Removing Concrete Troughs from the Barn

Our house has an old stone barn next to it that was built in the late 1800s. While we like to retain as much original character as possible, I decided to remove the concrete troughs that span the length of the barn. I don't know when they were installed but they sure are in the way.

We don't keep animals in the barn so we don't need any sort of feeding equipment there. I considered whether we could use concrete troughs in the pasture as part of our rotational grazing program, but we really don't need them there either. And long half-cylinders don't make very good compartments for anything we need to store.

So over Christmas break Wendy and I took turns working in the barn. She's a master with an impact drill and I'm a decent laborer. So she broke three of the troughs into pieces then I cleaned up the mess and brought it to a dirt road we share with a few neighbors. It's washed out in several places with lots of potholes, so I used the rubble to improve the road.

There are eight troughs but we only need three gone for now, so that was our mission. And today I am happy to report that our mission is accomplished!

Wendy broke the middle into pieces using a combination of the impact drill and sledge hammer.

Then I used a digging bar (barre à mine) to clear out the remaining pieces.

Wendy continued breaking things and I continued hauling things.

The towable wheelbarrow has been invaluable!

The base of the old stalls needs some clean-up but the space is much more usable now.