Baling Hot

So today turned out mildly interesting...

First thing comes first. I almost didn't get out of bed when I needed to because at some point my electricity went out and messed up my alarm clock. Good thing I set my phone alarm. So anyway, we did chores. But this morning the bucket calves had to stay in so that Judd and Brandy could come with Hannah and Hadleigh and pick out calves for the fair! So, the little ones were mildly upset that I locked them into the corral, but they got over it.

After chores we got the horses in and Dean and Ross and I saddled up and loaded the trailer with a four wheeler too and I took us out to Hodsens where we thought we saw a bull out yesterday. Well, after going through the entire small pasture and not finding anything we decided that we must have seen a ghost or something because there definitly wasn't anybody in there. So, we loaded back up and took the trailer down to Scotts (just down the road) and unloaded there to see if we could find the bull that we thought was in with his cows again. Sure enough, there he was. I ran to go open the gate right away but in the mean time the fart jumped the fence. So i ran back and shut it and made my way through the let down he created. By the time I caught up with the other riders and the bull he jumped he fence again. Then, as Dean is shutting the gate his horse gets away from him...(what a crew). But we caught him and got going. At that point we had one more gate to go through. I ran up and opened it and then got on the opposite side of the fence that he was coming down- slightly unorthodox, but it kept him from jumping and ruining another fenceline. When we got him through there Dean went back to get the pickup and fix the fence with the four wheeler. I ran ahead and opened gates and Ross followed the bull. I got to the very last gate and basically the whole herd was right at the gate. Crap. So there I am scrambling to get them far away, but the way the gate is set in the corner there was really no place to put them so it got interesting. But, by the time he came over the hill I had moved them far enough that he just let them be and went in. We chased him to the corral and then headed back until we met up with the pickup.

We loaded up and just as I was driving out of the first gate Merle came up behind us (him and Judd were videoing some heifers) and said that he top wire of the yearling pasture was broke in a spot. So Dean unloaded the four wheeler and took off that way. The rest of us headed home and he would meet up later. When we got back and unsaddled the girls were there with Brandy and they helped put the horses out and then we looked at bucket calves. They picked a big tame red one that I call Panelope, and a little black white face that is tame and super cute! They had their minds made up before Judd even came out! haha...

We loaded up their two bucket calves in the big stock trailer (kinda hillarious) and then went in for some pizza and cake. After eating way too much and laughing over the girls and how cute they are...for instance. They were talking about the amout of kegs of beer they had at the wedding the other day and Hannah (7) says, "I thought there was only one cake?!" It was cute. they got to hold the baby for a while and such but then it was time for everyone to get back to work. By that time, Ross and Dean were cutting hay and getting way to far ahead of us so Merle and I headed across the road to finish the smaller field we started on. I was getting sleepy and bored right off the bat today so I got on the phone and talked to a lot of people until my phone was actually dying! Yay for fields will cell reception! We hayed all afternoon with virtually no problem unil about the last round when Merle gets on the radio, asks if I have a copy, and when I answer he says: "My baler is on fire, can you come over to the electric well and help me get it out." Um....yeah! So I put 'er in gear and flew over there. By the time I got here he had it pretty much out. We poured some more water on it and then went to figure out what caused it. A bearing in one of the top rollers went out and the roller is so heavy it just cut the bolt that was left and dropped and bent down. That messed upt he belts but the bolt fell down into some hay that was built up in the baler and actually caused the fire. When we finally got it cool enough to work with we strapped the roller up so it wasn't hanging so bad and then went in to mix up grain for tomorrow. That brace for the roller was pretty bent up and the outside belt has some holes in it and it looks like a small part of the electrical cord may have been melter....What a way to end the day. At least it happened towards the end and not earlier in the afternoon. The dealership that green lighted the baler has warranty that should still be good so if all goes right, they will have to come and fix it at their expense. We'll see. Until then, we probably won't be doing much haying. At least we got it out before anything got too destroyed!

Ross will be gone tomorrow and we have to load out the dry cows in the morning, so I'm not sure what will happen. I am assuming we will go chase after that black bull at Chief Bears or something like that. Guess we'll see.

"A little fire is quickly trodden out, which being suffer'd, rivers cannot quench." -William Shakespere