Heel Low ^~~^ ^~~^ ^~~^ Doggone It

Heel low:

Round about a month has passed (fun, way too much fun to be had) since two of our Dorpers have lambed...and my my, want to call them lambs my triage of PORKers!


The single ewe lamb Èden born on the 13th of June was a stellar 37 pounds (birth weight of 9 pounds) on July 17. Works out to about a pound a day. Who am I calling fat, no party in particular but if the hair coat still fits...Ah hmmm?


The twins are doing well also; female Èvangelina is 30.5 pounds and her brother Èder is 32 on the 17th. The girl dawgs are EVER so happy that ovines only have one set of lower incisors...still Carpe diem (bite the day), eh but not as in a Heeler's scissors grip! <snippy!>



Lots of ways to beat the dog day's of summer heat...mow out in a shady spot under a huge evergreen.


Then in areas where there is NO shade present...put up artificial shade from beach umbrellas, keep the water buckets topped up and cool...


Plus portable shelters...lambs fit under the small plastic cheap lawn tables...and then of special note...shelters of a canine sort will sure work swell!


I feel sorry for the dogs. Can you imagine if word gets out that these young healthy Cattle B-Dogs are being bullied by Dorper lambs?


I guess they had better kiss and make up, eh.


So off I go, meandering hither and tither (word? )...no set plan, nothing quite set for plans by mice or WOman...


One neighbour stopped to gather their mail and asked me...wait for it... "Why are you sitting thar?" I just smiled and nodded, gave them a "Hiyah" wave. Persons who have no clue...no idea the peace, tranquility, the sheer enjoyment of just sitting amongst the pack and the flock...no clue! Sheep are THE only creature I have ever found to make me stop, stare and lose all sense of time...the munch, the forage selection...it is like yoga for the mind...meditation, that far, far away place where you can zone out and focus on Zenness. I set up two electro nets to mow the ditches and our shelterbelt as fire barriers (the world is on fire just one province West of us...ablaze and making a haze). I'm old and while my beat up folding chair ain't no rocker...I am off mine indeed.

I plan on keeping some of country life's BEST KEPT secrets to myself. Hush...or the whole dang world will relocate out our way...HUSH I say...what they don't know about, we cherish.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Those are some real fine lambs you got there! Beautiful! Love the beach umbrellas too, that's a right proper lamb REE-SORT!

Heel low:

Baymule said:

Those are some real fine lambs you got there! Beautiful! Love the beach umbrellas too, that's a right proper lamb REE-SORT!

Click to expand...

Thank you for liking dem lambos...I am bias in saying we certainly adore them...sweetnesses.


The added shade keeps one outta deep sheep with the flock, eh! Not much point taking them out to mow when they can't function & do their jobs.


Got lots of banked grass around the place. We find empty cig packages and butts tossed along the ditch. I have some sensible fears and one big one is fire. Cig butts, fireworks...never mind lightening and abandoned saw mills. Few years back a lathe mill located on the quarter next to us went up and threatened to burn the area to the ground. Thankfully helicopter water bombers doused the blaze (like a scene from M*A*S*H LOL)...another year the fires came as close as the other side of the river which is a short walk from us. Fire...tornadoes, and baseball hail. It can be ugly on a stick!


So like when does it rain...well?


It chooses to rain when it makes the biggest impact...like the spotty rains we got yesterday which made me EVER so glad I got on it.


Went outside to check on the ditch sheep and saw this...well well...when the sun shines you make...? And then the waste not want not...so on to it. Not sure which organization chose to mow the ditch tops this year but I'm fortunate and happy to benefit greatly from it. Rick says the County has an extendable mower attachment now...perhaps that was the culprit that did this... I'm thrilled!



Got the tools, collared up the girls, took a break to plan & survey the project and away we went.


First task, rake the cuts into manageable piles. I'm old, not stupid, eh.


The grass is tall and stemmy, but will make great feed for the llamas and doe goat.


I was just about to go get some hay off the two rounds of alfalfa we have left from winter feeding. Not yet now. Whee hee hee! Thanks be...for being ever so blessed!!



We get a few showers off and on and just to ensure it don't mold up and get ruined...flipped down a pallet, and double tarp her.

