Barn coming together.

It is very hot here.  I have not gotten back onto the roof of the barn.  Annmarie and I are cooking for grandma's 90 th birthday party so I have my four days allotted to setting up pavilion and popups and chairs and tables and food and cooking food.  So no barn progress for a while. I put in for a bunch of vacation on the next work schedule so I can finish it up. Mr. President and I arranged the new sorting chute panels in the barn. I need to order one more gate, two pegs and 15 wood holes to attach it all in place. Once that arrives I will secure it in place.  It is going to work out very nice.  One person and the dog will be able to sort an entire herd of sheep alone and do the tagging and banding alone. 

We added a lid to the internal old metal grain bin and I added an articulated handle made out of scraps I picked off the metal pile.  It works great and makes it so we can ensure a positive door closure. Now I just need to cut a hole in the lid and drop one of the turbinators through it so the bin can be loaded by just emptying the bag out at waist height into the turbinators, then passing into bin.  I will work on that a little at a time.  

I used the tractor and graded an area for the new cross fence in the barn lot.  I just need to get four railroad ties, two 4x4 and one sixteen foot gate and I will be ready to install it.  This will happen in next six weeks so it will be ready when we have to roundup other two cows for butcher.  Mr. President is moving the dirt so the lot will be empty with no obstacles. The dirt is going in the rocky part of the orchard so hopefully I can get some grass to grow.  

I picked our golden plums this week.  Another four days would have been ideal but the hornets had already eaten half of them so I braved the stinging insects and picked twenty decent fruits from the tree.  I tossed all the bad stuff onto the ground for the sheep.  We need another ten cow panels so I can circle the rose bushes and a few trees protecting them from the animals. It's only another $300. 

I also need to order our wind vane for the barn roof this weekend. Eventually, I would like to get one on every outbuilding. I think they look cool. 



Steve cobbled handle from scrap.

New sheep sorting chute system.

Sheep chute needs another gate.

Horses, sheep and chickens all comingling peacefully.  Our ram is near the middle of the picture.