Feelin' a bit sheepish...

[Beekissed]

Pics of sheep, temp pens and the field next door we'll be leasing(for free!) and fencing in this winter.

This field is around 10-12 acres in total and is a long rectangle in shape.

The ewes and ewe lambs in a small field adjacent to this bigger field...you can see the gate into our land in the background. This small field is owned by an absentee owner that says we are welcome to graze it as often as we like, so we do...normally we mow it with the mower but now we mow it with sheep.

Got some of the gate posts stained and bracings painted....

Males in a temp pen that will soon become part of our sorting pens, alley and loading chute(you can see the posts in the background that will be part of our guillotine gates) ...right now it's a holding pen for males to be sold, males that will breed and males that will be eaten.

 

[Baymule]

You are so blessed with all that pasture.

 

[Beekissed]

You are so blessed with all that pasture.

I think so too....it was definitely a God thing how that all came about. He has blessed us richly in all things and especially in this farming venture.

 

[thistlebloom]

Everything looks so good!

 

[Beekissed]

So, have been working hard on sheepin', as per usual. Soon we'll take a break to get in firewood, then back to building fence for a bit, then back to firewood, wash, rinse, repeat all winter long.

The noisy boyz are currently in the garden but will be joining their ladies on Oct. 31st...well...two of them will. The rest will remain penned for a bit while I train Dooley....hopefully we'll be selling two rams and that will leave the two wethers for training purposes. Can't wait to have one flock again for awhile.

Hope to get the sheep out of the garden in time to lightly cultivate in there and sow some winter wheat and clover as a cover crop and grazing for later.

Got 8 round bales hauled and dropped into various paddock spaces, rolled up onto pallets and tarped for later use. I staggered them across the big field, trying to put them in areas out of the wind for winter feeding. It was white knuckle driving, getting 5 of those 1000 lb bales on a load, especially since the load started to lean to one side. Prayed all the way home (about 35 mi.) and God got us and the hay home safely. Second trip wasn't as bad. Unloading those bales with just the Ol' Bat to help was kind of dicey too, but she's more help than you'd believe, even at 86 yrs old. No tractor here, so it's all done by hand.

I don't like the looks of cattle panel around the sorting area, so will be taking them down this winter and replacing them with the large skid pallets we got for free a couple years back. Been using them a lot around here and really like the looks of them, plus they are really sturdy. Still haven't built the sorting alley...can't wait to get that finished!

Sheep all look good and are going into the winter fat enough....well...except for Rose. Got that one ewe lamb that's not even hers that's still pestering her and trying to nurse.

Hope to get the LGDs in for neutering soon, hoping that will remove the rivalry and tension between the two. Blue wants to be friends but Murphy isn't having it, so Blue feels compelled to bring him what he wants. I'm tired of it already, so both will lose their lower brains so maybe they can start thinking with the upper ones. If that doesn't work, Murphy will have to go....Blue's the better stock dog and a good dog all around, while Murphy is a wild card and I don't know yet if he can learn to be around stock safely.

 

[thistlebloom]

Glad those bales all stayed put while you were driving! Must be tough rolling them around, especially uphill.
Give the Ol' Bat a hug from her Idaho fan club.

 

[Beekissed]

Glad those bales all stayed put while you were driving! Must be tough rolling them around, especially uphill.
Give the Ol' Bat a hug from her Idaho fan club.

We've rolled them up hill and it's always a little scary, especially for me and Mom....we could flattened by them easily, even if they aren't rolling fast. We try to unload them on the level or sideways on a slope as much as possible but even then sometimes life takes over. I felt such a gladness that we were able to unload the trailer of all of them without injury to ourselves or anything else.

 

[thistlebloom]

Getting rolled over by a bale is not to be taken lightly (which I know you don't.) If you know SmilesJR on Teg, he was seriously injured when a bale knocked him down and rolled over him.

I wonder if there is some way to pound an axle of some sort through the center, then pull it with your quad. Or at least hold it steady while it's manually rolled...
I've never had round bales so I'm just thinking aloud. I could be full of hot air too.

 

[Beekissed]

Getting rolled over by a bale is not to be taken lightly (which I know you don't.) If you SmilesJR on Teg, he was seriously injured when a bale knocked him down and rolled over him.

I wonder if there is some way to pound an axle of some sort through the center, then pull it with your quad. Or at least hold it steady while it's manually rolled...
I've never had round bales so I'm just thinking aloud. I could be full of hot air too.

We'll be building a bale roller this winter that will be able to hook into a bale, lift it with a winch and move it here and there, but mostly roll it out on the land where we want them most.

 

[Beekissed]

Breeding rams in the teaser pen and girls are in the paddock all around them...they will be joined as one flock on Oct. 31st. As soon as they were installed there, away from the other rams and wethers, they started knocking heads. They know what's coming.

Sold one ram lamb earlier on but got a guy coming Friday to look over the remaining two and possibly buy one. May sell one to my brother for butchering as he intends to pay whatever I'd ask for them to others, so that's all good.

The wethers will be food for us....one will be butchered this season, while the smallest one will be held over as company to the ram(s) and more training opportunities for Dooley. We'll need more mouths on the grass this spring to keep ahead of that grass in the big field.