An Old Goat Ranch in Texas

[jayste]

Terry, welcome to the site. Looks like a thread I'll be looking forward to visiting. How many acres? Forgive me if you said already.

I had to laugh at Eddie's comment. It reminded me of Joe Friday...."the facts, ma'am, just the facts".

Eddie...."the pond, sir, jsut the pond"

Yes, we love ponds, wire, TRACTORS, brush, trucks, tools,....Projects.....did I mention TRACTORS?....

Thanks for posting and looking forward to more!

Jay

[Egon]

Goats surely do fly but how they do like nice shiny metal paint to land on.

Don't worry about the fence. "Horse high and hog tight" was a saying used by one of Western writers of days gone by.

[Western]

I'm back because I forgot to mention something about raising goats that you should include in your planning now. Then I read Western's post about the electric service.
First the goat info: If you plan to raise goats, meaning controlled breeding as compared to letting them breed like rabbits, you will need to have a seperate pen for your buck, that means extra stout fence and electric. All you should need is about a half acre.
Now the electric: Before we built on our place, we had electric service brought in to provide power for the well. The cost for the 1000+' run and transformer......$40. We cleared the ROW ourselves.
A few years later we asked about adding a transformer to an existing line crossing our property to a neighbor's place, for power to our animal barns. The price.... a second meter added to our monthly billing.
We are with an electric co-op. Check into it, you may be pleasantly surprised.

I am in a co-op!!!! feels more like TU. I would do the trees/brush myself...that cost extra too.

[terry.dinerman]

Western-

Actually, my "Offtime" is filled with all the adventure (read "Backbreaking Work") that I can stand building that ranch...I ain't got TIME to sit and think...I come back to work to rest up, as I am mainly office-bound here and there is not what you would call a busy social calendar our here in the bush...so once "Ships Work" is done I have plenty of time to plot, plan and study...

"Entergy" is our local co-op there in Grimes county and after all the "First Furlong Upcharge" "Pencil Sharpening Fee" "Donut Box Disposal Factor" and the rest of that utility bid foolishness was factored in, 1,000 feet of primary service, including crossing a State Highway, the transformer at the far end and terminating at the meter came in at roughly $6.80/ft for overhead and $7.50 for underground. They throw in one of their own "special" meter cans too...

I had budgeted $10,000 for this improvement so I think I am getting a reasonable price and you are getting a DARNED good price.

I am interested in your experience with laying that water line...what sort of soil are you on? What did you use to open and close the ditch? What is your frost depth and how deep did you go? How has the PVC performed? What sort of pressure and flow did you achieve with 1.25" pipe? Any significant kinks in the job? If you had to do it over...what would you change?

I have laid a bunch of high density poly, and was trained to x-ray and ultrasonic inspect the fusion welds in the large diameter thick-wall stuff used in industrial settings, so I was leaning towards that material.

I my current home, Brazoria County, the "gumbo" clay subsoil rocks and rolls like ocean waves depending on the moisture content, soft as oatmeal one day and hard as granite the next, so the flexibility of the HDP make it the local favorite. Our subsoil in Grimes County is far more stable, sand with some clay over dense clay, so I will have to make the call based on local experience vs price.

I appreciate your input and hope you keep up throwing me those tidbits...

And if you can't find the Cafe, go walk thru the door of the local Volunteer Fire Department...in or out of uniform...it's the easiest place in town to find the Good People...and the best story-tellers...

Be Safe!

Terry

Welcome to the "club",

I know what you mean about small town folks, The "coffee house" was always a pleasure to visit to catch up on town gossip, who's animals went where? fish'n reports? ufo sightings..

Funny you said "most folks are nice, some aren't" My experience has been the same, but I have found that some of the biggest A$#% at first end up being some of the best and most reliable friends. Try coming into a small town wearing a uniform..LOL

How much is your 1000' electrical run going to be? it is a co-op I presume? reason I ask, is I went through this last December and just had a co-op engineer out yesterday to give me options on a new shop location. So far I have to pay $5.75 per foot line fee + $375 transformer fee. This is because I am not a new service, when we moved in it was the 1st 400" free.

I also ran my own water from the well up on the hill where we hope to eventually build. 1300 feet cost me around $1000 with 1 1/4 pvc.

Sounds like you have allot to think about in your off time, that should make it fly by..

[terry.dinerman]

jayste-

Eddie is just being direct....he LIKES ponds...I hope he isn't dissappointed with my little pot-hole!

We are on 13.5 acres...a heavily overgrown plum orchard, according to local legend...check the aerial view...walking that southern property line when we did the initial look-see reminded me a lot of past jungles I found myself in and the one I currently find myself in...no questions about hiring a 'Dozer Guru'...

Be Safe!

Terry

Terry, welcome to the site. Looks like a thread I'll be looking forward to visiting. How many acres? Forgive me if you said already.

I had to laugh at Eddie's comment. It reminded me of Joe Friday...."the facts, ma'am, just the facts".

