‘Ram-proofed?’

It’s sheep (and goat) breeding season here on the farm. Need I say more??

Our yearling Shetland ram, ‘El Destructo’ (aka Athos) has ‘displayed’ this hormonal surge in a most damaging past-time of barn bashing…that is ‘ramming’ his nice little shed! He’s actually bashed it with such great force that he’s moved the entire structure several inches – AND even lifted/twisted the roof rafters from the structure!!! He’s making toothpicks out of the nice cedar trim. NOTE TO SELF: Do not build a low roof-line within ram striking distance!

After numerous repairs to the shed, we initially buried several guard corner posts (to protect the low profile of the back of the shed) to allay potential ramming…but to no avail. He’d bash and smash and eventually topple over the posts. So, this past weekend we’ve taken some drastic measures and created a protective corner on either side of the shed. We’ve given Athos a battering board of sorts…

Athos is the big fellow standing next to the shed – looking so defiant! He’s probably laughing at us. Aramis is in the foreground – a Spring ram lamb and Athos’ son.

Here’s a close-up of the corner detail; we used salvaged wood, the odds & ends from previous projects (we rarely throw away any wood!) to build our recycled corner protectors.

 

The sheep no longer have access behind the shed. We’ll just have to wait and see how well this ‘wall’ stands up to Athos and his ramming!??

Well, this little ramming issue diverted us from our most current project – an additional sheep shed for my ewes. Remember I talked about recycling my kids play fort? One fort/tower was used to construct my goat kids play fort last year…and the second fort/tower (we had a ‘his’ and ‘her’ fort) was recently dismantled and provided enough wood to salvage for our ‘new’ sheep shed.

Here’s a pic of the framing. The shed’s purpose is to provide much-needed shade (in the heat of summer)  in addition to rainfall/winter – even though Shetland sheep are a hardy breed – I like HAPPY comfortable sheepies! Note the back roofline is higher off the ground! ha ha

It’s a work in progress…but the sheepies are already ‘trying’ it out. We still need to trim and finish the interior, shingle the roof, and construct a sort of ‘wind break’ panel in front of the door.

Next up: I already have an order in to hubby for another hay feeder for my sheepies. Poor hubby! But, there’s too many growing sheepies to gather comfortably around the existing hay feeder. Ya know what that means – I gotta sell some of my fine, single-coated ewe lambs. boo hoo. Any interest in adding a lovely sheepie to your farm? Inquiries welcome.

It’s official! Pookie, our ‘educated’ little stray kitty — my son brought home from college this past August — is part of the family. She’s healthy, up to-date on all her cat shots and successfully spayed ($$$ cha-ching $$$$)! It’s NOT  that I don’t adore kittens around the barnyard…but enough already!!!

Pookie is our milk’n buddy. She’d crawl right onto the milk stand and latch on to a goat’s teat if she could…! She’s make a purrrrfect ‘got milk’ campaign kitty!

Aside from all the animal antics, I’ve been busy knitting-up a few woolies for the shop, finally un-packed from my last fiber show, making soap and doing some  MAJOR cleaning/freshening in the shop and drying barn for the soon-to-be-here holidays! Yikes!

Been cleaning up the gardens too. Do you know which culinary herbs retain their ‘flavor’ best by drying OR freezing? Perhaps we’ll talk about preserving the herbal harvest next time…

On the menu for tonight, barbecued pulled pork and fresh from the garden slaw. Have a good day!