Bachelor Pad
Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 8:58AM Last Fall we set up a pasture for the rams in order to separate them for breeding purposes. We knew they would be wintering with the girls again, but for a few months, they needed their own space.
And with that, we made one of our first big newbie mistakes: electric fencing will not hold back a ram in rut. There's a few week's span that I have marked out on my calandar that indicates "unknown father" to lambs born then. Grumble, grumble. They won't be able to be registered, but they'll still have great fleeces! One thing is nice though, I'm completely certain Knox settled Peridot, and that's one of my favorite pairings.
With our little mess-up behind us, we've been plotting out a permanent housing situation for the rams (which we should have done earlier, I know!). Last weekend we spent two long, gloriously beautiful days outside putting up the fencing. And this weekend (which was NOT a gloriously beautiful weekend), finished up with putting up a small house, trimming hooves, giving shots and moving the boys in.
Some work shots from last weekend:
The boys setting up the fence.
Matt looking cool.
The dogs got in on the fun (Axel is getting really big!).
Kat waved from the tractor (with Brendan driving) like she was a queen in a parade!
Just had to have a shot proving I can drive a tractor.
This is my favorite photo of the day. Kat and Matt eyeing eachother up: Matthew carting posts and Kat about to throw a snowball.
Another shot just to prove that I know how to do some manual labor. Really, these are photos for my family in Texas; I'm not sure they believe I do all this!
It's all good until someone slips in the mud puddle!
The next photos are from this past weekend (3/16/13).
Knox, Mike and Brendan demonstrating our ram-moving method. It worked pretty well. We even used the bucket to hold them down while we did hooves and shots.
The boys enjoyed the buffet in the new pen.
Knox inspecting the house.
Willie and Johnny giving it the go-over.
Update: this morning (3/18/13), I checked on the boys and they've knocked a hole in the side of their house. Perfect timing with this nice, new blanket of snow we got today.
They're idiots; what else can I say?
Reader Comments (3)
you just didn't give them another way out so they made it...LOL
I was eyeing the thin wall of that shelter wondering just how long it would last. I suggest stretching the fencing wire tighter as well!
The Critter Ranch: Should have let them help me design it to begin with!
Michelle: It had worked for the goats, but not for rams :( It's actually a temporary house for the next few weeks. We have plans to make a structure that will open on both ends so that we can cut the fields in quarters and do a bit of rotational grazing. It's definitely going to be reinforced!
And the fence is getting more posts :) Thanks for watching out for us!!