How'd it go today?

Justin, could that drone possibly have something to do with the neighbor's property line issue? I suppose that you'd be seeing someone operating it, but my surveyor friend was just telling me today that drones are getting used more and more in surveying. With the arial photography a tremendous time saver he mentioned.
 
Interesting.

Those burns ever get infected etc or do you put stuff on there to aid healing/prevent problems? Or are they just extremely robust and resilient and just shrug it off?
 
There is no springs Sean, but it wasn't just me lifting. We all help so the fellow running the chute doesn't get worn out.


I have never seen a calf die from a brand Cory. I have killed a few castrating, but not branding.

No, we don't apply anything to them
 
Justin, could that drone possibly have something to do with the neighbor's property line issue? I suppose that you'd be seeing someone operating it, but my surveyor friend was just telling me today that drones are getting used more and more in surveying. With the arial photography a tremendous time saver he mentioned.

I don't believe the drone sightings are related. The property issue has been settled a bit ago now.
 
So not unlike the One Ring, my beloved Emerson CQC7 which I've had in my left front pocket for 12 years left me. I have no idea, yet I hold out hope that it will eventually turn up. Since it hasn't yet, in my approximately 2 months of passive searching, I decided it was time for something new.

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Microtech OTF automatic. 8)

And tree related, I spent two hours after work spreading all 200' of my new climb line out over the canopy via traverse. Good times.

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Tomorrow I grind stumps if its not terrible out :)
 
Back in Cali. Started my LTO class. And since any tree work I have done does not count towards my hours of 3000 I need for my application, I'll have to take a lessor rated restricted license until I can accumulate those hours over the next 2 or 3 years. Basically, a firewood type harvest license. Oh well, getting an education for when it comes time. At least I know the players and the game better.
 
Why did they die? Bleed out?

Sometimes, but not often. No real major arteries or veins in a nut. Unless you get a Texan to cut.......then any damn thing can happen.

Usually infection, or sometimes the sack does not stay open for drainage. It will seal up and cause trouble.


We switched to rubber rings a while ago just because it is a bit faster and it was getting hard to find a good cutter. I had a guy trained up and he was an excellent castrator, but he moved away. All the old timers got too old.

The rubber rings are not fool proof though. Still can lose a calf to infection. Lots of times people will give a shot of tetanus when they band.


Its hard to believe but rubber rings are no less stressful than cutting calves with a knife.
 
Oh, I cut for years and years, and was one of the best around. Grandpa taught me how.

There is a kind of "class" system to a branding. The lowest rank worker is the calf wrestler. Then you step up to vaccination man.....which is actually hard work.

After than you can either learn to cut or you can try to get someone to let you brand. Generally the owner brands...or if he trusts you, he might let you brand. Its kind of a big deal!

But, a good cutter is in high demand.

Years ago we used to have to carry a bucket around to throw the nuts into......always ate them after the branding. Bread them and fry them in oil like a chicken fried steak.


No, there is no certification. You just listen to the old timers and watch how they do it.


Lots of different ways of going about cutting calves, but I was taught to cut the lower third of the sack off after wetting down the area with antiseptic. Once the bottom of the sack is off you grab a nut and pull it out with one hand while pinching the cord between two fingers. With your two fingers you kind of strip the flesh away from the tube while you pull the nut with the other hand. Once the tube is skinned you cut it and grab the other nut and do the same thing.

Once both nuts are out you stick your bottle of antiseptic up there and give a big squeeze. Best way I know how.


Cutting hogs is a little different. The sack does not hang down so you just slit the skin and pull the nut out. Cutting lambs is similar to calves, just smaller nuts.

The old timers pull the lamb nuts out with their teeth. True story.



I suppose that is WAY more than anyone wanted to know about cutting calves!
 
Nah...cool that you know so much about it. I was about 12 when I watched my uncle castrate hogs...shoats they called them. Very much like you describe. I remember seeing the other hogs eat the cast off nuts.
 
Hogs you had to grab and hold. My cousin also 12 years old would grab the hind legs of the young pigs and hold them and flip them over so my uncle could expose the nutsack and do his deed
 
The biting off is much less traumatic that the rubber ring, evidently. Somehow I was watching something on the internet. I think it was Dirty Jobs/ Mike Rowe TED talk (posted on TH, IIRC).
 
No, you have to restrain them Butch. Either with wrestlers or using a calf table like we do now.

We brand, castrate, and vaccinate all at the same time.


I used to help a friend cut hogs every year. All different sizes. The little ones you hold over a panel. The big ones you flip on their backs and sit on their chest and pull the back legs towards you.

The medium sized ones you just struggle with.
 
Bid two jobs, got D some craft stuff, had dinner with D and her mom. Chilling out in the heat. First real day of minimal work in over two weeks I think. Stopped by the rec pot shop, got a little of this and that. About to watch some Netflix.


So I used to work with Juvenile Delinquients, 'Hoods in the Woods' a la Outward Bound, but for thugs instead of middle class white kids. I've been watching the prison documentaries on Netflix. They have "Store", the commissary.

I was thinking of getting a coffee pot, microwave and mini-fridge for the shop. No loss in caffeinating your employees.

I was thinking of having an Employee "Store". Stock it with non-perishables, and maybe something longlasting in the fridge or freezer, like breakfast and other burritos. If they want to get some food at work, rather than at a gas station/ fast food on the way (my regular employee come eating McD every morning with two cups of McCoffee), just put in the right number of dollars or an IOU. Make it easy on them. Make it easy on me that the guys aren't running out of energy because I don't stop at the store predictably during the day, or they forgot their lunch, or didn't have cash on hand. Maybe get a coffee maker that pours into a coffee-tight thermal carafe/ pot instead of glass. Take it on the road.
 
I've always respected the bossman who took care of their employee's lunch.

On the other hand, I have NO respect for employees who expect them to do that.
 
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