Brad, We have been using 'livestock', also called 'welded wire', panels to build our pens. These panels are about 52" high and come in 16' length, they have these panels with either 10 or 13 strands (young lambs can pass through the 10 strands panels). The panels can be stapled to fence posts (we have used both 8' and 4' centers) and are sturdy enough to climb over them if needed. Up to this point we never had an animal (either sheep or goat) clear these panels. The panels can be cut to length with bolt cutters or a hack saw (we have also built PCV pipe feeders into these panels that allow you to feed concentrate feed with out entering the pens - if you want me to send you some pictures let me know).
You may want to build the run at the end with boards or plywood to create solid or fairly solid sides to the run (this will focus the animals on other animals in front, rather than be concerned with what is going on outside the run). The run should be about 18' wide to keep the animals from turning around. Keep the sides of the run low enough so that you can reach in to handle the animal (i.e. give a shot, take a fecal sample etc.). Once they are in tight quarters they will have trouble clearing the panels without having a running start. Mount a gate at the front of the run that will allow the animal to see 'light at the end of the tunnel' (can may want to choose a commercial product for this part such a guilllotine gate that is available through companies such as Premier (www.premier1supplies.com) or Sydell (www.sydell.com). Add a slot at the end of the run to insert a piece of plywood to close the run. For just few animals an 8' run should work fine. Both Sydell and Premier have pictures of work facilities on their web sites to give you a general idea of layout, but you can probably scale these design down down to fit your needs and come up something that you can build inexpensively mostly by yourself. Good luck. Stephan =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list. To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly
