Ramp (the final piece of the puzzle)
My cattle yard ramp was delivered on the same day as the shearing . Although, the ramp was a few feet from the actual yards and there were no joining brackets welded in position. But the next week someone came and pushed it into place and screwed on the brackets and fitted the pegs. The ramp was made to be used with both cattle and sheep, plus it is adjustable for a variety of heights to accommodate putting sheep onto a trailer as well as a truck.
A couple of days after that I also bought a trough for the corner, so the cows wouldn't go without water while in the yards overnight. (I have since lowered the height of the trough, as it was a bit too high.) I don't know if I mentioned before, but I also bought a 'man' gate for the other side of the yards. (I bought this at the same time as the custom gate in the back of the shed.) This skinny gate can also be seen in the ramp picture below.
The very next week I got to use the yards for their purpose ... but that's another story.

Shearing & Sheep Grazier's Warning
I had booked in my shearing to happen on Friday, 15 October. And as usual I had to shed the sheep the night before so that they would be dry and 'empty' prior to shearing. But I also had to keep them in the shed after shearing because there was a very cold snap and so I kept them in the shed for two days after the shearing and fed them sheep pellets and lucerne. During this time I unfortunately lost one of my original ewes, Flystrike. An unfortunate name I know, as she had flystrike the first year. In the before photo she can be seen at the right looking rather shabby. She was showing signs of weakness the week or so before shearing (sitting down more often and having trouble when trying to stand). She was giving all her strength to her lamb. The shearer noted that she had started shedding her fleece, in that it broke because it became weak due to lack of nourishment, which was going to the lamb. She died two days after shearing, while still in the shed, the shock of being shorn was too much for her. It was pretty sad but I have to realise that my original sheep were bought in 2004, six years ago, and they weren't lambs then. So they have all been very good producers, some more than others, but they have all been valued.
Edit: 14/12/2010 - I finally sold the wool today. I received $347.12 - not bad for a handful of sheep. The shearing cost $106, so I made a profit of $241.12!

New Fencing & Mended Fences
Some of my cows are pretty hard on fences. There were three stays that badly needed replacing, plus I had the fence near the first gate and the shed tank replaced, as I'm sure it wouldn't hold cows if the need arose, and I also had a new fence built at the top of the veggie garden so animals could eat the grass there without me using the ineffective netting. The work was started 5-7 October and the veggie fence finished on 21 October. This sort of came on because I wanted to keep some cows down the front to try and fatten them up and so that they recover from feeding two calves. When I bring them down again I will separate them into two groups keeping mums away from calves in an attempt to wean the younger calves born last Christmas. I have included photographs of each of the new stays. It is a very clever idea forming a triangle with two sides in steel. These stays won't be coming out. The funny thing is I haven't received an account for the work as yet, so I don't know how much it all cost yet. I imagine the stays weren't cheap but I have to wait and see. The fencing guy took a while to start the job, and it appears just as long to present the account. I am very happy with the work, though. Edit: I received the account today 17/11. $2,657.65! The fencer's hourly charge is more than three times my hourly rate at work! But it's done and I won't need fencing for a long time.