The Measure of a (Little) Man

Busy day on the farm yesterday. We decided on Sunday we need to re-arrange the barnyard better to be able to sort out livestock and direct them where we want them, and to be able to drive a truck into the laneway, or even just walk down the laneway without having to walk through gates or animal paddocks.

The first step was altering the fence line so we can close off the pig side of the barnyard from the gate to the laneway.

First, measure out the distance, and plan out the resources. It was about 25 1/2 feet from the corner post of the barn to the corner post of the gate. This was enough for a 12 foot horse panel, about a foot for hardware and a railroad tie post, and then a 12 foot gate, with a little gap room. I hate gaps, but we were pretty sure we could fudge it somehow.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the digging because I was digging. Digging through compacted gravel and three layers of heavy duty landscaping fabric was a pain.

Grandma is in town visiting right now, so we show her a good time by putting her to work.

Hauling cement.

Next, measure the hole to make sure it is the right depth. There are a number of methods we could use, but we chose to use the Seppi method.

First lay him down on the post and mark the top of his hat. Then lower him into the hole and see where the top of his hat comes to.

It was perfect! Now time to lift him out.

And drop the post in.

The post weighs considerably more than Seppi, and knocked in a good chunk of sand, so we had to lift and pound it a little bit to get it settled to the right height.

Then we poured the cement and back filled.

Then we went off for lunch.