ADVENTURE'S DOWNUNDER OR FARMING IN PARADISE:An Old Rams view.

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Hi DL, saw your post so I thought I would reply before I "hit the sack".

At 46 you are still a "young chicken"(well "point of lay" anyway).....The floor is so it drains and stays "dry under foot" and if you can keep the poo's under control its easy to rake off and re-use in the garden.......Thanks for the "good luck" wishes,I have filled it in and will drop it into their office tomorrow.I will post any results as they come to hand.

What sort of "critters" do you think you will have to contend with?....A grassy protected little paddock I think is the best for 'lambing",I don't know what the % would be ,but the risk of the lamb getting an infection through the "navel" off of "soiled bedding" I think would be quite high...On the question of "rams "I have just seen an ad for White Suffolks up there,these are a "great" meat breed and the skin value is not "de-valued" by the black points(just a thought).

If you are going to harvest "rainwater" the simpler you can make the roof design the better,IMO anyway.

Bye for now,regards,..............T.O.R..........................

 

[Lady Henevere]

Love the house pics. I especially like the verandas and walkways - how beautiful! Thanks for sharing those with us.

You asked whether people here have water tanks. I don't, but I wish I did. It rains about 21 inches a year here, all in a few months over the winter. Then it doesn't rain at all for about 8 months in the summer. We would need a fairly big tank (compared to our lot size) to hold a year's worth of water. I think it could be done but it would be costly. For now I rely on city water, chlorine and all.

 

[~gd]

G'day all.

Today(Tues)was another day to forget ,we had 1/2 in rain overnight so the sheep are well and truly "wet" and I can forget about them until the weekend....If its dry tomorrow I must move the "sale lambs"to new feed as I want to sell some next Wed.

Q&A:To ~GD,I hope you will fill me in a little more about your farm and explain how you were able to for-go the business for the farm....For myself it was great today to be able to say"whats the point" and just stay inside and "catch up"on some paperwork.

THE CHAT:...The House..Q & A:
~GD:Yes ,the walkway does run pretty much E-W,but no the windows are just for the view.The front of the house faces SE,its the back where the conservatory is that picks up the winter sun and when I finish the paving it will work even better.......On the question of the elevated house(my word you are observant).It was important to us to have as little /no soil disturbance,plus why would you pay to "bury" all that concrete,in our district we spend a lot more time "heating" than cooling.....As I said last night the house is"pole framed"and the "steel rails"are notched into the poles(the rails run front to back),where the joists cross the rails(each "bay" has 4)there is a plate welded to them and the joists are screwed to the rails.The sub-floor is treated "chipboard"about 1in thick,on top with the sheets running at 90deg is fibro- cement sheeting,which is nailed on a 12in grid over the whole sheet..The tilers then laid 20in tiles through the lounge,dinning and kitchen..This produced a very "taught" sub-floor and all the above framing is "steel",apart from a log which "ties" the poles together(I think you can see them in the internal photo's)..............The roof is 6in "top hat sections" running front to back with timber battens running across the roof(the timber is to reduce the strain of expansion of steel on steel).The roof is Gal Iron sheeting in single lengths running front to back.Rain-water is gathered off of each roof section and piped under-ground to the tanks.
All the steel framing had to be fabricated on site to meet the requirements of the poles(unfortunately trees don't grow with straight sides.LOL.)All of the internal timbers were cut from "logs"(it took a local forester 12 months to gather enough for the house and shearing shed),even the "stringer' for the staircase was a split log and the hand-rail was also a machined piece of log.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/3214_r0010023.jpg
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/3214_r0010024.jpg
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/3214_r0010026.jpg
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/uploads/3282_img_0125.jpg
Heating is achieved by the use of 2 wood-heaters,one in the kitchen and the "Big Momma" in the lounge.(air for this fire is drawn through vents within the "firebox",this stops the heated air in the "room "going up the chimney.)Momma is all steel and was made on-site by a local artist/sculptor.We usually only need one or other going to keep the inside of the house a pleasant 18/20C.

Apart from the view ,the top deck shades the bottom one and is a very pleasant place to relax on a "summer's afternoon"......There are only 4 opening windows and these are placed to manage ventilation in the summer ,cool air is drawn from under the house through "vents in the floor" and it carries heat out at the high points in the house......

Well we hope you have enjoyed the journey so far and as always questions are welcome,regards.......................T.O.R....................

