Laboring Day

They hay racks have really cut down the mess and wasted hay in the sheep barn, but we still need to clean it.  So this Labor Day weekend was spent doing just that!

The ram shed was cleaned clear down to the boards and left to dry while the rams were busy out in their pasture.  They only get to graze in their pasture once a week so they didn't even notice the work that was going on.

The girls barn is a bit harder to keep clean because of the amount of traffic.  As the lambs are sold off things become easier although I do miss the lambs!

I love a clean goat barn with the smell of fresh wood chips!  Too bad it doesn't last very long.

The waste hay was dumped in low areas in the forest to fill in mosquito breeding spots while the hay that had more poo in it was spread in selected area to improve the soil and fill in holes.  The places where we did this last year have grown lush and green, I hope it keeps working.

I wasn't the only one exhausted by the end of the weekend!

Thanks Dad

My dad was here visiting last weekend and decided to do a little carpentry work. Addison was skeptical and pretended to ignore him.

She couldn't ignore the new gate he put in, it created a new holding area for me that I can use separate the new moms from one another.

He also put installed guard rails in the berthing stall to prevent the little ones from slipping under the fence, I learned that the hard way last year.

The new gate tucks away nicely when it isn't needed, I love it!

Unlike Addison Gidget is very impressed.

The cattle panel between me and the rams was working but less than optimal.

My dad cut the cattle panel to fit and reinforced it with some treated wood. He told me that this should keep me safe!

This too is a temporary fix as when he returns he promised to put in stalls like he did for the girl sheep and the goats. He will reuse the cross beams in the girls barn to make two more gates, I love my Dad!

Oh, let's not forget the latches he installed on the Ram shed to keep both the top and bottom pieces of both dutch doors secure - he thought of everything.

Spring Cleaning, Sheep Barn

Yesterday Duluth set a record for the highest temperature ever on this day at 75 degrees! The Commander and I decided that the time had come to clean out the barns, the sheep barn was first up. Look how deep the waste hay is!

Gardenia was curious about what we were up to.

The middle stall was already cleaned out once this Winter so it shouldn't be too hard to clean. This stall is Lara's favorite so I'm hoping to get her in here to have her lambs.

The end stall was also cleaned but it gets the most use so this one will take a bit more work to get ready.

Once Gardenia and Azalea saw that we were in the stalls they came charging in to see if I was going to dish out any grain.

It took quite a while but we finally got everything cleaned out. The waste hay was relocated by wheel barrow into a marshy area that the Commander cleared out just before the start of Winter. I hope this will serve as my compost area, creating new dirt and filling in the marsh at the same time.

Once everything was cleaned out I put down some diatomaceous earth (DE) to prevent any bugs from settling in. Gardenia and Azalea were curious so I brought everyone in to have a bit of grain.

Unfortunately Lara and Zoe (the two new sheep) didn't like how the barn looked with all the waste hay removed so they were too afraid to go back in with the others.

We tried to lure them in with grain, no luck. We moved the hay bowls into the barn and yet they still stayed outside.

When nightfall came we still couldn't get them to come back in, no amount of attempted herding, chasing, or bribing could get them inside. A few times the sheep would sneak up behind us and stare (laugh) at our pitiful efforts. The Commander finally gave up and closed the barn for the night, Zoe and Lara spent the night outside.

This morning the Commander opened up the barn and fed everyone inside in an attempt to use the girls hunger against them. Once he left they finally went inside to eat so I'll try to put them away tonight using a bit of grain.

Around here it is way to dangerous to overnight outside, especially this close to lambing. If I can't get them to overnight in the barn this is going to end in disaster.

New Ram Shed

The ram shed is finished, kind of. It still needs to be painted and then my dad will build some gates and stalls inside. You can see the girls barn in the background through the woods. There is still a lot of work left to be done before the pasture is ready.

The building has dutch doors on both ends. The open door will block the window, but when the door is closed sunshine and fresh air can still get inside.

A shot from the inside looking towards the house. The building is 10 feet wide by 14 feet long.

A half loft is lit by two skylights. The loft can easily hold 25 bales of hay.

A shot through the open back dutch door.

We are only going to winter over at most 4 rams so this shed should be plenty big. The rams will have to wait for a bit before moving into their new home as we still don't have any fences up in this area.

Curse of the BBQ

Last time I posted that we had hamburgers on the grill, boy did they taste yummy!  Unfortunately the Minnesota Winter struck back and hit us with 3" of heavy wet snow.

This was my lovely view the next morning.  No grilling today.

Before, you can see the waste hay........

....and after, the hay is buried in snow!

Here is the floor of the sheep stall that the Commander cleaned out.  It still didn't look too appealing so I gave it a few days to dry.  Once the floor was swept again, sprinkled with DE, a few wood chips and straw added and it should be ready for lambing.

My sheep area has 3 stalls and a aisle way, this picture is taken from the doorway.

The stalls should provide plenty of room for a mother and her lamb(s) to bed down and spend some quality time together.

I just need to clean up the one closest to the front door, the ladder and the feed hay can go in the loft when the time comes.

Orchid can't wait for the lambing to begin. I told her, "Go ahead, you can be first!"  Oh yes, we are expecting a blizzard tomorrow with winds gusting to 40 knots and a possible 8-10" of snow - ugh!  The curse continues.

Hillbilly Sheep Shed

The snowstorm Tuesday was brutal, thank goodness a lot of the snow has melted in the last two days. The electric fence looks so funny buried in the snow. It wasn't funny to see the rams tent crushed under the weight of the slushy snow, so we had to come up with a different shelter before the next snow storm - quick.


We looked around and decided that the dog panels surrounding the garden were available for winter use so off to the ram's pasture they went.


I took out a 30 x 20 foot tarp and attached it to the panels with zip ties. The roof is made of 2 extra waterproof sheets of plywood and some tin roofing left over from the demolition of the old Blue Barn


We left the pop-up tent inside the shelter but placed it on an old plastic shed platform that we stored firewood on. The boys new winter home should protect them from rain, wind, and snow. Its not pretty, but it should get them through the winter. A bonus is that we can actually close them up inside if we need to.

Thanks Dad!

My father came to visit and went right to work on the sheep shed. Here is the before picture.


The sheep liked their shed, but they had to jump up into the front door.


Here is the shed after my father was finished working on it. Notice the lattice skirt that will prevent lambs from wandering underneath the shelter. A latch was added to hold the dutch doors open, both are open in this picture so you can see right out the back.


"Can I come in?"


"We really want to see what you are doing in there!"


Here is a barrel that my father brought and cut so we could safely store supplies inside.


He attached the pretty custom handles that I picked up for exactly this purpose, aren't they cute?


Before he went to work the inside was cold and empty. Notice how small little Gidget looks inside there.


The mineral trays were hanging by a thread, without changes it would be very hard in here come Spring when the lambs are to be born.


"Thanks Dad!" Look what he did. I now have three new birthing stalls and a reinforced hay loft.


Each stall has its own swinging gate and shiny new heavy duty latches to hold them open.


Notice the insulated waterproof siding that he put up all around the walls.


Once the loft was reinforced we took his truck and picked up 43 bales of hay to store up in the loft. We still have room for almost 100 more!


"When is he coming back to put in electricity and running water?"