4-H stuff

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Ok it's that time of year again. Time for the kids to get their pigs for 4-H and they started the 4-H archery program last week. So I made up a few things to help out. 1st project, the pig carrier. Last two years we used the dog cage. It was really too small to move the 2 "little" piggies, so this year I figured I'd build a bigger cage. Last fall I set aside some heavy rewire to do this when we poured the patio, but the guys who used to work for the kids dad came by this spring and "swiped" my wire for a job they were doing. The real kicker is there was plenty of light weight wire they could have had with no issues, but they didn't see that wire. I'd planned to make it a bit larger and use full pieces, but since I had to buy new wire, I made do with only one sheet to save money. All in all I'm in $25 for the one sheet of wire and 3 cans of primer I had on hand. The rest was all "scrap" I had on hand. Attached Images.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Wire used for this was 4 ga 4" x 4" weld wire reinforcing mesh.  Cage size is 42" x 48", 32" tall. I used almost every piece of the wire. The original plan was to be 24" high but we altered that 1/2 way thru. I probably could have gotten a way with a bit less welding if I'd cut the pieces a bit different to start.the unit is set up so we can load the pigs thru the short side with the cage in the truck. Then at the barn, I can use the forklift to pull the cage and drive down the isle until we are right up next to the pen. Then we can open the pen and slide up the side door on the 48" side and chase the pigs into the pan and be done until Aug when we'll use the horse trailer to move the pigs to the Grainge fair. Attached Images.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:The best thing I ever did in 20 years with my three girls was 4H and FFA.   They got so much out of it.  You eventually get tired of fair season but aside form that it is great. Keen  cage, keeps the boys in there.  Hmm so your kids will add $25 to their cost sheet?   Maybe it should go under ~donations from friends and relatives~    cost out.. zero.  Hope they do great, send a few pics when the get in the arena,   we'll hope for a blue or better and a good sale.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:what, no archery target?There are no problems. There are only solutions. It's your duty to determine the right one.Hobart Handler 210Airco 225 Amp MSM Stinger
Reply:next project is for the 4-H archery program. I went and got certified a few weeks back as an archery instructor because they were short instructors for the program. Turns out our county has the largest shooting sports program in the state. We have roughly 80 kids in archery alone and only 4 certified instructors to run 3 ranges all at the same time.The program has plenty of gear, but no ground quivers, so I grabbed some old pipe, and some rebar and fabbed up a few ground quivers for the program since it was raining off and on today.I made 20 and we'll see if that's enough for now. Attached Images.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by ThorsHammerwhat, no archery target?
Reply:Originally Posted by PapaLion   Maybe it should go under ~donations from friends and relatives~    cost out.. zero.  Hope they do great, send a few pics when the get in the arena,   we'll hope for a blue or better and a good sale.
Reply:Originally Posted by PapaLionThe best thing I ever did in 20 years with my three girls was 4H and FFA.   They got so much out of it.  You eventually get tired of fair season but aside form that it is great. Keen  cage, keeps the boys in there.  Hmm so your kids will add $25 to their cost sheet?   Maybe it should go under ~donations from friends and relatives~    cost out.. zero.  Hope they do great, send a few pics when the get in the arena,   we'll hope for a blue or better and a good sale.
