Sides done.

My helper didn’t show up on Saturday, girl problems.  I had to buy some calf milk replacement and a cow bottle.  One of the calves was not getting up.  We had a baby calf.  I went out to check on the calf with my half a gallon of milk and found two calves!  I watched both of them latch on and suckle.  I did not wait till they were finished and look for a milk moustache.  Gary from work took pity on me and came out to the house for about three hours.  We finished up all the boards on the corral.  Only thing left are the gates.  It is starting to really take shape, the best part is it is getting done quicker than I had anticipated.  I took Gary out for an early dinner.  I always feed my help! 
I was unable to get close to either calf.  Both mothers are super protective and there is no way I am gonna get my hands on a baby without getting horned by an angry mother cow.  I will wait until we run them all into the new corral!

Sides done.

Future front fence location to the left of the screen across front of driveway to new corral.

Just how many projects should you work on simultaneously?  I have a couple, maybe a few.  I am currently attempting to get the new corral up and working.  I started in on the drain line for the gutters that come off of the end of the barn.  The gutters off the end of the barn need to be done, The main irrigation pump channel needs to be finished digging but that requires me to rent a backhoe for a day.  I need to finish working on the irrigation pump fittings.  I need to pull the small irrigation pump and get it fixed.  I need to finish digging the hole in the yard so I can install two more no freeze outside spigots in the yard.  I decided to start drilling holes today for the new front fence across the driveway.  I have some help coming for a day next week so I am going to have them work on the front fence and the gutters on the barn.  Hopefully, the corral will be finished by then.  I still need to install the scratching post and fly powder triangle stand for the cows.  Of course it is time to start spraying the star thistle again this year.  I purchased a few hundred dollars in herbicide yesterday, so I need to use it up. 

I have a couple more projects in my head but not actually started so I didn’t think they would count.  I wanted to run the new fence gate right up to the concrete walkway but the buried telephone line runs directly in the corner next to the driveway.  I know this because I cut it in half once already when installing the lights (which no longer work because they need to be rewired.).  The corral hopefully will only take us two more days.  I only have Phil for two more days, so it needs to be done in two days!  I think it is possible.  One of the items coming up is cleaning up the old house.  It is a mess from all my projects this year.  I need to spend one day just cleaning up and putting stuff away. 

New corral taking shape. I did not use a level if you had not noticed.  It is a corral.

Wire panels in place.

I was very tired the other day after getting off of a grueling shift at work.  I had only slept a few hours but just could not make myself go lie down.  Instead I spent a few hours out in the heat installing all the metal panels in the corral.  It was something I could do alone and be fairly efficient.  There are some tasks I can do alone they just take four times as long to do them alone.  The panels make the corral look like a corral.  You can see the animal flow and it is starting to make sense.  I did eventually go inside and take a nice long nap!  I bought some cable to go across the top of the railroad ties on either side of the chute.  I don’t want the thing spreading out over time due to the animals bouncing around on the walls.  Annmarie and I are still discussing how I should install the cable so the posts won’t turn when force is applied to one side of the wall. 

Finally, a major step done.  We got all the posts set in gravel. Luckily, we had enough gravel left as my ordered delivery was delayed twice and won’t be here till Thursday. We only had to do over one hole it needed to be moved a paltry 4 inches.  It took us almost an hour to move that hole!  There was a huge rock in the way. It did not want to come out of the ground. I kept trying to remember to bring out the gates to make sure we got the spacing correct.  Nope, I forgot one. Instead of the opening being 10 ft 2 in wide it was 10 ft 8 in, too wide.  Instead of ripping it out and spending an hour fixing it I will just have a custom gate made. Packy was already going to construct two others so a third addition will be easy.  I can use the already purchased gate elsewhere on the farm. We even cleaned up all the tools. I figure three more days go get the corral cone. Once we are done I will have Packy come out and measure for the custom gates. I want to make bird houses to go on top of all the posts. I hope the birds actually use them. 

Spring storms have continued unabated. 

Post holes dug and ready for posts to be set.

Well we managed to get the holes emptied and in the correct spot by noon. Some of the holes have to match up for gate operation so we had to move the holes. This was painful. I remembered why I only usually do heavy farm labor in stretches of three days. By the third day my body is screaming at me. I start looking forward to going back to work so I can rest from being at home! 

Phil was dissapointed that we used the tractor to move l the railroad ties into place. Some were so heavy that it took both of us to move them once they hit the ground. Even Phil was getting tired. There is going to be a lot of the posts sticking up. I will be able to stabilize the top with boards across the chute so the cows won’t be able to spread it out. I think it is going to turn out nice. I am even thinking about building some bird houses to go on top of the posts!  

15 of 32 posts set in the ground.

Another summer storm.