Deer Antlers

The bucks at Greg and Linda's deer farm on Joyce Road have completed the growing cycle for this year's antlers. Each year the bucks will shed their antlers in the winter and grow a new set during the summer. During the summer the developing antlers are covered with a highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing antlers. Late in the summer the velvet covering is shed and the new antler is exposed.



Once the antlers are fully developed Greg and Linda remove the antlers from the deer for the safety of people and the other deer at the farm.

The first step in removing the antlers requires the deer to be darted so it can be handled. Once the deer gets "dopey" they are able to catch it and put a blindfold on it. The deer will settle down when blindfolded, but it still takes about three people to hold the deer while the antlers are removed.



Once the antlers are removed the deer are given a B vitamin, Ivomec wormer and vision 7 to fight off parasites that live in the blood of both tame and wild deer.



The last step in the antler removal process is to watch the deer for the remainder of the day to keep them on their feet and make sure they don't lay on their side. If deer lay on their side, gas can build up and kill the deer.


Photos provided by Greg and Linda Saylor

Fishing at Miner's Pond

It was a good day for fishing at Gerry's pond.

Mikayla Post with a fish. In the background, Kynlee Kunkle, Morgan Post, Kristy Cook and Tanner Kunkle.


Mikayla Post, Kristy Cook and Kynlee Kunkle.


Kynlee Kunkle.


Mason Kunkle.


Morgan Post, Kynlee Kunkle and Mikayla Post.

Concrete wall

The concrete retaining wall at the barn is now complete, the drain lines are connected and we've started to back fill behind the wall.





We have now moved our concrete work to the inside of the barn and will work on footers and supports to prepare of the for pouring a section of the barn floor.

Concrete work at the barn

Our barn is over a hundred years old and needed some work to help it last for a few more years. This barn had been built in a couple of different stages over several years with reclaimed beams from other barns. The support posts of the barn had been placed on large, flat rocks, placed on dirt (hard-pan). A concrete floor was added later but poured around the support posts leaving the bottom of the posts embedded in dirt. Over the years the bases of some the support posts started to rot.



We want to fix the old floor of the barn but first need to re-set the supports on a solid base. We got a couple of 20 ton jacks and raised the barn enough to remove the old post. We then removed old concrete floor, dirt and rock until we found a solid spot to pour a new concrete footer with re-bar. Once the wide base was in place we poured a new concrete extension above the floor line for the post to set on. The bottom of the old support post was cut off to the correct length and the rot removed. The post is then reinstalled (level and square) and bolted to the new concrete base.



Another part of this project required the installation of a new retaining wall on the south side of the barn to replace an old section of the stone support wall that had fallen due to frost movement. We started by removing the dirt and rock from the old wall section. A 6 inch thick base of concrete with re-bar was poured to form a level platform to build the new wall on. We then poured a 5 inch high section of the new wall to form a "key" to hold the forms for the new wall.



Once the "key" was ready more re-bar was installed and the concrete forms for the bottom section of the wall were attached to the "key".


The bottom section of the wall is 32 inches high, 8 feet long and 10 inches wide. We mixed 11 batches of concrete in our mixer and completed this pour in a couple of hours.



Once the bottom section cured we removed the forms and moved them up for the top section of the wall and clamped the form in place. This section only required 8 mixer loads and was completed in less than two hours.



A new 5 foot high retaining wall. This photo shows the wall, Mary and the cement mixer. Another extension of the wall will be poured on the right end of the wall where the re-bar is sticking out.

The end of a rainbow

This weekend, like most of this summer, included rain showers. We were working at the farm when a rain storm came out of nowhere. The shower didn't last long and the sun reappeared creating a rainbow that appeared to end at Brian and Tish's house.

Seismic Survey

Geokinetics Inc. was in the neighborhood preparing for a seismic survey of the south end of Joyce Road.


Shot holes are drilled twenty feet deep for the placement of an explosive charge.









Once the shot hole is drilled an explosive charge is placed at the bottom of the hole and back filled with gravel.



Four shot holes were drill on our property.

Neighborhood Deer

In the past couple of weeks I've started to see a lot of fawns with and without their mothers. Saturday evening I was in the back field at the farm with our neighbor, Harley, and saw three fawns come running out of Harley's field and into our food plot. After a few minutes at the food plot the fawns ran at full speed back to Harley's field. Tonight triplets were in the clover field with their mother.


Caught this young buck behind the barn.

Night time activity

During the daytime we only see a small number of the wild animals in our neighborhood. Here are a few photos taken with digital game cameras of night time activity.


I created a bird feeder from an empty coffee container and suspended by a wire in front of the camera. It didn't take long for the local raccoons to find the feeder. This raccoon studies the feeder's design.

Greg and Linda's deer

Photos from Greg and Linda Saylor's deer farm





Photos provided by Greg and Linda Saylor

Local winners at pet show

The 83nd annual Waverly Recreation Commission Pet Show was held at the Elderwood Nursing Facility courtyard and a couple of Joyce Road goats were winners in the miscellaneous animal competition. Ty Abell took second place with Lucas and his sister Kenna took first place with Sandy.


Ty with Lucas (left), Kenna with Sandy (right).




Mary Abell with Sandy and Lucas.

Weekend Guests

Leigh and Iona Bartlow from Huntsville, Alabama stayed with us this weekend while they were in the area for a family reunion.



We first met Leigh and Iona while on a cruise ship heading for St. Petersburg, Russia. In a chance meeting at diner we discovered Leigh had family roots in New Albany, PA which is my hometown. Leigh and Iona return to Bradford county on a regular basis for family reunions and have stopped to visit us several times. In another twist of fate we both took the same Antarctica & South America Cruise in March of 2008. While on the Antarctica cruise Iona and I celebrated our birthdays which are on the same day, Leigh's birthday is 6 days later. In January 2009 we accepted Leigh and Iona's offer to visit them at their timeshare in Pompano Beach, Florida and scheduled our 2009 Panama Canal Cruise to coincide with a visit to Florida.

Salmon Fishing in Lake Ontario

Harley and Barb Kay, along with their friends Candi and Ron had a good day fishing in Lake Ontario this weekend.



Harley



Barb



Candi



Ron



Photos provided by Barb Kay.

More Fawns Spotted in Neighborhood

A few of the local deer gathered for breakfast this morning to show off their fawns and let the "kids" play. Shortly after this picture was taken the group split up and headed different directions.

Bear visit at Pickering Winery

We stopped at Pickering Winery late Friday evening and shortly after we left the bear made a visit to Jim and Mary's. Since the winery was closed the bear had to settle for bird seed. Jim and Mary now need a new bird feeder.

The photo was provided by the Pickerings.

Geese on Miner's Pond

As I was heading south on Jocye Road I spotted this flock of geese off to my left flying parallel to the road. It didn't take them long to gain distance on me as they headed for Miner's Pond and landed.