Stanchion! And Chute!

baymule

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Look what I got!!

Another Craigslist bargain. They were asking $250, BJ offered $200 and they took it. I am good at finding the bargains, BJ is good at getting the price down. :weee This will keep me from being all bent over and having an aching back!

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Ridgetop, from BYH, and her husband came over, they are camped in Weatherford, TX about 2 1/2 hours from here. They are from California, it is so awesome to actually meet them! We had quite the party. Our husbands sat comfortably ensconced in their outdoor chairs, watching their wives having fun. I got to use my stanchion!

We ran the sheep in the chute and 1 at a time, haltered and dragged them up on the stanchion. Needless to say, they were less than thrilled. They laid down, attempted to jump over, under, sideways, upside down, collapsed and were downright uncooperative. Fancy that!

Ridgetop showed me how to shear and guided my tentative efforts. I was afraid I would cut them. We got those “BAD TOUPEES” sheared off!

This is Eve, born on New Year's Eve, she is a second freshener. She is nice ewe, Dorper and Katahdin mix.

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I had so much fun learning how to shear and not wind up with a carcass hanging up for butchering. My Sheep survived! I did not cut off a finger either!

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The shade from the huge cedar tree was most welcome in the heat. A breeze blew most of the time.

Since we had them up there. I trimmed feet. Moon Pie thought that was a terrible idea and kept jerking her feet, resulting in me stabbing myself at the base of my thumbnail. After that, washing up, a bandaid and gloves seemed like a pretty good idea.

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Ridgetop and I got pooped and peed on, at one point pee was dripping down her arm and my husband, ever the gentleman, kindly wiped it off. I got kicked in the ribs. I was filthy, poopy, blood on my shirt, I woke up with a myriad of interesting bruises. Gosh we had FUN!

We only sheared 5 Sheep, the lambs going to slaughter can keep their BAD TOUPEES.

I am in good health and in good shape, but my left knee is worn out and hampers my activity at times. I cannot squat or kneel, it is painful. This stanchion places the sheep at a level that makes it much easier to work on them.

I thought about you, @Beekissed. Something like this would help you with your sheep. I know you are resourceful and craft useful things out of stuff other people throw away. Put on your thinking cap, you need something like this for trimming their feet.
 

baymule

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Now for the chute!
I'm just a little excited. I found a Craigs List ad for sheep handling equipment about a month ago. Two guillotine gates, a stop gate and a 2-way sorting gate for $650 from Premier1. I immediately looked up the pieces, new they totaled $955. This couple had used hog panels to link the gates together on one side, a solid wall on the other side. So we went to go look (read that as BUY because I wasn't leaving without it). BJ and I discussed offering $500 and a strategy. So we told the couple that it wasn't exactly what we were looking for and we needed to "talk about it" and we walked off. snicker, snicker, giggle.....

We mumbled and took our sweet time, then walked back over to them. BJ pulled the money out of his pocket and asked if they would take $500. Then he mentioned again that it wasn't what we were looking for, but that I told him that I could make it work. If they'd take $500, we'd load it up now. Then it was their turn to "talk about it". They came back and accepted our offer. :D :D BJ handed them the money, the men loaded it up and I have sheep handling equipment! :celebrate:clap:frowghfive::yesss:

We got it home and set it up. :)

Our neighbor, Robert came over and helped. I let the sheep out in the yard, but they kept coming back to see what we were doing. LOL Ringo found the table we’ve been using while slaughtering chickens. He rubbed underneath it, hitting his tickle spot and kicking his hind leg like a dog. We laughed at him until he knocked the table over. Game over.

Then Robert moved his truck in the shade and Ringo used the back bumper for a scratching post. It’s so funny watching him switch back legs because he hit the other tickle spot.

Getting started

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I’m so proud of this equipment, it has already made things so much easier.
 

baymule

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The first time I had the sheep in the chute. Miranda had some dreadlocks on top, so I cut them off. I took fecal samples from the sheep. I donned latex gloves, dug for doo-doo in their butts, took glove off, turning it inside out and gave it to my husband. he wrote their name on it and gave me another glove. LOL
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baymule

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I muddled my way through my first fecal testing, much thanks to my friend on BYH for teaching me and being my back up today. I have always wormed sheep several times a year, giving Garlic Barrier monthly. But the nagging thought of, "Is this the best I can do? stayed on my mind. Now, I KNOW and I can treat the ones that need treatment. Now I'll be better able to care for my flock. I'll be able to cull out the ones that keep a high worm load. I am so grateful for a BYH friend teaching me how to do this.
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baymule

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I finished all the fecals I took of the ewes. I was dumbfounded. Two of them had counts so high that I don't know why they weren't dead. And get this--their eye membranes were pink, not bright pink, but pink. Pink enough that I would never have thought that they are so wormy.

