Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

Got your temporary electric fence up yet? You know, for that 200' that the sheep need to graze on.....

Who knew sheep could kick like a mule? Itty-bitty cutsie sheep that pack a whallop like a car collision! glad that you weren't hurt, but if I had been there, I would have been laughing too.

 

[Bruce]

Sounds like Angel isn't living up to her name Hopefully she will grow out of this stage.
Seeing that picture of the sheep down the hill - have you ever mentioned that you live on a STEEP hillside? I think I'd need a safety rope to even think of going down there.

Regarding your nails (as opposed to those of the sheep) - I have ZERO knowledge in this area: how does one get acrylic nails off every "x" weeks to get new ones put on? And could you do that?

 

[Baymule]

Sounds like Angel isn't living up to her name Hopefully she will grow out of this stage.
Seeing that picture of the sheep down the hill - have you ever mentioned that you live on a STEEP hillside? I think I'd need a safety rope to even think of going down there.

Regarding your nails (as opposed to those of the sheep) - I have ZERO knowledge in this area: how does one get acrylic nails off every "x" weeks to get new ones put on? And could you do that?

I don't wear them, have no experience, but I believe that they are filled in as they grow out. My nails are short, blunt and mostly broken off. I keep a diamond nail file handy to file them smooth, but that's about all they get. They are currently clean at the moment. But I'm fixin' to go outside......

 

[Bruce]

So they are "patched" like drywall back to the cuticle then sanded and painted?

 

[Ridgetop]

So they are "patched" like drywall back to the cuticle then sanded and painted?

Absolutely right. They are extremely hard and I try to get them "filled" every 2-3 weeks. Since they don't wear down or break off, my nail lady cuts and grinds them to a manageable length. I have them shortened more before lambing in case I have to pull lambs. I used to bite my nails and cuticles terribly and now I don't. I never had nice nails when I was younger, they would break sometimes below the quick so now I have the acrylics put on and they are stronger. They are a luxury for me, but because I play bridge so often everyone sees my hands and nails so I enjoy having pretty hands. As I have gotten older, heavier, and wrinklier, at least my nails look good! Besides my nail lady and her business partner whose station is next to her are a hoot! We have a lot of fun being politically incorrect and I miss them.

 

[Ridgetop]

Who knew sheep could kick like a mule? Itty-bitty cutsie sheep that pack a whallop like a car collision! glad that you weren't hurt, but if I had been there, I would have been laughing too.

I would expect no less from my good friend! In fact I was laughing too! I actually had to tell DH how to turn on my camera to take the picture! I told him I had to post it as a warning about the tilt tabIe!

I used to take photos of every aspect of livestock the kids did in 4-H for their record books. Now when I make everyone pause during some chore for a photo, they ask if it is for MY record book! LOL

I do have bruising on my knee, and hip, but feel surprisingly fit. I expected to be a wreck. Maybe I am not as old as I was thinking. In fact, I think I will go check out those metal fence posts down the hill today! We have some woven wire left to start the fencing project. I have given up on the electric fencing for now. I do need an additional permanent pen. DH actually said the other day that we would get some laborers up after the quarantine and put in some more fencing. If we can use the pipe posts though, that would give me an additional pen with a shelter in it. The shelter is currently where the rabbit cages are stacked though so I will have to remove them as well.

We had all of those same issues when we used our tilt table that we wound up selling. I ;ike our chairs and the sheep like it also.

What "chairs"? Even with the gate problems which we have now solved (once the new gate is installed) we liked using it. It beats catching each sheep and manhandling it onto a stanchion where I have to bend upside down trimming feet. They don't struggle any less and can get more kicking leverage when standing, My back can't take the ending over anymore. They were also easier to drench while in the squeeze instead of having DS1 catch ad restrain each one. Once all the sheep were in the chute they stood quiet which is not what happens when we have to catch each one separately even in a small catch pen. Our dairy goats loved the stanchion because they would get grain or rabbit pellet and stood still for trimming, but even our tame 4-H sheep were hard to do.

Told the men last night over dinner that we would get the rams up today for trimming and to put Lewis in with the ewes. They are starting to cycle and I want fall lambs. I may hold back the 2 smaller October lambs for summer breeding. They are 95 lbs. at 6 months, no creep. Or not.

