We're Gonna Need a Bigger Tractor

Remember the movie Jaws?    I"m sure we're not the only family that quotes one of the best lines in that movie.....you know the line.....when the guys on the boat get a close up look at Jaws and utter....."We're gonna need a bigger boat.".   Well, that's been Joel's line here lately, except replace the word boat with the word tractor.

When you first move from the city to the country, you have absolutely no idea exactly what size equipment you might need to invest in.   Sure, we knew we needed a tractor.   But since we had no intention of sowing seed on 50 acres we surmised a sub-compact tractor would be sufficient to take care of our hobby farm needs.  

But then we had a few alpaca die......sure would have been nice to have a tractor with a backhoe (or as I fondly call it, a "digger tool") to dig their burial hole instead of using a shovel.   That phrase usually elicits hoots and howls from Joel.   And then there is the never ending supply of manure for our compost piles.   We used to shovel the poop from the alpacas out of the barn by hand and Joel schlepped it in the wheelbarrow to the compost pile.

Then we sold the alpaca and got back to our original intent.....animals that produce food we can eat.   And so now we have our sweet Jersey cows who will provide us with milk, cheese and other dairy goodies for many years to come.   After breeding, if one of the calves is a bull, he will provide us with meat.   There's just one thing, though, about cows.   They poop....a lot.....in huge piles.....seriously!    A lot more than alpaca, that's for sure.

Dairy cows need protection from the winter elements, and so we put the cows in the side of the barn where the female alpacas used to live.   Now the cows have the barn to keep the elements at bay and that works just fine, with one exception.   When it was nice weather I used to go inside the pen with the cows and walk down into their pasture to drop their morning and evening ration of hay into the hay feeder.    But when Old Man Winter arrived, it was slick walking down hill to the feeder and I really didn't relish the idea of slipping and falling on the icy, snowy incline.....littered with, you guessed it, poo.   Now that creates an image, doesn't it?

Joel came up with the idea of building a manger inside the barn attached to one of the walls where I could simply pop the hay over the top of the wall into the manger, thus eliminating the need to walk anywhere slippery.   We spent an afternoon a few months ago building and tweaking the manger and it works like a charm.   With one exception.

Now the cows hang out in the barn a lot more hours of the day.   You know what is coming next, don't you? It would stand to reason that if they hang out in the barn more, they will also poop in there more.    Aw, man.   Thus bringing me back to Joel's lament....."We're gonna need a bigger tractor.".

Yeah, that's a mess.   And we like to keep this area as clean as possible since the cows sleep in here at the far back corners of the pen.   There's no way we can muck out the barn using shovels and a wheelbarrow.   Well, we could, but it would take us hours and hours by hand.

And even when we switched to using the tractor we realized we should have a bigger tractor with a bigger bucket on the front.    As it is now, Joel makes trip after trip picking up the  contents on the floor of the pen and running it back to our newest compost pile.

I should backtrack a minute here.   See the cows watching Joel?   Well, we have learned by experience that the cows are very curious animals and when we have worked in the barn in the past, they hang out with us.   They generally get in the way, stand behind the tractor as Joel is trying to back up with a huge pile of manure-strewn straw in the bucket of the tractor and walk all over the areas we are trying to clean up.   Now I know that before we start any work in their pen, I have to round them up and drive them into a small pasture with a gate.....where they stand and watch our every move.   Funny critters!

So, back to the tractor.

Joel loves to extoll the virtues of all he could accomplish "If I had a bigger tractor..."   I just smile at him and nod my head in agreement as I visualize huge dollar signs in my head and think, "No Way!".

Even with the use of the tractor, mucking out the barn still requires some hands on work with the shovel....and that's my job.   You know, as the assistant barn mucker.   Giggle.....On this particular day, I had to shed my barn jacket as the exertion of shoveling out the corners and sides of the barn warmed me plenty.

I had to show you this pic.    When we first walked out to the barn Joel spotted two of our barn cats sitting nice and comfy, one each on the seats of his tractor and my mower.   Can you see the black and white Mama cat on the seat of the mower in the background?

Miss Chloe was quite cozy nestled on Joel's seat.....that is until he shoo-ed her away so he could use the tractor.   The cats love to sit up there where the dogs don't think to look for them.   It's been so much fun to watch the interaction of the four, wiley barn cats and the Pyrenees puppies.  

Once we are finished cleaning out the barn I walk back to the cows in the pasture and open the gate for them.   They are so funny!   They immediately head for the barn......I believe (unless you can prove otherwise) they are excited to check out their newly cleaned  pen.   First, they get a drink of freshly drawn water and then they look at their salt lick and, of course, they wander over to the manger to see if I put in some fresh hay for their treat.

The last place they check out is the fresh bed of straw where they will lay their sleepy heads at night. See what I mean?    Don't you agree they are curious and smart animals?

This coming week we have a new challenge to meet.   It will be the first time we have to round up one of the cows and get him into the stock trailer.   You see, Beef Cake, our steer, is going to the slaughter house on Friday.   But we think it may take us (ahem) a little bit of effort to coax him into the trailer, so, we plan on working on that Thursday afternoon so we are prepared to leave the farm first thing Friday morning.  

After Beef Cake is gone, I guess one good thing about us only having the two much smaller mid-mini female cows is .....you guessed it......a whole lot less poop to scoop.   See, we may not need a bigger tractor after all!

Wish us luck,
Debbie