Farming – Page 11 – Canfield Farms

Sheep Are Back Out!

Posted on March 22, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

sheepinpasture Last weekend, we moved the sheep back down to the pasture to graze. The move almost went without mishap, except that at one point, the sheep drifted down to the end of the driveway by the road, and noticed the green alleyway by the tree farm. They decided to start strolling in that direction. I wasn’t able to get down there very fast with Maggie, and because that area is unfenced and close to the road, I didn’t want to send Maggie down there by herself.

As I carefully pursued them with Maggie, they drifted further and further, until they finally stopped, three properties down, where the properties border an elevated road. Fortunately, they stood there in indecision long enough for me to get around them with Maggie and nudge them back home. My heart was in my throat though, partly from running all that way, and partly because I feared that if they got onto the road, or Maggie disobeyed me and rushed to try to bring them, we could have had a disaster! electronet

The sheep are happily back in their graze now. The first few nights, I fence the sheep in an inner circle of hotwire, and the dog in an outer circle. The dog was very fearful about the move (Kirk actually carried her the whole way down to the field, because she cannot yet walk on a leash!). I was worried I wouldn’t be able to catch the dog once she was loose in that big area, and frightened.

But, after a few days, they all settled in. So, now the sheep are inside the hotwire, and the dog has the rest of the pasture to roam. The lambs are safe from the dog, and coyotes would have to make it past the dog, and the hotwire, to get to the sheep. Now, I have to move the hotwire rectangle every week or so to put the sheep on fresh grass, and let the worn spots rest.

This morning I moved the wire, in the photo you can see the left side is muddy and eaten down, and the right side is fresh green grass. The Premier Electronet fencing is all that it promised to be- easy to move and very effective at keeping in the sheep.

New Bridge

Posted on March 22, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

kirkbridge Kirk has been working on this bridge the last few weeks. It is made out of more barn wood-these boards were floor joists from the second story. The boards are huge and heavy, 2×12″ true dimension lumber, and sometimes bigger. The wood from the barn is funny, we know it was milled on site, and there are many inconsistent dimensions of lumber. When building something like this, it’s necessary to pick through the boards to find ones that are the same.

We have two drainage ditches that stretch across our pasture. There are culverts on one end of the pasture where you can cross the ditches, but they’re by the road. Last summer, Kirk drug a few of these barn joists down to the field to use as temporary bridges over the ditches. This way, we could walk straight across the fields, through the middle, which is a straighter path from the house. But, the bridges were a bit risky- narrow and often slippery. bridge

So here is his more permanent solution. This is the first one, he plans to start the second one soon. This barn lumber was very dark from over 100 years of weathering- it was never stained or painted. He ran it through the planer, and it’s amazing how just shaving off a few millimeters, it looks as clean as fresh-cut lumber! He is finishing it with Varathane, so it will be pretty fancy!

The old bridge is in the picture- this new one will be a bit safer for walking on when our hands our full of stuff!

New Duck/Chicken Tractors

Posted on March 15, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

chickentractors I liked my original A-frame Duck Tractor design so much, that I’m building two more. One will be for chickens, however, with nest boxes in the back (ducks won’t use nest boxes, so the other A-frames are plain). I’m putting horizontal doors on the back wall, so that we can get eggs out of the nests without having to enter the A-frame.

The only thing I’m changing this time is I’m going to roof the whole structure, instead of putting chicken wire over half of it. I do like the original one I made, as it’s nice for baby poultry to be able to get some sunshine while they mature inside the pen. But since these will primarily be night houses for adult birds, I’d rather have the whole thing sheltered and dry.

The Last of the Lambs

Posted on March 12, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

801_whitelamb — White lamb with brown eyes, nose and ears!

Our last lambs were born today- two more ewe lambs, yeah! These belong to #801, who was a small yearling who did not look very big-in-the-belly, so she surprised us with twins! It’s a relief to have all the lambing over with, I plan to move all the sheep back down to the pasture on Saturday. The grass is growing, so the timing is good.

Our lamb crop statistics this year, for what they’re worth with a small lot of sheep:

200% lamb crop (6 ewes, 12 lambs born)
17% mortality (2 lambs died)
7 ewes, 3 rams
All but one ewe lambed during the day-very nice!

