What Keeps Me Out of the Workshop

[awemawson]

Due to the rising ground I had to scoop out an undesirably large amount to allow the gate to fully open. In the long run I need to re-sculpt the trackway as at the moment it has lumps and bumps in a rather uneven fashion. I should (when the bigger digger arrives) be able to take it all down 10" and put 6" of planing back as a surface - currently the underlying clay is poking through in places 

[vtsteam]

Well the blade will be handy! It's an excavator.
Does it have a smaller bucket?
project: add a thumb?

[awemawson]

Steve as supplied it has a grading bucket which I'd expect to be 4 or 5 foot wide, and an 18" digging bucket - I'll need to source a 9" bucket for land drain trenching. Lucky old Brian is going to get 6 or so buckets with the Kubota as I'd been collecting them 

Sadly unlike you we have few trees on the farm, so the suggested thumb probably isn't warranted, although they are useful for picking up any long thin things I suppose.

[vtsteam]

Ah yes, only trees here, and glacial til -- plenty of rocks to move as well. A thumb would be great here.

[Pete.]

I've located a JCB 803 and committed to buying it - this is a 3 ton machine that should hopefully fit my needs and not be too much of a dog when I see it in the flesh - bought blind from a dealer 300 miles away 

I'd be very careful with that if I were you it looks like they put the top on backards

[awemawson]

It's just arrived (9 pm) and an initial impression is it's better than I'd expected - the cold light of dawn will probably reveal a few issues 

BTW Steve, the green you saw (I think) was grass showing through the 'track droop' from the verge behind.

[Pete W.]

Wow, Andrew,

It covered those 300 miles in double-quick time!!!  I hope the ferry pilot had goggles!!                   

[awemawson]

Hi Pete - the delivery chap was a very nice helpful fellow, who having dropped my digger off left here about 10 pm to go into central London and pick up another one - not my idea of a relaxing life !

Toll so far on my JCB 803 is I need the following:

2 off Bonnet Gas Struts
1 off Door catch
1 off Dipper control handle
1 off Dipper control handle gaiter

And I need to take a sledge hammer to the front dozer blade and bend the skin back where it is peeling from the frame, then weld it. All pretty trivial really for a 1997 machine. No doubt other things will crop up along the way.

 

[awemawson]

So Brian turned up bright and early this morning and by 5 pm had FINISHED the gable ends 

During the day I mended the track expanding / contracting lever on the little Kubota - just a bit of welding - it had broken off maybe 5 years ago and had been sitting at the back of my bench all that time - as I never needed to squeeze it though narrow door ways I never had got round to mending it 

Slight complications during the day -  at long last after a 10 day pause, one of the three Ewes that hadn't produced but that are expecting went  into labour at 14:30. It was important that we were on the ball with this birth (she was expecting twins) as one of the previously born lambs had been 'stealing' milk off her. Now the first milk out is 'colostrum' which it's vital the new born gets as the first feed to line it's stomach and give it all sorts of protection that it would otherwise lack. First twin was born at 17:15 and the second at 18:30, so a fair amount of hanging about ready to pounce with a bottle of commercial colostrum.

[awemawson]

With all the hanging about I thought I'd move the new digger up onto the concrete slab outside my workshop so I could attend to a few minor issues - no problem up the ramp she goes, and I park her up. Then I get called to attend to other things. When I come back there is a massive oil slick spreading from the machine and apparently emanating from the right hand track motor or it's pipework 

Quick call to the seller, who was not dismissive, but not entirely committed to taking responsibility. Then it occurred to me - I'd paid a 50%  deposit, balance due on delivery, and I made an online payment to him for this - but the bank delayed the payment until Friday for 'security checks' so the money hadn't yet left my account.

