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Margali
Herd Master
LPH04 Painted Peggy is big as a house. She is due from now till May 27th. If she waits that long babies will be massive.
Margali's Griffin Wood Ranch
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Ridgetop
Herd Master
Maybe triplets! Or quads! Octomom?
Baymule
Herd Master
I have a registered ewe like that due April 3. Either 2 big bruisers or 4 little stinkers. LOL
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Margali
Herd Master
First 1.5hrs done. Taking break and switching from long sleeves and pants to shorts. Installed gate and closed gap by lake closed off so sheep are having a blast with the tall grass in north paddock. Watching Hera's tracker to ensure I didn't miss any gaps in accessible north fence line.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
As I was congratulating myself that our new fence is secure, I realized that we don't have any water lines at the barn! No electricity either yet, although I have lots of battery lanterns so electric is not as important. The thought of 2000 feet of hoses snaking across the field is not good since Ozel treats hoses as snakes. And we all know what Anatolians do to snakes! 
Have already lost many "hose "snakes". We do have 2 ponds so they won't die when turned out, but will have to bring water to barn for nighttime, and to various ram & lamb pens, not to mention jugs. 
Have already lost many "hose "snakes". We do have 2 ponds so they won't die when turned out, but will have to bring water to barn for nighttime, and to various ram & lamb pens, not to mention jugs. - Thread starter
- #1,916
Margali
Herd Master
@Ridgetop Water and electric is VERY easy to run yourself. Just expensive on materials which is why we haven't extended to our shed yet. Outside city limits, you can trench and unroll wire yourself then hire licensed electrician for final tie-ins. We did all our trenching for running utilities in weekend with $500 rental trencher.
Biggest thing is sizing so you don't have huge pressure drop on water or voltage drop on electrical. Alijah and I help you with sizing if you mark an overhead view with google maps measure tool and a few other details.
Biggest thing is sizing so you don't have huge pressure drop on water or voltage drop on electrical. Alijah and I help you with sizing if you mark an overhead view with google maps measure tool and a few other details.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
@Margali: That would be a big help since the barn in Texas is a lot farther away than our barn here (35' across the driveway. LOL). We had to add an additional electric panel for the new septic, so DH had the electrician put in heavy enough wire and 2 new circuits to tie into for the barn. We bought the wire a year ago so already have it. Will have to buy the PVC pipe. There is already electric to the well but we need to rerun it since the wire is currently only 4' above the ground and was tied to a tree branch. LOL At the same time we will run electric to the little shed in the back yard. Then we have to go out to the barn with the electric feed so we will have lights and electric outlets. Electric outlets are necessary for power tools, clipping, shearing, and fans in the summer. Also need one for a fridge for meds and water. I will have to measure all that and send it to you with an aerial view.
In California, we have a 2" farm main at the street, but had to progressively reduce the diameter of the pipe and valves to maintain pressure. Of course, our water line runs steeply uphill 900' from the street! When we repiped our water line from the street we put in 100' of 2" copper pipe, 1 1/2" of copper uphill to the property line, and finished the run with 1" copper line to the shutoff at the house. The city was only responsible for water lines to the street shutoff 900 feet below the property.
Expensive even 20 years ago.
DH is a retired high-power lineman and ran all our exterior electricity to the barn and rewired the interior of the house 30 years ago. He is more "Prime" now, LOL but plans to rent a "Ditchwitch" to put in the water and electric lines from the well to the barn and garden. It is just a lot of work still to be done and makes the idea of putting off moving until fall tempting. But I am afraid that the constant extension of our final move date will result in us never getting there! We have 2 ponds so the sheep can use them if necessary until we get in the well lines. We really need a new well and water storage tank eventually.
35 years ago, while DH was working 12-hour days 7 days a week, I put in the exterior water lines to the barn, yard, sprinklers etc. I can lay in and connect the PVC pipe in the ditch he digs from the well to the barn and garden (and other locations as needed). We are just Prime
and doing that work is going to be harder now than it was 35 years ago. I suppose I don't really need to get up and down from kneeling when putting in the water lines - I can just crawl along the route. That is how ai laid all the brick edging and weed cloth when I had sciatica. Primers are tough.
