A few weeks ago, our friend Steve (a country neighbor up on The Ridge) asked Jim to help him locate and fix a leak in the pipe system on his property that leads from a pond to a cattle watering trough. Last year, Steve had fenced off the pond area and created a new orchard. He wanted to keep the cattle safely away from the pond and new trees but give them a reliable water source accessible to them outside of the fenced area. It was becoming a time sensitive project since the cattle will be coming into this area within the next few weeks and will stay there to graze for the next six months!
So, Jim attached the backhoe to the tractor and rumbled over to Steve’s place to give a little more mechanical muscle to the digging process. Steve still had to do a lot of the final digging under the trough itself by hand but he had Jim there for moral support! Steve had been pretty sure that the source of the problem was the pipe fittings immediately under the trough.
Once the cracked pipe fittings had been located and fully exposed, Steve and Jim set about the process of bailing out water, cutting out the broken pipe fittings, measuring, cutting & preparing the new pieces and repairing all the connections. Luckily it was a warm, sunny day that they were working in because this was a wet, muddy, sloppy job!
When all the repairs had been made, they turned on the valve to let the water flow to the pump and the trough and crossed their fingers - hoping that they had actually fixed the problem...
SUCCESS! The trough filled and has maintained its water level.
Bring on the cows!
Here is my modified version of the children’s rhyme, The Farmer in the Dell, written with new lyrics to give you light-hearted “captions” to the pictures I took when I would go to check on their progress that day.
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The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell
The cattle trough is dry
The cattle trough is dry
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cattle trough is dry
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"
We must find the leak
We must find the leak
Hi-ho, the derry-o
We must find the leak
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We must fix by Spring
We must fix by Spring
Hi-ho, the derry-o
We must fix by Spring
"
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We must dig a hole
We must dig a hole
Hi-ho, the derry-o
We must dig a hole
"
"
The farmer crawls in
The farmer crawls in
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer crawls in
The pipe has been cracked
The pipe has been cracked
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The pipe has been cracked
"
"
We must mend the pipe
We must mend the pipe
Hi-ho, the derry-o
We must mend the pipe
"
"
The pipe has been fixed
The pipe has been fixed
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The pipe has been fixed
"
"
The farmer is pleased
The farmer is pleased
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer is pleased
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"
The trough now is full
The trough now is full
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The trough now is full
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"
The cows can come back!
The cows can come back!
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cows can come back!
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