Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[SA Farm]

@Ridgetop, you are an excellent story teller! You totally got me hooked on your adventures (and misadventures ). It’s been a pleasure to read, though I’m sorry for the recent losses and troubles you’ve been dealing with

 

[Ridgetop]

Thank you. My attitude is you have to approach everything as an exciting and humorous adventure. We certainly seem to have more than our share of those! I should post the adventure of our honeymoon some day. Crazy taste of everything to come over our 49 years together! LOL!

 

[Ridgetop]

DS1 going to Lowes for a metal trash can to store feed. I need to give him a list of vegetables to look for.

 

[thistlebloom]

So sorry for the recent troubles and depressing events you have been going through. I think even without those types of events life feels pretty unsettling right now for all of us.

Pulled muscles are frustrating. They take so long to heal and reinjure so readily.

I looked at that Gallagher Smart fence you posted about on another thread. Looks like a pretty slick way to make temporary paddocks. I have no advice for you, but I do use a Gallagher charger as a deer repellent fence at a job and it's been very trouble free and dependable, if that helps at all.

 

[Ridgetop]

What size charger do you use?

 

[Baymule]

So sorry for all your woes, particularly your FDIL’s grandfather. I have been deeply saddened for not just him, but all who have died from Covid without the comfort of family with them. How terrible for all.

Holding one of our granddaughters, watching morning cartoons. Nothing like Tweety Bird to go with coffee!

 

[thistlebloom]

What size charger do you use?

I'll have to get back to you on that. I'll be at that job again on Monday. I don't remember off the top of my head. I know it's not a super powerful one, it uses 6 D cell batteries and they last about 3 or 4 months. But my husband can attest to the kick, he was helping me set it up last fall and didn't know I had turned it on. I didn't know he was still messing around with it... hahaha.
I have also found some pretty deep deer tracks where they have started climbing through and got bit. Changed their minds really fast looks like .

I enclose an area about 125'x50', but it's rated for more than that.

 

[Ridgetop]

I have an old solar charger that has a broken wire. I have 3 electricians in my family but do you think they would repair it for me? Time to find my old book "Electricity for Dummies".

The Gallagher guy said for sheep I would need the expensive S100. Since DS1 "hates electric fencing" and DH is not in favor, I am not sure if we should even bother. Over the past 2 weeks we have discussed this in typical Ridgetop fashion.

MONDAY, 2 weeks ago, rain has been pouring steadily for 3 weeks.
DH: “We have to weed whack soon. It needs to be done by May 1.”
ME: “That is why we have the sheep.”
DH: “They are not eating in the right area.”
ME: “We should fence off that 200’ x 200’ section of steep area that needs to be cleared. Then we could confine the sheep in it until it was eaten down.”
DH: “I’ll think about it. But it needs to be cleared.”
ME: “You need to check to see if they moved the deadline due to the rain and/or virus?”
DH; “They won’t do that.”
ME: “If we put up a fence we wouldn’t have to do any weed whacking at all and we would have another enclosure for the sheep.”
DH: “That’s a lot of work.”
ME: “We can hire day laborers to put in the posts.”
DS1: “We are in quarantine.”
ME: “Afterwards then.”
DH: “I’ll think about it but we’ll have to cut the field.”

WEDNESDAY, 2 weeks ago, still raining.
DH: “We have to weed whack soon. It needs to be done by May 1.”
ME: “It’s still raining and you can’t cut during the rain. Did you check with the fire regulations to see if they will extend the deadline?”
DH: “They won’t do that.”
ME: “They might – no one can cut in this downpour and it has been raining like this for weeks.”

THURSDAY, 2 weeks ago, still raining.
DH: “We have to weed whack soon. It needs to be done by May 1.”
Me: “It’s still raining and you can’t cut during the rain. Did you check with the fire regulations to see if they will extend the deadline?”
DH: “They won’t do that.”
DS1: “I checked on line, the deadline was moved back a month TO June 1.”
ME: “Good, that gives us some time to put up a fence.
DH: SILENCE
DS1: SILENCE
ME: “We can get day laborers to dig the fence post holes and put in the posts.”
DH: “It’s raining.”
ME: ”Then you can’t weed whack.”
DH: “Stupid sheep!” Yelling out the window: “Eat over there you idiots!”

SATURDAY, 2 weeks ago, intermittently raining.
DH: “We have to weed whack soon. It needs to be done by May 1.”
ME: “No, the deadline was extended. DS1 called, remember.”
DS1: “I checked on line, the deadline was moved back a month to June 1. The deadline for Antelope Valley is April 1. Since ours is a month after them, ours might move to July 1.”
DH: “We still need to cut. I’ll go do it. Those sheep are not eating on this side of the field at all.”
DS1: “You can’t do it Dad, you’ll fall down the hill. I’ll do it.”
ME: “If we fenced the area that needs to be cut no one would have to do it.”
DS1: If we fence it the dogs will have a harder time to get around the property to protect the sheep.”
ME: “That’s why they have legs.”
DH: “Eventually the sheep will eat everything.”
ME: “But not in time for the deadline. We need to fence that 200’ x 200’ so you don’t have to cut.”
DH: “I’ll think about it.”
ME: “Think faster.”
DH: SILENCE
DS1: SILENCE

