Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Baymule]

I had to laugh at the trailer ball incident. We got a 3-way with a locking pin to hold it in place. It's much easier to turn it one way or another to put the right hitch size up.

You have been really busy! I have missed your posts, yours is one I don't get notifications for and finally I went looking for it. Good for you renting the excavator. That did a lot of work for you. Plumbing. I have cut off valves for every faucet. They are a life saver. Got a problem, no problem, just use the cut off valve. Your place is shaping up, all your work is showing!

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

How is the corona virus situation affecting things out there?

Last account I had, Arkansas has yet to report a case. I am not sure if the schools are still open or not. We shopped for groceries on Friday and a good bit of items were sold out -- toilet paper, bottled water, Cokes -- but other items were still plentiful.

Your place is shaping up, all your work is showing!

Thank you, Miss @Baymule! Yes, the trailer hitch incident was amusing, although at the time it was more frustrating than amusing. We are trying to get the place in shape, but all of the rain we have been getting has slowed down the pace of work. It doesn't take long for the ground to get torn up if I am working in a particular area. Once it dries out, then I will be able to get more work done.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Yesterday morning I went over to where I dug the trench to see if it worked. It almost did! Water had built up behind the dam I built, but was not flowing through the trench, even though it had water in it. There were a couple of places where I had failed to dig the trench deep enough, but about 30 minutes of shoveling in the trench made it deep enough to allow the water to flow. I also added more dirt to the dam to stop the water from flowing under the dam. It appeared to work after the shoveling. I will check again soon. Alas, no pictures.

While I was there, I decided to check on the trenches I dug with the excavator to see if they were diverting the water away from flowing into the pastures to instead flow into the existing ditches. They were all working. So maybe the pastures will dry up sooner once it stops raining.

Now for some needed ideas. What do you folks propose that I do with all of the water flowing into the pasture out of the woods? Here is the area I am talking about:


The north yellow line is the drainage area for the wet weather creek (ditch) where I dug the trench mentioned above. The south yellow line is the drainage area for the pond in the picture which currently seeps water, enough to keep the pasture wet except when the pond is low. I am not sure what to do to help dry out the pastures. I know I could dig trenches with the stump bucket to drain the water, but I don't know if I should leave them open and just need to maneuver around them when on the tractor or Gator, or if I should lay drainage pipe in the trenches and then cover them, or maybe just live with the wetness.

What do you folks think is best?

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

The south yellow line is the drainage area for the pond in the picture which currently seeps water, enough to keep the pasture wet except when the pond is low. I am not sure what to do to help dry out the pastures.

Let me know when you figure that out The area between my farm pond and the natural wetland is pretty much always wet (as in 6"+ deep ruts from the tractor if I drive through it) unless we are having a drought. And it is wet well above that low area because of the clay soil, the water just doesn't drain down hill through clay.

 

[thistlebloom]

What do you folks propose that I do with all of the water flowing into the pasture out of the woods?

My first thought was that it might make a nice income for you these days if you bottled it.

Sorry, no useful ideas for your water flow otherwise.

 

[Baymule]

Dig your trenches and lay in a culvert or two, cover with dirt, so you can drive over it.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Are you allowed to make a pond? You could dig down to make the base of where you want the pond and then put trenches with French drains leading from the wet areas to the pond. If you make the pond deep I bet you could stock it with fish and then you'd have a fishing spot too.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @Larsen Poultry Ranch,

As far as I know, there are no restrictions on my building a pond. I currently don't have any heavy equipment to dig with. I do have a tractor and several implements that will dig, including a box blade and a stump bucket. But a farmer member of the forum, Greybeard, told of one of his relatives (his father, I think), having dug a pond using nothing more than a tractor and a box blade. I will give some thought. Thank you for the suggestion.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Not much going on here due to all of the rain. There was a brief break in the rain yesterday, so I went to see how trench I dug was holding up. It was working fine, with no leaks in the dam I built to divert the water into the trench:


All of the other trenches I built to divert the water are working as well. So maybe most of the pastures will dry out sooner once it stops raining.

What do you folks know about Greg Judy and his regenerative ranching methods? I have started watching his YouTube channel to see what I can learn, and he seems to have some interesting ideas. But I would like to hear from the folks here on the forum, as y'all know a lot more than I do.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

I've seen a bit of what he does but of course have no experience. But it makes sense to me.