Bruce's Journal

[Mini Horses]

With some of the rocks found when just driving a fence post I could see why they didn't dig. Oooops....LOL

Another farm I had a big OLD barn. At least 90 yr old and still there today. Had some foundation work done on the drive thru side, otherwise they had everything on huge stone, in ground. One side had settled a little, so it was jacked & some concrete added at that area. Amazing old wood & wood work in it. Nice layout, too. Raised walkthrough in center for feed and holes to access stalls on each side. Big loft for hay.

My barn isn't like the grand old ones -- didn't need it. But, it is built on a concrete foundation with 3 block up, then the wood, like a house would be. Has trusses, so interior stalls can all be removed and have just an open building. Inside, those dividers are in ground. And the feed, tack, work room has concrete floor. It's 24X38 with 14X14 feed room & a 12X24 roofed lounge area at one end. Run in barns in fields, so this one isn't used much except kidding time or something "special" or sick that may need me to have containment. I have a trailer for hay, so only have a few bales in this one at any one time. Feed barrels in there & used. Works for me.

 

[Baymule]

I love old barns. Since our place didn't have an old barn, we built a new one. I guess when we are dead and gone, it will have earned it's "character".

 

[CntryBoy777]

Hey Bruce....I had a thought about your fencing situation and I in no way extremely knowledgeable about it...but, have ya thought about getting a hole in the rocks...putting in concrete and using J-bolts to secure a post or 4x4 to?...the hole doesn't have to be but about 8-10" deep....may save you time, energy, and Pain....

 

[Bruce]

Hmmm. Well I have my 6" diameter 8' treated post and a 2' deep hole down to the ledge. I don't know if sticking a J-bolt or two in the post and concrete would make it more sturdy or not.

I imagine if I had a hammer drill I could make a hole in the ledge for a piece of rebar .. but I don't. I do have some drill bits for stone though. Might be worth seeing if I can make a dent with that. Not sure though. I seem to have 4 kinds of rock.

1. Stuff buried by prior owners - PITA!!!!
2. Stuff buried by the glaciers eons ago - tend to be smaller and not dumped all over each other. Still a pain but I have been able to work those out - so far
3. sedimentary ledge that breaks out in chunks. I can drive rebar down into this (and then have a heck of a time getting it back out!). The SE edge of the pond is this stuff and it is easy to see the structure because a seed will sprout there, the roots start to spread and open a slight crack which then gets dirt blown in making more seed bed. Eventually the roots crack out a piece of rock, usually around 4"x4" x anything from 1/2" to "long". Of course this takes a LONG time.
4. Serious solid stone ledge. Can't break through it. I took this picture a couple of years ago when I was seeing which "rip up the mower blades" rocks I could pull out (no machinery). There was about 4" of stone showing but as you see that is my left hand holding up turf and almost zero dirt up off the rock as hit heads down into the ground. It is either a HUGE boulder or a large piece of ledge. This is the kind of thing I think I hit at the NW corner of my project.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well with so much underground Rock...nothing will be digging under the fence....I know I am a Redneck...but, why not just use the 4x6s horizontally on the ground as a stabilizer and nailer for your fence...with the elevation differences they can be filled up with all that Rock...nothing says a fence has to be attached to a post set in the ground...so save yourself some Work and Frustration by just using what ya have to your 'Advantage'...it would even stabilize cattle panels if ya go that route....I may be Crazy but just trying to Help ya!!

 

[Bruce]

There are certainly places where nothing will dig under the fence. For example, the gate at the north end of the barn. You can't stick a gardening fork 2" into the ground ANYWHERE close to it without hitting some of the stuff buried by the prior owner.

So far I haven't hit anything close enough to the surface to keep something from digging under, just not deep enough to get a 6" post 3' in everywhere I want them. Like I WANT a gate at the NW corner but other than cementing in another post for an H-brace to the corner post, I don't know how I can do it. I'll try digging in a few places going south from that corner and see if I can find a spot. If not, maybe I can find something going east not too far. I'm already planning a gate going into the area west of the barn (there is a rotting wood gate there in the existing weasley fence) but it is only 16' from the gate at the end of the barn. That leaves ~130' to the NW corner and while it wouldn't kill a person to go up to a gate and back down, kind of a PITA if you are on the inside at the NW corner and want to be on the other side of the fence.

I could certainly pile rocks along the fence line though I would really need a tractor with FEL, some of the rocks in the pile on the north side of the barn are pretty darned big. I might end up doing that at the low area along the N fence line. It gets pretty mushy there. I don't know if it is water seeping out of the pond ( NO idea how the retaining "wall" in the pond is built, might just be dirt and mud), high water table there or maybe there is a lot of ledge underneath and the water has nowhere to go. Certainly would love to have the ability to dig a trench down toward the natural wetland and drain that water off.

Yesterday I made the floating brace for the SE corner, amazing how stiff that post is even though it is braced in only 1 direction. I don't need to brace it going west since I'm using cattle panels on the south fence line. Today I put in the line posts for the east side up to the H-brace for the gate. Ran shy 3 posts so not QUITE done with that. I also cemented in the NW corner post and wired the H-brace at the SW corner.

 

[Bruce]

Bought 7 more wood posts and 25 more 7' T-posts today. One of the guys at TSC said "boy you sure can get a lot in a Prius". The other guys said "You should have seen it last week!" and detailed all I put in, on and behind the car.

Got the floating brace that runs south on the west line from the NW corner (the cemented post) in and wired. Still need to install an H brace and floating braced post for a gate about midway in that line.

Cut the post for the floating brace that will run east from the NW post but ran out of light so I haven't positioned the rock nor wired it yet. Still need to build the double H at the east end of the north fence line (the gate post is already in with a 10' pipe gate on it) and put in a floating braced post ~13' west of that for a gate strike post then the 13 T-posts for the field fence.

Need a strike post for the gate in the East line and then it will be time to raise some fence.

Slow but steady I guess, I feel like a turtle

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sounds like ya made some really good Progress!!.......sure have much Less to go than when ya Started...and every step Forward...is another step Less to Go!!

 

[Mini Horses]

OK I have a "share" for you. Having animals means you just never know when you may need to quickly go from one field to another and a gate is preferable but I have made some of the H supports in my fences into a ladder for myself. I just nailed a couple extra 2X4 slats on each side and I can climb them quickly. You could actually put stairs on each side -- of course for dogs & goats you would need to be sure to enclose them so that they would not be able to walk up & out

Just a thought for that rocky corner. Of course this is ok for people, not equipment & vehicles. But, I have these in several places and have used them often to move quickly across a fence.
You can cover any hot wire in that one spot with some rubber tubing.....or run it under the step, etc.

I climb a lot of fence & gates here.....trees were always a favorite thing for me. Keeps you limber.

 

[Bruce]

Ah, just the thing! I could leave a ladder by the tree on the inside and one by the tree on the outside. If I were young and spry, I could skip those and pull myself up to the top of the post to get over. Hmmm, a rope ladder stored on top of the post would be easier. Given my level of "life experience" maybe a rope ladder with solid rungs would be better.

You do think out of the box @Mini Horses !