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Ellisville Bison Dispatch |
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Well, the feed is all in for the winter! That’s a big job done. You might remember that we finished hay for both the horses and buffalo back in the July dispatch. Fall is the time to put silage up. Silage is just chopped corn….stalks, cobs, and kernels all mixed together. I’ve never done it before, but this year I wanted to try one of those giant white bags you see all over the countryside. It’s an especially good year to try it as hay has been scarce (expensive), and our corn crop at least locally, fared quite well.
The first task is chopping the corn. Here’s a pic of the tractor/chopper/self-unloading wagons we used to get it off the field. As the wagons were chopped full, we pulled them to my house with the trusty old Dodge. In the yard, they are hooked to a tractor that powers the “self unloader” and the silage runs up a conveyor to a second tractor which is filling the bag. Here’s a pic of the two tractors working side by side to fill the 100 foot long bag. The “beginning” is tied shut and folded under itself to form a seal. The “end” is folded down and covered (temporarily) with a couple scoops of dirt. Here’s our completed bag. Later, I’ll reopen the end and scoop out tasty corn silage for the buffalo to enjoy all winter.
Did anyone notice that Landon and I cleared the brush that was beginning to block the bison cam? I’m hoping to run an experiment this winter and locate the cam outside, near the corral for some real close-ups. The bird cam has been beautiful the past several weeks, though most of the leaves have fallen now. The garden is cleaned up with the exception of brussels sprouts and carrots which seem to keep just as well outside until the ground freezes. This is one of the last shots of the garden/orchard with some color. The turkeys I wrote about in May have been spending a lot of time back there. Maybe they’ll be on the webcam this winter. Also, Mom mowed the lawn for the last time. Here’s a shot of the last lawn mowing with some fall color in the background.
Chimneys are all cleaned and firewood is almost done with the exception of some splitting at Jodi’s. We got a start on it, but there’s still a small pile waiting. I built this wood splitter for the Bobcat. It has a 4” cylinder and can split some serious wood.
I see some snow on the North most web cams this morning. With ranch chores winding down, and snow showing up it’s time to focus a bit more on snowmobiles. Check out geosledding.com and the events page for info on the Iron Dog. It’s a 2000 mile race across Alaska. I’d like to do something with web cams to help follow the event. I’ve got some ideas so watch for changes to geosledding.com.
Larry |
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November 6, 2005 |
