Breton Meadow Farm
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Update December 2010 Part 2

The Shed

With the hoophouse out-of-the-way, completing the shed became a priority. The hardware was in hand, but the lumber was not. A trip to Home Depot during the Thanksgiving holiday solved that. A couple of weekends later the shed was ready to be wheeled into the pasture. The design Ray came up with incorporates retractable wheels (similar to those found on portable soccer goals, but beefier) and weighs a little less than 400 pounds. The wheels and a hand truck on the other side allow the shed to be wheeled from place to place as long as the terrain is not too steep or lumpy.

The shed design also allows the walls and roof to be unbolted and removed. This was done in anticipation of situations where the wheels and hand truck are inadequate (think spring mud).

First Snow

Christmas weekend brought our first substantial snowfall.

About 16 inches fell with near-blizzard conditions (the National Weather Service hasn’t decided yet). A blizzard requires high winds among other criteria. I don’t how much wind we had. We do know it was sufficient to blow the shed over onto its roof. Whoops! Ray seems to have a problem anticipating the effect of wind on his designs.

The sheep coped well. The new sheep had the shed (until it blew over) and the older sheep found the less windy spots and turned the backs and waited it out. The wind swept the snow away from certain spots and dumped it in other spots. The sheep found the former and avoided the latter.

The shed will be disassembled and the walls cut back to a lower height. This should reduce the force that the wind can exert because of the reduced area and reduce the length of the lever arm relative to the width of the base. Ray remembers that he learned how to do this in a fluid dynamics course 50 years ago. He does not remember what he learned, however. Time for a little refresher from the web!

News

10/12/2015
We are selling mutton and lamb. Read more…

5/12/2015
First 15/16 lamb is born. Read more…

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