Assess, plan, implement, and evaluate. Best strategic plan that has worked for nurses for years. Glad your water is in again. Very glad you have a pond. God bless you. You are doing great.
Catching rain water is all we have here in Australia. It’s a great idea any roof you have put a rainwater gutter on and pipe into storage tanks. You’d be surprised how much you can collect. One square metre of roof x one milliliter of rain = one litre of water. I think roughly three square feet of roof would = about a quart.😊
I hope you put gravel in the bottom of those holes. It helps the water drain off of the poles. It especially important with these new non treated/ treated lumber. Just a little FYI. If you inform your left company you're putting your lumber straight into the ground thru can or should be able to get you the original treated lumber for your next project
During our freezing weather I had to move all my cattle into a paddock that had a pond. I have 54 paddocks and not all of them have a pond. I had to drain my entire watering system in order to keep my pipes from freezing. I actually moved everyone a day before the freeze so that my system would have time to drain. I have a little over 6 miles of water line, and that takes a while to drain. Luckily when I turned everything back on I had no busted pipes. Couldn't believe it!!! During extreme cold, like we had in Texas this winter, you're going to have to have a way to break the ice off of the water you collect. I found that one or two places for my animals to drink from my ponds worked better than several places, because animals utilizing it will help keep it from freezing so quickly. You definitely have to be diligent in breaking the ice often enough they could drink, because otherwise they will walk out on the pond and fall through the ice as it got thinner further out on the pond. This happened to several people in our area. Excuse the long comment 😴
This is really good info. It helps to know that you had to strategize about water during this time. It wasn’t something I thought much about until I didn’t have it. 🤦🏼♀️
I've also seen a setup where someone used a cattle panel as a fence. Put a large (cut in half) plastic pipe as a feeder trough on the outside of said cattle panel and let the sheep put their heads thru. He just walked down his drive and fed and this brought the sheep into a small area to feed comfortably. May it a safe space for them when he needed to work them later too.
Shepherdess’s , my ranch and farm water storage is a 3600 gallons and my own well. My advice is to get a large storage tank and water your animals from it for emergency for a few days.
I have set up 8,000 gallon storage off my well. I have set up 2-5,000 gallon tanks off my barn. Still have to hook these up and if it ever rains I will collect rain. I plan on setting up rainwater collection on the remaining 6 buildings. Can never have too much water.
You have some sheds to be good water collectors for a tank or two, from there on it’s gravity feed to troughs, I have a 5000 gal tank just for sheep water.
Everything is looking good! I have or WILL have ponds all over the ranch where I graze. Building ponds isn't always practical but the water is like money in the bank. Rainwater catchments are a practical resource, if the environment allows for ponds they are likely going to be the best bang for the buck. It takes a lot of surface area to catch enough rainwater to be efficient. We have one on part of the ranch plumbed off the roof of a large metal shed. It works ok but not a very efficient use of a $120K shed, lol. We also get 45+ inches of annual rainfall.
Look at April Wilkerson's video when she set a rain water collection for her house. Different use-case but same idea. If you have any kind of roof, you can collect rain.
Sister at the end of the shoot it would be nice to have a portable roll table shoot so it will put you sheep on their sides so you can with ease trim their feet and save money on vet bills
Rain water would substitute for short time till you get a build up of it. It’s going to take a roof line to catch it. The storage will have to be dark with no sun light to keep mold from growing in it
For reference, 7.49 gallons per cubic foot. So a 100 square foot collection area would yield 62 gallons with a 1 inch rain. Also look into which way the brace goes on a wooden gate. Putting the top part away from the hinges provides more support to minimize sagging.
i have a two fold idea,, build a shade roof that collects rain,, unless you live in a area that has a lot of tornados,, the roof provides shade for the sheep
On your sun, wind shed. Add a rain gutter. But, for a down spout you'll be using a water pipe that will have a piece that you can open a drain to flush out debris and contamination from this pipe that may have washed in from up top. Now, here Is the trick. As this pipe is closed at the bottom. When it rains. Debris will be washed into this pipe as it is filled. When it reaches near the top it will reach an overflow pipe that will go into a very large water container. You can have this set up with a drain port and an overflow. Overflow is obvious. Drain, you can have a hand cart or golf cart with a solar panel on top and a 40 gallon water tank on back. Problem solved when in situations like this. The tank, I'd suggest having it up about 3 to 4 feet high on an over built platform as it will be holding up a few tons. Literally! Best of luck
May I suggest you find someone familiar with your area and permaculture. Water management is a key component. I live in the maritime Pac NW and could teach you the basics but I couldn't recommend any specific plants or such. Greg Judy, Joel Saliton, or just about anyone doing regen ag can help get you to the right person. One reason to get with someone who knows permaculture is we plan for resilience and want things to work without added effort (STUN-strategic total utter neglect). Rotation grazing, chicken tractor and much of what you are doing already is permaculture, getting your water system to the STUN point won't take much. That pocket pond and catching water off roofs and roads are key components to a good system, so you are part of the way there already. If you need help finding help, but me and I'll shake some trees to see who is available.
Hi Steven! We made a mistake on the chute width. We chose 26" instead of 21". The sheep were able to turn circles in it and working them was a mess. To fix the width would cost as much as building from scratch (or 50% more today with materials up so much from last February). All that said, we converted this into a narrow holding pen (which is great for sheep) and invested in a commercial sheep handling system from Lakeland Farm and Ranch. Make sure to get the width right the first time and you will have a great chute for about $500!
To the Shepherdess you would better to buy to a mobile Sheep handling System then doing it yourself tho really. Trust l am a Kiwi. You Shouldn’t worry about the Cost of it tho really. You get what you pay for in this World. Think long term tho really. There’s a few good ones too look at tho .And they will help you a lot too. The out lay may cost but you will get everything you need and will use too Shepherdess tho but also get more too add if you need it really. And it will make your farming life far easier than doing it yourself tho really. And that’s a tip trust me . l did myself never again tho . I layed out the money and never looked back tho. And it’s made Sheep handling and loading and unloading So much easier but also Safer too really and all that use love it as easy too use. And it’s made Sheep handling far better as well really. Kiwi Shayne. Sheep need really good handling System tho and it will make things a lot easier for you to really tho
I’m watching must of your videos months after so I’m not sure what’s helpful. My recommendation on water is collect all the rainwater you can. You’ve since interviewed Salatin and all of his hundreds of acres either collect rainwater in the heights (Blue Ridge Mountains) or have pipes from those many reservoirs he’s built over time. 70 psi for him no pumps. I planted several thousand tea plants after germinating them in my greenhouse which collected all the water. City water tends to be alkaline and tea needs acid. My olants did great. We believe in redundancy. We have city water, rainwater collected in 1500-2500 gallon storage tanks; and have resorted to pumping creek water up to the high ground fir irrigation once in a drought. The plants love the rain, like the creek and dint like city water so much. One of our tanks is set up with baffles a d we. An haul it. A mobile water tank is gold in your situation as in mine. I pulled it with my midsized suv even though we have a midsized tractor and you could also. There is a water tank manufacturer in East Texas south of you off I-45. I bought a tank there by phone and had it delivered to my small farm in South Alabama. The cost at the time $1 per gallon and often have sales. I highly recommend it as a long term strategy even if just for redundancy. A hurricane or another snowmaggedon is not worth guessing about! Perhaps you’ve solved this by now but those three ideas for water redundancy are how my farm works well.
I mentioned baffles in my mobile tank. In case you don’t know why, large volumes of fluid don’t stop when the carrier stops! Baffles compartmentalizations the water to buffer the inertia. Otherwise the momentum can split the tank or destroy the trailer! Just wanted to mention in case. I had a lot to learn about water collection and this was useful in case it had to be hauled on a Highway. I’ve only done that once but it was necessary. It helps at slow speeds also however. Also it occurs to me you might collect rain then see if your sheep prefer city water over rainwater. Let me know if you try that.
Assess, plan, implement, and evaluate. Best strategic plan that has worked for nurses for years. Glad your water is in again. Very glad you have a pond. God bless you. You are doing great.
Thanks Karen! Your encouraging words are giving me life today!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Catching rain water is all we have here in Australia. It’s a great idea any roof you have put a rainwater gutter on and pipe into storage tanks. You’d be surprised how much you can collect. One square metre of roof x one milliliter of rain = one litre of water. I think roughly three square feet of roof would = about a quart.😊
Check out off grid with Doug and Stacy. They use rain water and have the system installed on their barns etc.
Good looking sheep !
