It is great to have an imagination and to be creative, but sometimes finding ways to manifest that creativity into real life ideas is not as easy. I can sit and dream and think and plan, well, not so much plan, but I actually envision rather than plan. I had some trouble cleaning up the sheep poop in the pen. The bucket on the skid steer only can scrape off a layer of soil to clean it. After a few years, unless there is something put back, a depression and muddy hole is what would be created. I talked or rather communicated with professional sheep people via Facebook online to see how they managed the collecting manure in the winter or night pens. Some ignored it, others took rakes and brooms to it, and that was dependent on how much value the wool was to the farmer.
Since I am a wool farmer, the wool is what the sheep are all about. Keeping the wool clean has been my nemisis for 4 years since coming here. I have tried 8 different feeder styles and finally bought hay nets. That is great for what is going in, but what is coming out still needed to be managed. I could not see myself out there daily with a rake and broom sweeping the poop. It is about as thankless as washing dishes, another task that I detest, because the next day, the dishes are right back there. So is the poop.
I came across metal brooms, that is with metal bristles, at the local second hand store in Elk Point. At first I thought they might make good combs for wool and they may have, but then this idea came to me. I thought instead of me sweeping the shit, I would hook a lot of the brooms, 4 of them to make a 4 foot wide broom and haul it behind the lawn tractor. I needed two metal bands and a way to hitch it. I needed some one who was good with tinkering.
I put an ad in the local buy and sell type of online site, Infomall and no one answered. That did not surprise me and although I did not give up entirely, the creating of the unit went to the back burner. I bought the broom heads though. And, one fine day a few days down the road, a fellow whom had been to my farm with his ferrier daughter, asked me about my project. I told him my vision and he said he would make it for me. Hallelujia!
And he did and it is great, even spray painted a lovely shade of purple. Because he loves to tinker and invent, he did not charge me for his time and trouble, only for the materials, for which I am grateful. Does it work? It rained today, so I could not test it out. I think it would be best to be dry, but not dust dry, just damp dry so the manure would not clog the bristles but also not kick up a great deal of manure dust. It rained a lot today, thankfully, for our dry area is in need of rain. I will test the unit out in a few days, weather permitting. I am very thankful for inventive entrepreneurs who can do anything. My dad was like that and I miss him every day. Now, the proof will be in the using. Stay posted!
Since I am a wool farmer, the wool is what the sheep are all about. Keeping the wool clean has been my nemisis for 4 years since coming here. I have tried 8 different feeder styles and finally bought hay nets. That is great for what is going in, but what is coming out still needed to be managed. I could not see myself out there daily with a rake and broom sweeping the poop. It is about as thankless as washing dishes, another task that I detest, because the next day, the dishes are right back there. So is the poop.
I came across metal brooms, that is with metal bristles, at the local second hand store in Elk Point. At first I thought they might make good combs for wool and they may have, but then this idea came to me. I thought instead of me sweeping the shit, I would hook a lot of the brooms, 4 of them to make a 4 foot wide broom and haul it behind the lawn tractor. I needed two metal bands and a way to hitch it. I needed some one who was good with tinkering.
I put an ad in the local buy and sell type of online site, Infomall and no one answered. That did not surprise me and although I did not give up entirely, the creating of the unit went to the back burner. I bought the broom heads though. And, one fine day a few days down the road, a fellow whom had been to my farm with his ferrier daughter, asked me about my project. I told him my vision and he said he would make it for me. Hallelujia!
And he did and it is great, even spray painted a lovely shade of purple. Because he loves to tinker and invent, he did not charge me for his time and trouble, only for the materials, for which I am grateful. Does it work? It rained today, so I could not test it out. I think it would be best to be dry, but not dust dry, just damp dry so the manure would not clog the bristles but also not kick up a great deal of manure dust. It rained a lot today, thankfully, for our dry area is in need of rain. I will test the unit out in a few days, weather permitting. I am very thankful for inventive entrepreneurs who can do anything. My dad was like that and I miss him every day. Now, the proof will be in the using. Stay posted!
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