New Huts on the Way
I have ordered three new Port-A-Huts and they are supposed to be delivered this afternoon! (I am not sure if it is good or just pathetic that I am excited about this.) One of the issues with keeping more sheep - my 5 lambs and 2 new rams - is that you need more shelter for them. I currently have 4 of the 6' x 11' foot huts that I bought a few years ago. Today I am getting 2 more of the 6' x 11' huts and one of the little 4 1/2' x 7 1/2' huts.
We use these little 3-sided buildings as shelters out in our pastures. (You point the open side away from the direction of the prevailing wind.) The ewes use these shelters in the summer/fall when they down in the back pasture which is cooler and more lush in the summer. Our rams live in the huts year-round. (Except for right after shearing when they are naked and locked in a pen in the hay room while they grow a little wool.) In the winter, we just bed the huts down really well with straw. They are actually a lot warmer and cozier than the barn because the sheep don't lose all their heat into the tall ceiling. They just snuggle up together. Rio, the Great Pyr, likes to use them for napping in the winter when the sun shines in the east-facing "door" in the morning.
Here are two of our Port-a-Huts. Usually by this time of day the sheep would be
having a nap in them, but it is a really cool day so they are still out grazing.
You wouldn't think that the sheep would like to go in there in the summer but they do. I think because the silver color does allow the huts to reflect some of the sunlight. Also there is a little window flap in the back that you can open to let air flow through. I think that the sheep also like it because the flies don't seem to go in there. (Which is a good thing because the sheep do not tolerate fly spray on their legs. It sort of freaks them out.) The wasps like to build nests under the roofs of these huts though, so I check them frequently. In general, the sheep hate the hot part of the summer. So as long as they can find a place to get away from the flies and wait until the cool part of the day to go outside and graze, they are OK with that.
Katja shows the back side of the huts with the little window flap and wonders
if there are any snacks involved in this photo session.
The 6' x 11's are the largest ones that they make which are all in one piece. This means that you can drag them from place to place and they will fit through a regular farm pipe gate. We have only moved our current ones twice. Once to put them in place and once to rearrange them this summer when we needed more shelter out in our back pastures. We just use a huge heavy chain that we put around the metal frame (through the "window" in the back) and then hook that to the bucket of the tractor to drag it. (I think that if you move them a lot, you are supposed to attach them to wooden 4 x 4 skids like a sled. But we don't move ours that much.)
We are putting one of the new big huts in the section of our big back pasture where the rams are. The other one will go in the paddock where the rams live in the winter. (It is directly behind our chicken/duck house so we have access to electricity to keep their drinking water thawed.)
The new little 4 1/2' x 7 1/2' hut is like a calf hut or farrowing hut (used for pigs). We will put that in our chute area between the pastures. It is a long strip of land that runs along the side of the property between our front and back pastures. Normally we don't keep sheep in there, we just let them in periodically to eat down the grass. But sometimes when we have a really small breeding group, like a ram and one or two ewes, or have an injured sheep that needs to be by herself for a few days in a place where she can easily be caught for treatment or medication, it would be nice to be able to keep a couple of sheep in there. And the new mini hut will allow us to do that if necessary.
We use these little 3-sided buildings as shelters out in our pastures. (You point the open side away from the direction of the prevailing wind.) The ewes use these shelters in the summer/fall when they down in the back pasture which is cooler and more lush in the summer. Our rams live in the huts year-round. (Except for right after shearing when they are naked and locked in a pen in the hay room while they grow a little wool.) In the winter, we just bed the huts down really well with straw. They are actually a lot warmer and cozier than the barn because the sheep don't lose all their heat into the tall ceiling. They just snuggle up together. Rio, the Great Pyr, likes to use them for napping in the winter when the sun shines in the east-facing "door" in the morning.
Here are two of our Port-a-Huts. Usually by this time of day the sheep would be
having a nap in them, but it is a really cool day so they are still out grazing.
You wouldn't think that the sheep would like to go in there in the summer but they do. I think because the silver color does allow the huts to reflect some of the sunlight. Also there is a little window flap in the back that you can open to let air flow through. I think that the sheep also like it because the flies don't seem to go in there. (Which is a good thing because the sheep do not tolerate fly spray on their legs. It sort of freaks them out.) The wasps like to build nests under the roofs of these huts though, so I check them frequently. In general, the sheep hate the hot part of the summer. So as long as they can find a place to get away from the flies and wait until the cool part of the day to go outside and graze, they are OK with that.
Katja shows the back side of the huts with the little window flap and wonders
if there are any snacks involved in this photo session.
The 6' x 11's are the largest ones that they make which are all in one piece. This means that you can drag them from place to place and they will fit through a regular farm pipe gate. We have only moved our current ones twice. Once to put them in place and once to rearrange them this summer when we needed more shelter out in our back pastures. We just use a huge heavy chain that we put around the metal frame (through the "window" in the back) and then hook that to the bucket of the tractor to drag it. (I think that if you move them a lot, you are supposed to attach them to wooden 4 x 4 skids like a sled. But we don't move ours that much.)
We are putting one of the new big huts in the section of our big back pasture where the rams are. The other one will go in the paddock where the rams live in the winter. (It is directly behind our chicken/duck house so we have access to electricity to keep their drinking water thawed.)
The new little 4 1/2' x 7 1/2' hut is like a calf hut or farrowing hut (used for pigs). We will put that in our chute area between the pastures. It is a long strip of land that runs along the side of the property between our front and back pastures. Normally we don't keep sheep in there, we just let them in periodically to eat down the grass. But sometimes when we have a really small breeding group, like a ram and one or two ewes, or have an injured sheep that needs to be by herself for a few days in a place where she can easily be caught for treatment or medication, it would be nice to be able to keep a couple of sheep in there. And the new mini hut will allow us to do that if necessary.
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