The Cattle Yard

The cattle yard site, before work commenced.  (The logs in the background are not the building materials.  They are left overs from the previous owners.)

While the cows appear to be all ready for the winter, I cannot say the same for our cattle yard.

The cattle yard became a "work in progress", at least on paper, the minute the cows stepped onto the property.  However, it takes a while to finalise the design.  My husband worked on the design, but at the end of the day it had to pass by me for approval.  In general, I am not overly fussy, but I do know a thing or two about horses.  Cows are similar enough, except that you can't lead them, and they are more fearful because they don't get handled.  So the original design was rejected.

We also played around with the concept of making a round yard double up as a cattle yard, but in the end we decided that wasn't as smart as it sounds.

At long last a suitable cattle yard design was approved, the materials were orderd and work commenced.

Building a cattle yard is hard outdoor yakka.  So while the weather was fine, progress was made.  But the recent bursts of rain, which seem to come mainly on the weekends - the only time we can make progress on the cattle yard - have ground the project almost to a stand still.  It's not that my husband minds working in the rain.  It's that you actually can't dig the holes for the posts in the rain.

If we don't get the cattle yard done in time, then we actually can't take the cows to the market when the time comes.  If we don't take the cows to the market at the right time, and end up taking them later, then we won't get as much money for them.  The cows' value will peak when they are about 18 months old.

So now the pressure is on, as we have about four months to get this project finished.

The current state of the cattle yard.