Saturday, February 24, 2007
We deal for a ram and then build a round pen...
Remember those panels we loaded up last week? Well, they arrived late yesterday afternoon. Betcha you can guess what we did today.
That was AFTER we went to a neighboring farm and made a deal for a Merino ram to add to our little flock of sheep. We'll get him in a couple of weeks, so that means building still more pens as he can't live full-time with the ewes.
His name is Aljinon... Al for short. He'll make a very nice addition, and eliminate the long walk across the desert (can you spell "tumbleweeds"?) to deliver the "girls" to the neighbor's ram.
Upon arriving home from the ram deal, we learned that the kind folks who delivered the horse panels were coming after their trailer if we had it empty. Took us about 15 minutes to haul 13 16-foot panels, a couple of 12 footers, a man-gate, the box for the worm bed and a couple of miscellaneous things.
Of course, once the panels were unloaded, we just had to build the pen. After much discussion, measuring, and more discussion, we set about building the pen.
Mind you, these panels are a wee bit heavy. It takes two of us to carry them any distance (more than a couple of feet). We got enough panels up to make sure our idea about the "double gate" system was sound and then set about cleaning the area of debris.
Now, debris here includes things like abandoned railroad ties, old fencing, pieces of barbed wire, baling wire, and cedar fence posts. That became a 2 hour job even with the help of the truck. At least we could set a choker chain and drag the RR ties to a new location.
Ok, time to set the panels. This many panels makes a 60-foot diameter pen. First thing was to set the outline with a measure from a center post, a 100-foot tape set to 30 feet (the radius), a trailblazer holding the end of the tape (me), and a marker coming along behind me with a hoe (Cindy). We let Bev be the pivot in the center.
About an hour later, we had carried, dragged, tugged, and dug the panels all into place.
Time now to see what Dusty thought about the whole thing, since he'd been watching from his corral.
We first stabled him and tested our 2-gate system. The concept here is to eliminate his options. He can go only from the corral to the pen, and only when we want him to. That all worked, so time to do it for real.
As I was on the short gate side, you can bet I was praying he didn't want to come my way.
What a good boy! He came directly from his stable, turned left at the gate and very slowly made his way across the 10 foot span created by the gates and entered his new "workout" pen.
Talk about surprised at his pace! This young boy first made his way all around the perimeter, taking in the scents and the view. Then he checked out the interior, pawed a bit and looked for a place to roll. He didn't find a good place for that, yet.
While Cindy went to bring mom out in the car, Dusty completed his inspection. No sooner did she arrive than he showed his approval, running full speed, bucking, kicking, and rearing in delight. What a sight!
Watching him made all the hard labor worth it.
Play time over, we called him to the stable and with very little hesitation, he did just as he was asked. Good day's work!
Needless to say, we're all tired to the bone and ready for bed. Tomorrow it's time to finish the sheep pen, and build the worm beds.
Oh, and maybe, just maybe we'll have a Key Lime Pie or two waiting for us.
Labels: Sheep
Read or Post a Comment
<< HomeSubscribe to Post Comments [Atom]