Loading Chute

[farmersammm]

Other thread got crapped up by political baloney, so let's try it again I guess.

Took a while to get the machine, and ME, dialed in.



They both aren't bad, but the wire speed is still a bit slow.......needs more amps for a smoother burnoff. You can see the pronounced ripples as the puddle froze beneath the arc. You can tell they're uphill welds.

Now we're back in the groove. nice creamy smooth weld. Just took a bit more wire speed to run hotter. I always figure an uphill weld should look pretty much like a flat weld, not lumpy. Ain't bad for a dood that kin hardly see anymore

Still on the list for the eye doc. Ought to get approval sometime in a few weeks, so they say Had been hoping for last December, but stuff got in the way.

Finished welding the frames, and straightened the steel.

The usual drill.....heat shrink it back to what it's supposed to be.

(Chef's Kiss)

I'm glad to be done with the uphill.............it was really tough to try to get back to somewhere near what I used to do..............

[farmersammm]

Got the gussets cut, and should install them sometime tomorrow between rain storms I guess. These are the reason the bottom crossmember had to be straightened. You need to have everything straight for gussets to fit..........unless you want to cope each one.

[Woznme]

Rubber gloves under your gauntlets, mud boots on, 6010's, get er dun

[SweetMK]

You are lucky with your vision,,,,,,,
I was talking to a neighbor yesterday, he is 74 years old.

His doc told him he had something like a mini-stroke that affected his vision,, he is blind in the upper right quadrant of his vision.

He said to be able to read it,, he has to tilt his head when watching Fox News, if he wants to read the banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
Could you imagine how tough it would be to weld, if you had to tilt your head to see the bead!!??

My real surprise was when he jumped in his Dodge 3/4 ton pickup, and drove away!!

[Lis2323]

You are lucky with your vision,,,,,,,

My real surprise was when he jumped in his Dodge 3/4 ton pickup, and drove away!!

..and more surprised when he found his way back?


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[farmersammm]

You are lucky with your vision,,,,,,,
I was talking to a neighbor yesterday, he is 74 years old.

His doc told him he had something like a mini-stroke that affected his vision,, he is blind in the upper right quadrant of his vision.

He said to be able to read it,, he has to tilt his head when watching Fox News, if he wants to read the banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
Could you imagine how tough it would be to weld, if you had to tilt your head to see the bead!!??

My real surprise was when he jumped in his Dodge 3/4 ton pickup, and drove away!!

I took a pic of my eye(the worst one) about maybe 3yrs, or more, ago...........and put it up somewhere here. The problems had just started to become noticeable.

I took another for S&G's yesterday..............get around to putting it up sometime tomorrow. You do NOT want to be on the road coming toward me at night with your headlights on. I don't drive at night anymore, because I'm afraid I'll kill somebody. The day is no cakewalk either. Unless it's a bright sunny day, I'm a bit handicapped.

[farmersammm]

Here's the pics

They look kinda weird because I gotta hold my eyelids up to get a good shot of the eye itself. I'm gettin' older every day, and just about everything I gots, is startin' to droop. Old age, and gravity ain't a good combination

On a good day, I pretty much look like this....................



Anyways..........................................

Under regular light from the lights in the bathroom.

Using the flash on the camera (WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about walkin' around blind for a while........took a bit for the flash to wear off)

I tell K'kins she's beautiful........................."What the Hell do you know, you're half blind". I don't care. What I can see of her, looks pretty damn good

[whtbaron]

That's why they have those little bumps around their nipples.... it's braille for when we get older...

My Dad went through the laser surgery... once you get over the thought, it really wasn't a big deal and made a huge difference to his sight.

[Lis2323]

I had cataract surgery a few years back. It's a piece of cake. Ten minutes in the chair.

You're not supposed to drive home but I did both times. " guess I'll wait outside for my cab..." then hop in my truck in full view of the waiting room window.

Chute. Sorry samm didn't mean to sidetrack.