To Dock or Not to Dock

Posted on March 10, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

lambtail I’m not keen about tail docking on any animal, since it is a true amputation, and I have concerns about what it does to the animal’s physiology and whether they suffer from phantom limb syndrome. In sheep, short tail docking is definitely linked to greater incidence of rectal prolapse.

A couple of my Katahdins came with docked tails, and I don’t like them- it looks less clean to me, as “tail action” helps remove manure from their back ends. The ones that do have tails use them a lot, they are very expressive. I prefer the look of the natural tails, and am happy that I don’t have to dock any of my Katahdin lambs.

But, the single Jacob ewe was a different consideration. Lore has it that if you leave tails on wooled sheep, there is great danger of manure collection at the back end, which attracts fly eggs, then maggots, which will eventually eat flesh. So, when considering that, tail docking doesn’t seem so awful.

So, I docked this girl’s tail, using the banding method. I left the dock fairly long, maybe five joints, so hopefully she doesn’t have prolapse danger. I’m disappointed with the look though, as this thing atrophies and gets ready to fall off, I can see she’s not going to be nearly as cute as her long tail was! But it won’t show once she’s an adult and all wooley (like her filthy mama is in the background!).

Twin Lambs from Thursday

Posted on March 10, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

Here are photos of the twin lambs born last Thursday night. The first one was a ewe lamb, she’s kind of a dilute colored brown. brownewelamb

The second lamb was a ram, he’s the came-out-backwards guy. He seemed a bit weak that night, but by morning was up and about and nursing fine. He is also dilute brown, and has white socks on his rear legs.

brownramlamb

#33’s The Champ!

Posted on March 6, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

#33 had triplets today, all ewes- nice! They were on the ground when I got home from work. All look strong and healthy, and are nursing. I’m going to let her try to raise them all, her bag is so big, and she’s in pretty good condition, I think she can do it.

#33 was worrying me a bit in the last day or so, as she looked like she might prolapse. But, she didn’t, thankfully. Her lambs are white, brown and a spotted one, one six and the other two seven pounders.

A few hours later, #107 had twins, a ewe and a ram, both nine pounders. I don’t have photos of those yet, it was after dark. The first one I pulled, holy cow, the ewe seemed to have trouble pushing that one. The lamb’s tongue was sticking out in the fashion of a badly formed or dead animal during the labor process, so I was relieved to see she was normal once out! The second one was a breeched presentation, but he came out easily enough. He seemed to have more trouble breathing and coming around, I wonder if his bag and umbilical cord broke early, and he was without oxygen for a bit?

On Monday, #802 had one mondo-sized singleton ram lamb, 10.5 pounds, a brown one. He was so fully formed, he was literally galloping about minutes after being born, with the mother desperately trying to keep up with him!

And lastly, here is #33’s waistline, postpartum. I bet she is glad to have those things outta there!

We have one ewe left to lamb, I can’t wait for it to be done!

Outdoor Duck Snack Hut

Posted on March 5, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

duckfeedhut I built this poultry feeder A-frame a week or so ago. I used old barn wood this time. I don’t often find ways to recycle the barn wood, because it’s so dimensionally gigantic, dense and heavy compared to modern lumber, that even the tiniest structure weighs too much. Right now, we want everything to be move-able since we don’t know where all our permanent structures are going to go. But, this worked ok: made from barn siding and roof pieces, I think it “only” weighs about 50 pounds!

As you can see, I’m sticking with the A-frame theme, I just like the way they look, how easy they go together, how stable they are in the wind, and that they use less lumber than a cube. This thing I kind of free-handed, I didn’t do any measuring, I just eyeballed how it should go together based on the size of the feeder.

My plan here was to move the duck (and soon to be chicken) feeding station out into the yard. Since the ducks are nicely conditioned to free range by day, but go into their house at night, they no longer need a feeder in their shelter. And, that means they don’t need water in there either (ducks will choke themselves if they can eat grain but have no water with which to wash it down). The end result- less mess in their night shelter, and less frequent cleaning for me to do!

I am really pleased with the way things are working out with the ducks. I worried about predation during the day, since coyotes and eagles are ever-present and ducks are pretty helpless and not too brainy. But, we’ve only had one duck disappear in daytime in the last year and a half. So, knock on wood, they seem to be reasonably safe as long as they’re penned at night. I can stand a small percentage loss, as long as the predators don’t make a habit of it!

