# It was an "I quit" day.



## Xerocles (Dec 3, 2019)

It's "pity party" time. Homesteading, farming, ranching. Call it what you will IT'S TOUGH! Everybody on here already knows that. Then you add in lack of experience, a former lifetime of sedentary work, age aches and pains and stiffness, super limited budget and the toughness intensifies. Then you try doing it alone and the simplest of tasks become a nightmare (here, hold one end of this tape measure against that post while I measure to that other one.  Oh wait, how do I do this alone?) Projects don't take twice as long alone....it's quadrupled cause you not only have to do all the work, but most time is taken figuring HOW to get it done.(a nail driven partway into a post and bent will hold one end of a tape measure.....usually)
I am currently building a pole barn (I guess its a pole barn. Its 6 cedar posts and a roof. To cover the rabbit cages. I just call it a shed.) I won't go into the frustration and physical torture of post holes and lifting 11' cedar posts alone, because I did it and survived (thanks Alleve).
But today. Three 10' steel girders in place, rafters screwed on, just about ready to put the sheet metal on (that I salvaged from a partially collapsed barn yesterday). Last item. A 12' 2X4  endcap on each end of the rafter run. Ten feet off the ground, not a level spot anywhere near the shed, one step ladder. Head scratching time. Tie one end in "close enough" position, move ladder to other end, try to find reasonable level spot for the ladder. Up with the other end. Just as I am about to screw in place, the other end slips out of the rope, crashing down, hitting wobbly ladder and almost sending me to the ground. Nope, gotta find another way. Move the ladder. Nail a 10d nail into the end of the rafter, balance the 2X4, down the ladder, move the ladder, up the ladder, lift, and...nail gives just enough for endcap to slide off. Down the ladder, move the ladder, up the ladder. 3 1/2" screw into the rafter end. Balance the 2X4, TIE it to the rafter, down the ladder, move the ladder up the ladder, lift, and SUCCESS! Rinse, repeat on the other end. Nearly 4 hours to put two endcaps on. Logically a 20 minute job. The dog had moved to the far side of the yard to hang out, cause she didn't know the words I was saying, but had only heard the tone once before when she pulled my down jacket out of the cab of the truck and destroyed it.
Now, sitting in my recliner, work boots off, and still seething with frustration....I ask myself "Why?" Eggs are about $1/dozen at the store. I can buy pork and beef on sale for near what raising rabbits will cost. The land has lain fallow for over 20 years, so who cares if a few more bushes grow. I'm too old to care about the chemicals or hormones in the food I eat. Too many years of ingesting them to worry about it now. And the $ already invested in infrastructure, if saved, would probably buy food for me for a l o n g time.
This is all rhetorical, as far as if I am really going to quit. OF COURSE NOT. I'm much too goat-headed for that! Tomorrow, I'll get up, put the roofing on, and start figuring out how to lift, suspend, and balance the rabbit cages without help. Why? Because that's the way I am. I made a decision to do this "country lifestyle" thing, and I'll do it, successfully, if it kills me.
Now, if you read all this, thank you. Response is not necessary. I just needed to say it to someone. Get it off my chest. And I am beginning to think of many of you as family now. Tomorrow comes, new problems to face and overcome, and life goes on. We win.


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## B&B Happy goats (Dec 3, 2019)

Xerocles said:


