Cutting Pipe & Working Gravity Pivots
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I was joined this week at the ranch by another intern; she is a part of the Angus Association Internship, or the Talon Internship. Getting along with Morganne is not a hard job. I feel we work great together and have learned a lot from each other in the short time we have known each other. Morganne is from Missouri, so this part of Nebraska
is new for both of us. I have been through Nebraska this way, but I have never stayed for a long period. Morganne and I have had our fair share of laughs and scary times on the ranch so far. On Wednesday night, we heard a mousetrap go off in the bunk house, and come to find out the mouse was still alive the next morning, and it may have gotten away when we both screamed. On Saturday, Morganne and I were sent out by ourselves to take down some old fence. On our way back with the wire, we saw a rattlesnake crossing the path we needed to take. Morganne was adamant we needed to kill the snake, and I couldn’t have cared less if we did or not. I wanted nothing to do with the snake. Finally, she attempted multiple times to kill it, but we were both too chicken to get the job done.
This week consisted of a few different experiences. There was a lot of rain, so we did have some downtime at the beginning of the week as well. Monday, it rained pretty much all day, so we couldn’t do a lot, but we did manage to cut a lot of pipe. The pipe will be used for the continuous paneling fence of a feedlot pen we will be putting up this summer. All together we cut about 40 pipes. We will eventually have to cut more, but this was a good start. Last week, my host and I put in new H-braces for the barbed wire fence alongside the road. On Monday, we had to put the fence back together. He welded the caps on the top of the H-braces, as well as staples to hold the wire in place.
Tuesday morning, I worked with Mike in the shop, cleaning up from cutting the pipe on Monday. Talking to Mike is always a chance to learn something new. He loves to talk about the history of this ranch and how they were able to buy it. They had a huge flood in 2015 that wiped out a lot of the fences, so putting in this continuous paneling should help if there were to ever be another flood. In the afternoon, Morganne and I were sent out to catch the fence where the “old moms” will be moved to sometime next week.
The middle of the week was very cold and rainy. We have been putting in a lot of new H-braces in the area to better the fence in order to lower the risk of them getting taken out again. Morganne, Michael, and I worked through the cold and misty rain to level and line up the pipes. After that, Morganne and I were tasked to continue fixing the fence from Tuesday. Thursday morning, I was sent out on my own for the first time to check and put out mineral for the cows. After I was done checking the cows and bulls, I was able to meet up with Morganne and Michael to switch over the gravity pipe. I have been around gravity pivots before, but I have never switched them, as we don’t use them at home. This was a new experience for me.
To wrap up the week, Morganne and I checked the cattle and went to open and close different parts of the gravity pivot. The rest of the day was spent picking up wood from fallen trees, weather-proofing the flatbed trailers, and starting to fix some more fence. Saturday, we checked the cows and bulls again and laid out mineral, as well as switched the gravity pivot openings. We were also sent to take down the old fence at Hall Place. Here, I ripped a couple of holes in my gloves from the barbed wire, but on the bright-side, we saw lots of baby bunnies.
This week was great, and I’m so excited to learn more about the operation and gain more knowledge from Michael and his grandparents.
Submitted by: Tamryn Klein
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