SUNDAY, 1 week ago, raining stopped but heavily clouded, another storm predicted.
DH: “We still need to cut. I’ll go do it. Those sheep are not eating on this side of the field at all. What’s wrong with them?!"
DS1: “You can’t do it, Dad, you’ll fall down the hill. I’ll do it.”
ME: “I was thinking about temporary electric netting fence to keep the sheep where we want them.”
DH: “How much would it cost?”
DS1: “No! I hate electric fencing.”
ME: "Why?"
DS1: "Because I just do."
ME: “It would be temporary, and we could take it down after they ate everything.”
DH: “We had that stuff before and it didn’t work.”
DS1: “I hate electric fencing.”
ME: “That was 30 years ago and it has improved. Besides I don’t think we installed it right.”
DH: “Our ground is too hard for the step in posts.”
ME: “They have a new kind of netting that has drive in posts.”
DS1: “I hate electric fencing.”
DH: “The charger battery used to go dead and the horses got out.”
ME: ‘That was the battery charger without the solar panel. We need the solar charger.”
DH: “How much?”
DS1: “I hate electric fencing.”
ME: “I’ll check on it.”
DS1: “AARGH!”
DH: “I’ll have to cut soon.”
DS1” “No, Dad, I will. You’ll fall down the hill.”

TUESDAY, one week ago, intermittent rain.
ME: “I found several types of electric netting that looks promising. However, our ground gets so dry that the info
says we may have to get a type called Pos-Neg because the ground rods won’t work in very dry soil.”
DH: “That’s right.” (He was a lineman.)
ME: “But I can’t get the Pos-Neg in the type that would work better for us with the drive in posts.”
DH: “How much?”
ME: “That depends on which fencing we get and on whether I have to buy another solar charger. We have the old plug in charger in the shed, but no power source where we want the fence. We also have the solar charger we used for DS3’s heifers but the last heifer broke one of the wires. We need to repair it.”
DH: “I thought it was trashed.”
ME: “No, it’s on shelf in the shed. I can get it out and we can look at it and fix it.”
DH: “I can’t fix it. And the solar panels go bad after a while.”
ME: “You worked on 35,000 volts for 30 years and you can’t replace a wire on a little solar charger?”
DS1: “Fix what?”
ME: “The old solar charger. It has a broken wire. You can fix it probably. You and DS2 installed our solar lighting in the shed.”
DS1: “Why?”
ME: “For the temporary electric fencing.”
DS1: “I hate electric fencing. We’re not getting any.”
ME: “I’ll fix it myself! I can probably look up how on line.”
DS1: “WE’RE STILL NOT PUTTING UP ANY ELECTRIC FENCING!”
DH: “I’ll have to cut the hill soon.”
DS1” “No, I will. You’ll fall down the hill.”

WEDNESDAY, last week, another downpour
ME: “There is a problem with the electric netting. You have to weed whack the fence line where you want to install
it since the grass and brush will make it ground out.”
DH: “That is not a problem, but I’m afraid that lightweight stuff will blow down.”
ME: We can use drive in posts at the corners and guy it to them.”
DS1: “We’re still not putting up any electric fencing! I hate it.”
DH: “I suppose we could go along the electric netting and put in metal posts to support the fence. We can tie the fence to the posts.”
DS1: “WE’RE NOT PUTTING UP ANY ELECTRIC FENCING!”
ME: “You can’t use metal posts and tie the electric fence to them. It will ground out.”
DH: “Oh, yeah. Well, we can put in wooden posts then.”
ME: “if we put in wood posts we might as well put up woven wire instead of electric netting – it will be cheaper
than buying electric netting!”
DS1: “But then you have a permanent pen.”
ME: That’s good because we will have an additional breeding pen for the sheep. If not for breeding we can use it
to separate young ewe lambs.”
DH: “Why can’t they stay with the flock?”
ME: “Because we don’t want young ewe lambs to be with the breeding ram and ewes when they are too young.”
DH: “Oh yeah.”
ME: “What about putting up woven wire on the old metal posts where we pulled down the old chain link fence? That would give us a small pen with a 12’ x 12’ shelter already in it. The sheep don’t use it when they’re in the big field.”
DS1: “Some of those posts are bent and not usable.”
ME: “We could replace those posts with wood ones. We’ve got lots of old cross arms.”
DH: “It would still be a permanent pen.”
ME: “That’s what I want.”
DH: SILENCE
DS1: SILENCE

TUESDAY, last week, supposed to be sunny but starts raining unexpectedly
ME: “DH, look at this other type of temporary electric fence! It is 4 reels of wire attached to a holder on wheels, and the posts are also mounted in the reel holder. You just roll it out and unhook the post, then stick them in the ground. This fence doesn’t need to do any ground clearance before putting it out because the bottom wire has 6-7” clearance. It would go down our hills because it is just the 4 parallel wires and it all reels up with a crank and stores on the reel holder when you want to take down the fence. It even comes with guy strings for the corner posts. And it is a lot cheaper than the netting!”
DH: “How much?”
ME: “It depends on whether we buy a new charger.”
DS1: “NO ELECTRIC FENCING!”



Luckily it has been raining pretty steadily for over a month now while we are in quarantine so we have not lost any actual work time on the fence. Or no fence. . . . .


DS1 and DS2 brought the squeeze over this am and set it up in the pen at the end of the chute. I will post pix later. Tonight we weigh all the sheep except the rams. Once that is done 7041 who has been getting penicillin for 5 days ((with all the rain she developed some raspy breathing and I suspected pneumonia developing)s being treated for dog bites courtesy of Angel will go back to the field. More on that later.

 

[Bruce]

Dare I ask why DS1 has such sway in your fence decision?

 

[thistlebloom]

DH: “Stupid sheep!” Yelling out the window: “Eat over there you idiots!”