Lambing Season

We are well into lambing, most of the ewes have had their lambs.  Some of the lambs are old enough to be adventurous and play "king of the mountain ".

Kratos On Watch

Kratos keeps an eye on his sheep.

Mineral Feeder

Especially since we've split up the we flock for lambing, we need more of the "A" shaped feeders to protect the sheep minerals from rain.

Here are a list of materials and some photos from the recent build of 4 additional units.

For the most part, I used 1.5 x 6" dimension pine cut with our sawmill.

This shows the A frame legs and platform for the mineral tub.

The feeder is designed to contain and protect a 3 gallon Rubbermaid tub.

The feet, made from treated 4x4 blocks, 8 inches long protect the untreated pine from ground contact. 

The roof is made from 1/2" treated plywood. 

The finished mineral feeders.

Mineral Feeder list of material:

1.5x6 inch pine

• 2 - 36"  legs

• 2 - 34.5" legs

• 2 - 20" beveled one edge

• 2 - 20" tub floor

• 2 - 42 1/2" bottom, 30 1/2" top; side rail (top is 31 inches, located 21 ⅞" from peak)

1.5x2 inch pine

• 1 - 32" peak connector 

1.5x4 inch pine

• 1 - 20" ridge support

• 2 - 17" side rails for tub (rails spaced 9" apart to fit 3 gallon Rubbermaid "roughneck" tub)

Cattle Egrets

The sheep sometimes gather large flocks of cattle egrets, the birds finding insects disturbed by the sheep.  The sheep don't seem to mind the egrets standing on their backs and sometimes their heads as in this picture.

Hero recovered

Hero went to the veterinarian today, his x-ray was clear, no sign of the spotting caused by bacterial infection of vertebrae.   Thankful for that.

Today's x-ray:

Original x-ray: