Mucking out calving shed

I got a GoPro Hero4 a couple of weeks ago, and am in two minds about doing occasional video blog style videos.

The quality from it is brilliant really, and I already had a selection of mounts which came with a much cheaper SJ4000 a couple of years ago. The problem is that even a 3 minute video at 1080p is about 500mb and our increasingly left behind broadband speed of 373kb up needs all night to upload that.

This will become increasingly exasperating with no chance of faster fibre being laid to install a cabinet nearer than Castleton 3 miles away. (unless we do it ourselves apparently!) They were given £1.5 billion to connect almost everyone to 10mb+ but it seems very easy to claim outlying villages are too difficult even when like Westerdale we also don't have mobile cover let alone 3G. Meanwhile York is getting upgrades from 50mb+ to 300mb and they also have 4G

Building update late August - almost done

The major re-build of pig-sty corner is all but complete after most of five months though not continuous work it must be said!
It has taken rather longer than expected mainly cutting the stones seemed to take forever, but quite a lot of fiddly bits at the end still not quite finished - almost another week maybe yet?

Gallery link http://postimg.org/gallery/1x9y779ny/
Those are a bit random and can't be moved about so some of the main stages below.
They've uploaded in reverse order so go down then come back up ;)

Final bits - more concrete, retaining wall, BIG stone gatepost. Pot Plant!

Soil replaced around foundations

Mainly doors to do at last

Inside larger room

Windows in, roof well underway.

Insulation all round seems a no-brainer in a relatively small building which will benefit from stable temperatures and minimal condensation

More stone. Lintels from Eskdale Stone near Whitby

Roof takes shape and stones going around from original wall remains

Mud hut stage

Early stages

Concrete raft foundation as there was all kinds of soft ground and rubble.

Rebuilding the corner bottom left

Rough shed over partly demolished stone pig stys

Building work

Through the winter the farmhouse roof has been replaced with new joists, slates and insulation.
This has made a surprising difference especially upstairs with much better heat retention when the stove is not lit, or not running hot enough to keep the radiators going.
By morning the weather station 'indoor' temperature has often only dropped about 0.5C but will drop another degree or so through the day if it's cold and windy(and stove not lit until evening)

The main reason for the work was increasing problems with damp and drips getting in at both gable ends and around the chimneys.
The stone capping on the gables did not have lead underneath so in prolonged wet spells the wall below got increasingly wet - and roof wood beams going into it were starting to rot.

A further tremendous improvement was installing a small roomheater wood stove in the always chilly front room. The chimney from that fire was always a bit suspect and would sometimes smoke upstairs so had not been used for years.
The stove is connected to a new liner so perfectly safe now.
It gets astonishingly hot  burning a bucketful of half a dozen small logs and the heat circulates through the hall and upstairs.
A room which previously seemed to chill half the house now gives out heat and helps the radiators out quite a bit.

Stove running while decorating after installation - a few bits on mantepiece to see how it might look!

So that all completed, something else causing concern was the woodstore stone wall,which has been leaning out at an ever more concerning angle.
I asked Chris about simply rebuilding the wall, which he could have done - but he pointed out it would make more sense really to rip the whole ugly thing out and make something more useful.

After a bit of thought I came up with more or less rebuilding how it was in the early 70s before being demolished as unsafe.
There were three little 'rooms' one had originally been a wash house, one a pig sty and one a stable.
These were all quite small and in an L shape.

1972

Log store just before demolishing

Wall moving steadily outwards!

Shed knocked down and debris scraped up to level site - Day One.

Part of the old wall fell down when the roof was pulled away!

The other part is not as bad but still needs rebuilding.

That end will be a lockable store and to the left will be an open fronted store for logs and bins.

Spring ploughing

Mark Robson for Houlstons with the new Case Puma.
At the moment he finds some of the controls a bit unhandy!

Castleton Road cows home

Feels like almost winter, but nice to have the off-lying group walked home (Thanks Keith for helping!).
It went reasonably smoothly but they weren't exactly sensible, in particular they always seem to want to go up the village rather than down to the cricket pitch.
Today the main herd were grazing down there which did help where they have to go through a rather wet gateway.

This is more or less usual time but there was no urgency as it is still reasonably dry and some grass left - however one big heifer which is supposedly due 12th November looks suspiciously likely to calve with  the next week or so.
Yesterday there was some milk oozing out.
It seems a distinct possibility she will have twins so really good to get her home, and this evening I have her in the calving shed - with the other two have been in there a week already - were due on 12th October (!)

The yearling stores are still out up near Riddings and again there is reasonable grass left, but next time it comes wet and windy they want bringing home I think.
Look OK so far but will soon go backwards spending time trying to shelter by a wall.

Ready for Winter

All gathered in, and grazing winding down.

 - Mid-October -

Busy week

Cut third crop of red clover last Friday; it was ready by Monday.
On Tuesday the new and improved silage pit barrier rail was welded together by Andrew from George Agars.
On Friday some toppings cut last weekend were baled up as sort of hay/bedding material (3rd October!)
Then today wool has been taken to the collection point.
We were lucky with that as the first serious rain was expected at the same time - but in the event there was only about 1mm.