We'd figured getting pigs was dependent on finding a pickup truck to haul the stock panels home.  But after we considered the sixteen-foot length of the panels, we ended up calling up the feed store and asking if they deliver.  It turns out they were willing to bring panels, posts, and the rest of our gypsum and lime to our parking area for $40, which seemed like a good deal.  I figure it would cost about that much in gas to make the many trips required to ferry all those supplies in a smaller vehicle.

All of B.J.'s hard work adding gravel to the parking area really paid off when the huge truck showed up and barely spun at all maneuvering through our small space.  We did hit a snag, though --- it turns out that most farmers have front loaders even in our backwoods location, so the delivery guy thought I was a bit nuts when I said we were going to unload the panels by hand.  It wasn't really that tough with me, Mark, and him all working together, though.

The next big deal is getting those stock panels back to our core homestead, after which it becomes time to clear some small trees, and make the fences.  I've promised Mark a fence post driver at long last in hopes that a new tool will make this daunting project more palatable, but I'm not sure the bribe is big enough for the amount of work involved.

RSS

hog panels

Make sure those t posts are driven deep. I worked at a farm with hogs and they would break out way too often using their snouts to push them up. Then its bye bye garden. They would do the same with electric, surprisingly willing to test the line for eventual shorts. Pretty determined creatures, be ready.

Comment by eric — Thu Mar 14 09:41:12 2013

• Remove comment

Moving the panels

My recommendation would be to build a hand truck designed to carry the panels. make it 5-6 feet long, only a few feet wide, and have tall posts on both sides to hold up the panels. It will probably take the same amount of time to build as it would to move all those by hand. make sure mark uses REALLY big tires to get over the terrain... something similar to a wheelbarrow tire.

Comment by Clever Survivalist Blog Survival Guide (cleversurvivalist.com) — Thu Mar 14 23:07:05 2013

• Remove comment

fence post driver

My father laughs at my hardware purchased fencepost driver. It is light enough that I can lift it up and down with ease, but often I have to really slam the thing down to gain force. He recommended welding a heavy chunk of iron to the top to add weight. That way the user mostly lifts and the tool does the hammering. Haven't yet done it, but if I had a big job like yours, I would probably look into adding a bit of weight to the business end of the fencepost driver I ended up with.

Comment by Charity — Fri Mar 15 10:50:19 2013

• Remove comment

Add a comment