Wet Week

Over the last week we have been seeing some good rain roll in during a series of storms. The alerts have been coming in on our phone about localized flooding. Now, before anyone worries about us, let me state we are in no danger. This flooding is normal for this area. This is not an event that, like over the last twenty years of wild fluctuations, has made us all a little edgy about flooding.

Serious flooding in these parts comes after a huge dump of snow, or an extended period of deep freezing where large amounts of rainfall cannot be absorbed into the ground, thus causing periods of flooding. Although the ground is saturated right now, the natural progression is localized flooding that doesn’t hang around long with the river running full span.

Our bridge is a good vantage point to watch the flow and its ups and downs. With more than five inches of rain over the last week, the water is turbulent brown, but there is no significant scouring of the banks where we lose valuable farm land. The water level is high right now, but within a few hours of no rainfall, we can see the river drop quickly.

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Spawning Time

We are so fortunate to live in a rural setting with an ocean-going river meandering through the property. The sparse population and water source give lots of opportunity to see wildlife of all kinds.

While we are so grateful that we have begun to see the fall rains start to douse the fire danger and to control those fires that are still burning in the state, the moisture has also raised the river level and we are starting to see more and more salmon that are coming in from the ocean.

While it was still bone dry around the farm, the fish had been spotted in the deeper pools around the coastal areas. They waited until the rain caused the water levels in the upper rivers to come up before they began their arduous journey to the area where they were born so they can spawn. We have several areas along the river where we can spot them when they are in the area.

At the crossings where the water level is lower, we can watch the tops fins of fish that are about 2-3 feet in length. The distance from the ocean to here is difficult and the fish begin to deteriorate when they come into fresh water after being in the salty ocean for a couple of years. By the time they get to the farm, they are beat up, missing bits and pieces and their bright silver color has darkened to red umber on their sides or the older ones look nearly black with tender white flesh showing.

The salmon are nearly at the end of their life cycle with the females flapping rocks with their fins to make a nest in which to deposit eggs and the male fertilizing with milky sperm. As the adults go off to die, the eggs are left for Mother Nature to tend during the incubation stage so the cycle can begin again.

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In His Element

Our two farm dogs don’t act like they are related and they really don’t act like they were out of the same litter. The are as different as can be.

Butler the mild mannered, more timid of the two is a demon when he is on the scent of a critter such as a gopher, quail or coyote. His does not like to give up even when he has been digging holes for hours, or chasing well past the fence lines. Butler does not like to get his paws wet in puddles or in the river.

Jackson, the wild one, likes to fling himself into the Gator or into the river. Sometimes it works out well but sometimes he flops tremendously but it doesn’t  deter him from doing it the next time. When he wants a drink, he throws himself into the stream and gets nearly to swimming before he laps up a good few swallows. When coaxed out of the water he does not shake off until he is in the bed of the Gator where he wets the Gator and any passengers sitting in the front.

The river is Jackson’s happy place and most days from late February until November he can be found near or in the river at every opportunity.

One Of Those

This is going to be one of those posts without pictures attached. For those of who are reading on the old website, that is normal, but for you who are following from the new website of SchmidlinAngusFarms or Social Media, you may wonder what is going on and why I did not get photos.

#5 Segway And Trike

When the main herd saw us working over by the barn they thought that it was time for them to move to a fresh pasture area. They were all bunched up by the gate and some of the bigger ones were craning their necks over the fence. There was a lot of bellowing going on so everyone was on alert to pending pasture changes.

Mike got on the Gator and went up the road to get around the herd. I stayed on the barn side of the river to open the Rabbit Run for the herd to traverse. I counted the critters as they filed through the gate, but the number seemed off. I followed the herd up the Run to the barnyard and locked them all securely inside and tried counting again. Still we were missing a critter.

Mike went around the pasture the herd had just come from and checked where Crystal had birthed her baby less than two weeks earlier, but he didn’t see anything. He called across the river to have me do a head count one more time. I still came up one short.

Mike went back around the field and checked the out of way spots before rechecking the old railroad grade. Sure enough Segway had her baby tucked in near an old snag. When she saw Mike she got her calf up and started moving around the pasture grounds to where the main herd had been less than an hour earlier. She coaxed her calf through the river and up the Rabbit Run to join the rest of the herd.

