Hi I’m Mike. Somedays ranching is all about coming up with a solution for a problem and
doing it in a way that you may never have thought of. Today we tackle a problem I have
had for years and solve it with the help of one subscriber and an easy and ingenious idea
on the project list, on our Wyoming life.
Welcome back to the project list, the board behind me holds an ever shrinking and growing
list of the things that need done, and the things we have gotten done over the past few
months on the ranch. And each time we take something off, well
something goes back up there and it never ends.
Each Tuesday we take something off the list and work on the project together but today,
we do that in a whole new way as we take an email from a subscriber and use that to solve
a problem that I have had for years. Please subscribe and come along as we explore
the ranch life and escape the ordinary. Feeding the cows happens everyday during the
winter here on the ranch. Between the cows, the horses, calves, pigs and bulls. We feed
more than 4 thousand pounds of food per day to all the animals of the ranch and most of
that is in the form of hay. Hay that we harvested here on the ranch over the summer and store
until its time to feed it in the winter. That hay is in the form of round bales, about
5 feet wide and 5 feet tall, each weighing about 1400 lbs. All of that hay is held in
the bale by netwrap, a webbed material, that we cut off each bale before rolling it out
for the cows to eat. I’ve had a bunch of folks ask what we do
with that netwrap, once we cut it off the bale and the first place it usually goes is
in the cab of the tractor until we are done feeding.
It’s a giant pain. It gets wrapped around your feet, it falls out, and its always in
the way. When you are done feeding you have to pull it all out of the tractor, where its
tangled in everything it can get wrapped up into, then you carry it to the gator and eventually,
the incinerator. Over our years on the ranch, I often think
about ways to take care of the netwrap once its off the bale. I’ve debated find a way
to strap a garbage can, or even a garbage bag to the tractor to hold it, out of my way
and easier to deal with. Unfortunately I have just never gotten around to fixing the problem
permanently. It was this week that I received an email
from Robert who had the same problem. He created a bracket that bolts to his tractor, that
bracket holds an empty feedsack that he can use as a makeshift garbage bag. He mentioned
to me that it works great for netwrap and it gives those empty feedsacks a new life
or at least another use before we burn them. Robert you are genious, and today after I
got back from feeding, I knew that this was our project for the day.
We have a bunch of extra strap steel laying around, and with it we can begin to fashion
the same kind of cage that Robert did for his tractor.
Robert didn’t send instructions, so first we can measure a feed bag and come up with
some dimensions for our bracket. With a measurement of 16 inches long and 10
inches wide, we start with a base, made of our ½ inch angle iron and after cutting the
pieces we can weld them together. Then its over to the tractor to see where
and how we can mount our bracket. Robert bolted his to his loader, but we don’t have a lot
of room to squeeze something in the front end of this tractor.
On the bale unroller however we have lots of room and its here where the wrap is cut
off the bale anyway, and it makes sense to mount it directly to the implement.
With a location now picked out for the bracket we decide on a height of about 2 feet for
the feed sack. Around the feed sack we will need braces,
and we can bend our strap steel to make the holder.
Vertical brackets are tack welded in place, and the horizontal braces can be put in place.
After a few adjustments, everything can be permanently welded in place.
After cooling the bracket with some cold water, an old feed sack, this one that was full of
cat food is brought into place and set inside the bracket, where it looks fit pretty well.
But now its time to attach the bracket to the feeder.
The feeder lowers to the ground, so the bracket has to be set up high so that its not dragging
while unrolling a bale. I could weld it in place but it may be better
to bolt it and luckily have some self tapping bolts that might just do the job. If they
can hold the high tunnels in place during 70 mph winds, they should be able to hold
this light bracket on the bale unroller. After popping in a pilot hole, the screw is
then put in place, and the whole contraption looks pretty good.
But the real test is on the way, as we head out to try it out and feed the cows
And with the bag full, of netwrap, its just as easy as pulling in the shop, grabbing the
bag and tossing it in the gator, where it will stay until our next trip to the incinerator.
Robert thank you very much for lending me your idea and letting run with it. You are
right, it’s a great way to get an extra use out of these feed sacks and makes sense
for a number of uses. I hope that you are able to run right out and patent this idea,
because I can really see it coming in handy. Its another example of the ingenuity of ranchers
and farmers. You see a problem, you fix it, and when its on your project list, the faster
you can get it done the better, but remember, its not going to end, because your project
list isn’t just a list, it’s a challenge. Thanks for hanging out with me today, we’ve
got some cool stuff the way this week, including for the first time ever, a ranchers look at
the impossible burger, or the meatless meat, what ever you want to call it, its coming
up this week along with a whole lot more and if you don’t want to miss it, make sure
you subscribe and continue to explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary. Until
next time, have a great week and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life.