Ridgetop
Herd Master
One of the girls DS2 and DS3 showed dairy goats with in 4-H went to Cal Poly SLO and worked on those ads. She was about 5 years older and helped them a lot with their showmanship skills.
SageHill Ranch Journal
- Thread starter SageHill
- Start date
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- #332
SageHill
Herd Master
It's been awhile since I've posted here - though I did some in the Coffee and other replies.
Things here pretty much slowed down to a crawl with the rains. Sheep in the barn staying dry and fed, dogs in the house dry and warm, me in the house vegetating and wondering if I'd ever get the 'get up and go' back after doing minimums. We'd get a day or so of partly cloudy and occasional blue sky - so it was quick run out tractor the ranch road (that box grader is a Godsend) then drag/harrow the arenas and batten down for the next rains. The road had to get done before any grazing (leg-breaker ruts). And then rain again. Not complaining because we needed it. Just a fact of life.
So catching up - a while back I figured out that if I took the sheep that were not 'good players' to auction I could get new sheep. Don't ask me why I didn't think of that before. Maybe because before they were shared ownership?? Well, I bought them out because the part owner wanted out of sheep (with hay bills I don't blame him) but he wanted to go on the road and trial and travel. SO the three bad players (good for his trial dogs though) became mine.
For me they never worked well in my set up - take them out to graze and they were always at the head of the flock ready to take off, would graze - but only like a kid forced to eat their veggies - and always ready to bolt for absolutely no reason -- LOL the other sheep would pop their heads up like "Do we need to run?" and then put their heads back down to graze.
Yesterday we made the trip up to the auction. LOL @Ridgetop -- hooking up the trailer took an hour-ish --- first - low pressure tire so DH walked back to the house to get the compressor (should've loaded it in the truck in the first place)
pumped up the low, topped off the others. Then - the hitch wheel was up to it's axel in the dirt -- told him about it sinking back in Dec. (should've put a board under it to start with). Had to jack it up to get it high enough to hitch to the truck. Then it was back it into the barn --- LOL - 'trailer won't fit - it's too tall' - I've already scoped it out and knew it would fit. Had to prove I was right with a tape measure. Time to load the crazy three.
I sorted them out early in the morning - typical sorting for them. Kept them in their stall and sent the others out. Who of course did the baaaa baaaa back and forth.
Had everything set and tried to load them - they'd get to the trailer and stand - expected, kept the pressure slightly on them with Obi (who was a rock start in this) then they started looking under the trailer. Ah yeah - I've seen many sheep at trials go under trailers and trailer gates - no happenin' on my watch. Put them back in a stall, got the bendy bushel bucket things and put them in the space between the trailer and the ground, cattle panel on the side of the trailer to the stall door. All set - but the sheep said 'oh no - we're STAYING in the stall' -- HA HA ok fine have it your way - Oh Obi, come in here - what a dog. Got them out smooth as silk. Now they're standing at the trailer and looking at the bendy buckets - 'where'd the escape route go?' -- ha ha gotcha.
Auntie Barb - I picked up her front legs, put them in the trailer, a shove on the butt and in she went. She browsed around and calmly hopped out. Next I did the same with the crazy ewe - she got in, as she was browsing I got Auntie Barb in, then the wether jumped in. Closed the gate and told Obi was a great boy he was. Total time - ~maybe 15 minutes to load. Original plan - get on the road around 10. Actual time 12.
Got up to the auction place, unloaded there - piece of cake - backed up to the alleyway opened the trailer, their Aussie (awesome dog) calmly hopped in, sheep calmly hopped out and off they went.
One of the guys from the back came out and wanted to buy one of them right now for his Mom - good eats. So we made a deal. Got his name and number - he wants more when I have them. Auction is today so time will tell what I get for the other two.
From the auction yard we went to the tire place up there - turns out there was a screw in the low pressure tire. Wait around there to get the tire fixed (free!) -- as the hungries (not yet hangries) set in. By 3 we found an In-n-Out and had 'lunch'. Mucho betta.
Waiting at the tire place - snow and palm trees
Drive home -- pretty hills
This morning - FINALLY got out to graze. No trouble makers - what a huge HUGE difference. All calm,
no one looking to bolt, all happy and easy going. Even better than those days I'd leave the trouble makers in the barn. HUGE difference. Ya' know, there's no reason to have 'tricky livestock'. I gave that bunch basically a year to settle and they never did. Gone is good. New sheep to come.
