Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
Interesting property lines with the curve in the road and is that a rail road on the angle?
looks like most of it is cleared off at one time.
looks like most of it is cleared off at one time.
Howdy!
- Thread starter TXDirt
- Start date
Yea, it's not a normal lay out for a property like this. It used to be very well kept with no overgrowing or brush growing through the fences. It's not too bad still, but there are some areas that will have to be knocked down and cleared out. Yes, that is a railroad running along the edge of the property.
leanin' H
Well-known member
If ya dont fence your back property line what will keep the cattle from crossing the creek? Looks like a nice piece of ground. With your interest and ambition it shouldnt take long to bring it's shine back. Kudos to you for being interested and wanting to learn. To me, that's half the battle. 
The grass looks pretty nice and if you stock it right and get the moisture ya need that ground will take just as good of care of you as you do for it. Good luck. And Welcome!
The grass looks pretty nice and if you stock it right and get the moisture ya need that ground will take just as good of care of you as you do for it. Good luck. And Welcome! There is a fence line at the tree line, so no live stock can get into the woods or down to the creek.
That is another nice thing about this property is that everything is fenced off. If you look at the main overhead picture, you can see breaks in the land, pretty much at every break is a fence line w/ a gate.
That is another nice thing about this property is that everything is fenced off. If you look at the main overhead picture, you can see breaks in the land, pretty much at every break is a fence line w/ a gate.
Long time no post. I'll give y'all an update.
We do not have animals on the property as of yet. We went this first half of this year with not enough water to really sustain much livestock and have not yet come up with the alternative for water. However we had a major flood a few months ago and now all the ponds have water ! We have been fixing fences left and right, we ended up tearing out a lot of the fence at the front of the property. A lot of the gates are wired and not hinged so we are going through and mounting hinges as needed. My dad hired a man that lives down there to help us with the fences and brush along the fences, he has been a huge help. The kids have been having a ball out there on the property. We ride atv's down to the creek atleast once or twice a week and just walk around, we are out there almost every other day working on something. Now that the cool whether is not too far away we are starting to make plans on how to fix the barns up. Also we are working with a neighbor to start plowing, and seeding some of the fields. One of the fields produced 19 bales this harvest with absolutely no help from anyone it hasn't been harvested or fertilized in years yet seemed to do pretty good for a 18 acre field. We have about 80-90 acres of fields that we could get crops on if worked right and that is our goal.
We are suppost to get cattle out there one day this week. They don't belong to us, they belong to a guy that was good friends of the previous owner. He is bringing the cows out till around December to let them graze while he does some work on his place.
We are working to get the fence done around the gin so that we can get some goats in there. The fence around the gin is all brand new with welded wire on the lower. I'll post pics through this week.
Neighbor guy out baling the hay for us:
The first gate that we replaced. This is also where we replaced all of the fence!
I took my daughter, nephew and my buddies kid out in the jeep cruising the property and had to let them play on the bales!
Welded hinges on this gate last night. This gate is going to need replaced in the near future.
and this one!
I never did post a finished picture of that gate hanger that I designed! It turned out really nice!
While putting out in the jeep I found a fun little trench that I drove through!
I took my cousin's kids for a ride out there in my rock crawler and they begged me to drive over this old tree.... Well I got stuck! Had to get another jeep out there to get me off of the tree! it was kind of funny! I hardly ever drive my rock crawler out on the property because I don't want to tear up the land!
We do not have animals on the property as of yet. We went this first half of this year with not enough water to really sustain much livestock and have not yet come up with the alternative for water. However we had a major flood a few months ago and now all the ponds have water
! We have been fixing fences left and right, we ended up tearing out a lot of the fence at the front of the property. A lot of the gates are wired and not hinged so we are going through and mounting hinges as needed. My dad hired a man that lives down there to help us with the fences and brush along the fences, he has been a huge help. The kids have been having a ball out there on the property. We ride atv's down to the creek atleast once or twice a week and just walk around, we are out there almost every other day working on something. Now that the cool whether is not too far away we are starting to make plans on how to fix the barns up. Also we are working with a neighbor to start plowing, and seeding some of the fields. One of the fields produced 19 bales this harvest with absolutely no help from anyone it hasn't been harvested or fertilized in years yet seemed to do pretty good for a 18 acre field. We have about 80-90 acres of fields that we could get crops on if worked right and that is our goal.We are suppost to get cattle out there one day this week. They don't belong to us, they belong to a guy that was good friends of the previous owner. He is bringing the cows out till around December to let them graze while he does some work on his place.
We are working to get the fence done around the gin so that we can get some goats in there. The fence around the gin is all brand new with welded wire on the lower. I'll post pics through this week.
Neighbor guy out baling the hay for us:
The first gate that we replaced. This is also where we replaced all of the fence!
