Thanks for the catch up hope you are all well , I was away for few days so missed your update But I see you didn't miss the snow 😠stay safe and take care till next time
Hey Hulk! Glad you had some time to get away and hopefully enjoy yourself. That's the beauty of TH-cam, you can always watch videos later. Ya the snow got us, but I think spring is around the corner, I pray it is anyway. I'm tired of the cold
Very informative. I learn something new every time I watch your videos. That larger bucket cuts the work in half. That was a smart move. Y'all take care and God Bless.
That's what I like to hear! Glad that it is educational. The larger bucket was definitely the right move too, made loading and scraping the floor way quicker. God bless you too
We had ours scanned the other week 118% for the tegs (1st lamb) 157% for everything else (141% overall) We had 29 scan empty with the tegs and just 6 with the ewes, tegs are expecting 132 singles, 65 twins and 3 triplets. The ewes 150 singles, 172 twins, 13 triplets and 1 quad. I can certainly agree with what you mean about the dust we use barley straw and a straw chopper as it was what is local to us as well as cheap well other than in 2020/spring 2021 where it was £100/tonne rather than the £50/tonne it is normally. Our sheds have Yorkshire cladding on top of block walls (4" wooden boards space an inch apart) though one has sheeting up the sides that is the shed that takes longer for the dust to clear but clears pretty quick especially if there is any breeze. But ultimately it is as you say what works for you, we did try sawdust but what we could get was dry and just blew everywhere in a breeze we also did think about shavings from a local timber firm about 5 minutes away but the cost was huge as they sell most to pets and stables and my sister who looks after others animals said it use to give her flu like symptoms even with a dust mask so we've stuck with straw.
That is around the numbers we end up with overall. Last year was 147%, this year's seems to be on track but have to wait and see what our yearlings give us. You know the old saying dont count your chickens before they hatch. It's tricky to find a bedding that works well, isn't dusty, and is beneficial to spread on the hayfield with the manure itself. Thankfully our sawdust prices are the same. There isn't much demand around here for it other than us which helps. It seems like prices of everything are just never gonna stop climbing.
Bringing sheep into our barn for the first time this winter, here pretty soon. Only have 20 head. Should I go with a simple cattle panel wrap on round bales, or go with a bale cradle similar to yours?
Personally I didn't mind them wrapped in the cattle panels however I like the cradles much better and seems to minimize waste much more. If you have a welder and you're able to weld it's not too hard to make your own as we've shown in the videos where we made ours and I know the budgets are typically the driving Factor on how we do things
They make a lime come in a 50# bag it’s called barn lime you put it down very thin layer probably 50# will do your whole barn then the bedding your using keeps the barn dis infected check it out see if it will work for you it works well in calving barns
I have seen it used in calving barns, that is a great idea. I may start doing that. We almost used like it's self as our bedding. Alot of folks do, plus then I can spread it on my hay field with the manure obviously and help keep our pH balance in check. Again thank you, I can't believe I overlooked that idea. See that is why the internet can be such a great tool when people come together to modify ideas for the better.
I wouldn't do it personally. The ammonia would soak into the dirt most likely, the other headache would be scraping the saw dust out and not removing the dirt below with it. When we used a dirt floor we never left sheep in it , we would bring a couple sheep in if they had issues bonding with lambs to pen them up together is the only thing we would bring them in for really. Ours are primarily in the barn to reduce predator access, collect manure to spread back on hayfield where hay was harvested from, and lambing management since my wife and I both have off the farm jobs.
Sawdust straight from a mill that is actually cutting the lumber down to size will have moisture in it. If you are buying from a sawmill that kiln dries the wood first then it will be dry.
It's actually quite minimal, I know the video looks like a lot but we use 1/3rd of a 5x5 round bale per ewe with her lambs per winter. The feeders we made make a huge difference in the amount of hay wasted. Even the little bit that is wasted is returned to the hay field when we spread manure front eh barn.
