Bison bull update

After we posted our ad for a bison bull in the NBA member's forum, we received a large number of reponsed and have found a seller in Texas with a bull that we intend to purchase.  In preparation for the transportation of the new bull we've been adding a few upgrades to our equipment.

As mentioned in a previous post, Delta cattle trailers don't come with a painted bottom unless you ask for it.  I didn't know I had to request it when I ordered the trailer and only recently noticed the problem when I happend to look under the trailer.  Yesterday, I finally finished sanding and painting the underside of the trailer.  That was a very hard job, which I never never intend to do again.  I used an angle grinder with a wire wheel to scrape away all of the rust.  This took about two days of intermittent work.  I wore leather gloves, a respirator, and a face shield, but still manage to injure myself when I briefly and stupidly lost control of the angle grinder, which bounced off the metal and scratched my arm.  For the paint I used a Polyester-Acrylic Aliphatic Polyurethane Topcoat, called Amershield, produced by PPG Industries.  The paint comes in two parts which you must mix just before application.  I used a four inch roller for application and wore rubber gloves and a respirator.  I'm glad I wore the gloves and respirator, but I probably should have worn a long sleeved shirt instead of a t-shirt as the confined work space under the trailer caused me to inevitably get paint on my arms and head.  I had considered wearing one of those Tyvek coveralls with a hood, but the weather was too warm (I've seen people pass out when wearing these in even cool weather).  I was able to get most of the paint off with a lot of paint thinner and scrubbing (a special thanks to Jess for help with this).
When transporting animals a long distance it's important to try to minimize the amount of time you spend doing things like refueling.  For this reason I removed the truck box that I had welded together myself and replaced it with an RDS box.  The RDS box is both an auxiliary diesel tank and a tool box.  One compartment of the box holds 95 gallons of diesel and is linked to the truck's original tank and the other compartment holds all the tools I had in my old truck box.  So far the auxiliary tank has been working well although I am having some small issues with leaks in the hose connecting the two tanks.  I think I've mostly worked that issue out though.  

In addition to improving the transportation equipment, we've also been making the ranch more bison friendly.

The location and moment of the traumatic fence breech of 2014.  At that time I had foolishly run the electric fence through a narrow corridor in a strip of forest.  The young, excited bison became crowded in the corridor and the ones in the back of the group ended up pushing a few of the bison in the middle of the group through the fence.  We got them back in, but I had nightmares and panic attacks for weeks afterwards. 
The same location photographed today after clearing away the crowded vegetation.  This cleared area gives the bison a wide space and a clear view to the field on the other side.  It also has the added benefit of giving one of the cameras from my security system a view of the far field. 

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