I was hauling my weed eater around, trying to cut my ginormous weeds… and though it said only 83 degrees… I was COOKED. I grabbed more water and decided to go watch the guys sweat as they were working on our big corral.
The alley looks amazing… and the pen to the right is pretty much complete. I arrived in time to help them start on the new feedrack.
Pound those posts in the ground…
Then haul in the extremely heavy panels with the slats. Try to fit them together and level them up and temporarily tie them in place. Then start the other side.
The hay will be stacked in this and cows can stick their heads through the slanted gaps to eat it.
We went to lunch and then returned to demolition time.
Seeing the old cedar posts get knocked down made me slightly melancholy. When I arrived here 44 years ago, this was called the “new corral.” It’s the only one I’ve known. I’ve spent hours in here, sorting, counting, vaccinating, weighing, loading… I’ve frozen here, I’ve sweated here, I’ve slipped in mud and snow and ice and been covered in dust and manure.
Vernon made short work of making it all disappear. Gates were removed. The old railroad ties crunched as he pulled them from the ground.
The fence between two pens came out. I requested the old horseshoe that had held a silver gate for all those years. Vernon delicately pulled it from its old post with the teeth on his excavator bucket, and I have a memento.
Then another alley side came down. Within minutes, all that was left was a pile of dry posts and poles and some memories.
Yes, rails were breaking. No, we couldn’t fit all of our cattle in here. Yes, it needed updating for another generation to use. Doesn’t mean I can’t miss the old girl. I’m at a loss. I don’t know how to work cows in here.
Glad you have a memory to pass on. Good luck with learning the new way. Why does it take us seniors longer to grasp the new stuff. Guess that’s why we have grandkids!!
Never done, to bad the consumers rarely see the amount of work that you all put in.