Reply:Not only are you doing for your kids, you're doing for other kids too. It all gets passed on down the line. There are so many folks that just 'send' their kids to FFA & 4-H. Those kids who's parents are just escorts remember that chit later in life. Besides that there's a little swell of pride when you hear your kids say "my dad did this" or "my dad made that"."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:Just so you can't say you weren't informed Doug - the smoker lid opening is 37" wide so plan accordingly. Cool cages and arrow holders. MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Excellent projects there DSW, for an excellent cause..... Lincoln Power Mig 216Lincoln AC/DC-225/125Miller  625 X-Treme PlasmaMiller 211 Forney 95FI-A 301HF 91110Victor Journeyman O/PMilwaukee DaytonMakita  Baileigh NRA Life Member
Reply:Never did 4-H / FFA as a kid. I was into Scouts ( made Eagle) wherever we lived. My best friend in high school raised hogs for 4-H / Ag science, so I'm a bit familiar with the program.Scouts / 4-H / FFA, any of those programs, I feel are great for kids. Gets them involved in all sorts of things and teaches them responsibility. I don't think kids get exposed to enough things these days. Scouts / 4-H gives them a chance to get to see and try things that they might like to pursue later in life.  I was lucky and many of the families in all the different scout troops I was in were military families. Brought a wide variety of skills and hobbies to the table to be exposed to. A few of the more memorable trips I can remember... Trip to a SAC bomber base ( I remember seeing the AD goggles demo'd there that they had for the pilots to wear to prevent blindness after the blast), tour of Gran Coulee Dam ( we got to tour the inside of one of the turbines that was open for maintenance among other things the average visitor didn't get to see), Tours of a Trident sub, USS Nimitz ( missed that one because I was sick to my lasting regret), USS Missouri, base dive locker with decompression chamber ( wished I'd been into diving then) and machine shops, a bunch of various stuff at Ft Belvior Va with the Corps of Engineers ( built a log cabin there as well as a ton of other log towers and other pioneering projects), ice caving on Mt Rainier ( dug a cave out of the snow/ice and camped in it for the weekend), spelunking in WV, canoeing, camping, skiing, rock climbing/ repelling, wood working, hiking, snow shoeing, cooking, hiking, archery, skeet, small bore rifle, one of the dads in one troop kept bees at the house near DC. as a hobby,... .Just to set the record straight. These aren't my kids. They "belong" to a good friend of mine who passed away 2 years ago.  I worked for for close to 15 years up to when I got burned in the O2 fire in 2004 and had to stop working with him FT due to the injury ( injury occurred at my PT job not with him) I continued to work here and there for him on various jobs, as well as working on his house when I went into business for myself. ( his house is the one with the stamp work and the finished basement I've posted in the past. I'll do another post on that stuff in the future.) I'm sort of an "honorary" uncle. He thought 4-H was important for his kids and I honor his memory by helping out where I can with them. It's something I enjoy, and I can give back to all the kids some of what I got when I was in scouts.Duane, I wish you were closer. I've got a couple pork roasts that need to be used up before Aug when I "restock". I'd bring over a few. I thought about building another 275 gal pig roaster. I had 3 or 4 "spare" heating oil tanks that I got rid of when we cleaned out my buddies shop after his death. Just had no where to store them at the time and the family wasn't doing pig roasts like they used  to ( He was the big griller). I can get one if I need to from the guy who runs the 4-H swine club. He rents them and I'd be getting the roaster pig from him anyways. I did save a few 55 gal drum, and a drum smoker   or grill is on the "around to it" list. I'm looking for one that's a bit smaller, say 30 gal instead since I really don't need a huge one. My dive buddy is on the look out for a few clean 30 gal drums at work..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Well the "Eagle Scout" thing stuck DSW! I made Life, then discovered cars, women & explored the possibilities of life...Thanks for giving back! & Sorry for the loss of your friend.Matt
Reply:BACON "Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:I built one and two man pig walkers for the FFA kids i knew always wanted to build one made of aluminum but never didI was in FFA and so was my father i still have his record books and ribbons don't know what happened to all my stuff did cub scouts and boy scouts too it was a good thing for kids back then and probably still is todayGreat work by the wayBacked my CATMA over your CARMA oops clusmy me  What would SATAN do ?? Miller Trailblazer 302 AirPakMiller Digital Elite  Optrel Welding HatArcair K4000Suitcase 12RC / 12 VSHypertherm PM-45Rage 3 sawRusty old Truck
Reply:Thanks. I've thought about a pig walker. I remember using one with my friend in high school with his pigs. We are lucky, the pigs have a converted stall in the horse barn. Once they are in, they'll stay until the fair. I did open up the stall next to the pigs, so the girls can chase them from one stall to the next to clean the pen a bit easier last year. 50 lbs of kid and 300+ lbs of pig, you guess who wins when one wants to do something and the other keeps getting in the way or wants to chew on the shovel/broom. Come fair time I break out the old concrete forms and build a chute to go from the pen to the main door and we simply back up the horse trailer to the door and chase them in. In reality I don't even have to build the chute, but it helps keep from chasing them all over the barn because one want to go exploring the new sights. I'm getting to old to wheelbarrow the pigs. I get enough exercise helping chase 90 or so pigs around the aisles at the Grainge fair for weigh in, showings, auction etc..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Some of the fairs that i went to the pig section was on the other side of the beef and dairy cows and some guys wouldn't wait for a walker and having a pig running amok under all those cows was entertaining to say the leastThe walkers they had were the 2 man type so somebody a long time ago put a small wheel on the front so just one guy was needed ...like a wheel barrow Keep up the good work DSWBacked my CATMA over your CARMA oops clusmy me  What would SATAN do ?? Miller Trailblazer 302 AirPakMiller Digital Elite  Optrel Welding HatArcair K4000Suitcase 12RC / 12 VSHypertherm PM-45Rage 3 sawRusty old Truck
Reply:Nice work and a great cause, you're one of the good guys!If you don't want to stand behind our Troops, feel free to stand in front of them.