That was rather fine then. Like a gift. The grass along our ditches is mostly weed free, so any concerns you were adding nasty weeds to your place are excluded. I laugh because I was thinking yesterday morning that with Rick working so many long hours, he'd not get round to lawn mowing the top of the ditch for me where I stake out the ele netting. And I do admit I don't like a messy looking road side. Hee hee...them sheeps spoil you...manicured lawns, laneways and ditches. Yup...raise those pinkies and ah hem hem...we are indeed spoil quite rotten having the do gooders of luxurious surroundings--compliments of the creatures. Thanks be to ruminants.

Not only a pretty picture to see the grazers out mowing...but the refinement of manicured surroundings from them doing what they do best...clippy clip clips! Spoilt I say...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Heel low:

I am not huge on doing useless things...got so many funner things to do, why waste effort.

A non-wasted effort is teaching ALL your beasts to lead. Dog to sheep, don't matter. They should also know how to stand quietly tied. I say this because when faced with an emergency, medical or weather disaster...sure is nice to know that you can halter or collar up your creatures and move them with less stress and when you get them to a safe location, they won't fester and get ill because you had to hold them in one spot. Last thing you need is a stampede when you need calm quiet GET AWAY behaviours.

During the Father's Day flood of 2005, it sure was awesome for us to lead all our ruminants to higher ground (all the barns, credit to Rick...are on the high part of the ground...none flooded when three feet of water perked out of the river valley ground we reside on!) or to evacuate. I braided up enough halters with leads for my ruminants and have them located in various locations...you never know when you might have to secure someone, eh.

Takes a few minutes (like people, after 15 minutes, training is a waste of time...you zone out and it becomes this dull roar...keep it short, sweet and straight up) to halter up the young'uns and for life...they are going to remember how to behave. Oh and BTW, them pretty premade bought plastic halters, suck. They are too slippy (unlike the white ones I made, they are not slippy and stay tied) but make fine practise halters for the young ones. Past that, doomed to fail in my experiences.

Helps too when you are only wrangling a thirty pounder, over a near 300 pounder...eeep!


I'm a widdle over the top because I have trained some of my ruminants to harness--pull a parade wagon and all ...so halter training was just a smidgen of what I expected outta them.


For the bigger and more stubborn of the lot...there is always THE refreshener course I offer. You get tied to a very reliable counter part and you learn to oblige both me and your flock mate. I've heard of horsey persons tying a Mustang to a donkey and letting the donkey drag the horse abouts. Kinda the same concept only I am there to avoid any wrecks (off to the vets is not my idea of good times !).


It does help that when I haul out the halters off the corral bars...they KNOW it is to GO to fresh ground for a nice day of gorging on the GREENS.


My two llamas practically jump into their halters and lead--standing quiet while if fidget and fumble...they KNOW good things are about to happen and the quicker we march over thar...the quicker they get to fill their ruminants.


Yes, it is quite the cluster @#$% while we meander to new ground. But hey, with the right mindset...anything can be amusing...best to laugh than blow a gasket. Welcome to the Funny Farm, eh.




Tied high and secure, the sheep can fight if she wants...she's fighting a fence post, not wearing me out so have at it.

Only when they are standing proper and quiet...do they get the reward of release...lose them during a wrestle...YOU just taught them to fight gives them the might to escape what you are trying to accomplish. Be careful at the beginnings not to flub up. You'll have to do triple time to correct YOUR error.

Fence is powered up and Duro is off to enjoy her day, eh. A refreshener and next time, she'll likely put up less resistance...she's gone to the green and she'll remember, halter leading = a day out and about munching. Sheep's delight.

Myself, my reward is that if'n we have an emergency and have to evacuate, the precious sheeps will be obliging to whatever and wherever we have to exit stage right to.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Sheep halters look like a couple of loops to me. Halter breaking sheep makes sense to me. Can you take pics of the halter before you put it on and as you put it on the sheep? I sure would appreciate it! And what did you braid your halters out of?

Heel low:

Baymule said:

Sheep halters look like a couple of loops to me. Halter breaking sheep makes sense to me. Can you take pics of the halter before you put it on and as you put it on the sheep? I sure would appreciate it! And what did you braid your halters out of?

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First things FIRST...if'n the making of your own braided halter with lead does not thrill you, don't bother. The bought ones (so long as they are not made up of slippy plastic) is way more economical. Jest sayin'

But if the thought of making yer own is thrilling, by all means, get on it.