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[shortfuse]

sammm...as soon as you can, get the d*amn cataract surgery done!!! My wife and I had both eyes done a couple of years ago, in our 70's, one eye at a time, 20/20 now. It doesn't hurt, just takes a few minutes, you can see right after the surgery, but they put preventive cups and pads over each eye after surgery for a day for protection, then just eye drops for a few days.

[whtbaron]

Chute. Sorry samm didn't mean to sidetrack.


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Not that the herd would ever stray....

[Woznme]

Nah, cut down a coupla coke bottles, strap the bases on with duct tape, good to go
🥸

[farmersammm]

Blew a good part of the day moving the trailer around, and determining door sill height at different locations, taking into consideration the variation in the ground surface. Had to come up with an average starting point for the ramp hanging height.

Plan is to modify this ramp I made years ago to load a cow that had barbed wire wrapped around her leg. She was unable to step up into the trailer. Need to cut it down to fit inside the chute, and modify the front edge. Cleats will be added on the top side. I've had some near falls when they go up the ramp. Diamond plate is inadequate for cattle.

One of the supports to be used to pin the ramp at different heights.

An issue I've run into, is whether to partially sheet the sides next to the ramp, instead of using the wire cattle panel. Cows can slip going up steel ramps, and my worry is that if the cow/calf has its legs go sideways, they could get caught in the wire mesh. To prevent this, I believe I'll sheet the sides with light gage sheet metal at this point. Up to the start of the ramp, I can use the wire cattle panel.

I wanted to go longer on this thing, but decided to stay at 8'. I'm not sure I made the right decision. K'kins kind of pushed for 8', with the idea of adding to it if it proves inadequate.

An adult cow takes up around 6+ feet in a chute. I wanted at least 10' of chute so that the cow wouldn't be climbing before it fully entered the chute, and I really wanted 16' to provide room for at least 2 adult cows to make for a flow. I can attach some standard portable corral panels to the thing to lengthen it(although they can be flimsy), but I really wanted it as a single unit fully tied together to prevent the sides from blowing out. Cows work easier if they're pushed by the cow behind them. Conversely, when you establish a flow, they will follow the cow in front of them.

The only drawback to something 16' long is that it becomes very sensitive to having fairly level ground to set it up on. And, I'm not sure I want to handle something 16' long without a loader. She may be right about the shorter length to start with.

[whtbaron]

8 shouldn't be bad... I had a shorter one for the pigs and they do get heavy when you make them strong. Mine used 2x8's rather than metal situated sideways for strength. They do get slippery so I had little strips of wood added about every 10" for traction. I've seen the same thing done with short angle irons...

[Oxford1]

8 shouldn't be bad... I had a shorter one for the pigs and they do get heavy when you make them strong. Mine used 2x8's rather than metal situated sideways for strength. They do get slippery so I had little strips of wood added about every 10" for traction. I've seen the same thing done with short angle irons...

I don't know why you're going to the trouble of building an adjustable ramp for a cattle chute. If you can step into that trailer, so can a cow. After the first time you move that thing and pin it in place, those pins are gonna be glued in place by rust, mud, and manure, and then you will have (another) mess you don't need. For hogs, sure. For cows, nope.

[farmshop]

With that low of deck height 8’ is more then enough. We built one for loading semi cattle pots that’s only 14’ long. Sheeting the lower portion is good to keep the feet and legs in as is having cleats on the floor because their nature is to jump off and you don’t want the feet sliding

[farmersammm]

With that low of deck height 8’ is more then enough. We built one for loading semi cattle pots that’s only 14’ long. Sheeting the lower portion is good to keep the feet and legs in as is having cleats on the floor because their nature is to jump off and you don’t want the feet sliding

I think you're right. I just wish the actual ramp is going to be 8' long. What we're working with is a 4' ramp. Works out to be about 25* incline................but it's better than them stepping up the entire almost 2 feet. We can get them loaded most of the time, but some balk at the step. The trailer is old, and has a high deck in comparison to newer trailers. Damn thing was built in 1964. One of the original Goosneck trailers. The coupler is a pinned coupler, not a slider. You can't really adjust it too much. Go up a notch, and the azz end of the trailer drags the ground. You're either at about 22", or dragging the ground. Wasn't a problem where we usually load, but we can't use that area until we get some dirt in to fill the ruts. And it's unworkable during wet spells, even if it's filled. I dream of the days when I only sold hay.

