I couldn't ask for a better day to put in post holes. I hooked the new 850 we bought a couple weeks ago up to the post hole drill and went to town. It was almost 70 degrees I was wearing a t-shirt and still working up a sweat. Kinda unusual for December but not unheard of.
It's amazing what 8 inches of rain and a little more horsepower will get ya. At one point the auger was biting in so well I was yelling for my dad (who was running the tractor) to pull up because it looked like the drill was going to pull the tractor in with it.
The top picture was the last one we drilled out at the bottom of the set and it was already filling with some water you can kinda see in the picture.
I really need to look into getting a smaller bit but it seems kinda foolish since the larger one works for all the posts. I don't mind a little extra backfilling and I got more important things to spend money on right now.
This is a picture of what I call the mud-gate. It's another one of my problem spots. The gate that runs between the pasture and the hay field. Normally its just wet but when we let the horses out into the hay field they tramp through here and turn it into a mess.
So far making messes and destroying things is about all I can figure out horses are good for.
Anyway I have dropped base rock in here, gravel, wood chips on top and none of it stops the quagmire from forming. My latest idea, that I am currently collecting rocks for, is to start putting in some BIG rocks when it is really wet like this and see if I can't make a bottom in it somehow. Some Big flat ones or even some landscaping bricks people are always throwing away. Perhaps that will finally give me something to hold the baserock and gravel in place because I ain't spending a bunch of money on gravel to have it go poof like the last two batches have.
You can see from my holes that the Small-Hold has no rock in it's soil at all. You can dig down four feet anywhere around here and never find a rock. If ya do it was brought in by someone.
I then chopped up the left over pumpkin we had on the porch as a decoration and fed it to the chickens and the sheep. The only ones who will eat pumpkin is the rams actually the ewes don'tseem much interested in it.
The new Red hens managed to run Cali our barn cat out of her nap spot. Then one of them kept following her around.
I am not sure what's going on with that stupid chicken but it's been following the cat around all day. The cat is not amused by the whole thing though.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!
Same weather here, I got two truck loads of wood in. Seems like my gates all form a mud area, must be a result of so many hooves packing the the mud in that confined area.
ReplyDeleteOur chickens don't have much use for cats. They might chase one away if given the chance.
Sf - Mostly the chickens ignore the cats here and vice versa. Rocky will chase them for a short stretch if they get too close but you can tell his heart really isn't into catching one.
DeleteNo way could I dig like that here, it would fill up in seconds. In fact my brother and I got the digger stuck a few weeks ago, had to trash the chicken pen to get it out. Wasn't a fun afternoon.
ReplyDeleteKev - I hafta admit the wind here sucks and it's a little flat but there is some of the finest dirt here that I have seen in the world and I have made it a point to check out dirt in other parts of the world. It really reminds me a lot of European soil especially that in Germany but it goes much deeper from what I have seen. We do get more tendency for drought though.
DeleteYou could try digging the muck out and try lime.
ReplyDeleteThey use it here for stabilizing road base here.
We've got the same soil here black gumbo.
Google liming a road or something to that effect.
It could help with the just making gravel mud thing.
Or not I could be completely off my rocker.
Caveat emptor.
Bubba - I been thinking about trying one of those rubber mats you can put down too. Forms kinda a base as it sinks in but usually won't sink much more than a few inches and then it will hold the gravel well.
Deletegood work pal - post holes are normally a nightmare!!!
ReplyDeletethe flat rock should work for you but being all soil they may sink.... still - i would send you some of ours, the ground here is 1/2 rock and 1/2 clay - not much soil ;-)
cheers pal!
Jamby - Ya I am betting the rocks will sink a ways. I know there is plenty of rock I put in there that can now not even be found. I am waiting for one of the horses to just get stuck in there.
DeleteI've lived around clay and black much ground in Minnesota and Indiana and the only thing that I've found that works is crushed rock. (granite in Mn and limestone in In) Luckily there are two quarries in this area that turn out crushed rock and riprap.
ReplyDeleteIndyjones - I put some base rock in there with crushed on top and it is literally gone. Gone where I can't tell ya but it ain't in that mud pit that I can find. I am hoping enough large flat rocks put in first then some crushed on top will hold better. I hope :)
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ReplyDelete