Welcome to the Ranch!

Our new hay barn.

Months ago I wrote an article, “A Dozer of a Day,” which told of our preparing for the site of the new hay barn.  I have been remiss in announcing the completion of the project.  We not only have a new hay barn on site, but it is filled with fresh hay for the up-coming winter.

With careful planning, the new hay barn at Cross Creek Cattle Company meets all of our needs.  The barn is huge!  It is has plenty of room for our hay.  We have filled it with round bales.  There is also room for our tractor implements.  The barn also has a covered area for our ranch truck and cattle trailer.  It is better for your equipment to be under cover.

In addition to plenty of room to keep our round bales of hay and ranch equipment, the construction of the barn was well-thought out.  It has vents at the top of the walls to let out the heat as it rises.  It is covered by three sides and has high gates on the fourth side, with which to deter any cow from trying to enter.  In other words, the barn is well-constructed and stout.  We are very happy with our hay barn.

In our horse barn, we have a feed/hay area, which is completely enclosed.  Square bales are stacked neatly and fill the whole room almost to the ceiling.  We are prepared for whatever winter throws at us this year.

A double stack of round bales.

Last year we had a very odd winter.  We had three snowfalls.  It froze almost every night for weeks.  We consider it a hard winter for our part of the United States.  This year we don’t know exactly what to expect.

However, there are signs in nature that you can observe.  First, check your animals’ coat.  Both our horses and cows are still slick.  They have not begun to grow a thick, winter coat.  Last year, we had never seen them get so hairy.  For this reason alone, we do not expect a very hard winter.

Obviously this is not a very scientific method at weather prediction, but how often are trained meteorologists actually correct?  Regardless of the winter that is coming, our livestock will have plenty of good hay to eat.  It is stored in covered barns and protected from the weather.

After all this extreme heat last month, I am personally welcoming a change in temperature.  Welcome autumn and come on winter!  We are ready for you.

Now that we have our new horse facility built and occupied, we are working on another project.  We are building a hay barn.

Hay is an important part of any grass fed beef operation.  Grass does not grow in the winter.  At some point, ranchers have to put hay out for their herd.  The weather can really deteriorate the quality of the hay.  Too much rain can make the hay moldy, which is dangerous for animals.

The future spot for our hay barn.

We are in the beginning stages of building a barn in which to store round bales of hay.  Square bales are easier to manage.  I can lift and stack square bales without the aid of machinery.  Square bales have a place in the horse barn.  They are easily fed to the individual horses.

You can feed square bales to cattle.  It actually works well for a small herd.  There is little to no waste as the cattle clean up all the hay on the ground.  Square bales allow you to spread out the hay so that the cattle have more room in which to eat.  You can drop smaller sections of the square bale in a long line, which decreases the amount of butting and pushing in your herd.

You must have a place to store square bales though.  They can get wet and moldy easily.  Another downside is that you have to put out hay everyday.  It is more labor intensive.

For the size herd we are running at Cross Creek Cattle Company, round bales work best for us.  My husband puts out several bales at a time with the help of the tractor.  In two days, the hay is gone.  Again, this is during the winter.

The plans are to have plenty of room for our hay needs in a covered and walled barn.  We are also going to extend the roof to cover our trailer and tractor.  It will be good for our equipment to be under a shelter.

With plenty of grass in the pastures right now, it was a perfect time to construct a hay barn for next year’s hay.  My husband rented a bulldozer to help him knock down trees and remove stumps.  He also worked the dirt to build a nice, level pad for the hay barn.

Andrew, Isaac, and Jake are posing for a photograph on the dozer.

My three year old, Isaac, loves big machinery.  I have never seen anyone so excited about a bulldozer as he was.  He watched my husband work for hours with a huge smile on his face.

After all the work was completed, my husband allowed Isaac to sit on the bulldozer.  He showed him what all the joysticks and pedals did.  Then to Isaac’s surprise, he turned the bulldozer on and allowed him to steer with the joystick.  He also let him lift and lower the front blade.  Isaac was truly on cloud nine.

It was such a great opportunity for Isaac.  I am so thankful that my husband thought of it.  It is just one of the perks of living on Cross Creek Cattle Company!