Portable Water

One of the problems we have is taking advantage of forage that is not fenced and has no water supply. The electric net fence solves the former problem; providing water to the sheep is more problematic. Using a float valve plumbed to a 55 gallon drum was marginal.   The water drained out of the tank slowly through the float valve with not much pressure behind it. The sheep drank the water faster than it was delivered.

I scraped that solution and started using the fire control water tank that I built earlier with 2 55-gallon drums and an on demand electric water pump.  So, each morning and evening, when I feed the dogs, I fill up the 11 supplement tub containers set out along the fence. So far this has provided plenty of water for the sheep, with multiple access points for drinking.

New Pasture

Early summer of last year we planted UF-Riata bahia grass in the middle pinelands. The grass came in very nicely, but so far we don't have fencing installed in this part of the farm.  So, today, we took 14 sections of electric net fencing and encircled the pasture.  By mid-afternoon we were ready and brought the sheep in.  Then we hooked up the fence energizer and set up a water tank.  No running, plumbed in, water here either.  The sheep are happy in their new pasture. 

Herbicide Spraying

For the first time we set up the John Deere 2955 to spray herbicide, having the air conditioned cab was nice.  This morning I sprayed out 600 gallons of solution on the broadleaf weeds in various pastures. 

This is the getup I wear while loading chemical concentrate into the tank.

Planting

The project this weekend was to plant cowpeas and millet. I had previously sprayed herbicide on some of the fields to prepare them for using the no-till seed drill.  The cowpeas had to be planted at from 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep, while the millet wanted a 1/2 inch deep planting.  Also, the millet was much smaller than the cowpea seed, so when mixed together and vibranted, as if in the planter, the millet would work its way to the bottom and we would get an uneven mixture.  So we decided to plant the cowpeas first, deep, and after all cowpeas were planted, come back over shallow and plant the millet.

Jeffrey started planting, while I sprayed more herbicide on some of the fields that hadn't yet been sprayed.   Then we took turns running the planter.  It was about 16 hours of field work to get all the cowpeas planted. Late Saturday, we started planting the millet and I continued until around 11:00 AM, when a weather front came through and it started raining.   It was a good rain that settled all the dirt in around the seed.  I had finished planting millet in the south field and the middle and north beaver fields. 

Monday morning I checked some of the cowpeea seed, it was starting to germinate already, showing a quarter inch of root coming out of the seed.  Since the rain had settled the soil and cowpeas so well, I did not want to disturb them by overseeding the remaining millet.   Instead I planted the millet in the lone pine field, with some in the middle field to finish it up. 

Tuesday morning, I was considering spreading fertilizer on the cowpeas before they emerged.   No such luck.  Below is a photo of the south field, Tuesday morning. 

The cowpeas are up and getting a good start.

I will have to delay running the tractor and fertilizer buggy over them until they are better established. 

Morning on the 60-acres

The sheep, with dogs Kratos and Anneika, are foraging on the 60-acres for a few days.   Lots of spring weeds.  This morning I found Kratos and Anneika overlooking the Jeffrey and Jackie homestead. 

Meanwhile, the sheep had come back to take turns getting minerals and water.

Kratos came back to get some water and be with the sheep.  He is getting to be an old dog.  He settled in at the base of the tree with the sheep, while Anneika, I could hear was chasing around in the brush checking out something. 

Eventually, Anneika came in and settled down with the sheep.

Swamp Road, in service, sort-of

The sheep tried out the newly cleared swamp road today.  Kratos led the way and went on ahead to check out the new area.   Anneika came along with the sheep.  They came across quite nicely and went on up the hill into the brush. 

Unfortunately, after they were all up the hill and eating merrily in the brush, Kratos decided to come back.  While not barking, his movement pushed the sheep on ahead of him and they, enmass, moved back across the swamp road and out of the area. Nothing I could do about it. 

Later in the day I tried the sheep again, without dogs.  A few of the leaders came across with me, but when the bulk of them deferred, even the leaders turned around and went out. 

The brush is up enough that we will need to use the Brown Tree Cutter on it, but before we can get a tractor back here, we have some dirt filling to do on the road. 

I will try again tomorrow. 

Vehicle Training

Hero, Heidi and I went on a walk and stopped by the truck for some vehicle training.   They won't hop in or jump out on their own yet, but they are pretty good at sitting.  We took some pictures. 

Load Up

Load Up.  That's the command we use to get the dogs on board a vehicle.   Some of our dogs are more responsive than others to the command.  Whitie and Niobe usually not so much.  However, thunder changes their behavior and it's hard to keep them out.  

Here, we went out to quickly get some net fence up to contain the sheep before an approaching storm reached us.

This dog seems kind of long, head to tail.

Oh, it's two dogs that heard thunder and decided to pack in for shelter: Niobe and Whitie. 

All done and headed back to the barn.  Normally, dogs are supposed to "load up" to the rear of the vehicle.   Whitie was down at my feet helping with the accelerator.  We made it back before it started raining too much.

Swamp Road

This is the swamp road on the north edge of the property.  We had built this up and installed several culverts.  I wanted to bring the sheep down here to access the forage on the other side.   Some beavers had other ideas.  They plugged the culverts and started building a dam on top of the road to make the water level even higher.

On the far side, the beaver dam was about 2 ft high.  Started breaking it apart with the hoe.  Need to get the water level down so I can access the entrance to the culverts that are all plugged. 

Looking back from the west side, one can see the beavers put a substantial dam in place. 

The road seems more sheep friendly after the swamp is drained after a few hours of weed eating.   We will see what the sheep think of it next.

Pond Occupied

Well, trying to find some fresh forage for the ewe flock, and let the grass grow up for later as well.  I thought, nothing has been in the pond field for a while and it would be good to get that area chewed down. Checking it prior to the big move, I found the area to be occupied by a pair of geese and their, can't fly yet, goslings.  I can't move 2 dogs and over 300 sheep in here now.  I don't think the geese could manage that very well.  I  will have to find another place for sheep.   We have plenty of land, just not enough of it fenced in.

The pictures are not very good, but you can get the idea.