OK not something I like to do, but a quick call to the bank stopped the payment going out, and I'm sure our next conversation will entail far more co-operation on his behalf 

He wants me to start stripping out the undercarriage round the track motor to inspect - normally not an issue, but currently I have a roof to batten and tile by Saturday, and also be able to drop  things in a hurry when any more sheep issue arise. I'll not welch on the deal long term, but he will pick up the ticket for this repair 

Meanwhile I got the barge boards cut and fixed (too dark for pictures) and tomorrow it's a case of rock wool insulation in the ceiling, followed by breathable membrane and battens, and hopefully tiles on the pig sty roof tomorrow

[hermetic]

Bad luck with the digger andrew, hope you get it fixed ok, Last time I saw one doing that it was a newish JCB 3C with an oil slick running all down a driveway. I asked the guy if he had burst a hose, "no such luck" he replied, some thieving toe rags had been on the site over the weekend and stripped off and nicked the Hydraulic pump!
Good Luck with it.
Phil

[vtsteam]

I'm sure you'll have it figured out and fixed Andrew,and glad you stopped payment until you're sure of the problem.

Having without realizing the problems, bought the Ford 850 with the blown head gasket and warped head, and two buckets and arms that didn't fit, and suposedly knowing better than that, I definitely know the feeling!

However, now happy I own it now. 

[PekkaNF]

I have reading in awe how punctual yor briclayer is. When I was a kid I saw three building sites that bricklayers come and wen as they pleased....visits were sometimes three weeks appart and sometimes they made other work wait or screw it up somehow. You are in luck.

I hope you'll get that digger sorted out. I knw how it feels when you don't need any extra complications.

OT: can I share a day I had two days ago?

Went work, we are swamped and big bosses have big ideas but in the end of day all that excel and ppt burlup is load of organic waste dumped on us. Anyway there was three projects I had to work with and I went trough few outstanding items, one of them no-one come to think and it could become a show stopper later on, communicated it forward and totaly ruined someones day. Two other were cocups on in a minor manner.

Left the work and started my car, rpm needle sprung to normal iddle and when I started driving dropped to zero, engine was running ok, somewhat sluggish. Odd, I was thinkking. MIL-light come on after few kilometers. Drove home, read error codes and it indicated p0335 crank sensor "A" problem. Hmm.

My wife dropped a knife on the oven glass door. The glass shattered.

It has been raingin three days. I found a tablespoon of water on the bedroom floor. I was happy it was on the middle and not leaked into walls....checked the roof. no holes.

Next day I tried to contact three shops, no help. I'm bit busy and I wanted someone professional to have a look on it. I ended up buying the sensor and changing it mysef. Still womits the same code. Opend and cleaned few connectors and now it running fime.

Arrgh. I know minor stuf, but it felt big at that time.

Pekka

[awemawson]

Thanks chaps for your thoughts, and Pekka, that wasn't Friday 13th by any chance ?

Well today with the gables finished I could crack on with the roof. First put in the rockwool insulation, then experienced the joy of fitting the breathable membrane single handed in a light breeze  then battened both faces and started tiling.

That's about half the tiles fitted, and I've crawled home to swallow the whole Ibuprofen packet so hopefully my body can bend again 

[Will_D]

Love this thread

Them bacons are sure going to taste sweet after their cosetted like in a "5-star-sty"

[vtsteam]

Andrew, do you have pigs for the new house already?

[awemawson]

Steve yes I've pigs ready to be rehoused!

We originally had a pig run that was earth and just mesh fenced, and they were everlastingly getting out. It had a conventional corrugated pig arc as housing. Then I tried electric fence to keep them off the mesh, but growth foliage kept defeating it. So I cut a panel out of a 20 foot square open tank and welded a gate on in it's place which certainly keeps them in but they are rather out of the way hence building the first Pig Palace.

Blossom the sow presented me with 6 offspring and when they need weaning they went in the tank. So the idea is that Blossom goes in the new place and her weaners go where she has been.

[Pete W.]

Hi there, Andrew,

They're looking for the culprit who did this:



Can you give Brian a good alibi!                   

