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N4K Calving Bench

Proposed calving barn, N4K Ranch Barn 54′ × 50′ on a flat bench Bank to the north, highway to the south Ground from the USGS 1-meter survey

Grading the bench…

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From the drawings

The barn is the finished Calving Barn N4K model. Everything around it comes from these sheets and notes.

The bench: The ground comes from the USGS 1-meter elevation survey around the Google Earth point, about 4,500′ above sea level. A 10′ survey grid over the bench shows its real shape. The cut face runs about 7° north of east, so the bench is deeper at its east end. West of the cut, a low shoulder slopes gently up toward the next drainage and the gravel road. The site is turned to sit parallel to the cut. It's centered more on the bench, so the truck has room to swing in past the cut at the west end, and it sits 4′ closer to the bank than Dad's 30′. The barn's footprint is graded level. Behind it is a cut bank about 20′ high, then the hill. South of the bench, the ground drops about 16′, crosses a level field and a shallow ditch, and reaches the highway about 250′ out, 18′ below the bench.
North of the barn: A 20′ strip between the barn and the north fence. The pickup and stock trailer back in from the west to a loading pen of metal gates. At its west end, two gates close across the lane or swing out to the trailer's back corners. At its east end, the crowding fence: two equal metal gates that meet in the middle of the lane and swing east. East of that, a 20′ lane where cattle come in from the east.
West of the barn: A holding pen 20′ × 54′ in front of the sliding doors. Its west side is breakaway gates that open out to the west. The north and south fence lines run on west past it.
South of the barn: West pasture and east pasture, split by a fence running south from the barn's southeast corner to the highway fence.
Proposed road: The dotted orange line is a suggestion, not a decision. The bench's south face drops about 16′ in 60–90′, too steep to drive straight up with a trailer. East of the bench the ground climbs gently, under about 10%. So the road would leave the highway well east of the spur gate and need a new gate in the highway fence. It would climb that shoulder, then turn west into the open east end of the lane. From there the rig drives through the crowding gates and loading pen and stops facing west, as modeled. To leave, it keeps going west and turns south across the flat west end of the bench onto the existing road. That makes a one-way loop with no backing. The Proposed road button hides it.
From the photos: Junipers and pines line the creek in the draw to the east and northeast and dot the hills. Their positions are approximate. The rock and brush pile in older photos, off the east end of the bench, has been cleaned up.
Fences: Wooden post-and-board fences, 5′ tall. Wire fence (the × marks) continues east along the north line.

The cross-section on sheet 2 matches sheet 1: 10′ from the bank to the fence, 20′ to the barn, then the 54′ barn. Sheet 2 is labeled 2/3, but there are only two sheets.

Questions for Dad

Places where the drawings leave a choice open. The model uses the guess shown under each one.

Does the proposed access road work: in from the highway east of the bench, through the lane to load, and out the west end?Model: shown as a dotted orange line only. It needs a new highway gate, and the rig drives through the crowding gates and loading pen.
Fence posts and boards: how far apart are the posts, and how many boards?Answered Posts every 10′, the same as the barn's bays, are fine for this model; some sections may end up 8′ later. Four boards, 5′ tall.
The west side of the holding pen has angled pieces at both ends and a break in the middle. Are those gates, and which way do they swing?Answered Breakaway gates that all open out to the west. The two halves mirror each other: a gate at each end, a fixed stretch of fence, and a double gate in the middle. Gate swing swings them.
The north and south fence lines run about 20′ past the holding pen to the west. What closes off that end?Answered Nothing. They're catchment walls and end where they are; no cross fence is planned for now.
How is the crowding fence laid out?Answered Two equal metal gates across the lane, one hinged at the north fence and one at the barn. They meet in the middle and swing east. Gate swing swings them.
Loading pen: steel pipe gates or wood?Answered Metal. At the trailer end, two gates start against the trailer's back corners; Gate swing closes them so they meet in the middle of the lane.
The fence marked with × along the north line, east of the lane: barbed wire?Answered Barbed wire is fine for now; it may end up something else. The model shows four strands on wood posts, which marks that stretch clearly.
How far south does the fence between the west and east pastures run?Answered Down to the highway fence, as modeled.
Does the bank curve south around the east side, as the faint lines on sheet 1 suggest?Answered From the survey: the cut bank runs behind the bench, and to the northeast a draw full of trees cuts down toward the highway.
Is that a pickup with a gooseneck stock trailer? Sheet 2 shows something taller.Answered The pickup and 24′ gooseneck stock trailer as modeled are good.
Where is the little creek on sheet 2? The survey shows no creek between the bench and the highway, only a shallow ditch along the highway.Answered A little east of the barn, along the tree line east of the bench, then past the east end of the highway fence. Drawn from a marked-up satellite photo; the trees now follow it.
The power line in the photos crosses the bench where the barn goes. Will it be moved or buried?Answered The power company plans to relocate it, so it's left out of the model.
Where are the highway fence and its gates?Answered From a marked-up satellite photo: the wire fence runs about 107′ north of the highway, from the access road east. A short spur comes up from the highway to a 16′ gate in it (Gate swing opens it). The access road comes up from the highway just west of the fence to a junction, then runs east to the hay stacks; the gravel road and two driveways run off it to the west.