Scotland

One of the perks of the priesthood is jumping-in on random adventures with other Catholic Cowboys. This time it is with my buddy Dante Dawson from Wheatland, on a trip to Scotland.

Dante is a young man finishing up an ag degree down in Casper. Through FFA, he learned of a study abroad program with the Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) that he hopes to take part in. When he told me that he was planning on going over to check out the different campuses, I gladly offered to be his chaperone. We landed in Edinburgh first thing Tuesday morning. Let's ranch. 

Craig Davidson and Dante have met at the FFA national congress in Indianapolis the past couple years. Craig is involved in recruiting international students to the SRUC program. For our first couple of days, he's been our tour guide. Good man. 

Driving on the left side of the road is wild. Think I'll stick to the back seat.

SRUC has several campuses spread across this great land. Our first stop was at the Oatridge Campus, outside of West Lothian. 

Craig passed us onto Alister who showed us around the campus. The school prides themselves on teaching hands-on, practical agriculture skills. 

These tractors have been taken apart and put back together more than they have seen action in the field. Though the technology has far surpassed this era of Massey's, it is still good for students to learn the basics of mechanics. 

Same with welding. Here they get to gain experience in blacksmithing if students so desire. 

Count me in.

Most of their campuses have farm ground attached to them. We strolled around the 500+/- acre plot. Beautiful!

Then we toured their cow barn.

And sheep working quarters. 

Later that first evening, we hitched a ride up to the town of Peebles. Once a month, Craig and his crew offer a dinner and talking session to local farmers. Downtown Peebles is pretty iconic Scotland. 

I went with the Shepherd's Pie, made with lamb. I wasn't disappointed. 

The talk that evening with quite interesting. Here we heard two local farmers speak about their experience and challenges in farming today. Enjoyable, but I had a hard time staying awake after 36 hours of no real sleep. 

Thankfully, we got a good night's rest at the Merriott Hotel in Edinburgh. This is my kind of continental  breakfast. 

Our first stop the second day was to some of the SRUC research facilities associated with their campus located at the University of Edinburgh. 

After we got suited up, Abid showed three of us around their poultry research facility. 

SRUC has some of the leading agriculture research centers in all of Europe. Here they are doing a several week study on meat birds. These chicks are about 28 days old. 

They are also leading the way in bovine research and innovation. 

This is a breed of Luing cattle, which was famously developed by the Cadzow brothers on the Island of Luing in Argyll off the west coast of Scotland. This breed is a cross with the Beef Shorthorns and the Scottish Highlander, combining the fleshing qualities of the Shorthorns with the rugged hardiness of the Highlander. Kinda cool. 

SRUC is also quite involved in environmental sustainability and wellbeing concerns. This is what they call the GreenShed, which seeks to capture the methane gas that cattle produce and use it to hydroponically grow crops in a green house. Interesting. 

Here, they can close the doors and extract all the air out of the building, including the methane gases that cattle naturally exude. 

Through this compressor system, they extract the gas and pump it into the greenhouse, which somehow helps their plants grow. 

For more information. 

All the country seen here is part of this campuses farm ground. 

Pretty fun. So far we have been blessed with sunny skies. The temperature during the day hangs right around freezing and in the higher elevations there is snow. We have a couple more campuses to visit in a couple more areas around the country.

The priesthood is far from boring. Full-on on following Jesus Christ is an adventure. Traveling to Scotland with a buddy to check out ag schools may not be a standard part of the priesthood. But radically being open to opportunities that God puts in your midst, is. We'll keep ranching and see what the rest of the week brings. 

Humility

Gratitude leads us to authentic humility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L7UjteO_gg

Gate Guy

I'm a gate guy. My biggest pet peeve in life is a poorly functioning gate. Gates that drag or are hard to latch and unlatch drive me crazy! Hence my emphasis on good gates around our ranch. They may not be perfect, but they work well for us.

Good gates can be functional and still have character. A secret ingredient to obtaining both virtues is used pipe and weathered corral boards. 

We've had this archway up for the past couple of years. She's just been waiting for two complimentary swinging gates. I was planing to build the gates off site and over time. But having two free days after new years, I came up with a different plan. We'll just build them on site. 