RAM, I did not for-go the business for the farm. I was salary help and I just slowly cut back my hours from ~70/week to the normal 40/week, Nothing like telling your boss that you have to get home to get the chores done before the sun goes down. I quit going in on Sat & Sun. They werent paying for it so why work. They kept bringing in PhDs to do my job and I would train them but if a problem came up they came to me, they couldnt buy my knowledge and experience. They couldnt get tough with me because they knew I could walk away at any time that I got sick of it. After the farm was gone I was getting sick of it again and they were under pressure to reduce staff so they made me an offer that I couldnt turn down. They paid me full pay for 77 weeks if I wouldnt go to work with any competing firm. I was a consultant and my fee was $100/hr, a single phone call would cost $100 if I was able to answer the question. $400 minimum if I had to go on site. It is GOOD to be an expert dealing with a profitable product! I was at retirement age anyway. I get a call about once a month and send off an invoice for my fee. They are in the process of moving to Ireland so the calls may stop.
CHAT now that you mention it my houses are elevated about as much only on concrete blocks, we have termites that would attack any wood in contact with the ground. Often plastic or metal sheet is used for skirting; something dictated by our equivalent to councils, it keeps out varmints that might move under the house otherwise. Funny I live where excellent pole trees grow everywhere but I dont know of a single house that is pole framed, Lots of barns and out buildings are done that way though. Dont you mean Gal steel? Iron doesnt roll very well. I love your house but it would be expensive to build here where all the carpenters learn on cut planks only a master would tackle timber or pole framed houses.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Guess it's a "Summer chicken", not an Old Cluck yet.
I'll read up about the Suffolks.
Critters that roam our rural areas - Dogs, racoons, possum, snakes, hawks/eagles, coyotes, wolves, foxes, wild pigs, and occasionally bear. Lots of deer too, but that's only a hazard for the garden.
Really good fence around the pasture area will be important. Fences dividing the sections of pasture could be the portable type in the beginning but I'd like to grow living fences/hedgerows eventually. Osage Orange should grow well here.

I was thinking a "shed roof" on the outbuildings with the gutter on the low side. Lead the gutter to a barrel for smaller buildings and have a tank or cistern by the house.
I'm thinking about the Clerestory style roof for the house. http://www.squidoo.com/backyard-shed-plans-choosing-right-shed-design-based-on-the-roof-
The South side could easily be be slanted the right degree for solar panels. I'd make that top window functional to cool the house in summer.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day everyone,this morning(FRI)we awoke to a huge fog and the ground is still to damp to venture out.....So I thought a quick post may be in order......

Q & A:Lady H.Perhaps the following could be worthwhile considering,living in LA,what is the quality of your rainwater?.............You may have to have it tested before you "drink" it,for solids.you do not want to be drinking "Acid Rain"?...............To work out how much you can"harvest",measure the "footprint" of the house/buildings you will gather from to get 00's of square feet/yards,you then X's the area by the volume and that will give you total gallons "harvested"(someone smarter than ME will be able to work it out I'm sure)................With this number you can set your priority's for its consumption.
Drinking water/cooking
Shower/bathing
Garden(vegs)
Washing machine
This assumes that the water"tests" OK.
The next question is it practical to retro fit the plumbing?
Of course if you were building a "new" place this would not be that expensive to implement.

Thank you for your "post and comments",its this that makes the journey so interesting for us.

~GD:Your transition from "work to farm" was not unlike like my own...We have Termites to ,but the house is built from Red Iron bark,a "very hard"Eucalypti var and the posts were treated before they went into the ground,they sit on a concrete pad one meter in the ground are cased in concrete to ground level....In the house you describe is it stumps or is it sand/rubble infill?.....If it is the latter in the "very cold"that whole section would "freeze" I imagine transferring "cold"which you then have to heat to stay "alive"(LOL)...These trees are they "hardwood sp or softwood sp"?....Most of our work was actually done by "shed builders" along with a few local "craftsmen".
The "key "to our place is keeping the design as simple as possible."Complicated = Cost".....................

DL:I will be interested to hear what you think of the Suffolks,there wool is "Downs Type",not that good for "spinning" ,but "wonderful" to eat .........Because of your building preference you will now have to add to your "list" a ready supply of "stone"....I will have a "little "think about your paddock fencing and get back to you....The shed roof sounds the "go",I went to the link for the Clerestory roof,but it did not seem right to me?......OFF grid power as well!My MY ,you are a very "brave soul" I must say.

