Post by evamommy on Mar 17, 2010 17:57:10 GMT -5
Oh my.....my drive to get a great deal may have gotten me in a bit over my head this time.
I responded to an ad on craigslist; this guy has an old dairy barn with most of the equipment still in it, and he's giving it away, to whoever would come pull it all out. So...of course I said I would. My husband and I went down (it's about 4 hours away) last Satuday and began the process. We'll finish this weekend.
Here's what it looks like we've got:
6 metal stanchion cage things. Not a head-locking stanchion, but more like an oval cage made of tubular metal, with two doors, both on same side, one for the "in" door, one for the "out" door, with a feed bunk thing at the head end. They had spouts from the ceiling that went to these to pour the grain right in to each one.
We've had to cut these off at the floor, as they were cemented into the floor, but I'm imagining that we could either a)cement them back in, and they would just be a bit shorter, b) have someone weld some sort of bracket onto the bottom of each post, and bolt them to a concrete floor, or c)pound some sort of rebar or metal stake into the ground, and put the metal parts down over those, maybe?
Anyway...
Then we have 2 vacuum pumps, 1 of which he was pretty sure worked when the dairy was shut down (back in 1994), and one that he has no idea about.
The cooling unit/compressor for the bulk tank. Again, he was pretty sure that it worked when the dairy was shut down.
No bulk tank, though.
3 milking claws. All the rubber parts will need replaced, I'm sure.
I don't know about the pulsators....I was so busy, I forgot to check, and, honestly, I don't know enough to be sure that I would recognize one if I saw it.
A big glass receiver jar, and about 50 feet of glass pipeline. I think there may be some sort of control panel that goes with this, and all the vacuum line.
So...am I nuts? What do I do with this stuff? I want more cows than I have, (CALPC, after all), but I don't ever see myself having a full milking parlour, not even just a 3 on a side pit barn like this one. I don't even have a barn yet. I'm thinking that holding on to the vacuum pump and maybe some of the vacuum line and the claws is a good idea, and maybe two of the stanchions, but that I'm unlikely to ever have a use for all the stanchions, or the glass receiver jar and pipeline, or the compressor, and would be best off trying to sell them, or give to someone that could actually use them.
Anyone have any thoughts/advice/encouragement for me?
Thanks!
Carrie
I responded to an ad on craigslist; this guy has an old dairy barn with most of the equipment still in it, and he's giving it away, to whoever would come pull it all out. So...of course I said I would. My husband and I went down (it's about 4 hours away) last Satuday and began the process. We'll finish this weekend.
Here's what it looks like we've got:
6 metal stanchion cage things. Not a head-locking stanchion, but more like an oval cage made of tubular metal, with two doors, both on same side, one for the "in" door, one for the "out" door, with a feed bunk thing at the head end. They had spouts from the ceiling that went to these to pour the grain right in to each one.
We've had to cut these off at the floor, as they were cemented into the floor, but I'm imagining that we could either a)cement them back in, and they would just be a bit shorter, b) have someone weld some sort of bracket onto the bottom of each post, and bolt them to a concrete floor, or c)pound some sort of rebar or metal stake into the ground, and put the metal parts down over those, maybe?
Anyway...
Then we have 2 vacuum pumps, 1 of which he was pretty sure worked when the dairy was shut down (back in 1994), and one that he has no idea about.
The cooling unit/compressor for the bulk tank. Again, he was pretty sure that it worked when the dairy was shut down.
No bulk tank, though.
3 milking claws. All the rubber parts will need replaced, I'm sure.
I don't know about the pulsators....I was so busy, I forgot to check, and, honestly, I don't know enough to be sure that I would recognize one if I saw it.
A big glass receiver jar, and about 50 feet of glass pipeline. I think there may be some sort of control panel that goes with this, and all the vacuum line.
So...am I nuts? What do I do with this stuff? I want more cows than I have, (CALPC, after all), but I don't ever see myself having a full milking parlour, not even just a 3 on a side pit barn like this one. I don't even have a barn yet. I'm thinking that holding on to the vacuum pump and maybe some of the vacuum line and the claws is a good idea, and maybe two of the stanchions, but that I'm unlikely to ever have a use for all the stanchions, or the glass receiver jar and pipeline, or the compressor, and would be best off trying to sell them, or give to someone that could actually use them.
Anyone have any thoughts/advice/encouragement for me?
Thanks!
Carrie