Since our last time out things have grown a LOT - in places almost shoulder high to the sheep. But there were happy as clams eating out there.
In the meadow
And the filary is in bloom now - and with my sheep "purple flowers rule" (they are little flowers but plenty tasty).
Things here pretty much slowed down to a crawl with the rains. Sheep in the barn staying dry and fed, dogs in the house dry and warm, me in the house vegetating and wondering if I'd ever get the 'get up and go' back after doing minimums. We'd get a day or so of partly cloudy and occasional blue sky - so it was quick run out tractor the ranch road (that box grader is a Godsend) then drag/harrow the arenas and batten down for the next rains. The road had to get done before any grazing (leg-breaker ruts). And then rain again. Not complaining because we needed it. Just a fact of life.
So catching up - a while back I figured out that if I took the sheep that were not 'good players' to auction I could get new sheep. Don't ask me why I didn't think of that before. Maybe because before they were shared ownership?? Well, I bought them out because the part owner wanted out of sheep (with hay bills I don't blame him) but he wanted to go on the road and trial and travel. SO the three bad players (good for his trial dogs though) became mine.
For me they never worked well in my set up - take them out to graze and they were always at the head of the flock ready to take off, would graze - but only like a kid forced to eat their veggies - and always ready to bolt for absolutely no reason -- LOL the other sheep would pop their heads up like "Do we need to run?" and then put their heads back down to graze.
Yesterday we made the trip up to the auction. LOL @Ridgetop -- hooking up the trailer took an hour-ish --- first - low pressure tire so DH walked back to the house to get the compressor (should've loaded it in the truck in the first place)
pumped up the low, topped off the others. Then - the hitch wheel was up to it's axel in the dirt -- told him about it sinking back in Dec. (should've put a board under it to start with). Had to jack it up to get it high enough to hitch to the truck. Then it was back it into the barn --- LOL - 'trailer won't fit - it's too tall' - I've already scoped it out and knew it would fit. Had to prove I was right with a tape measure. Time to load the crazy three.
I sorted them out early in the morning - typical sorting for them. Kept them in their stall and sent the others out. Who of course did the baaaa baaaa back and forth.
Had everything set and tried to load them - they'd get to the trailer and stand - expected, kept the pressure slightly on them with Obi (who was a rock start in this) then they started looking under the trailer. Ah yeah - I've seen many sheep at trials go under trailers and trailer gates - no happenin' on my watch. Put them back in a stall, got the bendy bushel bucket things and put them in the space between the trailer and the ground, cattle panel on the side of the trailer to the stall door. All set - but the sheep said 'oh no - we're STAYING in the stall' -- HA HA ok fine have it your way - Oh Obi, come in here - what a dog. Got them out smooth as silk. Now they're standing at the trailer and looking at the bendy buckets - 'where'd the escape route go?' -- ha ha gotcha.
Auntie Barb - I picked up her front legs, put them in the trailer, a shove on the butt and in she went. She browsed around and calmly hopped out. Next I did the same with the crazy ewe - she got in, as she was browsing I got Auntie Barb in, then the wether jumped in. Closed the gate and told Obi was a great boy he was. Total time - ~maybe 15 minutes to load. Original plan - get on the road around 10. Actual time 12.
Got up to the auction place, unloaded there - piece of cake - backed up to the alleyway opened the trailer, their Aussie (awesome dog) calmly hopped in, sheep calmly hopped out and off they went.
One of the guys from the back came out and wanted to buy one of them right now for his Mom - good eats. So we made a deal. Got his name and number - he wants more when I have them. Auction is today so time will tell what I get for the other two.
From the auction yard we went to the tire place up there - turns out there was a screw in the low pressure tire. Wait around there to get the tire fixed (free!) -- as the hungries (not yet hangries) set in. By 3 we found an In-n-Out and had 'lunch'. Mucho betta.
Waiting at the tire place - snow and palm trees
Drive home -- pretty hills
This morning - FINALLY got out to graze. No trouble makers - what a huge HUGE difference. All calm,
no one looking to bolt, all happy and easy going. Even better than those days I'd leave the trouble makers in the barn. HUGE difference. Ya' know, there's no reason to have 'tricky livestock'. I gave that bunch basically a year to settle and they never did. Gone is good. New sheep to come.