> It's "pity party" time. Homesteading, farming, ranching. Call it what you will IT'S TOUGH! Everybody on here already knows that. Then you add in lack of experience, a former lifetime of sedentary work, age aches and pains and stiffness, super limited budget and the toughness intensifies. Then you try doing it alone and the simplest of tasks become a nightmare (here, hold one end of this tape measure against that post while I measure to that other one.  Oh wait, how do I do this alone?) Projects don't take twice as long alone....it's quadrupled cause you not only have to do all the work, but most time is taken figuring HOW to get it done.(a nail driven partway into a post and bent will hold one end of a tape measure.....usually)
> I am currently building a pole barn (I guess its a pole barn. Its 6 cedar posts and a roof. To cover the rabbit cages. I just call it a shed.) I won't go into the frustration and physical torture of post holes and lifting 11' cedar posts alone, because I did it and survived (thanks Alleve).
> But today. Three 10' steel girders in place, rafters screwed on, just about ready to put the sheet metal on (that I salvaged from a partially collapsed barn yesterday). Last item. A 12' 2X4  endcap on each end of the rafter run. Ten feet off the ground, not a level spot anywhere near the shed, one step ladder. Head scratching time. Tie one end in "close enough" position, move ladder to other end, try to find reasonable level spot for the ladder. Up with the other end. Just as I am about to screw in place, the other end slips out of the rope, crashing down, hitting wobbly ladder and almost sending me to the ground. Nope, gotta find another way. Move the ladder. Nail a 10d nail into the end of the rafter, balance the 2X4, down the ladder, move the ladder, up the ladder, lift, and...nail gives just enough for endcap to slide off. Down the ladder, move the ladder, up the ladder. 3 1/2" screw into the rafter end. Balance the 2X4, TIE it to the rafter, down the ladder, move the ladder up the ladder, lift, and SUCCESS! Rinse, repeat on the other end. Nearly 4 hours to put two endcaps on. Logically a 20 minute job. The dog had moved to the far side of the yard to hang out, cause she didn't know the words I was saying, but had only heard the tone once before when she pulled my down jacket out of the cab of the truck and destroyed it.
> Now, sitting in my recliner, work boots off, and still seething with frustration....I ask myself "Why?" Eggs are about $1/dozen at the store. I can buy pork and beef on sale for near what raising rabbits will cost. The land has lain fallow for over 20 years, so who cares if a few more bushes grow. I'm too old to care about the chemicals or hormones in the food I eat. Too many years of ingesting them to worry about it now. And the $ already invested in infrastructure, if saved, would probably buy food for me for a l o n g time.
> ...


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## Baymule (Dec 3, 2019)

I am snickering. You have more company than you think. You need a couple of those ladders that bend into different configurations. We have one, bought at Harbor Freight, I love that place! With 2 of them you could make a scaffold with 2x10’s. It would be a lot safer than one ladder on uneven ground. 

Of course you aren’t quitting. This is too much fun!


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## Baymule (Dec 3, 2019)

Oh, and give up on pounding nails when hanging off the roof like a monkey. Cordless drill and deck screws!!! I love them!


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## Xerocles (Dec 3, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Oh, and give up on pounding nails when hanging off the roof like a monkey. Cordless drill and deck screws!!! I love them!


Oh, don't worry. I found the nail I used in the kitchen "junk drawer". Besides, I drove it in with a crescent wrench (heavy) because I broke my hammer yesterday, pulling roofing nails out of the deserted barn. Why do they even MAKE fiberglass hammer handles? I haven't bought a nail in years.


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## Baymule (Dec 3, 2019)

One of these, make that two!





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## thistlebloom (Dec 3, 2019)

But look at all the stories you will have to tell! And anyway, what else would you be doing? Sitting on a couch somewhere watching reruns?


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## Baymule (Dec 3, 2019)

thistlebloom said:


> But look at all the stories you will have to tell! And anyway, what else would you be doing? Sitting on a couch somewhere watching reruns?


Before or after he falls off the ladder?


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## thistlebloom (Dec 3, 2019)

It's those heart stopping near misses that make good stories!


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## Baymule (Dec 3, 2019)

I'm sure that you would have had a better day if you would have had a good helper.

LOL

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## thistlebloom (Dec 3, 2019)

I see Prince is a great hand at Ladder Holding.
Does he also sub out as a Saw Horse?


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## Xerocles (Dec 3, 2019)

thistlebloom said:


> But look at all the stories you will have to tell! And anyway, what else would you be doing? Sitting on a couch somewhere watching reruns?


Well, no re-runs cause no tv. And I HOPE its not from falling off the ladder @Baymule If that happens, I suppose I'll just sit (or lie) around reading all the stuff here on BYH that I'm never going to catch up on otherwise.


