Sunday Reading - Putting in Posts and Curious Sheep

By the time we got our normal Sunday errand running finished and got back to the Small-Hold it was so hot and humid I had lost all motivation for working on the fence. Instead I took a nap :)

By later in the afternoon I was feeling so guilty about not getting anything done it finally motivated me enough to break out the Diesel with the post hole digger and get to work.

The son and I got eight posts sunk this afternoon. I am going to let them settle a bit over night and then pack em in some more and put on the cross braces.

This three post section is at a corner that makes a small 15 or 20 degree angle turn that will then head off and connect up with the fence around the barn. I am using smaller corner posts for this section rather than going out and cutting some of my own Cedar posts because it won't generally need to be horse proof only sheep proof. I will run a strand of electric fence across the top to keep the useless old nags off it for the few times I let them graze in the hay field.

I am also putting in a walk in gate up by the fence line that borders the road.

My plan is to put up a moveable electric fence about 10 yards or so out from the fence line to allow the sheep to graze down along the fence. If I start doing this every year after hay season is over perhaps it will hold them long enough for them to turn this.....

Into this.....

As you can see they did one fine job of munching down all the tangled wild rose bush, grapevine and Bluestem Grass along this section of fence. While I am done trying to actually keep the girls in with electric wire for the long term maybe it will work on a short term weed control basis. If I can get the over grown sections of fence cleaned out as well as this section I will be happy as a clam and can then begin repairing and replacing that old fence line to.

Of course the sheep had to come up and see what we were doing. They tried to play it off like they were eating but it was pretty obvious they were mostly being nosey. The sheep are not even a bit phased by the tractor running next to them anymore so even that didn't scare em off.

This is the ewe that we almost lost to the Barber Pole Worms about a month ago or so. She was so sick and her throat had swelled up like a balloon but I kept shoving wormer and anti-biotics down her along with hand feeding her special treats. She is finally gaining weight once again and able to keep up with the flock while they are out and about. If you look closely you can see she is now losing patches of her wool. That's pretty common after the sheep have recovered from a bad illness. I have noticed they seem to lose it especially bad along the front shoulders, belly and back legs.  I'm just glad she is putting her weight back on at this point.

Tomorrow I will put in the cross supports and string the fence I hope. That way I can keep the sheep out of the hay field for the next cutting.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!