Thursday March 6, 2014

Day 56..

Practical morn - today our task was to service the John Deere 590 round baler! First we changed the pickup hitch to a drawbar on the massey ferguson tractor to enable us to re-locate the baler from the farm yard to the workshop. Using the manufactures guidebook we then began to look at what routine maintenance the baler needed starting with lubrication. With a grease gun and grease that worked! we started greasing all the major moving parts at the designated 'grease nipples' - a metal fitting used in mechanical systems to feed lubricants, usually lubricating grease, into a bearing under moderate to high pressure using a grease gun. the PTO shaft formed part of this task and was quite awkward to get to so it is advisable to have two pairs of hands for this job. We then moved on to the chains which require a liberal application of SAE 30 - we used a spray can of a similar oil and applied to the chains on either side of the baler, turning them half way through to ensure we had covered all of the chain. We then ran out of grease gun oil and couldn't carry on, but as we were working our way round the baler we kept a log of items that needed to be repaired/replaced, for example one of the back light boxes was broken and the bulb blown!

Livestock afters - this afternoon we looked further in to the tasks of lambing from the importance of the ewe/lamb bond to natural colostrum verses artificial colostrum. Ordinarily the ewe should have a straight forward birth and bond with her lamb with very little shepherd intervention. However, things can go wrong and the lamb may need support during the first few hours of its life. Colostrum is the most important requirement of a new born lamb as it provides antibodies, laxative, protein and high energy. Keep an eye on the lamb to see that it gets around 250ml in the first hour (it will drink approximately 1 litre in the first day). If a new born lamb has not been seen to drink that first colostrum from mum you should intervene and try attaching the lamb to a teat - encouraging it to suckle, alternatively you might have to milk the ewe (into a jug) and then stomach tube feed the lamb. As a last resort you would use artificial colostrum.
We quickly looked at parasites - the warble fly - a nasty fly that attacks cattle, deer and sometimes horses. It enters the animal via the hock and works its way through the muscle components, making its way to the oesophagus or spinal column. This movement leaves 'tracks' through the meat and when the fly bores a hole and leaves the animal (after a dormant winter period) it leaves nasty marks which significantly downgrades both the meat and the hide.