Simply Sheep

[Beekissed]

Been planning the sheep shed lately...got a rough draft drawn out and have been tossing around ideas for gates, chutes, and penning. Ideally, I'd like the whole setup to be worked by one person~me~as that is how it will always be....so gathering, sorting and working the sheep needs to be done in an ergonomic manner.

My son and I hashed out some ideas for slide gates vs. swing gates, chute length and design, and versatility of various pens. We've got several CPs to use for sections that need to curve or bend, while also having some wonderful 10 ft. long pallets for the straight walls and pens, as well as gate material. Cheap angle iron can be had at the Rehab store for $5 per pair of bed frames. The biggest expense will be hinges/hardware and roofing material.

Rolled a monster bale out of the carport, around the house to the front yard where it will be rolled out bit by bit for the sheep so I can get hay seed and manure out there where it can do the most good. Still need to turn it around so I can roll it out in the right direction but it's too big for me to turn effectively, even using all my body wt.

I can roll one.....the shape makes it go once I've leveraged it with my body wt~sometimes have to rock it to get it started or over humps, but to swivel one is another matter.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Bee, can you roll it onto a tarp? Perhaps a tarp on top of a sheet of plywood? Would it then be possible to turn it by pulling on the tarp? How bout one tarp on top of an other? The layers of plastic would provide plenty of slip to perhaps swivel the bale in the direction you want it to go.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, can you roll it onto a tarp? Perhaps a tarp on top of a sheet of plywood? Would it then be possible to turn it by pulling on the tarp? How bout one tarp on top of an other? The layers of plastic would provide plenty of slip to perhaps swivel the bale in the direction you want it to go.

I doubt it...the wt. of the bale is so much that I could never budge it by pulling on a tarp. These things are so compact, so dense....they are a good 1200 lbs.

 

[Mini Horses]

Can you hook onto some of the baling material and swivel it with your vehicle or mower?? I've unloaded some by hooking it to a post/tree and driving away. We just have to work creatively. Those big rascals can be a challenge.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Or lever it. My dad's statement: If you have a lever long enough, you can move the world.

But, by far, the easiest thing to do is wait for DS. !!!!!!!!

 

[flowerbug]

i'd just let them eat it where it sits and if i needed to scoop and carry some leavings from the sheep once in a while that would be much lighter and then i could put those where i wanted them.

 

[Beekissed]

Can you hook onto some of the baling material and swivel it with your vehicle or mower?? I've unloaded some by hooking it to a post/tree and driving away. We just have to work creatively. Those big rascals can be a challenge.

Yeah....baling material. That would be nice to have. This guy used multiple nylon twines that all came loose when the bale sat for a bit....they were all falling off when I bought it. I had to hook two ratchet straps together and ratchet it together enough to move it at all. Still has a ratchet strap on it but it's directly in the middle of the bale.

I'm going to make my lazy boy help me turn it....he needs to help sometimes around here.

 

[baymule]

On your chute, maybe you could construct a guillotine gate with use of a rope and pulley? That's what we bought when we got my equipment. They are awesome. Knowing you and the way you create something out of stuff nobody else wants, my bet is that you could make a Jim Dandy guillotine gate.

 

[Beekissed]

i'd just let them eat it where it sits and if i needed to scoop and carry some leavings from the sheep once in a while that would be much lighter and then i could put those where i wanted them.

Well, the idea of rolling out the bale is to roll a mat of feed that contains seed onto the land where the sheep can trample those seeds in while fertilizing it. It's much more effective to roll out the bale a bit at a time, letting them eat and poop along, than trying to do all that by hand.

Also, when you let the animals work the area around a round bale until it's gone, the area gets overly compacted and impacted by the trampling and urine/manure. Takes too long for that to recover if you concentrate all that activity in one place for that long.

I don't want a muddy mess in the front yard until that place can recover into the spring.

 

[Beekissed]

Or lever it. My dad's statement: If you have a lever long enough, you can move the world.

But, by far, the easiest thing to do is wait for DS. !!!!!!!!

I could do that and likely will when I have to turn them when Eli isn't here and I can't accomplish it by rocking it.

Your dad was right.....