Skinning/washing pole and cutting table.

 Yesterday was a productive day.  Kelly, from work, came out to the house and we worked on installing a pole system so we can skin out and wash off an animal carcass.  I put it near the chicken coop so we could get a hose to the area for cleanup and it is out of sight from the house.  So if you are inside the house you cannot see it.  There were a couple of old small power poles stashed on the property so we used them.  I may have to shorten the chain so it is right next to the cross pole.  It will give us a few more inches of lift.  The poles are sunk into the ground three feet so they are pretty sturdy.  We reused the old wood bolts and washers from the foot bridge that was replaced last year.  The 45 degree pieces are from the trumpet vine arbor that got broken from the ice sliding off the house roof.  I am trying to repurpose as much stuff as possible so we don’t have to buy new. 

The cutting table is a stainless steel top from a restaurant remodel that Lee is doing and he brought it out for me.  I happened to have some cedar left over from the new foot bridge so we used cedar legs and supports to make the new feet for the table.  I still have to install three braces about 18 inches off the ground but we used up all three drill batteries and needed to wait for a recharge.  So after a snack we opted to go up to the boneyard and shoot guns instead. 

Just installed poles and farmer me.

 The weird thing was the sheep carcass I had just taken up there last week was gone!  A few tufts of hair was all that was left.  Yet there was a whole dessicated possum that had been untouched by the predators.  I guess everyone likes lamb. 

I found another piece of old equipment out by the CRP field.  I will try and drag it down to the scrap pile after I figure out what it used to do.  Just looking at it I cannot tell.  I am pretty sure it is missing a bunch of pieces so it is most likely going to be scrap metal.  There was an article this week in the local newspaper about theives stealing old scrap metal from farms and selling it.  The sheriff’s solution for this problem is for the farmer/land owner to sell the scrap themselves before someone steals it.  A very pragmatic solution for a problem that you cannot police.  This was why we moved all the aluminum irrigation pipe near the house last summer.  Out of sight, out of mind.  I will roundup the last of the pipe this year so it is all in one place. 

Stainless steel cutting table.

I would like to install a little deer netting around the newly installed apparatus and plant some pasture grass seed.  I need to protect the seed from the chickens then as it grows protect the new sprouts from the sheep.  I can hopefully get that done this weekend. 

Now I need to start back in on the fence and making some more fence stays. 

Future barn roof.

I went out after dinner for a couple of hours and finished the gate so we could let the cows back out into the car area.  I had to redig the gate center post and add a couple of posts.  I was a little generous with my guesstimate when I installed the gates and drilled the holes with the tractor.  I got it to work out. 
I unloaded all the used tin roofing from the trailer and stacked it so it is ready to go when I start back in on the barn roof some time this summer.  Not sure when that is going to occur as the fence has priority.  I picked up all my tools and equipment at the new gate area today, now I just need to go down and toss every thing into the trailer and sort the burnable, scrap metal and trash.  I want to get it all cleaned up.  One of the advantages to fixing the fence is I have managed to scrounge up another six cow panels for use elsewhere.  I will need at least three to cross the creek on the new divider fence I am installing up the hill, but that leaves me some extra for future use.  I think I will use one of them as a gate on the upper hillside also.  It is not a gate we will be accessing often but a panel will make it a lot easier to open and close when we do use the gate. 

Redone fence on the right with new gate in the distance.

New corner with double gate, I still need to clean up my mess.

 It looks like the fence goes on forever!  I need to run this fence all the way down to the road which is just past the building on the right hand side of the picture.  The fence has a curve in it so I am just going to run the woven wire down the curve and make it snug.  I am not going to straighten out the fence rows.  It would take too much time.  Up on the hill the fence lines are all straight.  This is actually the only place on the whole farm where the fence is curved to follow the field line and not a straight line.