The Stockade: Secure Place for Sheep During Spring Green Up

Every sheep farm should include a secure place to put the entire flock should the need arise. Some common reasons for a secure pen are: during spring green up, during a period of heavy predator pressure, especially for those who live in wolf or grizzly country, and also weaning is a good time to have a good secure pen. This pen can also serve as a place to contain rams in the summer, and for lambs in the winter. In this video I will show you the features of a secure stockade that I built to contain my sheep in the event we have a problem with a large wolf pack. In the video we will view the pen as it is being used to contain sheep during the spring green up. We do not want sheep grazing the new blades of grass too soon as it will reduce our yield later on. As the desire to get out and graze is very high right now, it takes a substantial barrier to keep them in.
This pen we dubbed "the fortress", was built primarily to prevent wolf depredation in the event a large pack was to return. It is a place the flock can temporarily retreat to until the pack leaves. But it also has many other uses as described above. Some key features include using welded wire panels with 4x4 inch openings, making it lamb tight, puppy tight, dog tight, and wolf resistant. Adding a hot wire around the outside will add even more security. I decided on welded wire panels after trying a variety of other types of fencing. The 5-foot tall welded wire will not sag under heavy snow, and sheep cannot jump over or crawl under the fence. There are several gates to allow access from several different directions, and the pen includes a permanent, heated, water fountain which is strategically placed so that it has access from 3 pastures. I have included cement feed bunks inside of the pen. One row of bunks forms one side of the pen, and has additional welded wire above the bunk again to keep wolves out.
In the video I mentioned a problem we had with the previous fence where the posts heaved up due to our wet clay soils and the action of the frost which tends to push posts up out of the ground. In an attempt to solve this, I filled the post holes with gravel, rather than putting the clay back in the hole.
Video Editing by Trevor McNally - / trevormcnallyphoto
Music: artlist.io/Trevor-629008

[@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754]

Good video! Great editing and the background music makes it easy to listen to.

[@tamaracklambwool319]

Thankyou! Trevor McNally does the editing

[@Ptitnain2]

Thanks for the information, it is really useful, I'm looking forward to your video about bale grazing.

[@jamesobryan3258]

Hello! I’m also in MN. I run cattle and goats and just purchased some hair sheep about 2 weeks ago. I do not raise any hay. I purchase it all. I usually roll my hay out VS bale feed. I treat the cattle and the goats in the same manner in regards to spring green up. When I unroll hay in the pasture and they leave well over half of it, I’ll either cut back or quit feeding entirely and let them start grazing. I don’t leave them very long on any 1 paddock so it gets eaten down too much. Then I probably won’t come back to those paddocks until late summer or early fall so the grass has time to recover. I don’t calve or kid until the first of June so the does and cows can get into good body condition prior to that.

[@tamaracklambwool319]

How do you manage spring green up?