Efficiency Is Key

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that "efficiency is key."  This post will illustrate why.  TJ and I discussed a cattle rotation plan and I thought we'd use an unused pasture to help maintain a winter reserve and possibly forego hay this year.  Problem is that particular pasture does not have a well nor a passive watering system but is in proximity to a river.  Since I thought I had a pretty smart idea the family created some partitions with electric wire and moved the cows in.

This part is to be expected, unrolling electric wire to create a temporary paddock.  One strand is sufficient for cows.

 

First mistake.  Since water infrastructure does not exist, how about putting troughs on a skid and moving them as the pasture is consumed?  Great idea, but now I'm dependent on something really big to tow with and...

 

something to fill the water troughs with, like a gas powered water pump.

Trinity is at the ingress end about to drop the hose into the river.

But... (or should I say "butt") the fence is still hot so TJ bent over and got shocked in the butt.  And then for some reason he used the fence meter to see how many volts bit him (which I think is the funny part, for me knowing it's hot is enough, I guess he's getting to the point where he can discern between a 6 or 4.5 kv shock).

Finally, got the pump working.  It is usually reliable but if you have a loose connection air will get in, or if you run out of gas - just more things to protract morning chores.  Not to mention this process takes time if all goes well, and when you add up the time required over months and years, you never want to implement something like this on a permanent basis.

Relying on equipment is never a good idea, avoid it whenever possible, the truck was on the way to pull the water trough to new pasture but... the water crossing was too high and I had to pull it out.

 

Or, there are those soft spots you've got to watch out for (I love our Toyota, all it needed was for something to drag it out so it could just keep going).

Besides getting stuck, parts break, like this intermediate drive shaft (new part is on the bottom).

 

Sure does feel good when it's finally installed and you're back in "bidness!"

Ultimately, paddock nirvana is the goal.  Look for how to incorporate natural sources of water (this stream is rocky and doesn't have banks that cattle will destroy) or a passive year round water system.  This pasture also has plenty of grass, a variety of forage and shade.  TJ made the decision to put them here after my great idea.

Now on to bonus material. We've also begun broilers for this year, except we're starting with smaller numbers.  Sammy can't wait to eat them (we actually recommend they be about seven weeks old and have spent a couple hours in the oven at 350 degrees).

We've also been given an opportunity to work with sheep.  In this pic we've finished corralling them in order to separate lambs from ewes.

Girl power shutting the recently separated lambs into a new paddock.  Tonya says she sleeps better knowing that this fencing is rated for Velociraptors.  Ain't nothing gettin in or outa that paddock!