Well it looks like the "sun" has warmed up enough for me to venture out ,got a couple of jobs to achieve today (with some luck),so bye til later ,...................T.O.R..............................

 

[~gd]

T.O.R. Somehow we dont seem to quite mesh with our descriptions of house building descriptions, since I suspect I am not being clear, let me try again. All the wood I will talk about is sawn to a nominal dimension and then power planed so a 2x4 is actually 1.75 x 3.75 holes are bored into the ground to below the frost line and concrete is poured to the proper level. While still wet steel hardware is inserted to secure the wooden structure I am calling the belt made of 2 X 10 doubled, bolted together, and installed on edge. This supports everything. The floor is hung by joists from the belt, sheet goods are nailed to the joists which helps stabilize them and the sheets form the sub floor. Insulation is installed between the joists below the subfloor. Walls are done much the same way with 2X4 or 2X6 being vertical and attached to the bottom belt and support the top plate that supports the roof. The walls are a sandwich filled with insulation with appropriate sheet goods for exterior and internal skins.
So you see the Infill you mentioned is not used. Our houses are built of soft woods as hardwoods are considered to be expensive and hard to work with. Most of the wires and pipes are installed inside the sandwiches where they are protected by the insulation from the cold or heat. If using forced air for heating or cooling, the duct work runs through the floor and/or ceiling. Simple is becoming more popular here except for kitchens or baths if people have the money they flaunt it there.
I have one question for you where in that continent nation called Australia are you located?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

You mentioned white suffolks. What are they? You mean they have white faces and legs? I have never heard of that!

 

[dragonlaurel]

We are in the Ouachita mountains and they cover about 4 counties. Lots of rock around here. (That can be good and bad.) We don't get cold enough for the ground to freeze either, so it wont have to go very deep.

Perimeter fencing will need done to keep other animals and uninvited people out.

Raising my own wool is my main objective for sheep, so the Corriedale appeal to me more than the Suffolks. The Corriedales sound like really nice wool. I will research a little more on them to know if they would fit in the system I want.
I really want a forage based- low input system. Parasite and disease resistance would be important traits in whichever breeds I try.
That's why the Gulf Coast Natives were my 1st choice. Easy lambing, barely ever need worming, good feet, and do well on forage that some others would barely get by on. The wool quality varies though, so you have to check that individual sheep.

This is technically a shed, but I like the roof line on it and the style of windows are easy to see in the pic. http://www.squidoo.com/build-a-clerestory-style-shed-using-quality-backyard-shed-plans

Brave soul- LOL I've been called worse things, so I'll take that. My journal tells about the year or so I spent roughing it in Georgia.
We lived off grid in the middle of nowhere. Our only electric stuff then was a flashlight and battery radio. We cooked on a wood stove, dug out our spring & hauled spring water, used oil lamps or candles at night and had an outhouse.

Having a little pv, wind or hydro system to run a few things is a vacation after that. This time I want water running to the house and the barn, a solar water heater, a real refrigerator and a solar charger for a laptop. I loved that wood stove, so don't need electric for that. The out house was reliable but I have DIY building plans for a composting toilet. On a cold night I'll be saying Woo Hoo - Indoor plumbing!

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

Hi Kate, the White Suffolk was developed in Aussie so the meat benefit could be retained but without the "black hairs" ending up in the "white" Merino wool.
http://www.google.com.au/search?rlz...eid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=white+suffock+studs/USA
Thanks for posting..................T.O.R................

Here's a US one.www.prestigewhitesuffolks.com

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Hi Kate, the White Suffolk was developed in Aussie so the meat benefit could be retained but without the "black hairs" ending up in the "white" Merino wool.
http://www.google.com.au/search?rlz...eid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=white+suffock+studs/USA
Thanks for posting..................T.O.R................

Here's a US one.www.prestigewhitesuffolks.com

Wow, check that out! I'm not sure if I like them or not!! I really love Suffolks (well, all blackfaced breeds) for their black faces! The white Suffolk pics I looked at have very different body types than the Suffolks we have here in the US, although I am used to seeing the club type which of course aren't practical for production!

They're certainly interesting sheep though! They almost remind me of bigger Texels or something.