RicelandMeadows

August 28, 2025

Well, we got the concrete put down today. My friend and his crew of guys made short work of it. The concrete is flat and hard, two very important aspects!

The finishing work on the old pig barn renovation can now begin. Seven nice stalls for horses will make things easy for me and comfortable for them. We even took into consideration the amount of urine pregnant mares make. The floor is sloped to allow for sweeping it out the door if necessary.

This is the west end of the building. I have had a drainage issue here for years. When the pigs were housed here, the drainage problem was at the backside of the building. Once we doubled the size of the building it became apparent very quickly that I would have to address the issue. Pigs love mud, but horses and farmers don’t.

The project involved breaking out old concrete. I found out rather suddenly that my old shoulders didn’t like swinging a sledge hammer that hard anymore. I got help from my cousin in the form of an electric jackhammer. That thing made short work of the thick aged concrete. I have now added a gutter drain, gravel, and sloped the new concrete away from the building. The drain will eventually go into an existing field tile. I even plan to add a rain gutter to the building. That water too will be drained away to help fill a farm pond by way of the field tile.

The east end, pictured here required adding a section to the existing feedlot pad. I am replacing the worn out railroad tie fence posts with heavy wall pipe. The pipe is 5 feet in the ground and surrounded by concrete. This addition will allow me access to the barn, make it easy to put the manure in the manure dry stack bin for composting. This is a big change, but it is welcomed.

I watched the guys as they worked in unison. Each man knew his job and the job foreman was part of the crew. I thought back to a time when I too could zip around doing heavy work. I still can do my fair share, but bending and squatting down to pull a concrete screed …those days are gone. That memory is almost as hard for me to ponder as the concrete. All and all it was a wonderful hard day!