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I go to the ranch every Thursday night some weeks. At other times I go every other Thursday and rarely I will allow 3 weeks between visits. I usually leave on Saturday night. Of course at various times during the year I will spend the entire week. In order to make sure there is enough food out for the livestock, I have expanded my food serving options. I feed the livestock haylige continuously throughout the winter. Every two weeks I put out 300 pounds of grain (corn mixed with distillers grain). Longhorns will not over eat grain. When they are full, they layoff until they are hungry again. Some breeds will eat until they are sick. It takes 10 cows about 3 days to finish the 300 pounds of grain. That is 30 pounds of grain per cow per 2 weeks. I do not count the little that the goats eat.    In West Virginia during March, it always seems like winter will never end. It is not uncommon to have snow in early April as well. May will often have frost over night. This tests the endurance of the rancher and the cattle.   It will often snow 2 to 3 feet at the ranch. This means I have to spend several hours plowing before I can even start my work. Not with this John Deere Gator with tracks installed. Now I ignore the snow and ride over it. I can move my grain around with ease. It even has a heated cab. The tracks are all season so I can use it in heavy rain as well. I have not had trouble with the deep snow when using the 115 hp John Deere tractor because it has such large wheels and is 4 wheel drive.  |