One man's quest to ranch American bison in Virginia.
Water distribution system - post #3
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In a previous post on setting up a water distribution system I discussed the installation of an underground water storage tank with reference to the future installation of buried water distribution lines. This current post documents the installation of our first buried water line which runs about 800 feet downhill from the water storage tank to a frost-free hydrant near our camper and work area.
Many places sell attachments that enable subsoilers to bury pipe, but, because they are very simple in design, I decided to build my own. This photo shows the entire apparatus (above ground) with the plastic pipe inserted. I later found it to be more effective to have the pipe uncoiled and laid along a course parallel to the tractors anticipated path. This eliminated the need to stop and move the coil every so often and reduced the likelihood of kinks in the pipe.
Initially I had constructed the pipelayer to have some freedom of movement (left). However, I later opted to make the attachment to the subsoiler much less flexible (right).
To bury a pipe I anchor the end of the pipe to a t-post with a chain, completely lower the tractor's three-point hitch control lever, begin moving forward. The subsoiler and pipelayer quickly sink into the ground burying pipe as they move forward. In normal operation the subsoiler's point helps to draw the shank
down into the ground as the tractor moves forward. However, the
pipelayer attachment has the effect of widening the shank and reducing
the effect of the downward pull of the subsoiler's point. To correct
for this I attached two large concrete blocks to the top of the
subsoiler, which are visible in this photograph. In addition to the extra weight I also make several passes without pipe along the planned burial line beforehand. This ensures that all large rocks, thick roots, or anything else are encountered and dealt with prior to the pipe burial.
Once the pipe was buried I finished by installing the frost-free hydrant. In this photograph I am about to connect the pipe to the hydrant.
This first hydrant is outside the pasture area near the camper trailer. I'll be using it as a source of running water. The hydrants inside the pasture will definitely have protection from the buffalo.
I didn't know about European bison until a few years ago. Apparently there aren't many left. I hope to visit Europe and see them some day.
They seem to have a number of bison in North Dakota on private ranches. I read about one ranch who had their annual buffalo auction this past January. Apparently it was 20 below and the article said the auction of the animals moved rapidly with no wasted time.
Since we started fencing the perimeter of our ranch in 2014, I've strove to increase the rate at which I am able to fence an area. Among the most recent improvements has been a t-post pusher which is mounted to our tractor's front-end loader bucket. This device is very simple, but has already saved us countless hours of work. The following photographs illustrate how I use the post pusher. Aiming: The loader is first positioned with the end of the pusher is close to the ground. I then maneuver the tractor until the end of the pusher is in alignment with the marked post location. This is how the lined up pusher looks from the driver's seat of the tractor. Yes, I know the loader has an issue with the hydraulics cover. Loading: Once the pusher is aligned, I place the tractor in park, raise the loader arm and insert a t-post into the open end of the pusher. Tilting: Correct placement of the t-post is dependent aligning the post along three axises,
For those of you who are unfamiliar with agricultural equipment, a cultipacker is an implement used to compress soil. There are several reasons a farmer may use a cultipacker, but, for me, the primary purpose for the cultipacker is to pack down soil that has just been planted with grass seed. This should greatly improve seed germination in newly planted bison pasture. Five truck tire rims welded together form the shape of the cultipacker. Technically this is really more of a cultipacker-roller hybrid as the ridged portions on the roller should be more closely spaced on a true cultipacker. A thick piece of steel tube runs through the center of the rims, which I'll explain later in this post. For added weight each tire rim was filled with concrete after it was welded in place. A photograph of the roller portion of the cultipacker completed and waiting for the concrete to cure. The length of steel tube that runs through the center of the roller is welded to the
Face flies beginning to appear a few days after my initial treatment with AiM-L VetCaps. I unfortunately don't have any photos of the original mob of flies, which was much worse. Since the forth of July an insect called the face fly ( Musca autumnalis ) has plagued our ranch and caused me a considerable amount of stress. It was a week ago, on the forth, while doing a routine check on the herd, that I noticed that the bison appeared to be greatly agitated by a surprisingly high number of the flies. While the sight of flies or other small insects buzzing around grazing animals is nothing unusual, this was something different. The flies flocked in groups around the eyes and nose of each animal so incessantly that the bisons' natural defenses appeared to be ineffective. All the blinking, ear flapping, tail wagging, snorting, rolling in soil, and rubbing on trees had little effect. No matter how many times they did these things the flies would just briefly fly up into the
Looks good.
ReplyDeleteAnd now build a fence around the hydrant to keep the buffalo from rubbing on it?
Btw: last Fall I learned about European buffalo. I never knew such an animal existed as I always thought buffalo were only in North America.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/hazen-s-sebastian-helps-save-european-bison/article_04a2ab36-0877-5acb-9d6d-6d961d3eeb3e.html
This first hydrant is outside the pasture area near the camper trailer. I'll be using it as a source of running water. The hydrants inside the pasture will definitely have protection from the buffalo.
DeleteI didn't know about European bison until a few years ago. Apparently there aren't many left. I hope to visit Europe and see them some day.
Or stop by that ranch in North Dakota.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to have a number of bison in North Dakota on private ranches. I read about one ranch who had their annual buffalo auction this past January. Apparently it was 20 below and the article said the auction of the animals moved rapidly with no wasted time.