Margali's Griffin Wood Ranch

[farmerjan]

Our White Texas Dahl rams are like bighorns... you ought to hear them when they hit each other head on, during the "rut" season. These guys are in the 200+ lb size and the heads with the curl of horns is impressive. But they break the horns and then are worth a whole lot less with uneven horns.... Sounds like a gunshot when they "crack heads"....

 

[Margali]

The property we bought had a lot of empty barns, shelters and buildings as a dairy farm that had fallen into severe disrepair. So we have spent five years building up, shoring up and fencing in.

Sounds like a lot of work and fun. We purchase our acreage in July. It's fully fenced but not in best shape. The property came with a single loafing shed which I've turned into my sheep barn. Eventually it will be guys only while newer barn will have the ewes and other livestock.

Loafing Shed Refurbish

Going to refurbish the old loafing shed on property. The main posts are okay. The big issue is all the joists are detached at one end or the other. The tin roof is holding the joists up 🤦‍♀️. Several joists are cracked too.

www.backyardherds.com

 

[Ridgetop]

But they break the horns and then are worth a whole lot less with uneven horns.... Sounds like a gunshot when they "crack heads"....

Sounds like for a championship rack and best prices you have to pen each ram separately. How old are the rams when you sell them to the game farms?

 

[farmerjan]

Our rams are in the 4-6 yr old to get the size horns that the game farms want for "trophy heads".. Penning them separately would be ideal, but we usually try to put one or 2 of the best males in with the young yearling males as they don't fight as much that way. Another thing that helps is to have the males far enough away from the females that they cannot smell them and so there is less "enticement" to try to be dominant. When several ave similar size horns they are more likely to break ends off the horns. Putting a big head in with yearlings, they don't hit the same and so don't get broken off as easily.

 

[Margali]

So my plans to work on yard and sheep shed got derailed at TSC. His name will be determined once his personality emerges from the day's shellshock. He's a 4mo rotweiler/heeler mix. He's my husband's new companion.

 

[Baymule]

He will make a good buddy for your husband.

 

[Bruce]

Did the local animal society have an adoption day?
I bet you'll all love that boy.

 

[Ridgetop]

Not to rain on the parade but Rottweiler and heeler is not a good mix for small livestock.

The heeler urge to round up (chase) livestock combined with the Rottie urge to kill prey is not a good mix. You will have to do intense training with him asap. And definitely don't let him run with the sheep.

 

[farmerjan]

Sorry, but I have to agree with @Ridgetop ; for the exact reasons she said. A herding type dog combined with one that has a strong inclination to kill is going to be a very very tough row to hoe.... Any herding dog type... aussie, border collie, heeler type is hyperactive just by the nature of the blood/breeding.... and I have been around rotts that are very nice with people and such, but NOT to be trusted with livestock either... I hope it turns out well for you but it is going to be something you are going to have to stay on all the time....no unsupervised time out loose.

 

[animalmom]

Well now everyone's mileage may differ... I have a Border Collie/Red Heeler who cares nothing for my goats/ducks/geese. She does like to bark at the cows but that's the extent of her interest.

I had a dog that would round up the cows and bring them to me. She was a cross between a mountain lion hunting dog (what ever that may have been) and a handsome stranger.

Let the dog know now what you expect and go from there. He may be content in rounding up your children. Regardless he looks like a handsome dude.