Yes, we finally got the sheep moved from the old barn to the new one so they have more room, a door they can see out of, and as of later today they'll even have lighting! I'm going to unhook the battery from the electric fence because it's not hooked up at the moment anyways and I'm going to use the inverter to power everything. Sounds complicated but it's really simple.The battery comes home with me once a week and goes onto the charger for a nice slow charge, then 12 hours later it's back out to the barn where we clip on the 300watt inverter ($24 at Canadian Tire on sale) and then it's good to power all sorts of lights, and really anything electrical that we need. Lighting in the barn is simple, I have a strand of LED Christmas lights down one side that are a warm and gentle source of light and use very little power and I also have a compact fluorescent work light with a long cord that I can use when I need a brighter source of light. Using a source of heat that's electrical would quickly drain the battery but an electric fence and some lights doesn't prove to be a problem at all. We have wood and a woodstove for heat so there's not much need for more than a 75watt inverter really but the larger one we have also has a USB port if the kids need to charge something and it came with the choice of having a cigarette lighter plug-in or just clips for the battery terminal and that works out well for me. But the real reason I have that one? It was cheap. I've kept my other little inverter in the original sheep shed so that if I want to power a fence for the chickens or pigs then I don't have to run a cord over the driveway, I can just get another battery.
The sheep seem happy in their bigger home with more room to stretch out. Jordan was a big help in getting them moved, especially since the weather wasn't very nice and we had to lead them over a frozen stream to the new barn. Thank goodness for the inducement of a bucket of grain. There were a couple of turn-arounds where the sheep just decided to head for their old home as well as a few slips and falls on the ice but we got everyone snug inside the barn without too many problems and no injuries. Now we have room for lambing and pens for bonding and there's room for me to keep my supplies and stay warm with the woodstove.
The sheep seem happy in their bigger home with more room to stretch out. Jordan was a big help in getting them moved, especially since the weather wasn't very nice and we had to lead them over a frozen stream to the new barn. Thank goodness for the inducement of a bucket of grain. There were a couple of turn-arounds where the sheep just decided to head for their old home as well as a few slips and falls on the ice but we got everyone snug inside the barn without too many problems and no injuries. Now we have room for lambing and pens for bonding and there's room for me to keep my supplies and stay warm with the woodstove.
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