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## Baymule (Dec 4, 2019)

thistlebloom said:


> I see Prince is a great hand at Ladder Holding.
> Does he also sub out as a Saw Horse?
> 
> 
> View attachment 67826



As a matter of fact, yes he does. Prince is quite the helper around here. Our son wouldn’t have been able to tighten the chain on the chainsaw if Prince hadn’t felt sorry for him and offered his advice and helping hooves.


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## thistlebloom (Dec 4, 2019)

🤣Haha!  Good job Prince! Teaching Horse Sense lessons too!


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## Xerocles (Dec 4, 2019)

Baymule said:


> As a matter of fact, yes he does. Prince is quite the helper around here. Our son wouldn’t have been able to tighten the chain on the chainsaw if Prince hadn’t felt sorry for him and offered his advice and helping hooves.


Can Prince come out and play? I wish he would come visit with me for about a week. We could have a wonderful playdate. P.s. Does he do electrical wiring?


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## WyoLiving (Dec 4, 2019)

Last weekend, my husband was on top of the ladder nailing on the house-wrap at the peak of our machine shed.  One of the 8-month old kittens, Jax, decided it was tired of being ignored so it climbed up the ladder to hubby's boot.  Then using the top of the boot as a step, Jax went on up the back of his pants, onto the back of his carhart jacket.  At that point, hubby reached around and grabbed the cat and stuffed it into his coat so it wouldn't fall off.  Kitten wanted to go on his shoulder and watch him work.  I guess he has spoiled that kitten most of the summer, letting it sit on his shoulder quite alot while working around the place.

meanwhile, I was standing on the ground at the end of the shed trying to hold the house-wrap tight so he could nail it and also so it wouldn't flap around in the wind and knock hubby off the ladder.  I just stood there laughing at Jax the whole time.

So sometimes, even with a helping hand jobs can take an unusual turn of events.


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## Baymule (Dec 4, 2019)

Prince is always helpful and was snooping in everything when we had the barn wired. Doesn’t “I saw it done once” qualify Prince as a bobafide tradesman/horse? He loves to play and goes to visit our neighbor Robert. We have a 12’ gate in the fence between us for convenience and Prince thinks it’s for him.


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## Beekissed (Dec 4, 2019)

thistlebloom said:


> But look at all the stories you will have to tell! And anyway, what else would you be doing? Sitting on a couch somewhere watching reruns?



I agree with this.  My kids often make comments to the effect that I'm "creating my own work" out here and I have to reply, "What should I be doing with my time..._.exactly_...if I'm not doing THIS out here?  Sitting around, watching my skin wrinkle?" 

Keeps me moving, it's good stewardship of the land and makes use of my body and mind.  

I feel you on doing construction alone....it's often frustrating and more time consuming than a build should take.   BUT...you did it alone and that holds a richness that having help doesn't hold.  I can look at that~mistakes and all~and be a titch proud of having done it by myself.  

Of course, we would LOVE to have more pics to this story.....they are worth a thousand, they say.


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## Xerocles (Dec 4, 2019)

Beekissed said:


> IMy kids often make comments to the effect that I'm "creating my own work" out here
> 
> Of course, we would LOVE to have more pics to this story.....they are worth a thousand, they say.


Hey, if I had kids who cared enough to complain, I'd have their butts out here helping, especially with the dangerous or really heavy stuff. After all, Christmas is coming and ALL kids wanna be on Santa's "good side". 
As for pictures. Here's the one of me nearly falling off the ladder. And the one of me lifting the 10 foot cedar post. Wait, wait....you didn't get those? Oh yeah. Nobody to take them. I WILL post some pics of the finished rabbitry. I am still on track for my mid-December target date.


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## Mini Horses (Dec 4, 2019)

Xerocles said:


> Now, if you read all this, thank you. Response is not necessary. I just needed to say it to someone. Get it off my chest. And I am beginning to think of many of you as family now. Tomorrow comes, new problems to face and overcome, and life goes on. We win.




