u/Lytle_Red_Angus

Got some shots of our cows in the heat the other day. The bright sun made for some great pictures.

Got a shot of the aftermath after sorting out the neighbor’s 80 pairs that busted down a gate.

Nice, calm grazing pairs and bulls doing work.

Stockmanship matters!

Check out the belly mane on this goober😂
Saw him while dumping out bulls and had to grab a video.

Sorted and loaded some herd sires from the river breaks and got them to their respective breeding groups. Feels good to get some cowboy time after a frantic week of haying.

I posted a while back asking if one of our fattened heifers would grade prime. She did not (1st picture); HOWEVER, 3 of the 7 in the group did make the cut! They were all yield grade 3. I’m excited to be able to keep having them graded in the future!

Edit: If you’re in the Wall/Rapid City, SD area, Wall Meat Processing (butchered these heifers for us) has some phenomenal hot dogs and other ready-to-eat treats!

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Having 2 of these rakes lets us rake these windrows in about 3 hours on this 180 acre field. Makes for consistent hay and less leaf loss. These rakes also have depth guides to keep the actual rake teeth out of the dirt and lower the ash content.

Looks like we’ll be 4-day hay if the weather holds up.

Cut 160 acres of alfalfa yesterday and working on 180 more today. Drilled in rye on the perimeter last fall as experiment to increase tonnage. Went all-in and drilled oats across the whole field in February.

Warm winter and goofy spring weather really dinged the hay this year.

Edit: r/farming wouldn’t let me do a video, so I shared it here.

Pulling young pairs to haul to summer pasture. Finally got some decent moisture to help things grow.

Got some pictures of our herdsires before a welcome rain tonight. Despite the short grass, they’re holding condition well. First bull was purchased. The rest were born and raised here - mostly our genetics and breeding (the second bull came to us in his momma’s belly).

u/Cow-puncher77 asked about what we had for a trailer on a previous post. Here’s a quick summary of our Eby trailer and the repairs we’ve done.

Eby 8x32 - purchased lightly used
3x8000 lb axles
Floating front gate
Solid rear gate over axles - sliding sort gate
Sliding rear sort gate

Dislikes and repairs

We had some trouble with the cut gate over the axles not be supported as well as it could be - causing a lot of damage to the gate. We ended up adding a larger support plate to the ceiling and also welded the sorting gate solid to reduce fatigue from it bouncing.

Added a second roller to the adjustable front cut gate. It was wearing out a lot of rollers and could fall off its rail if you weren’t paying attention. It’s tougher to move now, but doesn’t bounce around as much.

Added two pin locks to the rear cut gate as well as two more rollers on top. This gate rattled all the time and eventually wore the factory pin lock and top rollers enough it could bounce off the bottom track. Had a cow slip a foot out going down the road. The two pins and extra rollers removed all the play.

Welded on a few hinges and had to replace a spindle. Not a big fan of the oil bath bearings. This trailer is used hard about 3 months of the year and then sits for long periods. We found that when it was sitting the bearings would get condensation in them and rust. I think we’re going to pack them with grease in the future.

Likes

It pulls really well and handles a good load. The adjustable gate is awesome for hauling bulls and pairs. The ramp door is nice, but we rarely use it.

Overall, it’s a good trailer that needs some reinforcement in areas. I’d go without the sort gate on the back cut gate and would think hard about a roll up door on the back gate.

Delivering some yearling bulls to customers today. Always nice when they load easy.

Had a redditor ask how we had our tank setup. This one’s pretty simple with posts and 2x6’s. The post off to the side is protecting the drain spout.
Not my favorite, but it’s lasted a minute.

Only mildly concerned they’re in the way.

If you might be interested in a son, brother, cousin, nephew, etc. to these dingalings, give me a holler.

The sale bulls didn’t know what to think! Haven’t had the kids down to the pen enough, I guess😆

Raised in western South Dakota and thriving in northeastern Kansas. Glad to see just how adaptable our cattle can be.

Grabbed a video of the heifer from my last post. She’s getting butchered this week and I’ll share the results.