Eddie...."the pond, sir, jsut the pond"

Yes, we love ponds, wire, TRACTORS, brush, trucks, tools,....Projects.....did I mention TRACTORS?....

Thanks for posting and looking forward to more!

Jay

[terry.dinerman]

...there is wisdom there Egon...

And there are so many "Love Dents" in my truck already, a few goat-dings won't matter....

Be Safe!

T

Goats surely do fly but how they do like nice shiny metal paint to land on.

Don't worry about the fence. "Horse high and hog tight" was a saying used by one of Western writers of days gone by.

[terry.dinerman]

Western-

I have GOT to stop smoking those range cubes....I could swear you said you got your power done for $40....

And you are spot on about clearing the right of way...already done!

Be Safe!

Terry

I am in a co-op!!!! feels more like TU. I would do the trees/brush myself...that cost extra too.

[terry.dinerman]

Hey T.,

I too am new to the forum, bought in Grimes county, and have some of the same background as yourself - Diving (oilfield. some salvage, not much), travel for work etc. Heck we may have mutual aquantices. It is a small world.

Sounds like your happy with the fencing contractor and I'm now in the process of getting quotes for my fence to be installed in January. Same sort of soil as yours only on more of a slope - the main reason I want a professional to do it. If you'd want to drop the name of your guy I would not mind giving him the chance to quote job price.

Good luck with your ranching ventures and I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Reily

RTII-

Hey Reily!

Another diver eh? Great! But are you a Shellback?

I spent a lot of time with the string of companies that eventually wound up as Oceaneering...."Ocean Systems" "Samson Ocean Systems" "Solus Schall" "Solus Ocean Systems" and finally "Oceaneering"....same bunch of guys with a new tee shirt every few weeks....I worked project in SE Asia, South and Central America and of course the Gulf...

When the oil crash hit in the late 80's the company closed it's field office in Texas and gave me the choice of layoff or moving to Morgan City....I told the boss I would rather rent out Morgan City and live in **** first...and that was that.

What's YOUR story, Bub?

Now about that fence guy...I will get that information to you as soon as I can....I don't have the invoices with me here in Africa....but my Precious Bride will soon take care of that...

I am not exactly in the Middle of Nowhere, but I can see it from here....

Be Safe!

T

[RTII]

Hi T.,

Shellback - although crossed the line quite a few times, never went through the ceremony. I just returned from Comgo where i met my boat. They actually crossed at 00.00.00 N and 00.00.00 E on the way there. supposed to be even more special -Golden shellback or super shellback or super duper shellback - i don't really know but the ceremony was put on and was extra attention paid to all. Actually sorry I missed it but enjoyed the video that was captured. I may get to do it on the way back to the gulf end of January.

I too did a string of companies - Martech, Solus (Ocean Systems), Mcdermott, Taylor, Caldive and on. A few years back got into deep enough water was asked to run a couple of ROV construction jobs and now that's where I'm at. Deep and Ultra deep (10,000 feet) construction. Not a bad gig and more important it's even time.

Thanks in advance for the info on the fence guy. Stay safe over there and hopefully your Christmas will be a good one. I know what it's like to miss being home with family.

All the best man...................................

[Western]

Terry,

It was Weldingisfun that got the $40 deal from his co-op, I should be so lucky.

As far as the water line, fortunately I have 2 master plumbers in the family, so I was able to "pick" their brains before I ran that far of a line. I was concerned with going with only 1-1/4 but that was what they recommended and that was confirmed by the plumbing supply house where I purchased my pipe. I almost went with "poly" too, about 1/3 cheaper but, I plan on tying in to the line in several places and I like the ease of working with pvc joints and connections.

I rented a ditch witch, ride on model for about $150+ tax per day. I was told that 14" would get me well below frost line,but I went 24" since it crossed my land and I plow and mow ect tra and don't want any surprises ( also opted for the 6" wide cutter). It took me about 3 hrs to dig the trench while my youngest son went behind me gluing the bell ends, took about 8 hrs total including the hook-ups at each end. I used the ditch witch to cover the trench since it has a small blade for this, I then used my tractor to pack the line and smooth out the rough spots.

I had to re-glue one joint my son "skimped" on, but luckily I found it before I buried the line during my pre-test. Its been 12 months and no problems so far.

Regrets... I wish I would have put in more main line shut offs at the time, but I was in a hurry and figured I would do it when I tied into the line. I have one at each end and 1 about 50' from the house under ground.

My dirt is sandy loam about 6" then goes to red clay mixed with caliche a little deeper. I only hit a few rocks and quite a few roots since my place is heavily wooded, no problem for the ditch witch. 3/4's of my run is a 4-5 degree downhill, dry creek, then 250' uphill to the house. I dug 3' in the creek bed and place that pipe in with allot of "bow" to allow a little movement. Needless to say with the elevation changes I have great pressure..