I had several halter leads bought and thought, I can do better plus I had multiple ones to do...that evacuation plan...every beasty to have some sorta head gear and lead should we hafta vamoose, eh.

You DO NOT wanna buy your cord from the local hardware store if'n yer gonna make any number of them. Way too expensive. When they price it by the foot, stick yer foot in face and hop outta thar! Quick like the dickens!

I put myself thru college and university by working a union job cleaning salmon during summer break. This tidbit of info explains why I knew where to get my cordage (rope to hang yerself up with). I contacted some seiner suppliers (commercial fishing outfits and not dock side...dock side you are gonna PAY cause usually they need the stuff like NOW or their season gets blown all to heck) out East (seiners are a type of fishing boat that uses a sorta purse like net to scoop entire schools of fish outta the ocean with). The seiners are forever repairing their nets AND require sensible, no nonsense priced, heavy duty cord that lasts under extreme conditions. Tough stuff!

The rope or cord I used is quite thick. White nylon that is not really available at the hardware store.


I also purchased coloured cordage...for my draft sheep outfits for pulling the parade wagon. I also use BRASS hardware...as you can see, we get snows and brass does not freeze up like the silver stuff does. You can cup a brass fastener in yer hand and blow hot air on it to get her to open or close up. No laughing...Bighorn Rodeo parade in May always has hail er snow to dampen er freeze the mood.

So I told the suppliers to send me some greens and blues...pretty colours and they sure did. Any thinner cord like the coloured stuff, I just doubled or quadded up the number of strings I used as a "strand" in the braid I was doing...think in terms of wool...you spin any? Then you know you can add fiber (cords) to make the ending yarn any width you wanna...you just gotta keep the cords meant to be together, TOGETHER or it looks messy and ugly like.


The white nylon washes up (throw in yer washer with your chore coats or towels) pretty decent and suits my life style, no muss, no fuss.

I like MY halters best and I braided them up like a dozen er 14 more years ago, sitting watching television in the evening with my spouse...well OK, listening to TV 'cause my head was down watching where I placed the cords whilst braiding. Or hooking as my Hero calls it. Such a stellar guy, eh.

Plain and simple...one colour. By all means, choose fancy colours if you wanna...I just like plain old white on my pretty sheeps, the Jacobs and the Dorpers look fine in bright white! What you figure...Snickers looks purdy, eh!


So a side view on both sides of her mug.


Then a click of Peanut, you can clearly see the loop that allows the lead portion of the halter to slip and snug up...


But not too tight either. It will grip but is fairly easy to lose up. You want a secure head but not a hurty the head type hold.

Yer sheeps will not be obliging to you if you halter them up and it hurts. Happy sheep going off to joyous places to graze. It needs to be a happy, happy / joy, joy endeavour.


Here is the bought halter and lead. You can see I pretty much followed their pattern BUT I made the top of the nose piece FLAT and the bottom of the nose piece rounded. I am not a sheep but I figured if I had such a nose bone as sheeps do, I prefer a flat strap and a rounded cord under my sheeper's chin. Just my figuring.


Page 1 of 3... Runneth outta file uploads...

So where waz I...oh yeh...gettin' to the braider up parts...

You begin your braid with some filler cords about the size of the round braided lead (I do a four cord braid, so require just two lengths of seiner cord folded over...I do the flat braid for the nose piece (this part remains fixed, cannot be adjusted, so as per the bought halter, it is 5 and a half inches long). Flat four braid for five and a half inches, then this is where you make the loop for the lead to slip through and back on itself (Sure helps to have that bought halter lead there to know what I am talking about and guide you).

A general rule is you need a length of cord 1.5 times the desired END length...because we are folding the cord over, you then need to have a cord three times the length of the end project...given how tight you braid the cords too.

The lead part is five foot eight inches, it can be longer if you like or shorter but I found this length to be adequate to tye the sheep high or lead them along...too long and you or the sheep are stepping on the dropped part if you don't remember to roll it up in hand. The premade halter lead is an eight strand braid and if you get thinner cord, go with eight to make up the thickness you prefer.

So with the above in mind...a lead halter of 5' 8" would require FOUR cords, length being (5' 8" or 65" x three = 195 inches or 16' 3") sixteen feet and three inches. Myself...I'd do a straight seventeen feet and hope for the best.

Make ONE halter lead and see if I liked it any.


