Sheep tractor ???

[shinnlinger]

Hi,

I built a "sheep tractor" this spring using (4 )30 ft telephone poles as a base, but it self destructed over time due to a bad design on my part. BAsically I thought allowing the corner joints to flex so it conformed to the land was a good idea so I attached each corner with a short length of chain thru bolted into each pole. I then drilled into the poles and drove rebar every 5 ft ot so for posts and attached sheep fencing to that. Over time it flexed too much and the fencing began to lay flat when I moved it.

It worked really well for grazing though as the sheep and goats ate everything in marginal pastures down to the ground and I could move it myself in 5 minutes with the tractor. I think making fixed corners is going to be better and have some ideas that involve a chain saw and some reinforcing timber, but the stresses on a joint for such a large unit (30 x 30) would be alot. Any ideas there?

Alternately I would make narrower units that were 10 x 30 and pull them from the short end. I could see having several of these units and at feeding time I would just go drag the different units around.

 

[tanglefoot]

New Hampshire sounds like a much better place to raise sheep than northeast Texas. I think your sheep tractor idea would work here if I could varmint-proof the sides. Stray dogs are the main culprit, but Mexican buzzards also cause problems. Stiffen those corners any way you can, but the main consideration is cost.
Butch