The refrigerated tank arrived and we had a refrigeration technician disconnect it so we could move it, then once in place it was reconnected, serviced and tested. Everything works fine. Moving the tank was made easier (it weighed around 850lbs) when we realized it could be taken through the main door with barely a 1/16 of an inch to spare either side. Same thing with the freezer we had in the garage - it just made it through.
In the actual milking area the stanchions came back from the powder coaters looking fantastic and with a bit of concrete drilling everything was fairly easy to anchor to the floor and install. The double set of head gates will enable us to milk 8 sheep at a time with there being enough room to install a third unit to increase our capacity to 12 in the future as the flock grows. At present, we will be milking 7 groups of sheep. At 10 minutes a group, that should take us about 90 minutes per milking session taking into account prep and clean-up either side. Time will prove us right or wrong.
Over the last few weeks all of the ancillary items from sterile wash cloths to overalls and boots have been slowly arriving as well. We've assembled a small stainless steel trolley, shelves, a wash system, and now just have the pit to paint and the cleaning to do before we call on the Department of Agriculture to come out and give us an inspection. We should have the green light days before the first lambs are due for the next season so our timing is right on the money.November, being the wettest month of the year usually has seen the lagoon fill fairly quickly. We pumped this year in January and August but will likely pump this week (on account of the pending clear skies - clear of further rain that is). Once emptied it will take the rest of winter and spring to fill before we empty it again in summer although we have to take into account the wash water from the dairy now so maybe we will be pumping again in spring. With the new flexible irripod hoses and irrigation pods this should be a much smoother operation and not involve the on-going moving of aluminimum pipes (which in winter when its freezing cold becomes a real task!). The flexibility allows us to irrigate at least 4 of our fields now without any issues whereas this year with the restriction of the aluminium pipes we could only irrigate 2. With a bit of magic we can probably do almost all of the property from this set-up if we needed.
The dogs of course are loving the weather. As for the inside of the house, it's also moving ahead really quickly. All the wet weather has meant we have had a lot more time inside to work on putting up trim and painting. It seems to be a neverending job, but the house is finally looking warm and comfortable, rather than how it originally looked - white, cold and sterile.