DS1 has also worked on water and electric lines here - DH taught all the boys how to build, lay concrete, do electric, etc. Unfortunately, DD1 did not want to learn any building stuff and consequently can't even hang a picture. She blames me for not MAKING her learn to build, cook, sew, etc. She CAN milk goats, fit sheep and calves, ride horses, and is very good in livestock showmanship! LOL
Once we get to Texas I will work on the layout for you to look at. We also want to have you over for a BBQ.
In California, we have a 2" farm main at the street, but had to progressively reduce the diameter of the pipe and valves to maintain pressure. Of course, our water line runs steeply uphill 900' from the street! When we repiped our water line from the street we put in 100' of 2" copper pipe, 1 1/2" of copper uphill to the property line, and finished the run with 1" copper line to the shutoff at the house. The city was only responsible for water lines to the street shutoff 900 feet below the property.
Expensive even 20 years ago. DH is a retired high-power lineman and ran all our exterior electricity to the barn and rewired the interior of the house 30 years ago. He is more "Prime" now, LOL but plans to rent a "Ditchwitch" to put in the water and electric lines from the well to the barn and garden. It is just a lot of work still to be done and makes the idea of putting off moving until fall tempting. But I am afraid that the constant extension of our final move date will result in us never getting there! We have 2 ponds so the sheep can use them if necessary until we get in the well lines. We really need a new well and water storage tank eventually.
35 years ago, while DH was working 12-hour days 7 days a week, I put in the exterior water lines to the barn, yard, sprinklers etc. I can lay in and connect the PVC pipe in the ditch he digs from the well to the barn and garden (and other locations as needed). We are just Prime
and doing that work is going to be harder now than it was 35 years ago. I suppose I don't really need to get up and down from kneeling when putting in the water lines - I can just crawl along the route. That is how ai laid all the brick edging and weed cloth when I had sciatica. Primers are tough.DS1 has also worked on water and electric lines here - DH taught all the boys how to build, lay concrete, do electric, etc. Unfortunately, DD1 did not want to learn any building stuff and consequently can't even hang a picture. She blames me for not MAKING her learn to build, cook, sew, etc. She CAN milk goats, fit sheep and calves, ride horses, and is very good in livestock showmanship! LOL
Once we get to Texas I will work on the layout for you to look at. We also want to have you over for a BBQ.
SageHill
Herd Master
Yup - got to watch that. Our water runs from the house main since the water company turned off the original grove line ($$$$$ to turn that back on - so water from the house), electric to the barn from the house as well - voltage drop stuff - yeah DH had to figure that all out I'm oblivious on that, he of course is good at that stuff. The barn is 700' away from the house.
SageHill
Herd Master
Wellllll, in CA you had to deal with ginormous boulders and steep slopes -- I'm guessing TX will "easier" no or less boulders and steep not steep. So should be about the same for Prime
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- #1,920
Margali
Herd Master
@Ridgetop If you and hubby can supervise, hire day labor to do grunt work of glueing PVC sticks together in trench. The more expensive option which we went with is PEXA by 300ft roll. It fairs better in our heavy clay soils that expands and contracts than PVC. Rig a spool unroller, warm in sun, thru trundle along. You can rent the expander tool needed for fittings from Home Depot or maybe borrow ours.
It's already getting hot. I would plan on doing water and electric to barn in fall. For meantime, two food containing IBC totes on trailer gives you 700gallon water supply to trough float valves. In DFW food containing totes are $150 each and you can reuse for rain collection later. I had 12 sheep last summer and 350 gal tank lasted about 3 weeks.
It's already getting hot. I would plan on doing water and electric to barn in fall. For meantime, two food containing IBC totes on trailer gives you 700gallon water supply to trough float valves. In DFW food containing totes are $150 each and you can reuse for rain collection later. I had 12 sheep last summer and 350 gal tank lasted about 3 weeks.
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