Today I fixed up the fast fence to allow for on-the-fly tension adjustment. I’m not sure it’s the final design but it seems close. I am worried that the whole system is a bit too heavy. But unless I find lighter posts, that’s pretty much fixed. I calculated the cost of materials- about 77-100 CAD depending on whether you buy in bulk or not. The big cost is ASA plastic filament for the 3D printed parts, the posts, and the polywire if you don’t buy in bulk. Then for time to build it up, I’m not sure because I never sit down and do it all at once. I’m guessing about 3 hours. The wood part has to be cut and drilled, the plastic parts have to be glued together, the poly belts have to be welded, and then the wire strung onto the reels. The gluing is probably the big one, and that could probably be sped up if I was making larger batches instead of just one at a time.
I gave my neighbor a fence to test and picked up some more lumber for better field shelter. Here’s a picture of the preliminary shelter design (12 ft long and 12 ft wide):
The idea with the floats is that it can skid over rough ground in any direction because the sloped side will ride up over any obstacle less than 1 ft high instead of increasing torque on the frame and potentially ripping the skids off. The ground pressure should be 1psi or less so no issue with soil compaction. I plan to move it with a hand winch at first daily so there is always fresh grass inside and it doesn’t get too muddy. It should work for goats, but also chickens, rabbits, pigs anything that you want to keep on pasture but needs some shelter. Should be stable without anchors in up to 100 kph winds.
milk report:
6:30 am milking – 345 ml
11:30 am milking – 142 ml
5:00 pm milking – 150 ml
Sun Aquasystems 