The ducks’ free-ranging during the day offers many benefits: they need less purchased feed, they eradicate slugs, they have a healthier diet, their eggs are richer, they stay cleaner and nicer-looking, and they are happier. Though they manage to hide a few eggs from me while they’re out and about, for the most part, they lay early in the morning in their pen. So, I’m satisfied with my egg yield, and am getting enough egg buyers now that the ducks are at least breaking even. What mystery eggs I do find in the yard go into the dog food. The best part is the slug patrol: I have a horrible slug phobia, so the ducks are worth their weight in gold in keeping the yard slug-free!

Poor, Monstrously Big #33

Posted on March 3, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

big33 Look at this girl! This is #33, the quirkiest, dorkiest, homeliest of our sheep; and also our favorite! She doesn’t take any guff from the dogs, and if there is Border Collie anywhere outside, #33 sticks to our legs like glue. She knows where the safety zone lies!

I was convinced a month and a half ago that she was due to lamb any minute! She is as big as a hippo, and has been bagged up all this time. Her udder could rival any dairy cow. She is six years old, and kind of saggy and baggy, so it’s hard to tell if the fetuses have moved downward or not, whereas on younger svelte ewes, it’s easier to see when they are dropping into birthing position.

She ran with a ram before I bought her on September 21st, so I thought for sure she would have been bred by him, and would have lambed in January like the other ewe did who came with her.

But, she is now past the time frame where her lambs could have belonged to him. Even by the largest time table I’ve seen published for sheep: 140-159 days, her last day to have produced his lambs would have been February 26th. I first exposed her to our ram on October 6th, so the likely earliest date for them was Saturday. There was a small window where I was nervous, if she would have lambed midweek, I would have felt unsure who the daddy really was- I should have waited a little longer to let Hershey loose. But, she has gone long enough now that I know for sure they belong to Hershey!

I’m taking bets there are three of them in there! When she stands, she is very lop-sided. Poor thing, she is literally going to feel 30 pounds lighter when she unloads those babies!

New Portable Hotwire System

Posted on March 3, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

hotwiresetup Last week I received a large order from Premier Supplies: 320 feet of portable “Electronet” fencing, and a portable fence charger with a solar panel. My long-term plan for this fencing was to help with rotational grazing and cleaving up our pastures into smaller sections. But, the short-term need was to be able to fence the dog in such a way that she can guard the sheep, but not wrestle with the lambs!

So, here they all are, in their temporary “feedlot” conditions. This little pen’s original purpose was to wait out any floods or potential floods, it is up on the hill near the house. But, it became a lifesaver when the coyotes became a problem, and the small quarters were necessary for the dog and sheep to become acquainted. With the arrival of the hotwire, I was able to make a “moat” around the center pen, so the ewes and lambs can be in there, and the dog surrounds them in an outer circle. It’s nice to have lambing happening close to the house, so I can monitor them frequently.

I put the ram in with the dog, so she’d have some company. She gets upset if she’s segregated from the sheep, or even some of the sheep, and spends her time trying to figure out how to reunite with them. This small adjustment in her space was also an attempt to gradually introduce her to the hotwire concept, in a familiar area, to reduce the trauma of it. Dogs often have a very hard time with electric shock, but it will be a necessary part of her environment, so she must learn about it!

We had one more lamb today, and the remaining three ewes should lamb any time. Once that is done, I can move the whole shebang back down to the pasture, and fence the ewes and lambs inside hotwire until the lambs are big enough to contend with the dog. I can fence the dog in, too, if I feel like I can’t catch her. I’m still working on that part.

fencer1 Here is the electric fence charger. It’s a rechargeable 12-volt battery, and the solar panel is more of a “booster” to help get a couple more days out of each charge. It’s supposed to last a week or two between chargings. The dog learned right quick to stay away from it, she is very afraid of it. And, the sheep are really too mellow to even challenge it. So, when I’m around, I can leave it turned off. But, at night, hopefully it’ll not only ensure the sheep and the dog stay in, but should keep the coyotes out.

So far, I like the Electronet. It was very quick and easy to set up. I’ll have to comment again the first time I take it up and move it, whether I manage to keep it from becoming a tangled mess! It does sag a bit on uneven ground, which makes it touch the grass more, which will shorten the battery’s life. But, overall, I think it’s a great tool, and will give us a lot of flexibility in grazing different places on the property; and possibly offering to graze the neighboring property, which has recently been a challenge for the owners to maintain.