This pile of pipe has been our saving grace throughout the corral project. The Etchemendy Ranch in Douglas can't be thanked enough for contributing 60 joints of 2 7/8" to our cause. May God reward you!

We first drug our hand selected sticks over to the job site with White Horse.

Having built beforehand the same style of clamping hinges on the other gates, we hung up two for each gate. One high and one low. 

The goodness of building the gates on location, is that we could overshoot certain cuts and trim them up later. The big vertical uprights, we just sat on the ground and ran them past the top hinges. This was a big time saver rather than trying to hit the right heights while balancing heavy pipe. 

Then we welded two horizontal structures all the way across, without breaking them in the middle. Again, this saved time, but also allowed for greater accuracy between the gates. 

This gate system really is the crowning jewell of our entire corral rebuilding project. Throughout the past couple of years, we have honed our skills in working with pipe. We pretty well have saddling joints and preferred welding rod and temperatures dialed in, at least to our standards anyway. 

After the horizontals were in place, we welded two pipe verticals at the center of the structure, leaving three inches between the two. Then we welded 45s from the center of the soon-to-be individual gates and 5' up the vertical hinge posts. Saddling those to the adjoining pipe definitely took some time. 

When it was all welded in place, we cut out the center section making the one gate into two. 

By building everything in place, both gates stayed true to each other. At this time, we also cut off the extra sections on the vertical uprights, making the weight of each gate be carried by the the hinges and allowing them to now swing freely. 

Then it was time to fill in the center of each gate. This is where we were really able to get creative. Through divine providence, we had saved six rough cut 2"x12" fir boards off of Grandpa's old loading chute. After doctoring them up a bit, they were ready to be put back into action. 

After we cut the brackets and drilled the holes, we welded them onto to each gate. 

Then custom cut each board for its new place in life. 

Once we had them properly spaced, we drilled and bolted up each board. 

Attention to detail is key when working with old pipe and weathered boards. We made sure this beautiful moss was put on the top of the most used gate, so all who enter can appreciate God's goodness. 

The dog hunts. Why I go to extra lengths and use the upright posts of the archway as the pivot point, is because it allows the gate to turn in about a 300 degree radius. It also keeps the full width the of the gate opening intact. With a little grease, these gates almost sway with the wind. 

Our latching mechenism is simple yet profound. This is the chain Grandpa used to get in and out of these corrals all the years that he played around down here. Here's to you Grandps. 

Giddy up. 

Every scribe trained in the Kingdom of God brings forth from his storehouse both the old and the new (Matthew 13:52). I dig it. God is ever ancient and ever new. In Him, nothing is ever over. Everything is just beginning. This old pipe and lumber thought their better days were gone. Now they have a new and better purpose. Even the Lungren Brothers ranch name is resurrected. It's no different for us. Just when we think our better days are gone, God's Spirit enlivens us with a new mission. Of course we have to be open. Just like a gate, if we are droopy or hard to unlatch, God's grace is fairly ineffective. But if we are ready to open when He knocks (Revelation. 3:20), God can do marvelous things in our lives, no matter what stage of the game we are in.

I love life. Jesus didn't come to earth so that we can worry about the future. He came that we may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10). Even the priesthood is all about eternal life (John 6:54), both now and in the new world to come (Mark 10:28-30). This is ranching, Catholic style. Whether you have cows or not,  let your light shine (Matthew 5:14-16)! It gives glory to God and encourages others. Not to mention, it's fun. The Crosses in our life are real. But if weathered with Christ, they lead to the Resurrection. So, do not be afraid to follow Jesus with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mark 12:30). He has nothing but your best interest in mind. 

We've done a lot of work in this barnyard to get to this point. There's always more to be done, but that's the nature of ranching. Getting to a point like this is worth taking time to thank some folks. First of all, God. All good things come from Him (James 1:17). He has led this entire project. Working down here has also brought me closer to my ancestors. I'm thankful for my Great-great-grandfather Bernard Neiber, who homesteaded this place before the turn of the 20th century. I'm also thankful for my Great-grandfather William Murdoch, who picked up where Neiber left off and utilized this exact space for lambing. I'm always thankful for my Grandpa Edward Schmeltzer, who developed this land into the barnyard it is. And of course, Mom and Dad. Without your steadfast encouragement, hard to say where I'd be. Thanks for letting me play around. It keeps me grounded in the Father's love and focused on my priestly mission. Let's ranch. 