[awemawson]

Well Pete 'where is Brian?' is actually a very good question - he was supposed to be here at lunchtime to do the pillar tops and roof ridge and verges, but there's no sign of him 

I made an early start to finish off the tiling ready for him, and as I got to the last few rows realised I was going to be one "tile & a half" short - I have literally hundreds of the plain tiles but must have miscounted those. Fortunately my local supplier was open on a Saturday morning, so I made a quick dash off site to collect. These are the slightly darker coloured alternate tiles at the verges, and are obviously made to metric standards, as the recycled plain tiles hang 1/4" lower on the battens.

So assuming Brian eventually re-surfaces and finishes his part of the job, all I have to do apart from a major tidy up is plumb in the water trough and an outside bibcock.

[Spurry]

Andrew
This has been a very interesting thread, so sorry for the silly question, but how is the new palace ever cleaned out? Or, are you on very friendly terms with Snow White?
Pete

[awemawson]

Well Pete it will be treated exactly like the current one. Every morning at 7 am I sweep up the pig poo and shovel it into a wheel barrow conveniently placed behind the enclosure, sweep any still good straw back into the sty while they are eating the food I've just dished up. And every few days I rake out the sleeping quarters and install fresh straw.

In the tank I mentioned the base is very rough concrete and a swine (!) to sweep out, whereas the Pig Palaces have smooth concrete and it's an absolute doddle.

[Spurry]

Andrew
I had to ask, as our current abode was an old pig farm, and the two remaining pig sheds have 6ft high doors, as well as smooth concrete floors, so it would have been an easy task, I assume, to clean them out. Even two of the old pig barns we demolished had single sloping roofs about 12ft on the higher side and were at least 6ft on the lower eaves.
Keep up the good work.
Pete

[awemawson]

Pete that sounds like a proper commercial finishing unit where the poor things stay indoors all the time. Although ours are certainly not pets, and are raised for food, we are just small time and enjoy having the animals in nice surroundings. They also offer an interest and entertainment to our guests in our holiday cottages

[lordedmond]

Yep Andrew it a easy job if the roof is high enough.

My grandad used to keep three gilts collect the swill from the nearby houses boil it up ( you had to have a licence to do it) the police would come round to check out things .

Two problems I have had with sows  first one sows back was two inches higher than my crutch I must have been about ten the darned thing ran between my legs there I was riding the pig backwards around the sty , as you know it's not good to be on the floor with pigs around.

Second at the iron works farm ( yes we looked after the electricity for them ) ask the farmer is the sow locked up yes he says now this is a 20 stone plus monster , I am up the ladder pigs out chopping on the rungs of the ladder  I was not impressed.

My grandads brother was a farmer so as a youngster I spent a lot of time on the farm with most type of farm animals learnt to drive on a Fordson major tractor . H and S you say never hear of them open flat belts flapping all ove the place no guards machines repaired with binder twine . Give you a idea of when we had a reaper that had been converted from horse drawn to tractor . Then the pink thrashing drum turned up more flat belts and boiling over tractor
Great days I really enjoyed the time spent down on the farm

I commend you on the way you treat your animals it's a credit to you , ok they are for food but they have a good life while you have them , don't eat meat but that's my thing

Stuart

[awemawson]

I've not had bad tempered boars or sows I'm pleased to say - and although I say it myself I think it's down to the way you treat them. A few years back I had two sows, Martha and Margaret. Both were amiable, if anything Margaret was better tempered than her sister. So when the friend of a friend wanted to buy one he had Margaret. Within six months I heard he'd shot her as she was so bad tempered. However he had kept her indoors, never socialised, and I heard that he'd been kicking her to move her. What did he expect 

I kept Martha for years, she presented me with several litters, and I only ended her time when she miss-carried and became infertile. She was tractable and like Blossom my current sow, enjoyed having her ears tickled and on a hot day lying down on her back and letting me spray her with the hose.

Even Robert, the boar I borrow, who is absolutely enormous and has big scary tusks likes his tummy scratched 

Before Robert I used to use Moe, also rather large - here he is with Martha doing what comes naturally :