 Of course we read it, Grasshopper!  (watch those reruns!)   We have all been there in one form or another and as we wipe the tears while reading and laughing our butts off, we think of our own escapades...and offer assistance.   Alleve is a wonderful product!!   Always available here.  Hope you take/took one before bed, so you can get out of bed in the morning.  LOL

Oh, yeah.  Bungies are great for holding help.

QUIT ?????    Hellllo no!


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## Bruce (Dec 7, 2019)

Baymule said:


> One of these, make that two!


I have one of those, heavy but very versatile.
@Xerocles if you want to be a farmer and build pole barns you need a tractor ... with a post hole auger ... and pallet forks. Of course then you wouldn't have nearly as many interesting stories to tell us


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## Xerocles (Dec 8, 2019)

Bruce said:


> I have one of those, heavy but very versatile.
> @Xerocles if you want to be a farmer and build pole barns you need a tractor ... with a post hole auger ... and pallet forks. Of course then you wouldn't have nearly as many interesting stories to tell us


BUT PAW! I don't wanna be a farmer!
I've KNOWN farmers. Out in the July sun cutting hay all day, worried sick its gonna rain before they can get it raked and baled. When they're not out working on their tractor all day, they're out working ON their tractor all day. Got to build barns for the tractor, bigger barns for the livestock, build, build, build. Up all night for sick/birthing animals. CONSTANT worry. Too much rain. Not enough rain. Price of hay. Predators. Ad infinitum. Like the farmer who won a million dollar lottery, and when asked what he was going to do with all that money, replied "I guess I'll just keep farming until its all gone".
I just want to laugh at the silliness of my chickens and eat their eggs. Pet my rabbits and eat their kits. Let a couple goats help me with overgrown weeds and have a fresh glass of milk. Be able to have a FRESH tomato sandwich once in a while.
I've been successful. I'm through with "success". I'll leave that to the youngers with something to prove. I just want to sit back, enjoy LIFE without worrying myself sick. Thats why it took me two months to build a rabbitry. If I don't get it done today, I'll do it tomorrow. If this "farm" thing becomes "work" I'll quit and go fishing or get an RV and tour the country. Sure I screw up most things I try here on the place. But it doesn't matter. I'll figure it out eventually (with help from you wonderful people on BYH) or I'll decide I dont need that particular thing for my happiness anyway.
I've entered that selfish phase of my life. From here out its about ME, and being relaxed and happy.


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## Baymule (Dec 8, 2019)

It’s supposed to be FUN! Maybe your idea of fun horrifies your family, as in, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? That only makes it better. LOL My sister won’t eat anything at my house because I might feed her one of my animals. BWA-HA-HA-HA!! 

I think digging for doo-doo in a sheep’s butt with a latex glove is a helluva great time! Squinching up one eyeball to hunt for worm eggs under the bright light of a microscope is exciting! I have even been known to invite friends and throw a Poop Party!! My family would faint.


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## HomesteaderWife (Dec 8, 2019)

An approach I would say mainly inspired by my husband is this: *life is full of failures, why not make an experience of it? And when you succeed, it's so much more rewarding.*

Yea yea, pickles are cheap at the store and 1/8 of the trouble. But I'm telling you, after growing those cucumbers and pickling then opening the jar next year and making fried pickles..it's all in the mind but dang those were the best fried pickles. Sure you can go buy yourself a warm cap, but you've already needed to trap that pesky raccoon and why not make something with it? From personal experience, not saying this is anyone else's mindset, but no matter what has happened here I end up looking back and saying - _it wasn't as bad as it felt then. It could've been worse. I learned from it._


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## Xerocles (Dec 8, 2019)

Baymule said:


> I think digging for doo-doo in a sheep’s butt with a latex glove is a helluva great time!



Now Baymule....  I can get pretty kinky sometimes, but that one's got me arching my eyebrows just a bit!
Necessary, of course. Not overly disgusting I can buy. But if you think of that as "a helluva great time!" you might want to talk with someone professionally.


