Beekissed

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You have been busy and with 20 tons of gravel, you are going to be a heck of a lot busier. 20 tons? Is that a typo? To spread by hand?
No....not a typo. I wish! We've been so excited to get this gravel, as we got it put in places that are muddy and high traffic...but I sure would love to have a little Bobcat long about now to help me move some of this gravel.

Mom just can't do it anymore and Eli has to work, so it's up to me to move that gravel. We had piles dumped at the entrances of the new L shaped shed extension, so it all has to be moved UNDER that extension and spread evenly across the floor of it. Then an extension of the driveway but they poured it all in a thick strip, so it has to be raked and shoveled outward until it's wider and less deep overall. Then he dumped a pile next to the driveway in some mudholes adjacent that need spread throughout those mudholes and a strip through a gate that also needs to be raked and shoveled elsewhere to thin the thickness and extend the strip. Then there's a thick strip poured through another gate that needs redistributed as well.

It's all crusher run, so it needs to be done before it rains and gets too compacted with driving over it as we go about our daily business. When I get it done it will look GREAT, but right now it just looks like a lot of really bad pain. Little bits at a time....that's how it all gets done.
 

Baymule

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If we were close, I’d sure bring my tractor and you could just point and tell me how you wanted it done. That’s a LOT to spread. Bless you, you just wade in the thick of things and get it done with what you have. I know you will get it done. I see a lot of sore muscles in your very near future. But what an improvement on your land.
 

farmerjan

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All I can say, is holy cow. DS dumped and spread some crusher run here several months ago. Brought the skid loader up to do it and help pack it down. Yeah, it needs to get done before rain or it packs. Which is great to get it to settle in and make a great base to walk and drive on.... but that is an awful lot. Good luck.
 

Beekissed

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At least is is all roughly where you want it. Still a whole lot of work and sore muscles, but at least you aren't pushing it in a wheelbarrow from a massive pile to across the land.
Was going to, but our WB is a sad sight right now...has a bum wheel. Used a dump cart hooked to the 4 wheeler to move it further out from the source. It worked and I have the gravel spread under the shed thus far....and am VERY happy about that!

Have decided, upon some good suggestions from good friends, to check out a mini Bobcat rental at our local town...will check pricing tomorrow. They have a weekend special that would allow us time to use it on other things around here too.....repairing the road from the logger damage, smoothing out logging roads on the land, and moving that gravel too.
 

Beekissed

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Got 7 fence posts cemented in today....just need to let them set, then put up the walls of my sorting pens and alley. Can't WAIT! Will get pics when it's all done. That project will use up all but a few of the big pallet skids we got for free a couple of years back. Can't believe how many ways we've used those pallets.....6 stacks taller than my head have dissolved into just a few scraps and a few odd pallets that need busted up.
 

Baymule

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What a treasure trove you had. My husband no longer questions my scrounging. LOL I have a pile of R panel metal that was once a portable building. It was in a couple hundred acre field that was for sale. A hurricane rolled the building and destroyed it. I called the number on the for sale sign and got an immediate call back. Probably thought I wanted to pony up the millions $$$& to buy the land, sounded disappointed that I only wanted the now torn up building. I promised to clean it all up, which I did. I salvaged all the metal panels, a few torn nearly in two by the force of the winds. That was 11 years ago, still have it. The right project will come along. Also have a pile of corrugated tin that has dwindled considerably. Some assorted drill stem pipe, treated 4x4s and lumber, collected and hoarded until needed.

From one old scrounged to another, Bee well done on the pile of pallets, look at all the uses you found for them! Pictures of the sorting pens are needed! An idea, build a platform to raise the sheep off the ground, with drop sides. It saves the back when trimming feet.
 

Beekissed

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What a treasure trove you had. My husband no longer questions my scrounging. LOL I have a pile of R panel metal that was once a portable building. It was in a couple hundred acre field that was for sale. A hurricane rolled the building and destroyed it. I called the number on the for sale sign and got an immediate call back. Probably thought I wanted to pony up the millions $$$& to buy the land, sounded disappointed that I only wanted the now torn up building. I promised to clean it all up, which I did. I salvaged all the metal panels, a few torn nearly in two by the force of the winds. That was 11 years ago, still have it. The right project will come along. Also have a pile of corrugated tin that has dwindled considerably. Some assorted drill stem pipe, treated 4x4s and lumber, collected and hoarded until needed.

From one old scrounged to another, Bee well done on the pile of pallets, look at all the uses you found for them! Pictures of the sorting pens are needed! An idea, build a platform to raise the sheep off the ground, with drop sides. It saves the back when trimming feet.
Just think of the gold mine you have now, with all that scrounged materials and lumber on your land! You'll have to put out security cameras to just protect the wood alone! :D =D Lots of really funny memes about the cost of lumber out there right now. We were hoarding wood before it was cool, weren't we? :lol:

I did the same as you when I still had two boys at home....took down a large wooden shed for a guy and got to keep all the lumber, all the chain link fencing and posts and the roofing. Turned around and built myself a hay shed and winter lot for the sheep back when I had sheep the first time around. Teenage boys...cheap slave labor!

I'll talk to Eli about that idea....he wants me to finish/perfect my sheep chair and use that instead....I'm switching out the bungee seat to a canvas one with bungee trim instead. There's only one ewe that needs yearly trimming that we are keeping and that's old Rose and we only trim her once a year, so not sure if we'll incorporate something into the chute just for her. We've found all the sheep with black hooves rarely, if ever, need them trimmed.

I would like to have a section of the chute where we can tie a sheep with her head up and inspect her, shear off any wool that's stubborn, check hooves, etc. Haven't figured out how to do that and also access their bodies but the drop away or slide away sides sound good.
 
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