2021, Waiting on lambs!

Kusanar · Feb 23, 2021

Judging by my experience eating... eating a lot of dry powdery texture sucks all of the moisture from your mouth almost instantly and doesn't encourage salivation. Eating something pellet textured, you can roll it in your mouth more and it stimulates the salivation glands more. With a soaked powdery texture, it is already moist so it doesn't matter if you add extra moisture to it when chewing.

I would actually be more worried about the ground up pellets than whole pellets. When I feed the horses I use a 2.5 gallon bucket (only giving them enough for a treat) and put 4 1.5 cup scoops of hay pellets and 1 scoop of beet pulp in the bucket, fill to the brim with water (cold from the well) and it fluffs fully in about 10 minutes or so. This gets it fully expanded but not WET. I don't know how you would fill those gutter feeders easier though. I just dump mine in an empty 50 gallon water trough.

secuono · Feb 23, 2021

Kusanar said:
Judging by my experience eating... eating a lot of dry powdery texture sucks all of the moisture from your mouth almost instantly and doesn't encourage salivation. Eating something pellet textured, you can roll it in your mouth more and it stimulates the salivation glands more. With a soaked powdery texture, it is already moist so it doesn't matter if you add extra moisture to it when chewing.

I would actually be more worried about the ground up pellets than whole pellets. When I feed the horses I use a 2.5 gallon bucket (only giving them enough for a treat) and put 4 1.5 cup scoops of hay pellets and 1 scoop of beet pulp in the bucket, fill to the brim with water (cold from the well) and it fluffs fully in about 10 minutes or so. This gets it fully expanded but not WET. I don't know how you would fill those gutter feeders easier though. I just dump mine in an empty 50 gallon water trough.

Yeah.
Sometimes the brain doesn't work until after you've gone ahead with the idea, then it hits you, all the negatives you couldn't see before.

Kusanar · Feb 23, 2021

secuono said:
Yeah.
Sometimes the brain doesn't work until after you've gone ahead with the idea, then it hits you, all the negatives you couldn't see before.

I'm sure they'll be fine. Would it be possible to feed them in something other than the gutter while they are getting soaked pellets? Just to make it easier for you to fill it.

secuono · Feb 23, 2021

Having problems with the pan cam not saving what I record. Maybe it takes awhile to show up? Idk...
I didn't hear/see any coughing.
Being reminded of how much I hate my barn's design, for cattle, not short sheep. Ugh.
Used some of the 3ft black feeders today, since they've decided pooping and peeing in the white ones is the cool thing to do. So I have to wash the two by the bale & I guess find a way to protect them when not in use.

Wish I had multiple yards with barns. Then I could split them up by age, weight & pregnancy status and feed them accordingly.
Just more things to plan & build.. ugh.

secuono · Feb 24, 2021

Moved 3 to feed unlimited pellets yesterday & today, I was able to move Apostle over.
The others lounged out in the sun the last 2 days, in the 60s.

Update- Feb 25th, 2:26
Put them back together, they're being loosers about eating.

High as heck maintenance...

secuono · Feb 25, 2021

Pushed back two weeks from previous years.
Can't wait to see what is born this year!
:pop

secuono · Feb 26, 2021

Bought four 6"×1"×12' boards & used some scrap wood to make two new sheep feeders!
These will stay outside in a separate yard. I'll use them when the weather is nice or when the sheep aren't cooperating with moving out of the shelter where the covered feeders are at.