2024

Here's to another good one. Praise God! 

             https://youtu.be/2_lS3FmufPY           

Make sure the picture quality is at its highest. Click on the gear and see. 

Mother Mary

She's the way forward.

           https://youtu.be/llPay-oejLM         

Meaning of Life

The Word made flesh.

           https://youtu.be/71WSgaRV--0         

Evangelical Counsels

Standard mode of discipleship.

           https://youtu.be/eTnUnYypDN0         

Holy Family

Jesus reorders our lives around the Father's will.

           https://youtu.be/utBh-KcHqQA         

Trinity Gate

Every ranch's corral set up is unique. The main distinguishing factor is usually the lay of their land. Size of operation and material availability, all play into the picture as well. For us, space is limited and the amount of cattle we work is low. That doesn't mean we have to settle for a second class system, though. It just means we have to do a lot with a little. 

To this end, we installed our Trinity Gate: three gates in one. 

The cattle runway in our small working pen divides the corral into two alleyways. This gate will help complete this goal. 

We already had the gates, themselves, built. So we just had to build the hinges and install everything. 

Finding pipe to pivot on 4 1/2" drill stem doesn't exist. What does work is splitting 4" black pipe and pounding it over the 4 1/2" and peening all around it to ensure the spread stays and pivots smoothly. 

With heavy gates like these, we tapped the back half of the hinge to put in a grease zerk.

Then welded pipes to bolt up the halves. Due to the many variables of this project, we made sure to keep each half matched as well as ensue they were setting flush on the bottom and around the pipe. 

Down at the corral, the first thing we did is connect the two posts that will support the gate. These chunks of drill stem are concreted 3' in the ground. Pretty solid by themselves, but definitely need each other to support our gate. A piece of 2 7/8" up high will do the trick. 

We first hung the center gate, planning ahead for the staggering of other two sets of hinges. 

Before we hung the other gates, we set up the rest of the hinges, offsetting them toward their respective gate.

Definitely want some good welds to hold these heavy guys. Good grinding is imperative. 

To keep all the gates parallel we put a rod across the top to hang the other two. Then welded them to their hinges. 

Once solid, we greased it up before we gave it a swing. To our delight, it moved pretty freely. 

Once swung out of the way, we could set the chute. 

This Pearson 7' self-catching chute is a nice new addition to our ranch wear. 

The Trinity Gate lands about 6" in front of the head catch. When parked, it will separate the two alleyways. 

All the hinges rest on top of each other. The two sets of bottom hinges rest on a base fixed to the pipe. 

Not only is there a lot of weight on these hinges, but the torque is great as well. To help minimize tweaking, we gusseted the mounting brackets. 

The first use of the Trinity Gate is to move as one. Here you can separate a cow into the other pen. Or, when using the chute, you can turn a cow loose to one side or the other. Because they all mount on the same post, the gates don't shift or slide as they move. 

Each gate is then able to swing independently. This allows you to pen up a critter or crowd them for loading into a trailer. 

Just like the Trinity, it is utterly simple. 

And at the same time, quite complex.

There are still some finishing touches to do, such as filling in the 10' stationary section that proceeds the gate and adding some chain latches. But over all, mission accomplished. This three-in-one gate will serve many purposes on our little place. Though we are small, we can still be functional. Besides, being creative in the corral is fun. 

I doubt I have surpassed the man hours that Grandpa put in down here, but I bet I'm nipping at his heels. For him, and for me, this barnyard is a labor of love. By naturally encountering the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we can be recharged in our relationship with God. And in turn, serve Him even better. Keep on ranching in a free world.

Simple Man

 God meets us in the heart.

           https://youtu.be/B2UDS7tbVPA         

Genealogy

Names matter.

           https://youtu.be/-SynBfbVIcQ         

Light and Darkness

John is great. But better yet is a baptized child of God.

           https://youtu.be/e0ptPJVEa3o