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## Baymule (Dec 8, 2019)

Professionals want nothing to do with me! LOL


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## Baymule (Dec 8, 2019)

Xerocles said:


> Now Baymule....  I can get pretty kinky sometimes, but that one's got me arching my eyebrows just a bit!
> Necessary, of course. Not overly disgusting I can buy. But if you think of that as "a helluva great time!" you might want to talk with someone professionally.


Since you want goats, you will want them to be healthy and parasite free. Worm load can overcome them and they can die before you know what happened. Learning how to run fecals and finding out which sheep needed worming, which ones didn't and which ones had such a high load that I was amazed that they weren't dead, has been a fantastic tool to use. Yeah, I get pretty excited about it, but it doesn't take much to amuse me.


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## Xerocles (Dec 8, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Since you want goats, you will want them to be healthy and parasite free. Worm load can overcome them and they can die before you know what happened. Learning how to run fecals and finding out which sheep needed worming, which ones didn't and which ones had such a high load that I was amazed that they weren't dead, has been a fantastic tool to use. Yeah, I get pretty excited about it, but it doesn't take much to amuse me.


Brings up an interesting (but off topic) question. Couldn't you do the same test on fresh poop AFTER it exited the animal?


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## Baymule (Dec 8, 2019)

Once it hits the ground, it is contaminated...….oh, that is funny. Contaminated poop! What's the flip side of that? Clean poop?


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## Xerocles (Dec 8, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Once it hits the ground, it is contaminated...….oh, that is funny. Contaminated poop! What's the flip side of that? Clean poop?


Ok. Remember you're talking to someone who has just begun to climb out of the primordial ooze.
Poop hits the ground. Contaminated. Do you mean worms crawled INTO it from the ground or OUT of it into the ground? Isn't goat poop _somewhat _solid coming out, like rabbit poop? I am not talking last weeks poop. I mean I am standing there and watch her do her doo. And walk over and pick it up. Contaminated beyond reliable testing?
Don't get me wrong. I'm NOT trying to talk you out of spelunking into your goats nether regions if thats your thing. Just thinking for me, if there's a better way..................


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## Xerocles (Dec 8, 2019)

And @Baymule Sorry about all these questions, but you keep accomodating me, and I am certainly an eager student to learn. All this is an exciting new world for me, and I hate not being forearmed.


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## Bruce (Dec 9, 2019)

Seems to me that if a vet can do a fecal on cat poop retrieved from the litter box or dog poop picked up off the ground, a fresh goat sample picked up moments after it hit the ground would be reasonable. If the animal has a problem there would be far more eggs in the sample than could have hit the surface when it hit the ground. Of course that wouldn't be any fun for Bay!


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## Baymule (Dec 9, 2019)

You don’t have to apologize for questions. How else are you supposed to learn. If you want to keep a couple of nitrile or latex gloves in your pocket and play Catch The Poop Minor League Baseball, then by all means, do so. It gets boring, they KNOW you are waiting and are suddenly struck by Bashful Butt and refuse to drop a load. 

We got equipment this year to make chutes with and it has certainly made life easier. We have 10 ewes and a ram. I am able to take fecal samples, drench with garlic juice, worm medicine, give shots, trim feet, whatever needs doing. I’m on my phone, when I get on the laptop I’ll post a link to my equipment so you can picture what I’m talking about.


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## Mini Horses (Dec 9, 2019)

Yes, you can use freshly dropped but, YES it will have a few added particles of ???   It all comes off in the float medium.  Just more to look at and can be confusing.

You want forearmed???????

WELL -- for many of us the sheep and goats will begin kidding/lambing within a month....seasonal breeders, most.....and you will see & read things new to you.    Goat & sheep lady parts, milk bags, kids/lambs, you name it and it will be on here.  Yep, a learning experience as every year the first timers ask more, again.  We gladly reply more, again.   Then there are the buck questions, issues.  Discussions on testes size, age,  methods for breeding, castrating --   yeah, our amusement while waiting for gardening.   Goat/sheep porn abounds.   Pictures galore.