Since our last time out things have grown a LOT - in places almost shoulder high to the sheep. But there were happy as clams eating out there.
In the meadow
And the filary is in bloom now - and with my sheep "purple flowers rule" (they are little flowers but plenty tasty).
Baymule
Herd Master
Animals. You feed, water and care for them. Your reward? They act like jerks. Oh yeah? Auction barn is waiting on you!
Just no point in keeping animals that disrupt the farm. Good animals eat the same as the stupid jerks do. You did the right thing for you, the dogs and the flock.
Just no point in keeping animals that disrupt the farm. Good animals eat the same as the stupid jerks do. You did the right thing for you, the dogs and the flock.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Animals with bad crazy attitude - out they go. Hope the prices are good for you. Large ewes should go for $180+
Ridgetop
Herd Master
What are you replacing them with? Or are you replacing with your own homebred replacements?
Depending on what you want them for, raising your own ewe replacements and just buying new rams every year or two is a good idea. It is also the cheapest way to go since you can buy a good, registered ram for about $500. Choose the best ewelings from your best/favorite ewes, they learn the grazing routine with their mothers, and are trained with the dogs. Makes life easier. Put your new ram in a breeding harness and crayon, change the crayon every 14-18 days, run him with the flock for 2-3 months, mark down each day the ewes have a crayon mark, then take the ram out and wait for lambs. If you like what he produces keep him another year or two. If not, off to the auction. He will stay with the ewes while in breeding mode so shouldn't be a behavior problem while out grazing.
You can use a ram for 3 years on the same ewes, including his daughters, but the 2nd generation of lambs he sires (out of his daughters) should be terminal. So you are looking at buying a ram every 2 years and selling the one you have been using. If you don't like his daughters all of them can go to the auction too.
Depending on what you want them for, raising your own ewe replacements and just buying new rams every year or two is a good idea. It is also the cheapest way to go since you can buy a good, registered ram for about $500. Choose the best ewelings from your best/favorite ewes, they learn the grazing routine with their mothers, and are trained with the dogs. Makes life easier. Put your new ram in a breeding harness and crayon, change the crayon every 14-18 days, run him with the flock for 2-3 months, mark down each day the ewes have a crayon mark, then take the ram out and wait for lambs. If you like what he produces keep him another year or two. If not, off to the auction. He will stay with the ewes while in breeding mode so shouldn't be a behavior problem while out grazing.
You can use a ram for 3 years on the same ewes, including his daughters, but the 2nd generation of lambs he sires (out of his daughters) should be terminal. So you are looking at buying a ram every 2 years and selling the one you have been using. If you don't like his daughters all of them can go to the auction too.
- Thread starter
- #336
SageHill
Herd Master
What I need are a few sheep that I can work with dogs - herding instinct test and lesson types. So I will be getting three workable sheep - a friend said she has some that I can check out. That'll be on the sooner side. Overall I want to breed for market/auction/freezer and at the same time have sheep to graze as well as do the lesson and instinct test thing . That offsets the hay bill A LOT - kind of have to do that -- but I can be VERY PICKY about what dogs I allow to come out here. I'm good at this, have a good rep, so I've got a waiting list. I really like what I've read about the California Reds and what I've gotten back in emails from people who have them. The biggest problem going that route is just getting any. If I did that route the market would be to others who want the breed and building the gene pool - a different but similar direction from my original plan. One of my ewes looks and acts like a CA Red - but given the availability of the breed my guess is she's a happy mix that just turned out that way.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Remember that the CA Reds have to be shorn annually. Do you have sheep now that have to be shorn or are you running hair type sheep.
- Thread starter
- #338
SageHill
Herd Master
Yup - thought about that as well. Right now I have both.
Bruce
Herd Master
Wouldn't it be nice if it looked like that most of the time instead of rarely!
- Thread starter
- #340
SageHill
Herd Master
For sure! And that's all on the side of the interstate. On the weekends the CHP have their hands full as families stop on the side of the freeway, let the kiddos out to "romp in the wildflowers" while they take pictures. I'm sure the pics are great - but kiddos that can decide to run into freeway traffic or step on a slithery is not a good idea.
It is soooo pretty - California can be a pretty place. LOL we just need to 'clean it up' to keep it nice for all.