I took my daughter, nephew and my buddies kid out in the jeep cruising the property and had to let them play on the bales!
Welded hinges on this gate last night. This gate is going to need replaced in the near future.
and this one!
I never did post a finished picture of that gate hanger that I designed! It turned out really nice!
While putting out in the jeep I found a fun little trench that I drove through!
I took my cousin's kids for a ride out there in my rock crawler and they begged me to drive over this old tree.... Well I got stuck! Had to get another jeep out there to get me off of the tree! it was kind of funny! I hardly ever drive my rock crawler out on the property because I don't want to tear up the land!
Some more update:
We have been working our knuckles to the bone on this place! I'm picking up another gate on my way home tonight and will be installing it when I get off work. My wife and I cleaned out the smallest barn last night, I borrowed a dumpster from work and we filled it too the top. The barn needs a little bit of work, but will work for the goats we plan to put in there. I have been searching around for goats to start our small trip, but haven't had much success. We are going to the auction Saturday, hopefully will get a good deal on about 6. We found a smoking deal on a JD 4640 w/ cab, we plan to get it tomorrow if everything works right. I have been looking for livestock trailers, preferably one that needs work. How ever I haven't had much luck, I did how ever see some clever ideas where these guys used cattle panels on their trailers to make a livestock trailer so I may go that route. I got a good deal on a 150 gallon water tank (the type you load in the bed of your truck) and a 300 gallon water trough, so I will be able to get water to the goats no matter what the climate is doing.
pics of the barn we cleaned out! Wish I would have gotten pics of it before we cleaned it. It had soooo much trash and junk in it!
It will need work, but in the mean time it will make a great shelter, and is in good enough shape that it is worth fixing up!
This is some of the stuff that came out of it. You can see the corner of the dumpster on the left!
A pic of me, when we were setting H posts for the new fence.
Finally got a couple decent pics of the gin, I will get some of the inside eventually.
My wife, daughter and I going for a cruise in the jeep out on the land!
We have been working our knuckles to the bone on this place! I'm picking up another gate on my way home tonight and will be installing it when I get off work. My wife and I cleaned out the smallest barn last night, I borrowed a dumpster from work and we filled it too the top. The barn needs a little bit of work, but will work for the goats we plan to put in there. I have been searching around for goats to start our small trip, but haven't had much success. We are going to the auction Saturday, hopefully will get a good deal on about 6. We found a smoking deal on a JD 4640 w/ cab, we plan to get it tomorrow if everything works right. I have been looking for livestock trailers, preferably one that needs work. How ever I haven't had much luck, I did how ever see some clever ideas where these guys used cattle panels on their trailers to make a livestock trailer so I may go that route. I got a good deal on a 150 gallon water tank (the type you load in the bed of your truck) and a 300 gallon water trough, so I will be able to get water to the goats no matter what the climate is doing.
pics of the barn we cleaned out! Wish I would have gotten pics of it before we cleaned it. It had soooo much trash and junk in it!
It will need work, but in the mean time it will make a great shelter, and is in good enough shape that it is worth fixing up!
This is some of the stuff that came out of it. You can see the corner of the dumpster on the left!
A pic of me, when we were setting H posts for the new fence.
Finally got a couple decent pics of the gin, I will get some of the inside eventually.
My wife, daughter and I going for a cruise in the jeep out on the land!
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
looking good.
I saw some interesting braces where they used 2 7/8 pipe for posts and the cross brace but welded 3 1/2 inch collars to the cross brace with set screws to hold them in place. . You could pound your pipes in the ground using the cross brace as a measure then slide it up the posts and tighten the set screws.
I saw some interesting braces where they used 2 7/8 pipe for posts and the cross brace but welded 3 1/2 inch collars to the cross brace with set screws to hold them in place. . You could pound your pipes in the ground using the cross brace as a measure then slide it up the posts and tighten the set screws.
A word of caution about picking up goats or sheep at auction. There is a disease called Caseous Lympnadenitis, or CL for short. Animals can be carriers and shed it without you knowing it. It causes abscesses in the lymph nodes, both acute causing sudden death and chronic causing long term wasting away and then death. When the abcesses burst, the ground is contaminated and then you have in on your place for life. A lot of herds just living with it, knowing they will lose X number of animals to it per year. If you have a clean place, however, and you will be wanting to run goats for economic purposes or to sell breeding stock, make sure you get your goats from a CL free herd. You really don't want CL on your place. Believe me...
Big Muddy rancher said:looking good.
I saw some interesting braces where they used 2 7/8 pipe for posts and the cross brace but welded 3 1/2 inch collars to the cross brace with set screws to hold them in place. . You could pound your pipes in the ground using the cross brace as a measure then slide it up the posts and tighten the set screws.