Thanks for the catch up hope you are all well , I was away for few days so missed your update But I see you didn't miss the snow 😠stay safe and take care till next time
Hey Hulk! Glad you had some time to get away and hopefully enjoy yourself. That's the beauty of TH-cam, you can always watch videos later. Ya the snow got us, but I think spring is around the corner, I pray it is anyway. I'm tired of the cold
Very informative.
I learn something new every time I watch your videos.
That larger bucket cuts the work in half. That was a smart move.
Y'all take care and God Bless.
That's what I like to hear! Glad that it is educational. The larger bucket was definitely the right move too, made loading and scraping the floor way quicker. God bless you too
We had ours scanned the other week 118% for the tegs (1st lamb) 157% for everything else (141% overall)
We had 29 scan empty with the tegs and just 6 with the ewes, tegs are expecting 132 singles, 65 twins and 3 triplets. The ewes 150 singles, 172 twins, 13 triplets and 1 quad.
I can certainly agree with what you mean about the dust we use barley straw and a straw chopper as it was what is local to us as well as cheap well other than in 2020/spring 2021 where it was £100/tonne rather than the £50/tonne it is normally. Our sheds have Yorkshire cladding on top of block walls (4" wooden boards space an inch apart) though one has sheeting up the sides that is the shed that takes longer for the dust to clear but clears pretty quick especially if there is any breeze. But ultimately it is as you say what works for you, we did try sawdust but what we could get was dry and just blew everywhere in a breeze we also did think about shavings from a local timber firm about 5 minutes away but the cost was huge as they sell most to pets and stables and my sister who looks after others animals said it use to give her flu like symptoms even with a dust mask so we've stuck with straw.
That is around the numbers we end up with overall. Last year was 147%, this year's seems to be on track but have to wait and see what our yearlings give us. You know the old saying dont count your chickens before they hatch.
It's tricky to find a bedding that works well, isn't dusty, and is beneficial to spread on the hayfield with the manure itself. Thankfully our sawdust prices are the same. There isn't much demand around here for it other than us which helps. It seems like prices of everything are just never gonna stop climbing.
Bringing sheep into our barn for the first time this winter, here pretty soon. Only have 20 head. Should I go with a simple cattle panel wrap on round bales, or go with a bale cradle similar to yours?
Personally I didn't mind them wrapped in the cattle panels however I like the cradles much better and seems to minimize waste much more. If you have a welder and you're able to weld it's not too hard to make your own as we've shown in the videos where we made ours and I know the budgets are typically the driving Factor on how we do things
They make a lime come in a 50# bag it’s called barn lime you put it down very thin layer probably 50# will do your whole barn then the bedding your using keeps the barn dis infected check it out see if it will work for you it works well in calving barns
I have seen it used in calving barns, that is a great idea. I may start doing that. We almost used like it's self as our bedding. Alot of folks do, plus then I can spread it on my hay field with the manure obviously and help keep our pH balance in check. Again thank you, I can't believe I overlooked that idea. See that is why the internet can be such a great tool when people come together to modify ideas for the better.
Just getting into sheep farming, would a dirt floor with sawdust on top be ok for starting out then upgrading down the road?
I wouldn't do it personally. The ammonia would soak into the dirt most likely, the other headache would be scraping the saw dust out and not removing the dirt below with it. When we used a dirt floor we never left sheep in it , we would bring a couple sheep in if they had issues bonding with lambs to pen them up together is the only thing we would bring them in for really. Ours are primarily in the barn to reduce predator access, collect manure to spread back on hayfield where hay was harvested from, and lambing management since my wife and I both have off the farm jobs.
How do you purchase sawdust that is a little moist to keep it from being dusty.
Sawdust straight from a mill that is actually cutting the lumber down to size will have moisture in it. If you are buying from a sawmill that kiln dries the wood first then it will be dry.
Aren't you worried about the waste of hay? It's quite a lot as far as I can see.
It's actually quite minimal, I know the video looks like a lot but we use 1/3rd of a 5x5 round bale per ewe with her lambs per winter. The feeders we made make a huge difference in the amount of hay wasted. Even the little bit that is wasted is returned to the hay field when we spread manure front eh barn.