High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?

[Ridgetop]

Just redid ours and I think I will d the same.

I really hope STA is ok. His Beatiful Gal will be devastated if he is ill or . . . . Or of his beautiful Gal is sck he will be devastated. Praying for him.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

I’ve been infrequent so I hadn’t realized no one had heard from STA for so long. Hope all is well.
Dolly is looking good, she actually puts some weight on her leg as she walks around her little dog run and grazes. I put it over grass and she seems content. She’s keeping up growing with her siblings I haven’t noticed any visible differences.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

Sprinkler line is “mostly” fixed. I wound up laying 50 feet of new one inch pipe to get water to the sprinklers in back. We were putting the old line together and kept finding leak after leak until suddenly no leak but no water at the back either. It was leaking directly into the leech field which was doing its job dispersing water. So I decided a new line was going to be easier than continuing to look for leaks. The side yard sprinklers are toast but that’s where the septic system is. I figure as long as the front and back have a working system I can move a sprinkler around the side yard to the spots needing a little more than what it gets from the....water and nutrition coming from the house.
can’t believe we’re already in May! It’s been a little cold and rainy and we had some snow just last week. We’re going to be getting our garden in this next week. My mom will be visiting us from Oklahoma and has volunteered to help us plant a garden that might actually produce this year. We’ll be getting our chickens at the end of the month and I need to start building a coop but the prices of wood are killing me. Bought 3 2x4s at the home
Depot last week and paid 24 bucks! For that price they should be gilded or some rate African mahogany good criminey. I found a way to use a lot less wood but still it won’t be cheap.

 

[Baymule]

Good luck on building a chicken coop. I hope you can get enough lumber to build what you want.

 

[Bruce]

Do you not get enough rain such that you NEED a sprinkler system??

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

I do need the sprinklers to keep my lawn green. We’ve been fortunate to have some rain lately but come June and July it’ll be pretty dry for a while. Even with more rain and snow up this way sprinklers are a necessity if you want a lawn. I just don’t have to water as much. Originally when I was designing my coop I was building one from the ground up. Then I saw the price of lumber and Started thinking of ways to save a dollar. We have an old grain silo behind the garage that is used for my tack shed. I can build a dividing wall with nesting boxes right down the middle. I went from building 4 walls and a roof to one wall. Completely critter proof and the nesting boxes I’m looking at making would make for easy access to the eggs without having to go in with the chickens so it would help my wife as she still has her fear of chickens. I don’t understand it myself but it is what it is. I can also store feed and all my animal necessities on the other side of the silo and have them out of the weather and critter proof. The wife wants me to go to Home Depot and buy one of those prefab sheds to put on the cement pad where there was a shed years ago so that I have another tack shed but I dunno that I want to have another payment to make. They have them for under 100 bucks a month but I hate owing money on things. Bad enough I have a house payment.
Dolly has become very spoiled. She never took a bottle no matter how much I tried but she eats hay and rolled oats without a problem. I tried leaving a bucket of milk replacer in the pen with her to see if she wanted it and she never touched the stuff so I said bag it let’s see what happens without the replacer. She’s been fine. She starts bellering at 1:45 that it’s time for her feed and I better get her take care of.

 

[Ridgetop]

The Rubbermaid type sheds won't do for livestock, but for utility tools, etc. they work just fine. Particularly if you put them on a concrete pad, asphalt, or on plywood panels. Costco usually has a large one for a good price in spring/summer and Home Depot and Lowes also have them on sale often. Watch for sales on the holidays from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Not as expensive as the wooden storage sheds.

 

[farmerjan]

Try to give Dolly a little more balanced ration as the oats are not high enough in protein or the trace elements she needs to grow.

 

[farmerjan]

You might try a calf starter ration, mixed half and half with the rolled oats which will "tone down" the copper... but honestly, in nearly 40 years we have never seen a problem with copper toxicity in sheep if they are not being heavily fed grain and get grass as well to eat. We have used the 14% calf ration for everything here on the farm and never had any repercussions.... there is always a first time I guess. If she is doing okay on what you are feeding her, and she seems to be growing along with the others, then maybe just do as you are doing... sometimes it pays to not "change things" that are working... you know the "if it's not broke"...theory.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

@farmerjan you are right she does need more than rolled oats but I was being a lazy typist. I keep rolled oats on hand for my horses when we’re doing some actual work (lots of riding in the mountains) and I was feeding it to Heart where she was nursing triplets. When Dolly broke her leg I separated her and gave her rolled oats and hay cause I’d seen her eating with mama. I went to the IFA (feed store) and asked for a recommendation on a good lamb feed and explained the situation. They sold me on a pelleted feed that was medicated and had all the minerals and proteins she should want. Brought it home and put it in the feed pan and it sat there for a full day. Because I knew she eats the oats I mixed some oats with the pellets and next day the oats were eaten and the pellets weren’t. Tried again and this time she ate the whole pan so I’ve been mixing rolled oats with this pelleted lamb starter. I do about half and half but because it started as oats I just refer to it as oats. Thanks for worrying about Dolly, it’s important they get everything they need.