Once again my husband is AMAZING… not only was he a dairy farmer and general contractor this week he also was an amateur plumber doing some very complicated & important work. And one that only got a 20 minute nap one day this week (and he get’s up at 4:40am and usually goes to bed at 10pm or later!). Thankfully it’s the weekend… I never thought I’d say that because we usually work on the weekends just as much as the weekdays. But no one is working today on the barn which means no urgent questions and things that NEED to be done, and that means Dan can get some rest!
I think we’re going to be going at crazy pace until we’re in the barn… with temps below freezing outside as I write this, we’re racing to get done before real winter sets in!
We learned this week that we still have amazing folks working with us… our concrete guys pulled out a little before 7pm Friday night so they could get the pour in before the weekend… allowing it a few more cure days over the weekend. Our electrician was still there wrapping it all up around 5pm and our builders worked hard all week too!
Dan spent most of the week working closely with the concrete crew and getting plumbing in for the robot room before concrete was poured. That also meant he was around and available for all the other questions that people had and all the other people who are not stopping by with deliveries, inspections, questions, etc. He said he wished he had a picture of the tree of plumbing he put in but he backfilled as he went, making sure the drain slopes were correct… more important than a picture of the final product that’s now under concrete!
The robot room floor, the dry cow feed alley, the pre-fresh cow pens area, and the robot room wall footers were all poured this week. Those guys worked hard all week getting things just right… concrete’s tricky – you rarely have a 2nd chance!
And yes, that’s tile and no it’s not for decoration! That’s the cows’ plate to eat off of. Concrete gets rough and cows don’t like to eat as much off of it so we’re wet setting tile into the feed bunk area giving them a nice smooth “plate”. The kids and I picked that up early in the week… with more to pick up soon!
You might want to know what that big hole is too. That’s where the water will drain from the boot wash and other water drains in the milk house and barn area on that side and then will be pumped over the the manure/waste storage area. Don’t worry, it’ll get a cover soon so no one falls in!
Remember to hover over the pictures for captions & if you want to see them bigger click on the pictures to open in a gallery format.
Our other builder also got started on the “dog house”, or the walls and roof over the manure reception pit both making it a safer enclosed place and ensure it won’t freeze in the winter.