I hope you put gravel in the bottom of those holes. It helps the water drain off of the poles. It especially important with these new non treated/ treated lumber. Just a little FYI. If you inform your left company you're putting your lumber straight into the ground thru can or should be able to get you the original treated lumber for your next project
U should look into installing a gypsy well or 2
During our freezing weather I had to move all my cattle into a paddock that had a pond. I have 54 paddocks and not all of them have a pond. I had to drain my entire watering system in order to keep my pipes from freezing. I actually moved everyone a day before the freeze so that my system would have time to drain. I have a little over 6 miles of water line, and that takes a while to drain. Luckily when I turned everything back on I had no busted pipes. Couldn't believe it!!!
During extreme cold, like we had in Texas this winter, you're going to have to have a way to break the ice off of the water you collect. I found that one or two places for my animals to drink from my ponds worked better than several places, because animals utilizing it will help keep it from freezing so quickly. You definitely have to be diligent in breaking the ice often enough they could drink, because otherwise they will walk out on the pond and fall through the ice as it got thinner further out on the pond. This happened to several people in our area. Excuse the long comment 😴
This is really good info. It helps to know that you had to strategize about water during this time. It wasn’t something I thought much about until I didn’t have it. 🤦🏼♀️
I've also seen a setup where someone used a cattle panel as a fence. Put a large (cut in half) plastic pipe as a feeder trough on the outside of said cattle panel and let the sheep put their heads thru. He just walked down his drive and fed and this brought the sheep into a small area to feed comfortably. May it a safe space for them when he needed to work them later too.
Greetings from the LooseNatural farm in Andalusia Spain
Shepherdess’s , my ranch and farm water storage is a 3600 gallons and my own well. My advice is to get a large storage tank and water your animals from it for emergency for a few days.
This is really helpful info! Seems more approachable/practical than rain water collection. Thanks for the insight!
-the Shepherdess
I have set up 8,000 gallon storage off my well. I have set up 2-5,000 gallon tanks off my barn. Still have to hook these up and if it ever rains I will collect rain. I plan on setting up rainwater collection on the remaining 6 buildings. Can never have too much water.
Looking good!
Thanks Farmer Tyler! Great to hear from you.
-the Shepherdess🐑🌱
You have some sheds to be good water collectors for a tank or two, from there on it’s gravity feed to troughs, I have a 5000 gal tank just for sheep water.
Everything is looking good!
I have or WILL have ponds all over the ranch where I graze. Building ponds isn't always practical but the water is like money in the bank. Rainwater catchments are a practical resource, if the environment allows for ponds they are likely going to be the best bang for the buck. It takes a lot of surface area to catch enough rainwater to be efficient. We have one on part of the ranch plumbed off the roof of a large metal shed. It works ok but not a very efficient use of a $120K shed, lol. We also get 45+ inches of annual rainfall.
Good info here, this insight really helps! Thanks very much for sharing.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Look at April Wilkerson's video when she set a rain water collection for her house. Different use-case but same idea. If you have any kind of roof, you can collect rain.
Great feedback! Thank you.
-the Shepherdess
Sister at the end of the shoot it would be nice to have a portable roll table shoot so it will put you sheep on their sides so you can with ease trim their feet and save money on vet bills
Rain water would substitute for short time till you get a build up of it. It’s going to take a roof line to catch it. The storage will have to be dark with no sun light to keep mold from growing in it
For reference, 7.49 gallons per cubic foot. So a 100 square foot collection area would yield 62 gallons with a 1 inch rain. Also look into which way the brace goes on a wooden gate. Putting the top part away from the hinges provides more support to minimize sagging.
That’s good info on the gallons to footage ratio! Thank you for commenting.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
The brace on the wooden gate is backwards. Great video
Oh what I'd give to be able to dig a hole that easily. Haha. Skid loader augers have a hard time around here.
9:59 Hey are you checking all the screw if they are not to long, on the right side, where the metal panel are.
Yep, those will be trimmed! They stick out about 1/3” of an inch which would dig in to some of my fat girls. 😄
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Did you use any electric fencing to prevent issues from coyotes on the farm? Thanks!
i have a two fold idea,, build a shade roof that collects rain,, unless you live in a area that has a lot of tornados,, the roof provides shade for the sheep
On your sun, wind shed. Add a rain gutter. But, for a down spout you'll be using a water pipe that will have a piece that you can open a drain to flush out debris and contamination from this pipe that may have washed in from up top. Now, here Is the trick. As this pipe is closed at the bottom. When it rains. Debris will be washed into this pipe as it is filled. When it reaches near the top it will reach an overflow pipe that will go into a very large water container. You can have this set up with a drain port and an overflow. Overflow is obvious. Drain, you can have a hand cart or golf cart with a solar panel on top and a 40 gallon water tank on back. Problem solved when in situations like this. The tank, I'd suggest having it up about 3 to 4 feet high on an over built platform as it will be holding up a few tons. Literally! Best of luck
Brad Lancaster is the rain water harvesting guru. TED talks and TH-cam for a quick look. His books are amazing!
