Ranch complex

Finished the feed grinding module except for people and vehicles. Awaiting scenic glue to completely dry to get rid of any excess. Added the chutes to the elevators and modified the small barn roof to take the conveyor discharge for grain loading inside structure. Installed the conveyor and the pit for the grain dump and applied bracing to the log truck loading chute.


Also finished and installed the molasses tank and piping into structure and installed the Alfalfa Hay stacks and bales. The object that sticks out slightly on the storage bin is an access door. The ground cover is Arizona Stone and it is the fine mix being used to simulate the Scoria found from burnt out coal veins and used a lot in some rural dirt road surfaces.


And installed the hayloft floor for the big barn and the hay and straw.



Other than mounting the feeder barn on a base and applying roofs to both the big barn and it I am at a halt while still awaiting parts to ship. So I will probably start some vehicles next including a big horse trailer three tractors and a few trucks and cars to place on the modules. May also start on the bunkhouses.

 

Well short of parts no more so I can finish the barns. The Email notice that they had shipped must have been a day late because the parts were in the mail today before I read the E-mail. The parts for this stock chute kit are so delicate and thin, and of course laser cut wood, that they rival my etched brass fencing. Not a lot of parts but a real challenge to handle. Great kit GC Laser!



Beds for the stock trucks arrived and a set of oil fuel tanks that have to be assembled in multiple layers also GC Laser stuff and all wood.

 

Question John, The green bales are alfalfa ? I remember from growing up country that its a bad idea to put green (wet) hay into the loft. Does alfalfa stay a green color or does it brown up as it dries ?

Those kits turned out really good, I just may have to add a farm somewhere......Mike

 

Alfalfa is a very rich heavy hay that is a darker green when growing. Typical practice when I worked on my uncle's ranch was to cut and then windrow it in the field and let it dry for a few days to a week then bale it. I dries a sort of olive green color if my memory serves me right but yes it does stay a shade of green when dry.
It is typical to get 3 or even 4 cuttings a year off of an Alfalfa field.

As far as putting a small farm or ranch on the layout there are smaller farmhouses out there and some smaller barns like the ones I added to the stockyard that can fit nicely in a small footprint.

 

There used to be back when small corrals and loading chutes off of short sidings along the main where large ranches could direct ship their livestock. No bldgs. just corral and chute and maybe a water source.

 

Spectacular.

 

I grew up on a farm in south Texas, downspout on leg should go to top center on bin shouldn't it ?

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You are correct if this was being used for it's intended purpose of storing grain however this is a repurposed unit to store a moist feed mix. The feed is a ground mix of grain, Alfalfa hay, molasses, and mineral supplements and leaves the grinding machine as a heavy damp olive green sawdust. On a cool morning I have seen this stuff steam. So the off center fill allows for a void area at the top for excess moisture collection and venting, plus expansion. The storage site would be drawn down and emptied almost weekly depending on the amount of animals being fed. So in effect this is being used as a feed silo and most of them were fed from just below the top.

Why didn't I use a silo? Well simply because I happened to have the Rix kits sitting around and not going to be used anymore thus cheap and I decided to go with this concept. I also decided to put the grain storage for feed mixing in the small barn and not order another grain bin. Thus the roof modification to the barn and the use of the portable conveyor belt sitting on the concrete platform. Kept the mini module smaller and added a bit more interest to the scene.

Probably time to add the storyline that goes with the ranch. Mr. Simon Sabat is of a Basque herder family who immigrated to the US Northwest back in 1900 as a youth. At some point he bought a parcel of land near Klickitat, Washington and developed a stone quarry on it. Stone was shipped out via the SP&S to places like a growing Seattle and Portland as both street paving stones and building blocks. At some point the developing wealth allowed him to purchase a another site for a quarry on an large island just off the Pacific coast. That quarry also prospered and Mr. Sabat built the large ranch on the island and returned to his Basque roots as a herder. The railroad on the island served by car ferry was built by Mr. Sabat and a partner who owned the sawmill. The Turtle Creek is contracted by Mr. Sabat and the mill owner to run the railroad. Mr Sabat also owns a half interest in the stockyards and his feed grinding faciilty supplies feed to both stockyard and several other farmers and ranchers. The Macie Molybdenum Mine on the large island supplies a lot of high grade moly to steel mills on the mainland and is also served by the rail. The island is also home to a active fishing industry and again Mr. Sabatt financed part of the costs of building a cannery at the port.

Over the years the Sabat sheep herds became one of the prime sources for some of the finest spring lamb in the US with it being shipped as far as NY markets. He also expanded to producing quality beef and the rich pasture lands on the island contribute to some fat and well fed herds. The Sabat ranch has grown over the years to about 30,000 acres not counting open range grazing rights. Mr. Sabat employs a number of traditional Basque herders at his ranch thus the bunk houses and facilities and the presence of the traditional herders and their camp wagons yet to be built.

So my storyline for the new layout and I am sticking to it. Just as an aside Simon Sabat did exist and owned a quarry near Klickitat on the SP&S Goldendale Branch. Also the area was known for its quality spring lamb and the Klickitat Log and Lumber Company Railroad transported the lambs via stock cars and interchanged with the SP&S at Klickitat

 

Cool I like it

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Back at the Big Barn now that the GC Laser stock chute is together and installed. Added some red Scoria road surface to the chute, added the barn roof and tarpaper along with the cupola on the roof. Also added some tools around the wheelbarrow in front next to the manure pile. Next up is to chemically blacken and maybe paint the fence and finish the back pasture and feedlot.



Stlll weathering in the barn roof to get rid of some shine at the top where some glue shows.

 

So real I can almost smell it!

 

Personally, I'd rather not......
You've done a great job, John. Though, you might consider a manure spreader next to the barn door rather than a pile that will leach and rot the foundation. hboy:

 

Now if someone could come up with the bottled odors of fresh cut hay or grass, honeysuckle in bloom, or the smell of the corral, might have something. Hmm Old Moore's Smelly De Pew, real odors to give life to the model scene.

Until I manage to either build one, or find one that isn't too modern it will probably just have to be implied its there somewhere. Either that or some hired hands with shovels and pitchforks on a wagon load behind a tractor. Anyway my spending budget for the rest of this month is shot. After spending a little over $1700 for my Wife's truck yesterday its beans and rice and scratch built stuff for awhile.

Back at the Big Barn I started chemically blackening my brass fencing this AM and then applying Burnt Umber paint. Dries a lighter brown with some grayish overtones. Looking at the etched brass fence I came to the conclusion that the fence posts were too thin to be support posts. Nice fence but nature of the beast with etching something like this. One thickness only. A lot more work, but probably worth it, I took some .030 X .030 styrene and painted it also to be the thicker fence posts that I will laminate on. Thank heavens for a NWSL Chopper since there are a lot of posts to cut. One more little shortcoming is that there are just not enough gates included in the kits. I have fencing from two different manufacturers and both only have a couple of gates per kit which is a PIA when doing what I am. Fortunately I had a few gates left from the stockyard fencing.

 

Some silage occasionally has a beer like odor, and the ground feed that has a molasses mix sometimes has a bread like odor because of the grain plus the molasses. Nothing beats the aroma though of a coral that has housed animals over the hard winter being cleaned out and spread in the fields in the spring.

Finished gluing the styrene posts to the brass fence and the result.

 

And a small update on the fencing. Doing the posts to enhance the fence turned out to be a good idea in that I am also using extra posts to salvage sections of fence that would otherwise be lost in the trimming. Installed some fence and one gate and created a 2nd small gate with a short section and extra posts. The back will divide into two areas, one the feedlot on the loading chute side, and the other the horse pasture. I am drilling out the base for each fence post and using scenic glue to secure the fence sections. A lot of work but still fun.

 

John, I bought a nice looking 1950s-era manure spreader 3 or 4 years ago. I believe it was from Crafts By Heck, but I can't find any information to confirm that.