We are slowly getting smarter with our fall sheep maintenance.  This year I made a small pen using hog panels and clips to get the sheep into a small area so they were easier to catch.

Tom caught them and then made a leg stanchion for the sheep as demonstrated below (with Bambam).

I then sat on my knees on the ground to trim their hooves.  I check their body conditions and wool at the same time.  I crawled on my knees to get to each hoof.  Then I stood up, got their copper capsule in a dispenser for Tom to give while I checked their conjunctiva color.  Then we simply released them into the barn, and every 4-5 sheep we would open up the barn door and let them outside.

Not exactly easy peasy, but it minimizes the amount we have to bend and there was no lifting sheep onto the shearing stanchion or the sheep chair like we did in other years.  Tom’s back and knee hurts and my knees and hips hurt, but at least it is better than previously.  Plus we are cutting back on our sheep number.  Today we had 27 which is about 10 less than our maximum and will continue to drop.  Here’s hoping that we can continue to maintain our flock in our older years.  Soon we are heading to the hot tub!