Simply Sheep

[Beekissed]

Got sheep again, so thought I'd start a thread for sheep...we don't have many on here and none that are new.

I got a few Katahdin ewes, one 7 yrs and the other 3 yrs. Will be getting a ram lamb from Farmfresh, which a good friend will be transporting for me. He will arrive mid August and I can't wait to have some of her stock here in WV!

Still working on the sheep shelters and pens, as well as fencing for paddocks. This weekend we transported some HUGE free pallets from a sheet metal place, to use for some of the paddock fencing.

Here's a pic of a few of those....they are all 10-12 ft. long and 4-5 ft wide with 4x4 or 3x3 bones and 1/2 to 1 in. "skin" boards. Read HEAVY and bulky. Had to rent two trailers from Uhaul to transport them and made 3 trips with two trailers, so got 6 lg stacks of pallets plus a tiny stack I had tried to haul in my 4x8 utility trailer...prayed all the way home with those in a toad strangler rain.

...and the sheep, Shine and Rose. Shine is the dominant sheep and quite wild and bossy. Rose is slowly getting more tame and will even let me brush her now while she's eating.

These were bargain basement sheep, so not as large as I would have liked nor with the greatest of conformation, but they are the sheep God brought to me and so I thank Him for them! They are starting to grow on me, as sheep tend to do...lots of intelligence and a truckload of personality wrapped up on sheepskin.

Will be building on their sheep shed today and also outfitting a couple of stanchions, as I intend to milk these ewes. They won't yield much, but that's all I need to make a little cheese.

Right now I have a temporary hoop shelter and also am utilizing a spare chicken pen for two different shelters and pens that are divided by a pallet fence. It ain't pretty but it will do until my son and I can do a pole sheep barn next spring of a more permanent nature.

Sheep!! My most favorite of all livestock....I praise God for His provision for and of the sheep.

 

[Mini Horses]

This summer local hospital had what looked like an old fashioned village market cart set up, where gardeners could drop off excess produce for patients to take. I was so glad to see that.

It's a liability thing, mostly. I often give excess eggs or produce to a few families that are happy to get some assist. Mostly, older families. There are a couple on a road coming home that are grateful but would never ask. I admire his hand worked garden and he accepts my "just too many hens laying eggs"... even tho I have customers, he isn't aware. When I butcher, I sometimes find "my freezer is too full" & they will accept a roast.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

One year, I gave most of my pullet eggs to a gal who was under-employed, "because, they don't sell well". Normally, I keep all the pullet eggs for myself, and sell the larger eggs. It only takes a couple weeks for a pullet to "get the size on". But, I was able to supply that gal most of the summer.

 

[Beekissed]

Happy to report the regenerative farming is on track. The select timbering of the place opened up large areas to sunlight, where tree sprouts have jumped up in response the sun, as well as some mulitflora rose~which is usually a BAD thing to most farmer~but something we see as a bonus. These areas are distinctly lacking in any grass, so the nutrition that is available through these tree sprouts and nuisance briers will fill the gap nicely.

We've even got tree sprouts in areas that have always been open to sun but not quite as much...one whole flat here down in front of the house has regularly spaced tree sprouts coming up. The grass quality there is very poor, mostly moss, so these sprouts are a welcome sight there as well. We can't wait to graze these areas. Interspersed in these very poor soils/grass paddock spaces are a few areas that have some clover that is coming up thicker, more wide spread and with more varieties than ever before, so they tend to move from areas of high legumes to areas of tree fodder and shrubbery and sometimes both in the same area(ideal).

Since logging I can also report more bird life....I had read that this would happen but have still been amazed at the sheer number of birds in evidence this year. Not sure why cutting trees causes more birds to thrive, but it certainly seems to be the case.

Right now my flock are in a paddock of tree tops left by logging and all the small brush that has grown up since the area was opened up. It's like watching kids in a candy store and the candy is free....they have shade for grazing in these areas, so they can graze all day as opposed to grazing more in the morning and evenings like they do in the more open paddocks. Needless to say, the lambs are fat as ticks and the ewes~all but one old ewe nursing twins~are in great condition as well, though nursing lambs still.

I had studied up on this regenerative farming quite a bit before actually moving to implement it and am still amazed to see it happening just like they described. One thing is for certain...sheep eating food that is a foot or higher off the ground are not feeding on their own parasites, so that's another huge win.

 

[Beekissed]

Don't know if I posted pics of this, but this is our water/mineral/tools/dog food/misc. wagon we use as we move sheep from paddock to paddock. They stay in each paddock anywhere from 2-4 days at a time, so we needed something versatile and portable. We are still working on it, so it's a work in progress.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Make sure to name them lambs after your favorite supper dishes, lol.

Yah, that don't work. A friend bought 2 bucket calves and named them Roast Beef and Sir Loin. Just so his city-girl wife would NOT forget that they were for the freezer. No luck, by the time they went to the butcher, she cried for 2 days; he had to sell both of them - we bought a 1/2 from him; AND he had to buy a steer that someone else had raised for their freezer. He raised his Wisconsin style - on good, managed grassy pasture and a little grain. What he got in his freezer ate Colorado native grass for graze - and no grain at all. Pretty strong tasting beef with not much fat.

 

[baymule]

I am sooooo happy that you got your sheep. What a score on the pallets! Wow! You are, as always, resourceful and find fabulous bargains. Those sheep will have a good life with you.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Glad they are better this morning, Bee. (She had time to give an update on her forum.)

My dad raised sheep for years. They can be incorrigible. One day, he got tired of chasing them down a 4 lane highway. Sold the whole lot of them before the week was out. Interestingly, about a month later, he was offered and accepted a transfer from southern ME to central ME. Making the move with horses, dog, cat was hard enough. Would have been much harder with a flock of sheep! Without that move, he'd not have ended up building his own business, and I never would have met my hubby. I love the way God works all things to HIS purpose!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Our German Shepherd is almost 120 pounds. The first time he barked his "big dog" bark he scared himself and came running to me to protect him, lol!
He is behind a decorative steel, 4' fence and people will walk up to the gate and stand there. Friends know he will stop barking if you ask him to get his ball - he goes and gets it and pushes it under the gate for the person to throw. But no-one is willing to open that gate and walk up to the house unless they are family.

 

[Beekissed]

Made a sheep chair out of a pool ladder and a cargo net we had here...it ain't pretty but it just might do the trick. Will try it out as soon as I can and take a pic of the sheep in it, if I can get them in there.

Beats paying over $100 to Premier1 for a sheep chair...totally free is always better.

Also making some nipple drinkers for the sheep from some Lixit nipples and some drink coolers we had on hand but will never use again. Bought some adaptor fittings from Lowe's that cost a couple of bucks and that and the price of the nipples are all I have in this project. Will see how the sheep like them...for sure they will eliminate nasty water, water waste, etc. and I may even be able to convert them to a heated waterer with the use of an aquarium heater this winter.

That's some cheap waterers.

Yes, my whole setup looks like someone took some junk from the county dump and threw it at the land.... and it somehow stuck. Free pallets, lots of scrap lumber, CPs and T posts we had on hand, wire I had on hand, etc.

It ain't pretty but I'm hoping it gets the job done until I can do something more permanent.