ thawing water fountains in frigid cold :frowns:

 

[Nesikep]

Only thing worse than mud is icy, windy rain.. especially if it makes a 4" thick sheet of ice over the whole place.

I drag my pastures with my truck.. far more comfortable, way more power, has a cab, tunes, suspension, and cupholders.. I realize some of you may have that in your tractors, but not here!

Aaron, I'll do your fieldwork if you mend fences here.. I don't mind going back and forth with a plow, discing is a little less enjoyable to me, seeding is stressful because you only get one shot at getting it right, and you better not run out of seed!

I enjoy occasionally milking my 'milk cow', at night I often go for a walk through the field where the cows are and say hello, lean up against them when they're laying down and chewing cud, looking at the stars.. It's my form of yoga.

Electric fencing I'm pretty good at.. I roll up the old wire (poly) with a cordless drill.. 1/4 mile in a minute or two.. I ride my bike down the line and can flip the wire off the insulators in a split second without stopping, posts usually come out OK and I don't need to get off the bike, can carry a good dozen usually... sometimes I'll tow the little trailer behind me and throw everything in there.

 

[john250]

Horses are far more honest than people

Well, that sets the bar low enough. :cry2:

 

[JW IN VA]

I like it all as long as my equipment is running. I like working on stuff, just not when I need to use it.

I dislike paperwork .

 

[M-5]

I dislike short winter days. Love everything else especially breaking land in the spring

 

[herofan]

I don't mind hard work in the hot sun, it's the type of job I don't like. I like jobs where I have the tools for things to run smoothly and it's a cut and dried task where I feel like I've accomplished something at the end of the day. With that said, I enjoy working in the hay, bush-hogging, or basically anything directly working with the cattle.

I dislike jobs that take much longer than anticipated due to some unforeseen issue and not having the tools needed. I could fence new areas all day, but I hate working on old fences where you spend all day cleaning out the briars and such. Another example: we put up a new outdoor hydrant that had to be dug out. It was old, so we had to be careful to not tear up something. Joints were tough to unscrew and old clips were hard to get off, etc. We spent much longer than I thought it would take.

 

[M.Magis]

I dislike jobs that take much longer than anticipated due to some unforeseen issue and not having the tools needed.

That's every job I ever start.
I enjoy doing anything with the cows, and really love to look at a newly completed fence. It usually only looks new for a short time, then the deer get it all stretched out. Sometimes in the summer I like to park the Ranger and just sit and watch the cows for a while. Not sure why, but it's relaxing to me.
I really dislike chopping ice in the winter.

 

[A.J.]

I really enjoy turning the cows into good grass this time of year. I like most cattle and field related work. Fixing fence after a bull fight or wash out aren't exactly my favorite things though.

One of the parts I hate the most is when I have to sell or bury an old cow that I like and have had for a long time and that has been a good calf raiser for me. Accidents happen, and age just catches up with them sometimes. It's just part of it, but it doesn't make it easier sometimes. The money from selling them definitely helps, but with a small herd like I have it takes a while to get used to going out in the pasture and not seeing or hearing them anymore.

 

[Nesikep]

AJ, I lost 3 of my closest 'pets' in a 18 month span.. One from heat stroke at 3 years old, one from a real stroke at 9 years old, and one that I had to put down because of her arthritis at 18.. That was a really hard one to do and I procrastinated about it until it was nearly too frozen to dig the hole. The one that had the stroke was one of those "acts of God".. she started behaving lost, circling.. took her to the vet and he couldn't find anything evidently wrong, then a month later she fell or laid down wrong and was bloating.. she hadn't been getting better so I put her down then and there.. Only got one daughter from her which is unfortunate, but she's doing very well.

 

[TexasBred]

I never realized so many people had so many ragged fences that they had to constantly work on them. :lol2: :lol2: :hide:

 

[Jake]

The worst job in the world is rolling up electric fence. I can handle doing anything else on the place but I will do my damnedest to not have to roll up wire.

 

[A.J.]

Dang Nesi. That's rough. Glad you at least have one daughter out of her to carry on. Seems like bad stuff always happens to the good ones .

 

[greybeard]

I hate trees and everything involved with them, fencing around them, cutting them off fences, picking their limbs off fences, pulling them out of the pond or off the road--They obscure the view, acidify the soil, drop limbs and trunks across the powerlines--------------they're the devil's own spawn.

I like spraying weeds and..... killing trees.

 

[Jake]

I hate trees and everything involved with them, fencing around them, cutting them off fences, picking their limbs off fences, pulling them out of the pond or off the road--They obscure the view, acidify the soil, drop limbs and trunks across the powerlines--------------they're the devil's own spawn.

I like spraying weeds and..... killing trees.

I need a "like" button for this one. I wish every tree on our place was burned up.

 

[slick4591]

I like it all. Unfortunately, I have a knee and back that tells me to limit the ground work, but I'll work the cows all day long if I'm able to hold up.

 

[Deepsouth]

I love calving season!

I hate calving season!

 

[Rafter S]

I hate trees and everything involved with them, fencing around them, cutting them off fences, picking their limbs off fences, pulling them out of the pond or off the road--They obscure the view, acidify the soil, drop limbs and trunks across the powerlines--------------they're the devil's own spawn.

I like spraying weeds and..... killing trees.

But they make shade. That's a good thing in our part of the world.

 

[greybeard]

humanwise, Shade is for old women, little children and city folks. If I just have to have it, i'll sit in the shadow of a tractor tire or wear a hat.

 

[herofan]

I hate trees and everything involved with them, fencing around them, cutting them off fences, picking their limbs off fences, pulling them out of the pond or off the road--They obscure the view, acidify the soil, drop limbs and trunks across the powerlines--------------they're the devil's own spawn.

I like spraying weeds and..... killing trees.

But they make shade. That's a good thing in our part of the world.

I understand both sides. I like wooded areas, but I wish there wasn't a tree within a mile of my fences, and i wish every little corner didn't try to grow up if it's not attended to for a while. Most of our roads through the woods are more like paths; they have trees on the edges that i wish were cut back a few more feet. I'm quite handy with the weed spray and chainsaw myself.