Sounds pretty simple and quicker than the way we have been doing our H posts. I have been building our H posts at our shop and then setting them thinking it will save time. However it turns out that drilling 2 holes at equal depths, perfect spacing and in line with the fence row has proved to be a little tougher than it looks.
aspen said:
Thanks a lot for the advice! I will be careful in our selection. We are going to get to the auction about an hour early so that we can inspect the goats up close. I am guessing that there is a good chance that we might not see any signs of CL so it might be a roll of the dice at the auction.
It will be a roll of the dice at an auction. Remember, they are always there for a reason... If you have it, you won't know till you get a lump that breaks with thick yellow/green pus draining, or an animal that eats well and is active but goes down to skin and bone and then dies due to internal abscesses. Either way, it will too late to keep your place clean once it happens.
If you just want a few goats around for weed and brush control and keeping this particular animal alive isn't important (ie. no kid's special pets) then taking the risk would be worth it. If you want to be commercial with your goats or sell breeding stock, purchasing privately from a CL free herd is the way to go.
Just basic info if you are interested. All the best!
If you just want a few goats around for weed and brush control and keeping this particular animal alive isn't important (ie. no kid's special pets) then taking the risk would be worth it. If you want to be commercial with your goats or sell breeding stock, purchasing privately from a CL free herd is the way to go.
Just basic info if you are interested. All the best!
Well! It was an eye opening weekend for me! Got my first step into the world of livestock and auctions! It was very fun, informative, and eye opening! Friday night when I got off work I went straight down there and started helping work on fences! Almost immediately we decided that the gin lot wasn't quite ready for baby goats so we decided to build a pen around the barn that we cleaned out.
Went to the auction Saturday and bought 8 pygmy goats. 1 billy and 7 nanny goats. 3 of the nanny goats were older and 2 are confirmed pregnant. We bought 1 half pygmy half boer goat off of some friends of ours. The goats seem to be adjusting. We went to the auction early and picked out the goats we were interested in. We bought all of the ones that we had picked out earlier. The goats don't seem to be afraid of us, 1 of the goats loves being petted and played with, but the others when you reach down are still kind of skittish and unsure of being petted. We hope that with treats and as they get used to us that they will begin to like being petted. We also took one of my inlaw's that knows quite a bit about goats and they seemed to think we did ok, but she kepts saying only time will tell.
My wife's aunt that let us borrow here livestock trailer for the weekend surprised us and gave us 2 of her donkey's yesterday! We were pretty happy about that, because these 2 donkey's are very tame, love to be petted, are young, and are very gentle with any and all livestock. We brought them home last night, and they seemed to adapt pretty quick. They love the carrots. Their names are stormy and sister.
Went to the auction Saturday and bought 8 pygmy goats. 1 billy and 7 nanny goats. 3 of the nanny goats were older and 2 are confirmed pregnant. We bought 1 half pygmy half boer goat off of some friends of ours. The goats seem to be adjusting. We went to the auction early and picked out the goats we were interested in. We bought all of the ones that we had picked out earlier. The goats don't seem to be afraid of us, 1 of the goats loves being petted and played with, but the others when you reach down are still kind of skittish and unsure of being petted. We hope that with treats and as they get used to us that they will begin to like being petted. We also took one of my inlaw's that knows quite a bit about goats and they seemed to think we did ok, but she kepts saying only time will tell.
My wife's aunt that let us borrow here livestock trailer for the weekend surprised us and gave us 2 of her donkey's yesterday! We were pretty happy about that, because these 2 donkey's are very tame, love to be petted, are young, and are very gentle with any and all livestock. We brought them home last night, and they seemed to adapt pretty quick. They love the carrots. Their names are stormy and sister.
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
looks like your in business.
You should look back for RA's posts in ranch talk and see some of the things he had in his goat pen for them to play on.
Just remember while it's nice to have all your animals gentle and pet-able make sure they respect you and you space. Nothing more dangerous theh a "Pet" that will bite, bunt or strike because they want a treat.
You should look back for RA's posts in ranch talk and see some of the things he had in his goat pen for them to play on.
Just remember while it's nice to have all your animals gentle and pet-able make sure they respect you and you space. Nothing more dangerous theh a "Pet" that will bite, bunt or strike because they want a treat.
Big Muddy rancher said:looks like your in business.
You should look back for RA's posts in ranch talk and see some of the things he had in his goat pen for them to play on.
Just remember while it's nice to have all your animals gentle and pet-able make sure they respect you and you space. Nothing more dangerous theh a "Pet" that will bite, bunt or strike because they want a treat.
I will go look for RA's posts. I have been looking online at ideas for stuff to build. I have an abundance of pallets big and small at my disposal and I plan to build most of their playground stuff with them.
You are very much right. The friends that we got the half pygmy-boer goat from have that issue with their billy. They said he was a lap pet for a while when they first got him and now when you go in their pen if you sit or bend over he tries to lean on you or push on you so he can sit in your lap.