I followed the genetic trail. One ewe is responsible for the worst of the lot. One of my original ewes, Lady Baa Baa is the mother or grandmother of the worst sheep I have. I was going to keep yet another of her ewe lambs, but NOT NOW! She had a high worm count, was wormed, and later will go to slaughter. I will be keeping one and only one, of the ewe lambs this year. That is Scottie, daughter of Miranda.

Miranda is the best ewe, along with Ewenique, the other two original ewes. Both of them had a count of 100, meaning that I only found two barber pole worm eggs in the fecal sample. I only have 1 daughter of Ewenique's because she usually has ram lambs, she also had a count of 100. I have 3 daughters of Miranda, they also had low counts.

So it looks like I will have quite the cull list. Since Ringo has been with the ewes, I will wait for them to lamb, wean, then cull and take the lambs to slaughter. I won't be keeping any more from the Lady Baa Baa ewe. One of Lady Baa Baa's daughters, Lily, had a low count--BUT her wether lamb had bottle jaw last week, so he got wormed and the bottle jaw is down to normal. I have not tested him, it was already obvious. We ran the lambs through the chute today and he got a dose of two different wormers.

This has been a real eye opener. I have checked eye membranes and thought I had healthy sheep. :barnie What has really been interesting is tracing it back to one ewe. There will definitely be some changes around here.
 

baymule

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This chute has made such a difference! I had no way to work the sheep, I usually cornered one up, tackled and rolled around in the lot. LOL Or I put up cow panels and ran them in it with a pallet for a stop gate. It worked, was better than nothing, but I had no gates to keep them from running from one end to the other. I tried poking 2x4's through the panels, but lets just say that they were less than satisfactory. Worming and giving shots was a wild sheep rodeo! This chute is awesome!
 

Beekissed

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I thought about you, @Beekissed. Something like this would help you with your sheep. I know you are resourceful and craft useful things out of stuff other people throw away. Put on your thinking cap, you need something like this for trimming their feet.

Bay, what a good deal!!! I'd LOVE to find something like that in my area...they are a tad too steep in price in these parts.

As usual I'm always amazed at what a beautiful lady you are, Bay...and I LOVE it that you don't mind getting in there and gettin' dirty! As my grandgirl, Aliza, would say, "If you ain't gettin' dirty, you ain't havin' fun!"

Bay, I made myself a sheep chair...will have to get a pic of one of the girls in it. Haven't tried it out yet. It looks a hot mess as it was made from a pool ladder and bungee cargo net, secured with radiator clamps and zip ties. Can't wait to try it...if it works I'll not be too ashamed to show it to folks. If it doesn't, I'll scrap it quietly and have a good chuckle about it every now and again. :D

I would have loved to see the video of your stanchion and shearing experience, Bay...I bet it would have made for YT gold. :gig

How cool is it that you got to meet Ridgetop! :woot
 

sumi

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Great score baymule! :thumbsup And so awesome that you got to spend time with Ridgetop too!
 

baymule

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Bee I thought about a chair, but I would have to stoop over, that is hard on the back. I can't get on my knees and plopping down on my butt would put me too low. The stanchion puts them at a level where I don't have to stoop over. Granted, I got kicked, sh!t at and hit, but overall it was a great tool to have. My ribs are still sore, LOL. I have the sheep trimming part that you tie/chain them to, but I want the goat milking part that has a feed tray. I think that if I work them, one at a time, with feed in front of them, that they will be a lot easier to get on the stanchion. It will require some sides from the end of the chute to the stanchion, cow panels cut in half to the rescue!

As smart as you are, you could build a stanchion that would make it easier on your back and knees. We may still be kickin' chickens, but we sure can't kick as high as we used to! Anything that makes things easier, we gotta have!
 

Beekissed

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As smart as you are, you could build a stanchion that would make it easier on your back and knees. We may still be kickin' chickens, but we sure can't kick as high as we used to! Anything that makes things easier, we gotta have!

I used to move in that direction, but this past year I changed direction...now instead of making things easier for me I'm intentionally making things harder so I will have to use my body more in lifting, bending, flexing, stooping, etc.

For years now I've been making things easier and I just grew more stiff, more in pain and weaker in my core. So, now I'm shifting gears into reverse, trying to reverse the damage done in the years when I was all about ergonomics.

The sheep chair is for making it easier on them and to help me do things by myself, but not necessarily to make it easier on my back and knees. I NEED to make it harder on those areas if they are to remain strong, I've found.

That's why I was going to build a raised stanchion...then thought better of it. Not having one will force me to get low, to bend or flex more and to sustain that position, which is pretty good exercise. I need that! I'm not lovely and slender as you be, Bay...I'm fat and getting fatter if I don't get a handle on it. :D
 
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