Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

rachels.haven said:

Yay! Found a new journal to follow along. Thanks @Senile_Texas_Aggie .

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Mike CHS said:

@rachels.haven it can be some pretty dull reading.

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You're welcome, Miss @rachels.haven! And Mr. Mike, you are too modest in your assessment of what is going on in your life and how interesting it is to others.

Beekissed said:

I'd sure love to source the sheep wisdom on your thread and that of others who also have hair sheep, if I may, about many things sheep

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Miss (Mr?) @Beekissed, you will find a wealth of information here on a lot of topics, especially sheep. If you decided to go back to the start of your journal, please be forewarned: I was exhausted just from reading about all of the work he and Miss Teresa put into the place, especially fencing. And don't be faked out when you think you have gotten to the end of the fencing story -- there is more to come, such as "well, I went out and pounded in 1000 T-posts before breakfast" (or something like that). I started to wonder if Mike was Superman and Miss Teresa Lois Lane! The only journal I read that rivaled Mike's story was that of Miss @babsbag in her building the goat dairy.

So I do encourage you to read Mike's journal, as well as Miss @Baymule's postings, as both of them know a lot about sheep.

Senile Texas Aggie

Senile_Texas_Aggie said:

And Mr. Mike, you are too modest in your assessment of what is going on in your life and how interesting it is to others.

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I agree!

It is Ms. @Beekissed She's had sheep before and has had chickens since (almost) before forever. She is an interesting and "well versed in many things" person in her own right.

I cut the neighbors grass and one of my paddocks today. Just as I got the mower parked at the shop the wind started and the sky opened up again.

Great timing!

Today the temp is supposed to be in the low 80's and right now it is absolutely perfect outside. The rain has passed and there is a nice breeze and even the sheep are loving it. They have gotten so tame that when we work them, I have to get out of the way and have Teresa drive them from one stall and into the chute since they just look at me and wonder why I'm not scratching them.

We have gotten a bunch of watermelons out of the garden and have given away squash to most everyone we know. We aren't making any relish this year since we still have a bunch from last season. Cucumbers have started putting on fruit at a good pace and we should be able to start putting up some pickles in a few days. The best thing is that we have more bees around the garden than we have had in several years.

We went into town for some minerals and had a breakfast pretty close to what we could have had at home at Shoney's but we haven't eaten out in awhile so it's always nice for a change.

Mike CHS said:

I have to get out of the way and have Teresa drive them from one stall and into the chute

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Say, isn't it Lance's job to move the sheep? He might complain to the sheep herding union about this.

Bruce said:

Say, isn't it Lance's job to move the sheep? He might complain to the sheep herding union about this.

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No dogs allowed in the stalls. a 175 lb ewe can do a lot of damage to a 50 pound dog in confinement.

Thank you for the compliment @Senile_Texas_Aggie but I also consider myself a relative newbie to sheep. I guess Mike and I just talk a lot about our sheep! I have more pictures on my phone of my sheep than I do the grand children!

@Beekissed you gave me the idea of using cow panels for a hay ring. You stored your hay bales behind cow panels and your sheep ate hay through the holes in the panels. I thought that was pretty darn smart, so I made a cow panel square for a round bale and put a tarp over it. Now I put it under their barn and it can be accessed by the lambs on one side and Ringo and his girls on the other side.

We have one ewe that is limping so we will call them into the nursery paddock in the morning. I have the ram lambs out of the way so I can bring them in through the two paddocks from where they are. They need to be moved to different grass anyway so I can let the cows follow on that paddock. We have been going through our records and we have pretty much decided that we are going to go with mixed breed sheep and back off of the registered sheep. We have registered ewes from several of the most prestigious farms in our area and they don't maintain condition like our mutts. We have sold some of our mutts for about the same price as the registered stock since they have a documented history of growth, parasite success (both tolerance and resistance) and just plain being healthy. Not to mention they like human contact and are never aggressive.