Reply:Hey DSW.That's a good project and I appreciate you helping the kids. That is important time. I agree on the Scouts/ 4H/ FFA. I learned a lot through Scouts.From another old Eagle (both my boys are Eagle Scouts too).BTW, post some pictures of the pigs. I'm an Ag major, too.Burt _____________________Miller Syncrowave 250Millermatic 211Miller 375 Plasma Cutter Hobart Handler 12010FtDrillBit.com
Reply:Originally Posted by Matt_MaguireWell the "Eagle Scout" thing stuck DSW! I made Life, then discovered cars, women & explored the possibilities of life...Thanks for giving back! & Sorry for the loss of your friend.Matt
Reply:More stuff for the 4-H.A week ago I was there at the end of the archery stuff and the guys who were running the air rife/air pistol program we share space with, were talking about what they needed to get to upgrade their program. One of the guys mentioned they had spotting scopes, but no decent stands. Don't waste your money, I can fix that... Still need to do a lot of finishing work and assemble the units. I rushed thru 3 so they could look at them on Wednesday night and see if I needed to make any major changes. This weeks been a zoo, so I really didn't have the time to work on these like I wanted to. I'll fix that this weekend and do a more detailed posting on these. Plan right now on 6 stands with the option to do a few more if the .22 LR program wants some also.These stands are based off a Freeland small bore/ high power stand knockoff I saw years ago and did a very rough copy. I've been wanting lately to do a nice one for myself and a friend who wants to get into shooting, so here was a perfect time to do some prototype work for a good cause. My final ones I'd like to do with alum castings, but I'm not geared up for that right now so these were done in steel and machined. I did get to play some with the new lathe today and crank out a few alum knurled knobs to hold the scopes on. Still need to finish those ( they'll be studs not nuts) and turn down a few spacers to hold the scope off the holder. I have my old sketches for an fine adjustment holder, but right now I doubt I'll go thru the hassle on these.I think I've got about $150-175 in materials in the 6 of these right now, plus what ever scrap/ misc I could scrounge like the angle iron, the tri knobs I salvaged from some piece of discarded lawn equipment and the steel for the base blocks. Most of the cost is in the 5/8" rod and the 1" x 1/4" flat for the legs. New with a 24" post vs the 60" ones on mine the stands are about $125 or so.Oh if anyone has one of the Freeland stands or the knockoffs, I could use some detailed picts of the base and the scope mount for reference. My Freeland was liberated years ago and I'm mostly going by memory on a lot of this stuff. The picts I've dug up online really don't have the detail I'm looking for. Attached ImagesLast edited by DSW; 05-25-2012 at 06:48 PM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Went and picked up the pigs on Wed. afternoon. They've already gotten big since the girls picked them out. Estimate is the bigger one is already pushing 100 lbs! Trust me two guys trying to pick up, carry and wrestle almost 100lbs of annoyed porker into the back of the truck and stuff them in the box ( twice) made for an interesting afternoon.... No picts of that we were all too busy making sure they ended up where they needed to go. note to self... Next year pack the alum ramp and enough plywood to form sides so we can just chase them in.A few other misc things done for the pigs in the past as well since I had the camera out. Made up the braces so we could support the 30 gal water drum on 2 6' concrete forms since the faucet in the barn leaks and can't be left on full time. ( we need to rip up the concrete floor to replace the frost free tap so that's not on the fix it list at this point.) Built the gate and hinges from an old chunk of airport security fence I was given. Last is the water spigot for the pigs. I made up 7 for the other kids in the swine club. Not much, just some angle iron welded to 1/2" pipe and some fittings. Ours is pieced because I ran out of long pipe. Pipe and angle iron, as well as most of the fittings, came out of the