Simply Sheep

[Beekissed]

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.

We are deciding between roll gates or guillotine style gates.......both would require an apparatus built over the chute/lane in order to work effectively. The guillotine has the added benefit of being able to release or shut it from a distance away, which I like, so right now it's in the lead on gating solutions.

We'll also have a head gate style gate but will build that here....the prices of headgates, even for goats and sheep, are astronomical! We've got tons of materials we can use from the destruction of the large pallets, so most everything will be built here and materials sourced here.

 

[flowerbug]

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.

i understand your points, but i was just thinking this was a part time thing that you could move once the sheep had gnawed on it for a bit and it got lighter.

but if it has layers why not cut through the outer layer and unpeel that and put it where you want?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

that would be like trying to push cooked spaghetti up hill. The whole purpose of Bee's management of these large bales is to unroll them where she needs pasture improvement. On the scale she is doing, unrolling from a large bale and then moving the unrolled portion would be incredibly labor intensive. Kind of like filling a raised bed with a tablespoon... from a pile of soil that is 50 yards away.

 

[Beekissed]

i understand your points, but i was just thinking this was a part time thing that you could move once the sheep had gnawed on it for a bit and it got lighter.

but if it has layers why not cut through the outer layer and unpeel that and put it where you want?

I have no problem rolling the bale...it's round, so it rolls quite nicely. It's swiveling the bale that was the problem, but the next time I have to swivel it, it will be considerably smaller and I can do that by myself.

Cutting the layers would make rolling it out evenly even more difficult and I've found cutting that rolled hay to be VERY hard to do with any effectiveness.

that would be like trying to push cooked spaghetti up hill. The whole purpose of Bee's management of these large bales is to unroll them where she needs pasture improvement. On the scale she is doing, unrolling from a large bale and then moving the unrolled portion would be incredibly labor intensive. Kind of like filling a raised bed with a tablespoon... from a pile of soil that is 50 yards away.

Yes....very much like that to pick up sheep pellets and try to scatter them evenly across the proposed pasture. Especially after they've been rained on and trampled in to the mud.

In this way, I can roll out the bale a little further each day and the sheep will do the rest, without too much impaction of the soil.

 

[flowerbug]

I have no problem rolling the bale...it's round, so it rolls quite nicely. It's swiveling the bale that was the problem, but the next time I have to swivel it, it will be considerably smaller and I can do that by myself.

Cutting the layers would make rolling it out evenly even more difficult and I've found cutting that rolled hay to be VERY hard to do with any effectiveness.



Yes....very much like that to pick up sheep pellets and try to scatter them evenly across the proposed pasture. Especially after they've been rained on and trampled in to the mud.

In this way, I can roll out the bale a little further each day and the sheep will do the rest, without too much impaction of the soil.

oh, ok. thanks for the clarification, i thought it was just too heavy to move at all...

i do know that it is often easier to swivel things as they are moving instead of when they are at dead stop.

 

[Beekissed]

oh, ok. thanks for the clarification, i thought it was just too heavy to move at all...

i do know that it is often easier to swivel things as they are moving instead of when they are at dead stop.

True....if the object doesn't weigh 1200 lbs, is 5x5x5 ft, is textured and on a texture surface and doesn't have anything firm to grab onto as you swivel...the hay just shoves off as you push on it. Kind of bulky, slippery to grasp and heavy as lead on a rough surface. I'm only 5'3" and not nearly 5 ft. wide yet, though I'm getting close so it's me against the bale....I can get it moving and even swivel it a little to change direction, but to swivel it 180* after I've got it where I want it is a bit much for me.

Plus this bale is lopsided! That makes it even harder to get a good straight rolling going, as well as swiveling smoothly.

When next we buy round bales, I'll have the guy load them so they are in roll out position when they are pushed off the trailer, then I'll drop them out in the field/pasture where I will start using them.

Live and learn!

 

[flowerbug]

True....if the object doesn't weigh 1200 lbs, is 5x5x5 ft, is textured and on a texture surface and doesn't have anything firm to grab onto as you swivel...the hay just shoves off as you push on it. Kind of bulky, slippery to grasp and heavy as lead on a rough surface. I'm only 5'3" and not nearly 5 ft. wide yet, though I'm getting close so it's me against the bale....I can get it moving and even swivel it a little to change direction, but to swivel it 180* after I've got it where I want it is a bit much for me.

Plus this bale is lopsided! That makes it even harder to get a good straight rolling going, as well as swiveling smoothly.

When next we buy round bales, I'll have the guy load them so they are in roll out position when they are pushed off the trailer, then I'll drop them out in the field/pasture where I will start using them.

Live and learn!

sounds like a good plan!

 

[Beekissed]

Got a new LGD yesterday, an Anatolian pup of 5 mo. old. I'm very pleased with everything I've seen from him thus far and have great hopes for his working here. Intuitively smart, polite and gentle, I can already see the breed traits in him and he'll be a great asset here.

He's a beautiful dog already and will likely turn into a beautiful part of the flock when full grown. His name is Blue. Will get pics this next week.

Blue's coloring is pinto blue brindle. Info on the breed....

The Anatolian Shepherd Dog: Fearless Livestock Guardian and Lifesaver – American Kennel Club

The Anatolian Shepherd Dog has been bred for millennia to do one thing: guard livestock. Unlike Australian Cattle Dogs, German Shepherd Dogs, Polish Lowlan

www.akc.org

 

[wyoDreamer]

Congratulations on getting the LGD that you were wanting.
Good luck with that bale of hay, I think your hay feeding system sounds like it will work great, once the bale is oriented right. Those big bales of hay scare make me nervous but there is a farm field near my place that a long row of them along the edge of the field and they have been there for at least 4 years. They were there when we moved to the area so they may be even older, I keep dreaming of the wonderful mulch that they would make for reseeding our pasture areas that were so overgrazed by horses and are now almost solid weeds.

 

[baymule]

So excited for you and Blue. This is the start of a great partnership.