End of the Trail and Cutting Hay
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Since finishing trailing season, we have been moving cows to their first summer pastures and vaccinating calves. In the second group of cows we trailed, there were a couple with pneumonia. When we got to the pasture to move them, we found a couple calves that had died. This goes to show that some illnesses can spread quickly, and we needed to doctor the calves that were showing signs of illness, so we didn’t lose any more. I was able to help doctor a calf, so my host roped its hind legs, and I was able to pull its leg back and get it to stay still so we could give it a shot. I asked my host what the shot was, they said they use RESFLOR a lot because it has seemed to work for them, and it is cheaper than DRAXXIN and still works well. It was great to see how they doctor calves because back home, we have to just push them into the chute since we don’t work them with horses.
When we weren’t moving cows and vaccinating, I was able to learn how to windrow hay in the swather. I first started by just watching how the machine worked and rode with them to see what would plug up the head and how to maneuver through the hay field. With that I learned about the different plants that plug up the head. There was a lot of Canadian thistles in the field I hayed, so I made sure to go a little slower so that the head had enough time to cut since the stem of the thistle is thicker. A couple other things that make the head easy to plug up is grass that has fallen over and is in tight bunches and already cut hay.
A couple questions I have this week are what the best blend of hay is. The grass I was cutting was alfalfa, oats, and grass. Of course, some weeds were in there like the thistles I mentioned earlier. I also would like to know how many times they are able to cut hay in the summer and how they measure if it will be enough to get them through the year.
Some concepts, I would challenge from this week would be making sure to have rocks and logs picked up from the hay fields. A couple times I got a rock that would get thrown from the swather head. It is a scary sight when a big rock flies from the head. I am glad it went into the field so that I could pick it up and didn’t go to the window.
I learned a wide variety of things this week. I am glad I got to cut hay since that is an essential part of having cows and we also cut hay back home so I can help out more if they need me to. I also have gotten more comfortable with riding horses. I have ridden my whole life but having three weeks straight of just riding, it makes you more confident and your body starts moving with the horse. That was one of my goals this summer, which was to strengthen my riding skills.
Submitted by: Danielle Wadsworth
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
