Jumping the Moon Dairy - the next chapter

[frustratedearthmother]

Whew... I know you don't feel like you can slow down right now...but you've gotta be awake and moving to get over the finish line - maybe you can find a little time to nap!

Hope today goes smoothly for you. And, CONGRATS for getting to this point!

 

[misfitmorgan]

It would except that the rail is already up and I hate to redo it. It is on metal siding so I already had to cut spacers to bring the rail brackets out even with the ridges in the siding. I went ahead and put the bolts through from the back and just ignored the square on the plate and on the bolt. There is also a hole drilled in the top of the door to allow the hanger bolt to protrude down into the door. Supposedly if I make the hole big enough I have some in/out adjustment space. I have another door to put the plates on so I am going to play with the location and size of the top hole and see if that will allow be to pull the door away from the wall. If it does I will take this door down and re-drill the holes. Of course I already pounded the end caps on the rail to keep the door from coming out. *SIGH*

I did 5 doors a few months ago but they were quite heavy and I used different hangers. I was cursing those at the time and thought that these would be easier. Perhaps "easy" and "barn door" only go in the same sentence when you can hire it done.

They use those type hangers all over the place we are in now and as far as ive seen the square holes are not ment for the head of the carriage bolt, no clue why they keep putting them on the brackets. We adjusted all 4 sliding doors on the barn when we moved in and to get to the bolt we had to slide the doors off the rail...prop up the door and slide them on the rail so we could square them "in place" but not on the actual rail. These doors were hung in 1930some so apparently they have been putting those square holes in for a long time.

 

[babsbag]

@greybeard or any other electric fence expert....please explain in VERY simple terms how the chain around my gate and fence can issue me a shock?

Energizer is DC, has one ground rod and fence is acting as a ground as well. I have had this problem before and it went away on its own but here it is again.

 

[Simpleterrier]

Is it wet out?

 

[misfitmorgan]

If it is very wet out that could do it.

Also if grass is going across your fence and then to your gate it could shock you.

Check your grounding rod, the goats knocked the wire off our grounding rod i didnt know it and reached up to turn off the fencer(you know little plastic knob) and it had enough power to jump from the metal fencer housing to my fingers and give me a good poke. Thats about an inch away. We re-attached the wire to the grounding rod and no problem.

Make sure your fence that should be acting like a ground is actually grounding.

Thats all i know on the topic lol. Basically it comes down to either something is transferring it to your gate or chain...or it isnt grounded properly making it jump to other near objects. I'm sure there are more technical terms but thats the basic concept.

I forgot....if you hear arcing by your gate or grounding rod something is definately a miss. Grass on the fence, or hay, or twine, or anything.

 

[babsbag]

I don't hear it arcing and it isn't wet out. It hasn't rained in a month and won't rain for another 3 months...welcome to summer in CA. I will check the ground rod as it is possible that the wire came off. I hate this as now I have to turn off the fence to open the gate. The hot wire definitely is not touching the fence or the gate so it is being transferred somewhere and for some reason.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I don't hear it arcing and it isn't wet out. It hasn't rained in a month and won't rain for another 3 months...welcome to summer in CA. I will check the ground rod as it is possible that the wire came off. I hate this as now I have to turn off the fence to open the gate. The hot wire definitely is not touching the fence or the gate so it is being transferred somewhere and for some reason.

You have your fence set up in Neg/Pos fashion I assume since you said the fence is its own ground?

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry I'm late to this party, but sincere congrats on getting to the finish line on your dairy. I hope it is everything and more than what you dreamed it would be. I just know that you'll see success with sales and marketing. Now, noting the checklist of items needed for certification, have you crossed the finish line yet & gotten certified? And since I am in the method and manner of my screen name... late... How have things gone since you actually started milking?

 

[babsbag]

You have your fence set up in Neg/Pos fashion I assume since you said the fence is its own ground?

My fence is horse fence with a strand of hot wire at the bottom and top. The fence is grounded so that anything climbing it will get shocked even though they are not touching the earth. It has ground rods too, but also the fence is connected to the ground rod. I haven't tried to figure this out, I just turn off the charger. This will all be re-done shortly.

Milking has been interesting. I am up to bringing 6 into the parlor at a time, but it can hold 8. The goats are having a tough time figuring out how to get their heads into the head gate. They have to come down from the top, they can't go through it head on. They have to get out the same way. They are cascading head gates which means that they can't get to the grain until the goat in front of them gets their head in a gate and opens the next one. If they don't get in soon enough they will jump off the stand and then it is a pain to get them back up. I often toss them out the door, which leaves them loose on my land, not in a goat pasture. Next year's blackberries have been well trimmed. I am certainly learning which goats are the smart ones. I am also going through a lot of grain and alfalfa pellets.

I am still not certified. Tomorrow I will work on cleaning out the processing trailer and hoping that DH will get it leveled this weekend. I need to do drains too and that is uncharted territory for me once it leaves the building. I am not sure about drain vents so I either need to learn real fast or DH has to do those too. And then there is the bulk tank that needs casters so I can level it. I wish I knew how to weld...

I also need to get all goats tested for TB and brucellosis. (and tattooed first...ugh) .

 

[misfitmorgan]

I honestly have no idea what is wrong with the fence then. My only suggestion would be more ground rods but if the fence is pos/neg type it shouldnt need more.

You will get there i'm sure Babs and the goats will figure it out eventually. My goats are not all smart either the one tog could not figure out how to get to the grain from the stand so she jumped off and went around to the front to get it