Just like in dog apparel, the thicker the chain or lead, the kinder it is to the beast. Thick chain collars are kinder than razor thin ones. Remember, yer hands are on one end of this contraption too. Nothing like rope burning yerself to teach yourself a lesson in kindness all round, eh. LMBO



On the end of the lead I do up a pineapple knot. When I first made these halter leads, I burned the cord ends nice and tidy...but after like the 24 one, I got a tad sloppy and just left the ends loose...still burned some to keep the cord from unravelling. On the pre-made bought halter lead, I just knotted the end of the lead over...a stop knot so you don't lose your sheep if you take a dive and scare the sheep, you can still hold on when you hit the dirt. It is worse to lose your lead sheep, never caring about the embarrassing, "Help, I've fallen and lost my entire flock!" Cripers.

Anyhoo's...am sure there are some U Boob videos on how to tye or braid.

A quick internet search netted me these...no idea if they are good ones because I bought a book on making tack and a braiding book from Tandy Leather (nfi)...literally decades ago. So you know, never bought any parachute cord...I buy strong stuff...fisherman cord. I am not making belts and cat collars...I don't want to be standing thar with a partial halter lead in my hand. I'm trying to avoid a rodeo or wreck, eh.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Braiding-eight-cords-into-a-flat-braid/

http://www.paracordguild.com/8-strand-round-braid/

http://www.paracordguild.com/how-braid-paracord/

http://www.hought.com/art.str.length.html

Pineapple knot for the end of the lead (the last part you do) and four or eight or even six cord braids in FLAT and ROUND. In the round, some do filler cords, I never do. The nylon seiner cord is flat and wide...tough stuff and I expect it to last far longer (unless burnt, pretty indestructible) than me, the sheep and anything we can throw at it during our lifetimes.


So it is cheaper and easier to just buy halter leads for sheeps...but handcrafted, "I made that" type personna's abound.

Yeh, yeh...my spouse made me the covered wagon (dunna ask how much time and $$ are in it...the canvas topper alone will make you fall down go BOOM!)...But hey, we're serious about working hard and playing HARDER!

I originally did the braiding because I could not BUY the sheep draft getups (looked at the yoke over the head setups and decided it would be kinder to the rams to do like a dog harness...by the way...draft horse halters work fab too as sheep body harnesses, never mind dogs!) and love that I could make the collars for the antique sheep brass bells for the parades. Keep mindful on the belling of the sheep...would you want dingle dingle constantly? Drive me nutso...so for parade get ups, fine..."Watch out equines...the ovines approach!"

Page 2 of 3...run outta files again...

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Jest about done...


I mentioned you can have the lead part of the halter any length you want...five feet eight inches still gave me enough lead to tye Nascor to a lawn chair so she could munch lawn whilst I skirted and bagged up her fibre...


Again, 5' 8" works as enough lead length...keeping in mind, these ones are ancient and halter trained to lead and stand and graze without stressing out.

So dat be dat. I am not such a great teacher...braiding and knot tying are a hands on learning craft...I am more a doer than shower and while I still can, I do. Hope this helps.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Heel low:

OK...we have lot of great salad like forage for ruminants...lots but we also have two nasty wild types.


First one is DEATH CAMAS and no joke, lethal. People have dug it up thinking it is wild onions...it is NOT!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicoscordion_venenosum


Sheep and other grazers will pull this plant up, soft ground in wet springs and have eaten the bulbs to dire consequences. The leaves are toxic but the bulb is the most lethal part.



How hard to distinguish it from some grasses...you try...it is more a light lime colour, but hard to distinguish, eh.



So now think in terms of a gobbling greedy sheep or a new exploring lambo...eat this before they can even blink...


Here are some more identification clicks...






Second nasty plant in the ditches...locoweed.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locoweed

Locoweed won't really outright kill the sheep but nasty stuff as it does make them off if lots is eaten.

This stuff is noxious and native...something I go trapsing thru the ditches to check for BEFORE I unleash the beasts to go have nibbles.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Wow! That is great, thanks for the explanation and the pictures. I think I should buy a halter to start with so I can use it as a pattern. I like to make things, back in the day, I learned macramé and made all sorts of useless stuff with knotted twine. I'm sure I can get a book and learn how to braid halters and lead ropes.

I love the sheep wagon! And you trained your sheep to not only pull it, but to pull it in a parade and not run off scared of all the commotion.