New headgate coming!

[secuono]

Totally forgot about this thread, oopsies.

Painted it white.

For sheep with wool on, it was a pain to use, as it smooshes them too much, but if you don't, then it's too loose and they pop out. Ugh. So I need to get a head/cheek holder with the adjustable pole tie for use on sheep with wool.

And I now have a couple real short ewes, so need to use a little raised platform so they can reach more comfortably.

But all in all, helps much more than a halter tied to a post or straddling a sheep and trying to work with them.

Oh, and it was super smart of me to have it made much thicker! Would of been so easy for the little sheep to break the vertical wood.

 

[farmerjan]

Since I have an old computer and no fancy phone to upload pictures let me give you a little description and hopefully it will help for a head gate. In the above picture, use the square base as the pattern, make it taller so that it is the height you want so that the sheep are putting their head into the frame so to speak. Put the 2 catch boards in it a little further apart, you don't have to cut out a center because then you can't catch smaller stuff, bolting one in permanent top and bottom, and set the other with a removeable bolt & nut in the bottom through all 3 pieces, so that if anyone gets stuck in anyway you can get it undone. Leave that board to swing all the way over to the inside of the top so it looks like a lopsided V when open; and then drill a couple of holes through the front part of the frame, through the moveable catch board and through the back so you can put a long bolt through all three in the top board. If you drill a couple of holes in a graduated distance, you will be able to catch most any size neck. No chains or screw eyes to come out and if you make an alleyway and put a little grain in it they will put their head in to eat, pull the board over and slide a bolt through the holes to catch as tight as you want. This way any height animal can utilize it and the bigger sheep cannot break it up as easily if they get a little upset. We have one that is at the end of the feed manger for calves and use a 10 ft gate to get them to go into it against the wall. We feed them in it without catching them on occasion so they aren't shy about putting their head in it. Quick and easy. If you have a hay/feed manger just incorporate it at one end and use a couple of gates or against one wall if inside.