We are discussing our next plan and here is what we are planning.
Finish the perimeter fence in the Gin lot so we can let these goats out of the pen we built Friday.
After that we are going to focus on getting the other barns ready to go along with the chutes and corrals.
The guy that is supposed to be bringing cows out for a while has still not brought cows out yet. His son inlaw was telling us that he is having trouble getting them penned up, because his cows aren't used to being handled at all. So we are going to give him a deadline this week.
We are starting to do some research on cattle. Everyone has their preference it seems and price is crazy variable! We are kind of looking at bramer cattle for our area, because they can do really well in dry seasons, but they don't bring the best $$ at the sale! It just seems they all have their pro's and cons.
My wife just sent this to me. She said that they were happy to see her this morning and seem to be adapting quite well!
Finish the perimeter fence in the Gin lot so we can let these goats out of the pen we built Friday.
After that we are going to focus on getting the other barns ready to go along with the chutes and corrals.
The guy that is supposed to be bringing cows out for a while has still not brought cows out yet. His son inlaw was telling us that he is having trouble getting them penned up, because his cows aren't used to being handled at all. So we are going to give him a deadline this week.
We are starting to do some research on cattle. Everyone has their preference it seems and price is crazy variable! We are kind of looking at bramer cattle for our area, because they can do really well in dry seasons, but they don't bring the best $$ at the sale! It just seems they all have their pro's and cons.
My wife just sent this to me. She said that they were happy to see her this morning and seem to be adapting quite well!
Faster horses
Well-known member
The guy bringing you the cattle can't corral them because they aren't used to being handled? :shock:
Remember, what goes in, must come out. Do you have corrals to put them in when it's time for them to leave???? Wild cattle can tear up a lot of
stuff.
Remember, what goes in, must come out. Do you have corrals to put them in when it's time for them to leave???? Wild cattle can tear up a lot of
stuff.
An update on the guy bringing the cattle: I guess his son in law is full of poo. His reason for not bringing the cattle yet isn't because he can't get them in the corral, it's because his fence around his corral is falling down. He and his real son have been working out there trying to rebuild the corral so that he can get them in it and loaded on the trailer. He said they should have it done this week and hopefully if it doesn't rain he will get the cows out this weekend.
I built a ramp for the goats to play on, it's a little over kill on the strength side, but I want something that can hold all the goats at one time as well as my daughter because she likes to go play with the goats.
My nephew wanted to help so I let him run all the screws (most of them anyway):
My dad is getting a really good deal on a local's JD 4640 w/ a 20' plow and 18' shredder. We are going to the bank today to get the loan to buy it and a baler. I know the tractor might be a little over kill, but I don't see a much smaller tractor pulling a 20' plow. The only problem with the tractor is the A/C system, they robbed it to put on another tractor, and they quite literally threw all the other junk on this tractor so that will need fixing soon. The baler is a JD 466, w/ new belts and looks to be in really good shape.
I built a ramp for the goats to play on, it's a little over kill on the strength side, but I want something that can hold all the goats at one time as well as my daughter because she likes to go play with the goats.
My nephew wanted to help so I let him run all the screws (most of them anyway):
My dad is getting a really good deal on a local's JD 4640 w/ a 20' plow and 18' shredder. We are going to the bank today to get the loan to buy it and a baler. I know the tractor might be a little over kill, but I don't see a much smaller tractor pulling a 20' plow. The only problem with the tractor is the A/C system, they robbed it to put on another tractor, and they quite literally threw all the other junk on this tractor so that will need fixing soon. The baler is a JD 466, w/ new belts and looks to be in really good shape.
Triangle Bar
Well-known member
It is always better to have to much tractor than to little. I enjoy your posts.
Mike
Well-known member
Goats are gonna get their head/horns caught in those wire panels........
Triangle Bar said:
That is our thought as well, bigger is always better. We were really wanting a 4440, but man are people proud of those things around where we live!
Mike said:
You are right. How ever, that pen is just temporary, we built it the night before we got the goats because the perimeter fence wasn't quite done around the big field we are going to let them loose in. However, the fence is now done, but we have left the goats in this pen a little longer so they can get used to us, trust us and look forward to us coming out to them. We don't want to open that gate and them run and always stay away from us, we want them to like us being out there with them. They are really starting to get where they like being petted and handled. Hopefully in a week or so we will let them out of the pen. After we let them loose we are going to take down the cattle panels and run the same 2x3 welded wire with 2 strands of barbed wire like we did around the perimeter.
Hayguy
Well-known member
Triangle Bar said:
normally i would agree, but in that era a lot of tractors lost the 540 pto shaft and became 1000 only with one jump up in model and hp. ex. 4440's had both speed's 4640 only 1000