# New Corral and Sheep



## Adimice (Jan 18, 2016)

I put together a loading shute and a handling corral. Put a buck in with them on Nov1, April1 should start to see some action. These will be yearling ewes when they start to lamb. The Donkey stays with them 24/7


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Did you use poplar?

Regards, Mike


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## Adimice (Jan 18, 2016)

Yes Poplar, I've been making all my panels and feeders and now this little corral with poplar. Easy to use, few knots, takes a nail or screws nicely.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It is nice to work with....much shrinkage though....are you going to treat the wood with burned motor oil or some other type of preservative? Nice neat work Adimice.

Regards, Mike


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## farmer97 (Oct 20, 2016)

Looks like I'm going to be building corrals like this come spring time. Hope you don't mind. It looks very nice.


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

Nice job on the corral. If a person has sheep, it is almost required. At least once you build one you wonder why you did not do it sooner.

I use Hemlock here, not saying anyone should not use Popular...just telling you what I use.

Here, Spruce is king and so they pay a lot for spruce logs. Hemlock, not so much. But it is bigger in size, just as strong, hold nails better and is less prone to rot. The only reason carpenters don't like it is because it is heavy. VERY HEAVY. So I saw my Hemlock into lumber for me, and sell my Spruce and use the money for the parts of the building that can't be built from wood like the metal roof.

If anyone is thinking of building sheep mangers, I built these 2 years ago and LOVE how they work. They fold into the bays of the barn. I built them to get the managers out of the way when I clean out with my bulldozer, but found they are indestructible to sheep. That is because when they empty of feed, the sheep push harder on them and actually shut them. Once shut they can't rub on them, and being unable to rub, they don't destroy them.

Our Commissioner of Agriculture recently challenged a group of us to share more, and I having been trying to do that, so I pass this design along in case other sheep farmers want something that works. (It sucks loading the mangers with hay by hand, but they waste a lot less of it then bale rings)


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

Another note; in the first picture you can barely see it, but steel is lining the walls under the mangers. This works great, not only is it cheap, adds rigidity to the barn, keeps out drafts, but also allows the manure pack to NOT stick to it when I am cleaning out.

Typically I can clean the entire barn out in two passes which is pretty amazing because with a bulldozer you don't get much traction on concrete. But with nothing to stick too, the manure pack pushed right out!


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

RuttedField said:


> If anyone is thinking of building sheep mangers, I built these 2 years ago and LOVE how they work. They fold into the bays of the barn. I built them to get the managers out of the way when I clean out with my bulldozer, but found they are indestructible to sheep. That is because when they empty of feed, the sheep push harder on them and actually shut them. Once shut they can't rub on them, and being unable to rub, they don't destroy them.


I built mangers into one side of one of my barns about 25 years ago when I used to feed inside. I used lag bolts on the bottom corners of the racks for them to pivot on for stowing.

Regards, Mike


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

Nice corrals adimice! When I shear at farms, I get the shits of poor handling systems or lack thereof. You have a nice thing going on there. A good dog and a good handling facility.....then you can be a one-man band.

If you run into trouble of sheep not moving nicely through the corrals, line the inside of them with some thin plastic (1/8"), or thin plywood if it's easily available. I'm not trying to be Temple Grandin, but making the panels solid instead of slatted helps stock move through them easier. Best of luck, you do good work by the looks of the pictures. Cheers


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

What is the real skinny on Mary Temple Grandin? I have heard her methods of dealing with animals is better than modern toilet paper, and I have heard that she is a quack.

I honestly have no opinion either way?

My barn serves double duty as a sorting chute just in the way we have our gates, half walls, and doors. The only reason I did this is because I live in Maine where we get a lot of snow. Having a sorting chute 4 feet high with three feet of snow does not work well.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

She is a high functioning autistic woman that has found success in livestock handling equipment design. Specifically, she has Aspergers syndrome.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

.


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

I believe you're right Stack. When I attended Penn State and worked in the beef/sheep center, she designed the cattle handling system for the University...extremely user friendly setup.

Rutted...makes sense with your snowfall, would be a pain to bend that far down standing on 2 feet of snow. I run my handling setup inside my barn. I've converted my corn crib into an elevated UK style raceway, I'm at eye level with the sheep (makes worming effortless) and have catch doors built into the raceway for shearing, as well as a suicide door that opens into the raceway for sorting off lambs or grouping ewes. I've seen some awesome setups over the years that work great for each producer's preference.


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