Haylage & gophers

[BigSky56]

Was baling hay for haylage and the fields were full of gophers guess Iam going shooting this weekend there was about 200 in a 5 acre meadow. danny

Swath hay let it wilt 6- 8 hrs @ 60 to 75% moisture content, then bale

Stuff into sausage tubes and let it ferment, cows love it. Mtn peaks in the background is the Cabinet Mtn. Wilderness.

[kimwcook]

Danny, this teasing is getting to me.

[Griff]

Danny, this teasing is getting to me.

[2ndovc]

What a terrible problem you have!

Hope you get it soorted out soon


jb

[kimwcook]

Sounds like a day of lying around on the job to me (hide and watch, going prone).

[KirkD]

Looks like a job for a .25-20 levergun. Fermented hay eh? ....... How do you get to sleep with the cows partying every night?

[Buffboy]

Looks like the Flickertail (what we used to call them) didn't die out in your area. They used to be like that around here. A disease just about wiped them out of this area over 20 years ago. I long ago lost count of the bricks of 22LR I burned on them as a kid and young adult. I haven't even seen one in a year or two. They just never came back after. I miss them and oddly enough most of the ranchers around here do too. They aren't near as destructive as the prairie dog.

[BigSky56]

There arent anywheres as bad as PD cept when a badger moves in and starts digging them up a cow or a horse can break a leg in a badger dig heck Ive lost a front tire on the tractor in a Badger dig. A guy can wear out a 22 on these little buggers. Last time I shot some the redtail hawks and bald eagles would get them for they stopped flopping. danny

[pokey]

200 on 5 acres?
you could hunt them with your swather.

[gimdandy]

don't know why but we call them picket pens.
Danny we used to green chop and put a white powder w/ it (NO NOT THAT STUFF) for haylage both in the bags as you have shown and also in a silage pit ,and as you said they LOVE IT. Fermented dinner.................just get out of the way

[rjohns94]

looks like you are going to have some fun with those animated targets. let us know how it goes

[Modoc ED]

There arent anywheres as bad as PD cept when a badger moves in and starts digging them up a cow or a horse can break a leg in a badger dig heck Ive lost a front tire on the tractor in a Badger dig. A guy can wear out a 22 on these little buggers. Last time I shot some the redtail hawks and bald eagles would get them for they stopped flopping. danny

We had a guy here a few years back that went out into an alfalfa field to move a water-line. He stepped knee deep into a badger hole , fell sideways, and broke his knee. He couldn't free his leg from the badger hole and couldn't sit up so he layed there for a few hours waving his arm and hand until his boss went to check out why the water-line had not been moved and found the guy.

[shdwlkr]

Never had gophers to deal with but back east where I grew up we had woodchucks and yes I did use my free time on reducing the number of them in the fields of the guy I worked for. I only had to deal with one cow that stepped in and broke her leg but that was enough for me to really not like woodchucks in the fields and yes it did a job on the tractors and trucks if you hit one and didn't slow down to a crawl to go over it.
My favorite rifle was a savage model 340 in 225 winchester sure took care of the woodchuck when it hit. For some stupid reason I sold or traded that rifle and have hated myself ever since as I used a 70 grain bullet in it and could nail a woodchuck out to 300-350 yards with it almost every time if I did my part.