Little Snowflake is small, only the size of the lambs born 2 weeks later. Her poor mama was probably not milking much at the end and Snowflake is only 7 weeks old now. We let the ewes wean their lambs naturally so they are not stressed from pulling them off their mamas. She is gaining at half the rate of the young lambs with their mamas. She is extremely healthy and vigorous though. I did order some special lamb ration for lambs under 50 lbs. Currently we are cutting it with the barleycorn to avoid any tummy upsets but in a couple days I will start giving her that instead of the barley corn to help her catch up. After moving all the other sheep back to the field flock that were convalescing in the jugs, poor Snowflake is lonely and has been crying. Last night she was hoarse, this am no sound. It's possible that she is just voiceless now, That happened to a buck one year when all the doe went to a weekend show When we came back he was still calling in his pen but no sounds were coming from his mouth! He had screamed himself voiceless! LOL

 

[Bruce]

I used to bite my nails and cuticles terribly and now I don't.

Good thing given your description of the hardness of the acrylics, you would be toothless!

I do have bruising on my knee, and hip, but feel surprisingly fit. I expected to be a wreck. Maybe I am not as old as I was thinking.

Maybe since you weren't up against anything solid the 4' flight backward lessened the severity of the kick?

 

[Ridgetop]

Maybe since you weren't up against anything solid the 4' flight backward lessened the severity of the kick?

Probably since the bruised knee is what hit the ground first.

It is starting to rain again! Our entire property is green with nice juicy mustard, dandelion and itchy weed. Our itch weed here is a smaller and less painful cousin to the large nettles in other places. It does cause a rash but smaller and it goes away with vinegar or soap and water. The sheep don't like grazing on the itchy weed, but after it is dry it seems to become more palatable to them. If only our pasture was divided into several pastures, I could rotate the sheep and they could graze everything through out the year.

I just went down the hill - took my crook to help me - and counted at least 60' of good posts before the first bent one. That would give me a 30' x 60' pen for smallWe can straighten or replace it and continue down the hill another 8' but if the next post also is bent or needs replacing we may decide to just cut straight across the slope at a 45 degree angle and attach into the existing pasture fence on the other side. The fence posts originally continued down the hill 100' making a narrow triangle of pasture at the bottom. It was so steep down there that the fence eroded out at that point. I think I favor cutting across the slope where it becomes almost perpendicular to end the pen instead of continuing to the unusable tip of the triangle. When we have to go down and bring any sheep up from that pen, we no longer have small children who thought it was fun to run up and down steep slopes chasing sheep. Oh for the joys and energy of childhood! And their youthful bodies!

DH first said he wanted to finish the retaining wall near the tool shed to make another pen. I hope I persuaded him it only needed to be a couple blocks high to stop the erosion near the tool shed leaving it low enough for the dogs and sheep to jump over it. He built a retaining wall there 25 years ago halfway across. It is 6' or 7' high from the bottom side of it and the top is filled in to make it slightly level with the upper barn. It was not carried any farther across the bottom of the area for some reason. If he does that the upper "pen" will only be about 15' x 20' - not nearly large enough. When we used it as a livestock pen, it was for dairy goat kids that were being bottle fed, not lambs with nursing ewes. The tool shed was not there, instead we had an 8' x 12' moveable construction shed we had gotten from some friends with a construction company. They were replacing their old sheds with modulars and we were thrilled to get 3 of these, delivered, for $50 each. They were used for chicken coops, calf sheds, kid sheds, and the last one is still in use (with repairs) as our hay shed. We were able to move them around by placing poles under them and rolling them. The kid yard then was about three times as large. DH loves retaining walls, I love going to the dump for instant removal of junk. We each consider the other to have peculiar obsessions. To each his own.

We need to move to a flat property! Fencing would be so easy then!

 

[Bruce]

Our itch weed here is a smaller and less painful cousin to the large nettles in other places.

Lucky you! We have the larger Stinging Nettle. The first time I touched it was accidental, didn't even know what it was. Brushed a finger over it while walking. Took nearly 24 hours before it felt normal again. I'll have to remember the vinegar fix. Theoretically the antidote to a plant grows nearby and burdock is the presumed antidote to stinging nettle. Crush a leaf and rub the juice on the area the nettle hit. I've done it but of course there is no way to know if the stinging would be worse if I hadn't. But burdock is its own PITA, those burrs attach to almost everything fabric or animal fiber. The alpacas found a lot that I didn't know about. I suspect it will be a lifelong task to pull them out before they can set seed.

We need to move to a flat property! Fencing would be so easy then!

Unless you have ledge and rocks like I do! Make sure you find a place that doesn't have beach sand for "soil" like @Baymule and @B&B Happy goats and doesn't have rocks and ledge like @Mike CHS and me.

 

[SA Farm]

We had the stinging nettles when I was a kid and we got stung a lot. Best remedy we ever found was smearing clay mud on it. Cooled it immediately to help the itch and when the clay dried it would pull the nettles out.