SheepGirl's Journal - Photos of the sheep 4/25

[bluebirdsnfur]

Can you pick up Cigala and put her in the shelter with Ali at night and then put up a gate to keep them in for the night?

 

[SheepGirl]

I'm going to make a gate and put it on the front once the whole thing is done and moved over a foot or two so it's in line with the fence posts. I'm going to make a little 8'x8' pen in front of it so I can have a place to herd the sheep to catch them. But she's warming up to it so far. She won't go IN it, but she will sleep in the shade on the back side of it.

(The black box is the shelter, the blue are the gates I'm going to make, and the red dots are the fence posts)

But anyway...Ciqala was in heat today. She just stood at the fence staring at Hank...I kept telling myself, "I don't want Feb lambs, I don't want Feb lambs..." welllll my excitement for using my new ram got the best of me AND I was thinking about all I could do with late Feb lambs...if they were girls, they would definitely be old enough to be bred around the same time as the rest of my ewe flock and if they were boys they would be a decent size to sell before May when market prices drop. So I haltered him up and brought him over to the pasture and he bred Ciqala...I just let him stay for one cover because then I got to thinking...I do really want March lambs lol so I took him back. But if she was bred, I will know around Oct. 13. So I will be watching to see if she gets a nice big mark on her butt.

It was so funny though earlier today...I let the lambs out since it was supposed to rain and in Billy's old pen there really isn't much shelter so I figured I'd just let them back in the pasture. Well Ali was soo happy to see them she head butted Lady Gaga But then Katy Perry got excited and tried to hump Lady Gaga and Ali and then they started chasing each other over the pasture hopping like bunnies and kicking up their heels. I've never seen my 3 yr old ewe run so fast lol. It took a while for Ciqala to join in but she eventually started doing the bunny hopping thing lol.

But anyway, when I brought Hank over for his "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" Katy Perry was all into him and because Hank was on the halter (he isn't totally halter trained) he kept swinging his head and so I guess Katy Perry thought he was trying to head butt her so she kept backing up and charging into him That little girl acts more like a ram lamb than a ewe lamb. I'm kind of worried about her lol because I want to breed her.

 

[SheepGirl]

finally...a pic of my sheep shack!

it really isn't much. just 3 pieces of plywood leaning up against the fence, and then 2 pieces of plywood being held up by a piece of chainlink with a tarp on top. The piece of plywood on the ground always fell down, but it was supposed to be standing up so they have a windbreak.

my new shelter is soo much better. the only downside is is that i can't stand up in it lol.

i will see about getting pics tomorrow of it.

 

[Bridgemoof]

haha Sheepgirl, that sheep shack is something else. Looks like something I would make, for sure! I look forward to seeing your new, improved one.

I can't believe you broke down and let Hank breed to Ciqala! You'll be happy though when you start seeing lamb pics of other people start in February, then you'll be glad you did it. Hopefully we'll have a mild winter again. I can't imagine how the sheep get around when we have snow like we had a couple years ago. Did you have your sheep then when we had like 3 feet of snow? I'll be shoveling walkways around the pasture for them, I can see it now! Oh and I can only imagine the little snow balls that will be stuck all over their wool. Agh!

 

[SheepGirl]

Haha yepp I had my sheep then. It was terrible! I wasn't able to go to the barn for 2-3 weeks because the snow was so deep and I physically couldn't walk 1/4 mile each way up and down a hill in 3' deep snow. Eventually we used my neighbor's snow blower and my other neighbor's tractor to plow our driveway and a path for me to get to the barn lol. But luckily my neighbor used his snow blower to make a path from his back door to the barn so he was able to feed and water them.

That was also the time I found out Billy wasn't a wether, and in fact, a ram. I hadn't been down to the barn in a couple weeks and I noticed my ewe had gained a lot of weight. I actually wrote down in my FFA SAE record book I thought she would lamb March 21--she ended up lambing March 18 with twin boys (one of them Paulie)

Haha I hate the snow balls...they are so hard to get out of wool!

 

[SheepGirl]

I got pics of the new shelter. But I don't have time to upload them because I have to go to class, so I will work on it when I get home

 

[SheepGirl]

Pics

Ciqala was still in heat when I went out to feed.

The wool on her brisket looks like a carpet...or a bunch of maggots (how I remember Lady Gaga's flystrike). Cool but disgusting at the same time

The ewe flock

Katy Perry

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga <3

now, pics of the new shelter...

we didn't make a 'real' roof (as in having it slope) because the shelter is on a slope so we didn't bother with it

Haven't nailed on the front board yet nor is the roof nailed on/finished. I realized the other day I'm too scared to use power tools (we pre-drill the holes where the nails go) without someone supervising me to make sure I'm using it right lol

Inside corner

How we attached the 2x4s to make the walls

How we attached the walls together.

Roof support

How we attached the roof support 2x4 to the wall

As we were hammering the nails through the connector, it started to bend so we nailed a chunk of wood underneath to prevent it from bending.

View from the back

She has finally decided she likes it

 

[Bridgemoof]

Oh my! That looks great Sheepgirl! You did a really nice job. It kind of looks like you have a hot tub in the backyard from the outside, lol. I'm sure your sheep will appreciate it very much, especially tonight. I don't know about you but we are getting torrential downpours and thunder and lots of lightning. One flock is in the barn, the other is outside without shelter. :-( Poor babies!

Now you'll get to see how your roof works out. But even if it gets wet in there, it sure beats standing out in the rain. I'm sure they are all cuddled up in there, and hopefully dry!

I am not a fan of power saws, they scare me. But other power tools are okay. I'm going to go show your design to Tim right now! Thanks for posting pics.

 

[SheepGirl]

haha yeah we had a lot of thunderstorms last night. Don't know if the sheep went in or not, and I don't know if it was dry in there or not, but the sheep were still wet when I went out to feed this morning So maybe they were grazing in light rain but went in the shelter for the heavy downpour?

-----

There's a job at a petting zoo (only for the month of Oct) so I'm going to be going to the walk-in interview day on Monday. So hopefully I get it I told my mom that if I get it, it will be used to pay for my sheep only (not rent or car insurance/gas) and she was fine with that, so if I do get it, I will be able to pay my mom back for feed and some of the ram (I paid for 5/6 of him, but my mom had to pay for the rest ) plus then I will have extra money to pay for feed until I sell lambs and I can buy myself other sheep stuff I need (err, want)...like a scale, a stand (or a sheep chair), and some more feeders (I'm getting tired of using glad containers for feeders...they're too small lol).

And then there's a new McDonald's opening up in November, so I'm applying, so let's hope I get that job, too!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Your lambs are looking really good. The shelter looks good too. You may want to paint the roof or seal it since is OSB. It lasts really well once painted, but not so much if it's not painted.