Once Again, Plan B

Yesterday Bruce cut 3 acres of hay with plans to chop it today and freshen the top of the silo.  We woke up to clouds, and after looking at the radar, Bruce decided to feed and get the cows home and then go and chop.  By the time he got the cows home it rained a quick shower, not enough to prevent him from chopping, but the radar said there was more coming.  He headed out with the tractor and chopper and I was going to start milking.  It wasn't long and he was home again.  When he started he had black smoke coming out from under the hood.  Given the fact we had a tractor fire this was a bit unnerving.  As it turned out, a hydraulic hose on the power steering was leaking and spraying oil on the hot exhaust pipe.  Needless to say, that was the end of chopping for today.  It rained short showers on and off today, not enough to really measure but enough to keep everything wet.  Bruce wanted to take the offending hose with him to the dealership to ensure he got the right one.  To do this he had to take the floor out in the cab of the tractor and figure out which hose was the right one.  He went to a dealership where they made a new hose for him but as he put the old and new hose in the back of the truck he realized both ends of the hose matched and one should have been different.  Back into the dealership he went and waited for them to make the hose correctly.  With it being a holiday weekend he was glad that he noticed the error before he left the parking lot since the dealership is about 35 miles away.   When he got home he had to feed everyone so the evening is late once again.  

The other event of the day was getting the steers that have been following the cows home.  They are caught up with their pasture so they will spend a couple days here in the yard by the building.  Bruce brought the steers home through the lane with the help of Mike.  The cows got all excited about animals coming and started to run and kick and act generally goofy.  With the cows running, the steers started to run also.  In the end everyone stayed in the fence where they belonged but for a few minutes we wondered which group we would have to chase, or how we would separate them if they got together.  The steers spent today eating an area  around the buildings that the goats were supposed to eat.  The goats couldn't figure out why cattle were using their water tank and eating their mineral.