Cattlestop, Part II

You may recall that last June we bought ourselves a used cattle stop which we wanted to install at our front gate so that we could keep our gate open AND keep out any four-legged hoofed animals.   It was quite a journey to get the cattle stop to Wainui and off the trailer and onto the ground and not without some mishaps.  For those who need refreshing, take a look at my previous post and photos.

So here we are, eleven months later, the cattle stop sitting nicely on the front lawn with the grass growing a foot or two all around it, while we wait patiently in the queue of the local contractor, wondering if he’d ever get around to us.

Needless-to-say, I was shocked to get an email from the contractor two weeks ago saying that they’d be ready to start the job the coming Monday.  Hooray!  Cattle stop implementation about to start!

Two gentlemen and a digger showed up on an autumn Monday morning.  After sussing out the scene, they decided to drag the cattle stop from the front lawn to the front gate (about 200 metres) wherein they gently laid it on the roadside.

Next, they excavated a large hole about 24” deep.  The cattle stop needs to sit on an elevated concrete frame so that there is a ‘gap’ between the rails and a significant drop to prevent animals from crossing over it.  Also in order to do the excavation, they had to dismantle the surrounding front fence to make room for the cattle stop and to make an alternate vehicle passageway on/off the property.

Next they framed the hole and poured the concrete.

And lastly, after allowing a few days for the concrete to set,  they lifted the cattlestop into place.  Voila, we have a functioning cattlestop.  All in a weeks work.

Now all we have to do is re-build and reconstruct the front fence.  Hmmmm, let’s hope that doesn’t take us a year to do!