A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE OLD RAM

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day and thank you all for your remarks and support.It has been a "tough" couple of days but it has been made easier by your posts of support.

In the next day or two Max will have to step up to the mark and show his "stuff".We have had almost 20 mm of rain and the daytime temps are such that the worms will start to explode on the pasture. I will post how he performs in his new role as "head dog".

Ruby is in "pup" and is starting to "show",I always look forward to her new litter...T.O.R.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

The dawn of a new era as Max takes over as the” main man” in the area of handling of the stock chores.

His first task was quite considerable. In a split paddock of about 20 acres, his first job was to get them all into one the closest to the alleyway leading to the shearing shed. The size of the “mob” is quite large and certainly the largest he has had to deal with so far in his career ,it consists of about 100 ewes with their lambs along with about 30 maiden ewes ,by far the most easily “spooked” when being driven.

Once through the gate into paddock closest to the gate the mob strung itself out about 200 mts wide by about 50 mts deep, it was Max’s job to keep them all heading towards the nominated gateway which involved exercising “cover and control” as the mob was inclined to split into two or three groups. Max has learned to observe my hand signals when I direct him to “Go Back”, he will cast to the edge of the mob and “stop” until the sheep “turn away “ from him towards the ultimate destination. But in the meantime the other flank has turned downhill away from the gate, calling him “to heel” and then sending him to the other flank to turn the stock back towards the gateway, in the meantime the other flank has turned away again I call to him and with a “wave” of my arm he is away at full pace to re-gain control of the group again. This exercise of stock “cover” continues until they see the open gate and the older ewes lead the mob through the gate into the long narrow section which leads to the shed and yards.

The sheep seem to understand Max’s in experience in the job and so he is challenged by a couple of older ewes and a few of the maidens, which break past him and head back down the alleyway, I call him to” heal “and walk down to the back of the rebel group and start to work them back up the slope towards the rest of the mob. The action of the old ewes is repeated another twice before he has control and they move towards the yards where they will stay overnight and in the morning I set up a “drenching race” and draft off the lambs for “marking and tagging”.

The job takes me til after midday and the ewes and lambs are left to find each other before being turned out onto feed and water.

All things considered Max handled the task with more skill and confidence than I expected of him at this stage of his working life. During the job I had Ruby on a lead with me as her skill set is not in the paddock, but when the mob is approaching and in the yards, but because she is “well along now” I do have to be careful “she does not get a knock”.

His next challenge will be to move the Dorpers through 4 paddocks to a new lot of grazing which will happen around the weekend.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

So glad to hear that Max is stepping up! Overcoming those challenges will surely help his confidence and he will get better and better at being the main man!

 

[Bossroo]

For Max

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day and thank you all.In this post I would like to return to the subject of the new fence.Yes Bossroo, wool and barbed wire do not mix,down here it is normal in a 3 barb 4 plain fence to have a barb mid-way which is just the right height for either of the two rubbing problems we face they being sheep lice and "grass seed".Grass seed is by far the worst as the two main Native sps use wild-life as a means to "disperse" their seed .Shearing "seedy sheep" is no fun,even though we do not have "burrie country".
The new design will have 3 barbs on the bottom as our change to the Dorpers means that any wool is carried high on the body if at all. the other 7 strands will be medium tensile H/T plains (because I find the straight H/T difficult to tie off at the strainer posts).I find that on a reasonable length strain it is better to strain from the center of the run as it creates a more even strain over the whole length.I also find it easier to tie off both ends first as maintaining the correct tension around a strainer post and at the same time tying if off has always presented difficulty.It also means that you get a smooth finish without tags or sharp edges (I will take a few photos when the job begins,on both the system we are using now and the new one)......T.O.R.

 

[Devonviolet]

Rest In Peace my old friend.Today Jack left the farm to go to the big stockyards in the sky, like the true gentleman he was there was no fuss, he just slipped away quietly with no stress or pain.

I'm so sorry for your loss, TOR! Your tribute brought tears to my eyes.

I know Jack was a special dog, the likes of which don't come along all that often. I know he will be sorely missed!!!

 

[greybeard]

G'day and thank you all.In this post I would like to return to the subject of the new fence.Yes Bossroo, wool and barbed wire do not mix,down here it is normal in a 3 barb 4 plain fence to have a barb mid-way which is just the right height for either of the two rubbing problems we face they being sheep lice and "grass seed".Grass seed is by far the worst as the two main Native sps use wild-life as a means to "disperse" their seed .Shearing "seedy sheep" is no fun,even though we do not have "burrie country".
The new design will have 3 barbs on the bottom as our change to the Dorpers means that any wool is carried high on the body if at all. the other 7 strands will be medium tensile H/T plains (because I find the straight H/T difficult to tie off at the strainer posts).I find that on a reasonable length strain it is better to strain from the center of the run as it creates a more even strain over the whole length.I also find it easier to tie off both ends first as maintaining the correct tension around a strainer post and at the same time tying if off has always presented difficulty.It also means that you get a smooth finish without tags or sharp edges (I will take a few photos when the job begins,on both the system we are using now and the new one)......T.O.R.

T.O.R. have you considered using gripple t clips for your terminal end ties? They work on both barbed, barbless MT and HT wire.

I agree with straining from the middle of the run (we call it 'gut stretching" around here and that has become my preferred way to tension both barbed and barbless wire..again, using gripples.

Never again will I use a comealong or golden rod to tension wire. I just 'thought' I knew what 'tight' was..
You can pull the moon out of orbit with that gripple tool, fast and easy for this old man.

 

[Devonviolet]

T.O.R. have you considered using gripple t clips for your terminal end ties? They work on both barbed, barbless MT and HT wire.

I agree with straining from the middle of the run (we call it 'gut stretching" around here and that has become my preferred way to tension both barbed and barbless wire..again, using gripples.

Never again will I use a comealong or golden rod to tension wire. I just 'thought' I knew what 'tight' was..
You can pull the moon out of orbit with that gripple tool, fast and easy for this old man.

WOW!!! Those are awesome! I bet they are spendy, though. Is there anything like that for woven wire?

 

[greybeard]

The regular in-line gripples will work on woven wire when placed in the middle of the run too.
Costs? Not much if you value your time and your fingers.

The key to using them properly is the tool.

I got mine from here but I think there are/is at least 2 distributors in Central Texas now:
https://www.farmfencesolutions.com/


(I do not sell these nor otherwise make any kind of revenue, income, compensation or profit from any of the tools, procedures, products or instructions I may post about)

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day Greybeard. yes I have used both,but I gave up on the end ones because the casting in the legs did not withstand a heavy impact and they "snapped -off",I over came the in-line ones coming loose after an impact by tying off each end of the protruding wire.For about 20 years my "go to man" for fencing was Neville Prince (now retired),if you Google Neville Prince fencing there are heaps of video hints,tips and tricks.The hard part about holding the strain when tying off ,my solution is to tie off both ends and strain in the middle.This series of photos illustrate how I do it. I have another 2 but I have to post on next post..T.O.R.