Of course, there are not so good outcomes and the sad losses.   We sympathize, feel their loss and understand.   Even tho animals are raised for use as food, there is a reverence for that life.  Winter often brings the loss of older animals we have raised and love.  Yes, there comes a time  when we  must see them leave us and morn that loss.   I have a 34 yr/old horse that is certainly pushing limits!     Every day is a blessing but, slowdown shows.

So get ready for the gamut of information and emotions.    And Baymule,  the eternal jokester,  will  totally collapse the day she loses Joe, the horse in her avatar.  Another 32+, so adored, heart horse.   Yep, same lady who will harvest a bunny in minutes, butchers 50+ chickens and eats without issue......it's about understanding purpose and reverence for that.    

Many of us are more deeply involved in our animals than just enjoying their antics.   Nothing wrong with that "just enjoying" them and having a fresh egg or 10, an occasional meal....we are a diverse group and appreciate all goals.


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## frustratedearthmother (Dec 9, 2019)

Very well said @Mini Horses!


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## Xerocles (Dec 9, 2019)

@Baymule & @Mini Horses
Yep, I definitely feel like I'm reading animal husbandy for second language learners. Can't tell you how many times these discussions have sent me googling. Bay just offhandedly mentioned drenching with garlic juice. Now I've been caught out in the rain before and gotten drenched. So I read that and found myself wondering just how much garlic juice it would take to drench a wooly sheep....as well as just how bad her vampire situation really was. So it was back to Google. See, I try to do some self-learning before I drive you guys crazy with my questions. There's just an amazing amount of practical knowledge that is NOT covered on Google!
Now, I really don't know how often its said, but THANK YOU ALL for being so patient with questions you've heard and answered dozens of times, often probably from people who will disappear, never to be heard from again. I have experience with this myself, in a different venue of my life, and recognize how frustrating it can become. YOU GO GUYS. YOU'RE GREAT PEOPLE!
Oh, a P.S. for Baymule. Nitrile or latex gloves? Somehow I envision you as more of a "there's the poop I need, I'll just grab it and go" gal. But, I suppose there's that cross contamination thing again.


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## Baymule (Dec 9, 2019)

Well said @Mini Horses. And thank you, you know my heart when it comes to Joe. 

Gloves, nitrile or latex, doesn’t matter to me. Yes, I use them. Wouldn’t want to scratch the poor sheep’s inner intestines with a broken off fingernail with a snag on it. That, and having my druthers, I’d druther not purposely get possibly wormy poop under my fingernails. I’ll do whatever it takes, but gee, I gotta have limits somewhere! LOL


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## Baymule (Dec 9, 2019)

Garlic Barrier, click on sheep






						Garlic Barrier: Natural garlic extract used to repel insects.
					

Garlic Barrier: An all natural and organic concentrated garlic extract, sprayed on farm crops and garden plants to keep insects off.



					www.garlicbarrier.com
				




It can be purchased cheaper on Amazon.  While I try to be as organic as possible, I have no qualms about using chemical wormers. I will not let the health of the animal suffer if organic methods are not working.


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## Baymule (Dec 9, 2019)

A link to my chute-working equipment. Lordy, i love this pile of metal!






						SCORE! Sheep Handling Equipment
					

WHOO-HOO!!!! :weee:weee:weee:weee  I'm just a little excited. I found a Craigs List ad for sheep handling equipment. 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...



					www.backyardherds.com


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## Carla D (Dec 21, 2019)

I 


Baymule said:


> Oh, and give up on pounding nails when hanging off the roof like a monkey. Cordless drill and deck screws!!! I love them!


I couldnt agree more about the deck screws and cordless drill.


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## Carla D (Dec 21, 2019)

Baymule said:


> I'm sure that you would have had a better day if you would have had a good helper.
> 
> LOL


Is this your rescue horse? She looks so good. And, a good helper.


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## Baymule (Dec 21, 2019)

He came from a kill pen and is a total people horse.


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