The Evolution Of Tie Stalls

If you've been following this blog, you know that I've devoted a lot of time and money into getting my old barn cleaned and fixed up. I finally got it almost ready for the cattle, but there were no stanchions or stalls and the old gutters had no outlet and were too close for cow comfort anyway. So more work needed to be done:

So the first order of business was to get a load of fine gravel with which to mix concrete:

I filled the gutters about two thirds full of gravel:

Once both sides were filled and tamped down, it was time to mix concrete:

We spent a sunny Sunday mixing concrete. Steve mixed and I hauled it into the barn, dumped it and troweled it:

It was a slow, laborious process:

But by the end of the day, we had made the barn floor usable and easier to clean. I hope to be able to drive the tractor down through, pushing the manure with the bucket:

And then the welder began removing some old pipes from places where they would not be used:


He removed pipes from the old tie stalls and from the former watering system. His plan was to fashion the old pipes into new ties stalls:


He fashioned dividers back at his shop and brought them to the barn:

Then he attached them, installed cross members and safely affixed the old support columns:

He made and installed two more support columns for extra safety and from which to hang two farm gates. These gates will keep the cattle in their own part of the barn. We finished on a Sunday afternoon and that was not a moment too soon because the cattle were due to arrive the following morning. But I'll post about that tomorrow: