skiddable sheep shelter

inspired by Paul's skiddable shelters we decided to make a couple for our sheep.



These are made with old pallet wood and reused roofing/siding/metal stuff.  That basically determined what size they would be.  That and the width of the gates.



They are bottom heavy so the sheep can't push them over.  They are also light enough that one strong person can pick up one end just enough to nudge it into place.  

We've moved them a few times, this last time one was a bit stuck so when we attached the tractor to the tongue it split the wood we used.  Something to repair before the next move.  But that's okay because we had this old bit of rope and just wrapped it around the base and tied it to the tractor.  Worked like a charm.



On the whole, we are very happy with these and plan to build more this fall.

I use the sides or ends of rectangular trampoline frames. You can usually find these things thrown away or sold very economically on the net.
By dismantling them you get a lovely set of skids already to use.

Maine law has since changed, but at one time we had to have run in shelters for our livestock 12 months out of the year. So back then I thought about building "pods" for sheep, They would be steel and wood structures about as long and wide as big metal dumpsters...I mean the BIG ones. On top would be a roof. The biggest part of the design would be the metal frame and "hook" so that a tri-axle truck could hook onto one of these sheep "pods" and haul it from pasture to pasture. It could only hold 30 sheep or so, but adding multiple "pods" would allow the flock to have the housing required.

As I said, Maine law changed, so this is not required on my farm any longer, but the idea is still sound for others. Lets say they wanted livestock, but did not plan to live forever at their current place, they literally could hire a truck to hook and move the "pod" to their new location. Or they had fields that were 10 miles down the road. To go to pasture, they could haul the pod to the rental field in the summer, then back in the winter.