SheepGirl's Journal - Photos of the sheep 4/25

[SheepGirl]

Lol my day was fantastic And I just went to pick up my brother and my car overheated so I had to have my grandfather come pick me up...we went to go get my brother and then we came back and put water in it and I got it home safely.

But yah I'll keep you in mind if I do get rid of them

 

[ILuvSheep]

Lol my day was fantastic And I just went to pick up my brother and my car overheated so I had to have my grandfather come pick me up...we went to go get my brother and then we came back and put water in it and I got it home safely.

But yah I'll keep you in mind if I do get rid of them

Lol, thats good

LOL, goodies, im sure your sheep will LOVE going from 100*F degree wether to -60*F degree wether

 

[SheepGirl]

haha probably

 

[ILuvSheep]

haha, ya

 

[SheepGirl]

I went to the carnival last night and I came home at about 10 pm. I went in my garage to get some hay for the sheep and I walked out with the bag, shaking it. I nearly peed my pants when Paulie comes running up to me and nudges my leg! I was like you have got to be kidding me--all the sheep were out again! (They were all secure at around 5 pm when I had last fed them.) They must've just got out since they weren't very far and they all came to the sound of the trash bag. Fortunately I had my phone on my person (rather than in my purse, like it usually is when I go somewhere) so I called my mom to have her come out and help me round 'em up. She brought out some grain so that made things move a lot faster.

So after we put them all back in their pens we stayed out for an extra hour putting in step-in posts between every T-post. (My mom had bought like 20 or 30 of them so she could fence around our sheds so the sheep could do some weed-whackin'.) I called it Alcatraz, because the sheep really are on lock-down now. There's not much give to the fence anymore. And as of like 20 minutes ago, they are all still in their pen

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Can I make a suggestion? It looks like your fencing is on the outside of the posts? I'd suggest switching it so the fence is on the inside of the posts, that way if the sheep push against the fence, the posts will stop it from bowing out. Also, it looks like the fence may not be secured at the bottom of the posts? They're probably just pushing under the fence to escape. If you can't put the fence on the inside of the posts, I'd recommend at least wiring the fence to the t-posts at the very bottom.

I know all about sheep escaping. Mine have a permanent field fence, but they've lately been jumping over/pushing through the electric netting. Do you know how hard it is to put electric netting posts in the ground when the ground is rock hard? I was saying some not so nice words to them this morning after trying to put several posts in the ground...hard to do! Oh yeah, and it's not fun to get shocked by the fence at 6:00 in the morning! Turns out wet wood does not insulate! I had the fence unplugged because I was using the electric for the rabbit's fan. Guess I'll have to come up with another extension cord!

 

[SheepGirl]

Yep, the fencing is outside of the T-posts...I wanted it the other way around, so that way the sheep couldn't push up against it, but my grandfather came over when he saw me with the fencing and he just HAD to help (he always has to get involved with every construction project we do lol). And it's his way or the highway and he'll yell at you until you do it his way. Probably should've done it when he was at a doctor's appointment! But last night when we put the step-in posts in, we put them on the outside of the fence so the fencing is kind of weaving in and out of the T-posts and step-in posts.

The fence is secured to the posts with zip ties...2-3 to a post. The initial zip ties we used were the big black heavy duty ones that we got at the hardware store. (If you look closely, you can kind of see them on the T-posts.) But I ran out of those to do the step-in posts so I had to use some el-cheapo ones we've had for years sitting in a cabinet in the garage. I'll probably need to replace all the zip ties with wire like you suggested...do you know what kind of wire I would need? I need to get something thick, but not too thick that I wouldn't be able to wrap it around the posts myself.

But I bet that shock at 6 am really woke you up! I know what you mean about the not so nice words...I didn't say them, but I was definitely thinking them!!

 

[elevan]

We use electric fence wire to wire our field fence to the posts. I do have to use a pair of pliers to get the job done though.

 

[SheepGirl]

That's actually not a bad idea. I think I might try that and see how that works. I think on Thursday when I went to the feed store I saw a small roll of that stuff for less than ten bucks, so I may have to go back and pick it up

 

[SheepGirl]

The cats have killed four or five rodent-like creatures and left them around the sheep pens. I have been wondering for the longest time what they were (the last one I found was from about a week ago) and I finally remembered to google it. Turns out they're northern short-tailed shrews. I've heard of a shrew, but I never knew what one was They're ugly little critters and my dog, Maggie, went out to feed with me and she didn't see one on the ground so she stepped on it and all it's guts came out And apparently they're venomous, but not enough to kill or hurt a human? Kind of creepy if you ask me!