Bad day to be a hay bale.

Good old Sam, we need a cattle thread.

Richard, we are finishing out on some premo bales and they ground up quick.

Could barely keep up.




Speaking of cows this afternoon we bought 20 more.


Market is low, time to buy!

Sam, we had some flax straw bales a few years back they made the big grinder stop, and reverse directions.

I assume the truck has a PTO to run the grinder?

Oh yeah, a heavy(dense) bale will make the tub spin out.


This was the little setup.

425HP from the truck.


When Cy pulled up with this one I asked where the big chopper was running and he said it was actually on it's way to Billings to get a new crankshaft.


That one is 650HP 'direct drive'.


I mean what could I say, sorry man.


You could feel the power when it lugged down and the tub spun out.

He said it was running at 2200 RPM when he thinks it happened.

Thanks for the pics. We can never fathom the investment you guy have in equipment just to keep us all fed. Thanks for the endless work the farming community does.

pretty much how i felt this morning and still do.

Sam help a dude out.. when do you chop hay,why do you chop hay and what percentage of your hay through the year will you chop?

I could use some great steaks.

Doc, the grinder pictured gets it's power from the truck engine. Must be a hella stout 'transer' box!



Gopher, I should clarify that we hire the grinder work, that is not our machine. They are indeed quite expensive and it would make no sense for us to buy our own. I forget the rate, around $200/hr I think.



Roger, felt like that song more than once!






Salty,we chop maybe 3-5 times per year, Nov-April. The hay gets chopped so it takes on a 'mixable' form and in turn gets blended with corn silage and a 3/16" pellet in a mixer wagon. That is our feedlot ration. My dad mixes the loads so I'm not sure how many ton of actual ground hay we use a day.

This season we've probably ground up about 400 full size(1300-1600lb) round bales and that would be roughly 25% of our hay supply not including straw. We recently sold our feeder calves so that makes a big difference in how much ground hay we use.


I'll bore you all with the same old hay pile pics but it kinda gives an idea of how it works.

The baby yuppie tractor is pulling a mixer wagon. You dump in whatever feed you have on hand and it mixes it all up with three giant augers. The wagon has load sensors and a scale/weight readout monitor so you know exactly how much you are dumping in.

Far right in the pic is a pile of silage, left of that is a pile of the chopped/ground hay, the open end building holds the pellets and to the left of that is another pile of hay.




We get the pellets delivered from a feed mill. Had a delivery a couple hours ago. Uber handy.





Snake, inside my shelter now sipping on a beer. Man this cow farmin' is tough!

I remember you finding that tractor. Looks like it’s a good one and treating you well.

Always, you might be thinking of a different yuppie tractor. Lil Sweets(above) has had a few issues.... F'n computers do NOT belong in tractors.....




I bought a 2001 model that I bragged about..... That one is a bad ass machine.

Yes, thank you

Last week in December, watched Wagonhound Ranch doing the same for their cattle. That evening, about 300 elk came down to partake in the feast. Just got to watch with a zone 7 cow elk tag, a half mile away.

Did they get that hydraulic remote issue fixed, Sam?

Hanco, no need to be thanking, it's just like any business, you gotta invest in your livelihood or you could go broke!



We have a SMALL amount of money tied up in machinery compared to the BIG farmers that run newer equipment.

But at least all of our stuff is paid off. And it's pretty decent equipment for what we do.

Barry, a hose hasn't popped off yet but I still have to heat the solenoids when it's 'really' cold overnight(-20F ambient). Hasn't been an issue but 2-3 times so far this easy winter!

Better than last year!

Last winter was a nasty cold one.



It is currently a flat out mini blizzard here on the edge of town.


White out central looking out the window!

Supposed to get down to 32* here Thursday morning!

Yikes!



Trees are budding out already. Guess that's our Easter spell.

Hopefully only 33F....



Our little bit of snow disappeared over the weekend but a fresh 4-6" of wet stuff fell from the sky so far today. It's cooled a little now and the snow is turning to powder.

Learn something every day around here 😀

Man alive, that's like a 5 star buffet kitchen for cows going on there! Thanks for the explanation of the feed process Sam I thought there was just hay, or silage but not such fancy recipes going on. You guys have it down to a science there purdy cool....

Everything looks easier from the road.

yeah, thanks Sam. The scale of what you guys do as independent ranchers/ farmers is very impressive. Small business does not seem to apply. What you guys do everyday makes "outdoorsman" seem like a joke.


mike r an outdoorsman

The farm I work for part-time does indeed have it's own bucket grinder like the one you show above - but it's the 'trailer' version and run usually by the old IH 1066. The grind up cornstalk bales to use as bedding for the young stock...