Did the Shepherdess do any physical labor or just delegate? Bet those guys are worth there weight in gold!
No comment, but that chocolate bar sure was tasty. 😂😂
-the Shepherdess
But I can agree they are worth their weight in gold. 😂
May I suggest you find someone familiar with your area and permaculture. Water management is a key component. I live in the maritime Pac NW and could teach you the basics but I couldn't recommend any specific plants or such. Greg Judy, Joel Saliton, or just about anyone doing regen ag can help get you to the right person. One reason to get with someone who knows permaculture is we plan for resilience and want things to work without added effort (STUN-strategic total utter neglect). Rotation grazing, chicken tractor and much of what you are doing already is permaculture, getting your water system to the STUN point won't take much. That pocket pond and catching water off roofs and roads are key components to a good system, so you are part of the way there already. If you need help finding help, but me and I'll shake some trees to see who is available.
part 2 coming?
Hi Steven! We made a mistake on the chute width. We chose 26" instead of 21". The sheep were able to turn circles in it and working them was a mess. To fix the width would cost as much as building from scratch (or 50% more today with materials up so much from last February). All that said, we converted this into a narrow holding pen (which is great for sheep) and invested in a commercial sheep handling system from Lakeland Farm and Ranch.
Make sure to get the width right the first time and you will have a great chute for about $500!
@@theShepherdess this is great information! Thank you so much!
To the Shepherdess you would better to buy to a mobile Sheep handling System then doing it yourself tho really. Trust l am a Kiwi. You Shouldn’t worry about the Cost of it tho really. You get what you pay for in this World. Think long term tho really. There’s a few good ones too look at tho .And they will help you a lot too. The out lay may cost but you will get everything you need and will use too Shepherdess tho but also get more too add if you need it really. And it will make your farming life far easier than doing it yourself tho really. And that’s a tip trust me . l did myself never again tho . I layed out the money and never looked back tho. And it’s made Sheep handling and loading and unloading So much easier but also Safer too really and all that use love it as easy too use. And it’s made Sheep handling far better as well really. Kiwi Shayne. Sheep need really good handling System tho and it will make things a lot easier for you to really tho
Get Greg Judy on the podcast!
Lol. I think he’s too famous for me. 😄😄
-the Shelherdess
You should partner with "right choice shearing" representative of your age group evolved into this 21st century.
I’m watching must of your videos months after so I’m not sure what’s helpful. My recommendation on water is collect all the rainwater you can. You’ve since interviewed Salatin and all of his hundreds of acres either collect rainwater in the heights (Blue Ridge Mountains) or have pipes from those many reservoirs he’s built over time. 70 psi for him no pumps.
I planted several thousand tea plants after germinating them in my greenhouse which collected all the water. City water tends to be alkaline and tea needs acid. My olants did great.
We believe in redundancy. We have city water, rainwater collected in 1500-2500 gallon storage tanks; and have resorted to pumping creek water up to the high ground fir irrigation once in a drought. The plants love the rain, like the creek and dint like city water so much. One of our tanks is set up with baffles a d we. An haul it. A mobile water tank is gold in your situation as in mine. I pulled it with my midsized suv even though we have a midsized tractor and you could also.
There is a water tank manufacturer in East Texas south of you off I-45. I bought a tank there by phone and had it delivered to my small farm in South Alabama. The cost at the time $1 per gallon and often have sales. I highly recommend it as a long term strategy even if just for redundancy. A hurricane or another snowmaggedon is not worth guessing about! Perhaps you’ve solved this by now but those three ideas for water redundancy are how my farm works well.
Thank you! This info is great!!
I mentioned baffles in my mobile tank. In case you don’t know why, large volumes of fluid don’t stop when the carrier stops! Baffles compartmentalizations the water to buffer the inertia. Otherwise the momentum can split the tank or destroy the trailer! Just wanted to mention in case. I had a lot to learn about water collection and this was useful in case it had to be hauled on a Highway. I’ve only done that once but it was necessary. It helps at slow speeds also however.
Also it occurs to me you might collect rain then see if your sheep prefer city water over rainwater. Let me know if you try that.
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