[farmersammm]

Bad day today. Couldn't get the welder to run right. I hate wire welders. This ain't old for y'all that know..........I've never liked them.

Finally dumped the wire in the crapper, and switched it out for Lincoln wire. Blue Magoo(Blue Demon) is in the dust bin.

Couldn't get the stuff to run any better than this. Different amp settings, and still some weird welds. The arc doesn't run smooth. Been fighting this the entire project. It's just not predictable.

Yanked the wire out of the welder, and put some Lincoln in. Better.

I hate this stuff, and I hate light weight metal. I just don't have the skill set to do it right. I guess I'm a one trick pony.

[cwby]

I know one thing for sure - them cows don't care what it looks like!

[Oxford1]

In all seriousness, and not to get into a big thing about it, but how hard would it be to adjust the coupler to drop that rear threshold about 3" and eliminate the need for that finger-pinching ramp entirely? Your quoted figures don't work- it cant go from 22" off the ground to dragging the ground with just a slight adjustment at the coupler, unless the rear axles are right at the trailer jack. The geometry doesn't support what you're saying.

[farmersammm]

Installed the supports for the ramp, and straightened the bottom so it'll sit level on the trestles when it's time to put the side rails on. I fought it for over an hour, then realized that there was so much locked up stress that it was impssible to perfectly straighten. Making the ends of the crossmember at an equal height was the best that could be done.

Once I gave up on total perfection, it was a 10 minute job, with one setup.

I can live with this.

The Lincoln wire ran well when I didn't lose my lines

[farmersammm]

K'kins saw the pulley on the kitchen counter last night, and asked what it was for. "It's so you won't have to work so hard to lift the ramp onto the cross pin"

[farmersammm]

Setting the pin supports was a PITA. The place in the driveway that places the slider door sill at 22"(the required ramp height to clear the slider door sill when it's at 20") is probably about the highest it might be, in the area we intend to use the chute. At the back gate, where the graveled road ends............the sill sits about 17" high. There's an infinite number of variables, depending on where the trailer wheels, or the truck wheels are. My pin height will run from 16" to 26".

I refuse to adjust the coupler to lower ground clearance. With as little clearance as there is, the trailer can bottom on entrances to driveways in town, or on uneven ground anywhere else.

The ramp has to clear the slider door sill. I don't want them tripping over it,, or putting weight on it if they step on it. The bull almost did a header when I loaded him at the vet. We have never used the slider to load cattle here on the place, so the sill has never been an issue. But as we're getting older, and have to be able to work around mud problems these days...........the slider is now an option for loading. Less stress on all involved

The design for the ramp is a done deal at this point. It's the best of all worlds, if anything can be I guess

[farmersammm]

Ooooops The pin adjusts from 16" to 24". Edit: Hell, it's at 18"...........had to go out and measure it again. 18" gives me enough height for the sill sitting at 16" or less. At anything less than 16" the flap/bridge will make the transition.

I dunno..............maybe 16" woulda been better. A year from now, I'll forget I even stressed over it

[Oxford1]

It's your pig, do whatever you want with it. As long as the trailer pulls level when it's loaded, the coupler is at the right height, in my world at least.

I will share that some of the best money I've spent on this place is for geofabric and crusher run rock, and some earthmoving grade work to get rid of the mudholes. It's a lot easier just to not have to deal with a mudhole, and cattle aren't going to move or load worth a damn out of one anyway.