Welcome to the farm bull calf SAF Trike born 5/23/2020 and weighing 70 lbs.

You gotta see the pictures! They are posted with this story on SchmidlinAngusFarms.com. While you are there, if there is any online shopping you plan on doing, please go through my picture links. By doing so, I may make a small commission without a charge to you! The commissions help pay for my user charges for this site, Thank You for supporting the farm stories.

 

The Water is Definitely Cold

We have break-away fences. It is the way we cope with the ups and downs of the river flow throughout the year while still trying to contain the cattle. In a typical year, we replace the break-away fences that wash out during the high waters of the winter time in early to mid-May. But this year, the drier weather has dropped the water level considerably early and the other day the cows got out of the field were they were supposed to be grazing. Most of the herd swam the river and got into the six acre field where we thought we had them locked out of. Mike noticed first and called the alarm, “the cows are out!”

It was all hands on deck to figure out where the breach occurred. Sure enough, the area where the break-away fence at the back end of the six acre field had been, filled with rock over the winter and made for easy crossing for the wayward cattle. When we found the area, we realized that the fence had not had the clean break that is normal. This break was not just across the river but the fence was torn from their moorings  for more than ten posts, the fence was missing well up the bank and toward the hayfield.

Back To Right Again

I have had several people contact me who were worried about the cows and wanted to make sure that I posted when they were all safe and sound. The herd was stuck on the wrong side of the river for several days after making a poor choice in crossing just before the good dumping of rain and the river to rising to above flood stage. The herd have been pasturing in the two small fields on this side of the river where we have been feeding them, we didn’t want to push one of the lead cows into crossing if the herd did not feel comfortable doing it on their own because of the three youngest of the herd only being a few months old with the baby only a month old.

Once stuck on the wrong side, the river kept rising with the heavy rains that have been coming down since Thursday. Finally Saturday afternoon, the sky didn’t clear but at least it wasn’t pouring. Saturday night we only had a few showers. But on Sunday morning the river was still not low enough for the cattle to cross. The small fields are getting muddy from the big foot prints plopping in the muddy spots and there is a lot of manure that has to be dodged in order to lay out piles of hay on the ground. The cows were starting to get cranky as well as us as tenders for the herd.

Finally the herd decided at the Sunday evening feeding that they were going to forge the river to be able to eat at the outdoor feeders where they prefer to dine. The young calves had to really struggle with swimming across but the whole herd made it without issue. The herd is back to residing on the correct side now.

Thanks to my gracious readers for your caring and support.

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Take Thee To The Riparian

I will continue to post on this wordpress site for as long as I can but time is limited because I am nearing the end of my data allowance. To see the complete story with pictures, to follow and to comment, please go to SchmidlinAngusFarms.com!

My readers are the best! A while ago, I had mentioned that November 1 was the beginning of the dormant season and that I was planning on doing some seedling planting. I was gently reminded that although I talked about the plan, no story of actual planting was getting posted. I appreciate the nudge, so here is the story that I almost forgot.

River Barriers

This stretch of warm weather has been good for the grass hayfields nearing harvest and for vegetation growing around the hayfields that the cattle have been grazing on. The water level in the river has also dropped which is an indicator that we need to get the fences shored up so the cows don’t go wandering away from the farm.

We reinstall barriers each year since the winter water levels wipe out the fencing. The trails of wire extend down stream where the current sucked it downstream. Each spring we wade out there and reconnect the wire to strong anchor posts on opposite banks of the river and shore up the fence enough to discourage the cows.

No Flooding Here

It’s hard to imagine the river getting low enough at our downstream edge to need fencing while much of the Willamette Valley is under flood warning with many evacuations.  The wet storm systems that have been coming in off the ocean are swirling in from the south and seem to peter out before they get twisted back to the coast range in the north, leaving us with much less rainfall.

We had to pile drive a couple of metal T-posts into the rocky shallows of the river and extend the wire fence that had washed out during the winter high water. If we did not replace the fencing, the cows could walk along the shallows and out into neighboring property.