Bison Ranch Life: Welding

I figured taking a Construction Tech class and then a more specific welding class in college would become a valuable asset, and boy was I right! I'm fairly close to just calling myself a welder now instead of a ranch manager.

We have had several projects that have needed welded on the ranch and by my estimations I've welded at least 200' of weld beads, and that's a conservative estimation. I really enjoy it though, its nice to sit out, lay out or in some cases hang out there (more on that in a minute) and just be alone with your thoughts while focusing on creating and improving things we use on a regular basis. Here are some of the things that I have been welding on as of late:

Feed Bin:

Our big feed bin was moved to a more permanent location on a concrete slab which made it have less clearance since before there had been a trench under it we were able to drove though. So I welded on some I beams below the two legs to raise it up allowing us to still be able to drive under it. I wasn't certain I would ever be finished with this project! It holds 96 feet of solid weld beads in it alone. But boy does it look good.

Cat Walks:

Working on the Corral System

The corral we have set up here at the ranch is based on a lot of Temple Grandins design principles and therefore has catwalks all around it. But there were a few spots they weren't built in yet so I got to build some catwalks to go around some of the perimeter of the set up. This allows us to have solid sides yet still work the live stock in as stress free a manner as possible. I also put in an overhead catwalk to connect over the load out chute (I'm pretty proud of that one). Along with the catwalk I also welded on some corner braces and a few cross braces over the alley way which was interesting to reach and is what I meant by hanging out there since often times to reach it I just monkeyed out over the edge of the corral to weld them on.

Miscellaneous:

Something always breaks that needs re-welded such as the bale fork and the quicktach bucket arm rests on the tractor. Some things need re-adjusted such as moving where the doors in the corral attach or welding on injection holders to our table out at the corral. Hmm now that I look at this a lot of the welding I have done has been out there on that corral. It is one really nice corral though and it gets better every chance we get to work on it, even though it is already one of the best working chutes I have ever seen. I also welded up our sign out front to be quite a bit sturdier. So now when you drive down county road 557 near Bruner, Missouri, you can't miss us!