shorts pile or misc fittings bin, salvaged from various jobs over the years. Hose from the drum to the spigot is a 60" length of braided SS washing machine hose repurposed when I replaced both sides at the house because the hot was starting to leak.Last is the rescued miniature horse the girls just got from the SPCA. Shes staying in the 2nd part of the pig stall until I have time to redo one other stall for her. The gate to this area is also a repurposed chunk of railing I shortened up and made hinges for. She's in this stall because of the gate. I had to toss a piece of plywood across the gate because the guy who brought her over was afraid shed get a leg stuck in between the bars.Last edited by DSW; 06-01-2012 at 01:44 AM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Good read DSW. And nice to hear, not all kids in the States do bugger all in the Holidays (I presume what what H4 is)I've been to a The Simmer Dim (Longest day)Bike rally on The Shetlands every year for the last 7yrs. Its the 30th this year so plenty of Proper Real Ale to drink Brewed by Sonny at The Valhalla Brewery on Unst  the most northerly Brewery in the British Isles.You don't see many Ponies on the Isle but if I do I'll sure to take some pictures for your girls.And since this is a welding forum, it would be rude not to show a welding related pic.You are encouraged to take your own drinking vessel. I made this out of some gas Flue and a Lever off a Harley. Holds just short of 2 1/4 pints  Attached ImagesLast edited by Shox Dr; 06-01-2012 at 07:56 AM.
Reply:The 4 Hs in the clover Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. It is protected by congress and the U.S.D.A. and the local clubs are intended to focus young folks toward understanding  society, and the Ag community.   Leadership skills are  developed in 4 H though group activities and  responsible anumal care.   Today 4H also broadens out to include many crafts for homemakers like cooking, sewing, gardening and food preperqtion.  There are some clubs that work with Ag Mechanics, tractor repair and implement maintenance. Welding is often involved as the kids mature and  approach the FFA level.Also, 4H has moved to town, some clubs are now in inner cities with activities like raised bed gardens on abandoned lots and  managing local environmental issiues.I have a metal sign from the 60's in xlnt condition in the barn which reads "We are a 4H family".  I'd hang it on the fence... but then the weather would fade it and it might? disappear. Attached ImagesLast edited by PapaLion; 06-01-2012 at 08:27 AM.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:Shox, 4-H is a youth program much like scouting in the states, but it's generally more farm related. Kids join up with what ever agricultural or other program suits them. The girls are in the swine club ( hence the pigs) as well as archery this year. One is thinking about raising a steer for next year and they both eventually want to do air rifle/pistol ( air rifle/pistol runs the same night as archery so that wasn't an option this year) as well as shotgun.http://www.4-h.org/default.aspxOh and a "pony" would be tall compared to "Coco". She's full grown and her back won't even reach the top of the "gate" and I doubt it's any more than 3' tall. She thinks she's a large dog. I wished I was there when she was dropped off and the old boarder was moving his 17 hand race horse. She didn't even come up to that horses knees.Last edited by DSW; 06-01-2012 at 08:32 AM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald ReaganI was referring to Shetland Ponies. When I first visited The Shetlands I expected to see fields of them not so.If I see any when I'm up I'll take some pics
Reply:Originally Posted by PapaLionHope they do great, send a few pics when the get in the arena,   we'll hope for a blue or better and a good sale.
Reply:Thanks for the update and the pictures.I'd be proud of them! Looks like they have worked hard and learned a lot. Not all winners get trophies.Burt _____________________Miller Syncrowave 250Millermatic 211Miller 375 Plasma Cutter Hobart Handler 12010FtDrillBit.com
Reply:A few more picts. Attached Images.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan