Friday 29 November 2013

Dam desilting........

This post was planned about 6 weeks ago but I never got the pics together in a post.....
 Ordinarily where the ute and people are there is water.....................but when you don't get any rain that runs water into the dams for 20 months they dry up..............
one of the rare upside of a drought is you get to clean out dams.........
lots of finer dirt particles gradually fill up the dam and it is called silt..............you can "desilt" your dams when they get down to increase the water capacity once again...
If only I had some heavy earth moving equipment I would be making this dam much bigger by taking out the wall between the 2 sections of the dam................the hole on the left is a spot we got some dug out of back in 2002/03 drought..........ran out of money and then it rained so we never got the job finished........now I don't have the spare money to get the job finished.......anyway Mr Chooky and FIL had desilted the hole on the left last week..........so then Mr Chooky decided to pump what little amount of water that was left on the right into the left hole so they could desilt the right dam hole.............
the pump only rain for an hour or so and all the water was moved............. 
A few days later Mr Chooky and a neighbour desilted the dam..............I got home from work and went to see how they were going......they needed my help on the UHF radio so I was parked in the dam telling them where to move the scoop to to get the mud.......hence being able to snap these pics......................
 See in the pic below about the middle there is a little bit of dust and a speck which is the tractor................the boys have long wire ropes and chains hooked onto each tractor on either side off the dam........in this case neither of the boys could see into the dam...
They drag the scoop thru the dam and it fills with mud........... 
It gets dragged up to just over the edge of the dam bank and then silt spills out down the bank............
a huge pile here.........and there is a big hole under all this.......... 
they finished as the sun set...... 
for a few weeks after this you need to check the silt pile to see if any stock gets stuck in it............sometimes we fence it off but this year we haven't been doing that......not enough time....
Luckily we only got one sheep stuck in the silt............see how far she had got thru it then pretty much got stuck in the middle..............
The silt looks like it is dry on the top but this stuff can stay wet underneath for a very long time................ 
I was not volunteering to get this sheep out..........Mr Chooky had to go to the rescue...........
he hooked a rope onto her and I dragged her out with the ute..........up she got and ran away...........Mr Chooky was still trying to walk back out of the mud................LOL.............
 Anyone for a mud mask.................
Anyway that is desilting.............we have done a lot of our dams..........still more to do.........others they have "rung" which is just cleaning up the edges of the dam with the scoop................going all the way around..........
Sadly the dams above are completely empty now............adding to the growing list.............the stock do have a trough to drink from though........ but it adds another job as you have to check it  everyday or two...........
.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

18 comments:

loulee said...

It's raining here today and once again I'm wishing it would go your way.

Anita said...

Dirty work!!

Geez hope you get some rain soon!

gracie said...

Lot of work. I hope you get some rain soon.

Diane-crewe said...

such a lot of HARD work you have to do x I hope it all pays off and it rains soon x I always thought sheep were ungrateful beasts!! lol x

Cheryll said...

That adds a whole new meaning to a mud bath... lol
And I'm still doing the rain dance here for you! :)

Maria said...

It is interesting to see what you need to do to keep the dams clean ready for that BIG rain you need to get...

Lurline said...

We had a day of much needed rain today - so never give ap - finger crossed!

Sandi said...

It is lovely hear what country life is all about...always wondered how you desilt a dam - very interesting and very muddy..I don't know how you ever have time to sew...hope it rains for you soon...

Indigo Blue said...

I do love posts about your life and I too hope that the rains come soon. I take it Mr Chooky took his flip flops off BEFORE rescuing the sheep!

Sue SA said...

I remember Dad doing this job when we were kids in the "82 drought, thinking what fun it was,what kid doesn't like mud? You do a great job of explaining the harsh realities of farming in Australia to us forgetful city slickers who live on the green coastal belts. here's hoping Autumn is awash with seasonal drought breaking rains.

Anonymous said...

wow never realized you had to do all this,there is so much work that gets done on a farm that us city folks wouldnt even think of.I take my hat off to you and all our other struggling farmers in Australia and pray for rain for you all,hope you have a good weekend chooky.xx

Wendy said...

lots of hard work for sure.

Farm Gate Creations Incorporating Hummingbird Quilting said...

You could always change your farm into a exclusive beauty spa....some women pay a fortune for mud treatments.

Fiona said...

so interesting to see how this is done, looks really sludgy...
Hugz

Nicky said...

Interesting... I assume the second tractor is used to return the scoop and position it for next pull by the first tractor? Do people ever use excavators for this job... maybe too expensive for hire though?

Anonymous said...

Great pics and story on your farm life :)

Jenny said...

Yuk! the one thing I could never stand is dam mud squished between your toes....Nice legs Mr Chooky....LOL

Fairy Floss Stitches said...

That was really interesting... thanks Chooky...shame you can't bottle the mud and sell it as a beauty treatment!
Xx