Dragging some old 4x4 fenceposts for the first pen I used a saw to cut them down to four 40-inch lengths.

Using our recently purchased auger, I dug out four holes spaced 8 feet apart as four corners of my square pen. Dug down approximately 18 inches, we wanted our posts to stick up 22 inches.

Even with the auger, digging into the hard, dry, baked, clay soil was difficult. Every time I tried to dig, the auger bit would bounce off the big chucks it would gouge until they finally choked the bit to stoppage. A simple solution turned out to be pouring a bucket of water into a started hole and letting the dirt soak it up. With the clay thus loosened, the auger had no trouble boring holes in the dirt quickly and as designed,

Once the holes were dug, the 4x4 posts were set into them, dry, and then topped by 2x4s on three sides, one side at a time, the "open" side being left for expansion to the other two pens. With the pens' frame in place on one corner, a cordless drill with a drill bit and another with a Phillips bit were used to mount the corrugated steel walls of the pen.

With all four walls mounted in a simliar fashion and leveled as best possible, the 4x4 posts for the first pen were then set in the ground with approximately a bag and a half of quik-crete per hole. Once set, the first basic pen was complete and we were ready to add the remaining pens. While this was a lot of work it only took a couple hours of labor.

More to come!