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Monday, 15 June 2015

Sheep Getting The Better Of Me

Yesterday I managed to catch a lamb that was really lame. He'd been alluding me for days but with a piece of rope and a tree to sneak up behind I manage to catch him. 
It was scald and quite bad. Some of the grass is quite long and I know it upsets their feet (like everything). Once I trimmed his feet up and treated them with the purple spray I decided that it was best to get them all in and run them through the foot bath. I also wan tot drench the lambs and treat them for fly strike before it happens. 
I rang a mate and asked if he'd come over and give us a hand to get them in. 
I thought with him, my wife and me we'd get them in no problem. 
I was wrong.
Wooly b@#:@;'ds
They were having none of it.
After three attempts I gave up. 
I could run no more and I was starting to swear. 
I think it might be time to borrow dads quad bike and get them a bit more used to being rounded up, I'm also going to get a crook and start using one again like we used to when I was younger. I've been trying to get them keen on the bucket but only half of them ever seem interested when I give them a few handfuls of oats in the morning. 
I'm trying to be a good shepherd but it's not easy! No wonder I learnt swear words at such a young age! 

23 comments:

  1. I feel for you Kev, there is nothing worse than animals that dont want to cop orate, Lambert always eluded us then I started to feed him a few sheep nuts every time I fed the Alpacas now he stands n the gate and hollers for them, we were moving the Alpacas to fresh pasture yesterday it all went smoothly for a change, the ducks now are happy to be rounded up which is great fo me when I am on my own and need to shut everyone in.

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    1. I've been feeding these but there is so much grass at the moment they're just not interested! I think we might try and knock up a bit of temporary fencing today to make a bigger funnel and try to round them up that way.

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  2. I've never understood how a "lame" animal can elude a perfectly healthy human.

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    1. because they have four legs or three and one lame one, and we only have two ?

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    2. I think the leg thing counts but they also seem to forget they're lame as soon as you start after them! Also I'm not very fast when it comes to running!

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  3. It's not easy caring for any animals. I don't think non-animal people understand the sheer hard work involved.
    Good luck ...

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    1. I don;t think they do. I think that they have the idea that we just harvest out the ones for slaughter then wait another year!

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  4. The sheep are still new to you, or rather, you're still new to them; that may make a big difference.

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    1. I think you're right there Gorges, I need to get them used to being rounded up. I can tell by the way they move they're used to a dog and I'm just not that scary!

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  5. Kev, get yourself a Border Collie...
    and whilst you are training it up....
    adversise around for a BC owner who wants to run it with sheepz.
    It was common practice in Norfolk...
    and seemed to work very well...
    my f.i.l. used to run his that way...
    saved having your own small flock...
    which he had tried with a friend [also a BC owner]...
    but their "flock"... of six sheeps...
    was always more out of the field than in!!
    Tim

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    1. I know but it's another animal to look after! Maybe in the future, but I'll have to get you to talk to my wife first!
      so far mine haven't escaped but I doubt it'll be long until that happens!

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  6. the difference between imaginary farming and the real thing, eh?

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    1. I grew up with it so I knew what I was getting into, I just forgot that sometings take time to learn again - for me and the sheep!

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  7. I had two goats once and they were more than I could handle. I can't imagine having to take care of a bunch of sheep.

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    1. Goats are worse than sheep I think, they seem more independent. At least sheep will follow like, well, sheep!

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  8. John Seymour said the way to train a lion is through his stomach. Do you feed them sheep nuts at the moment? We have often caught cattle by placing nuts in a trough or getting them to follow a bucket of nuts. Sheep are very hard work aren't they? Do you top the grass to keep in front of them?

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    1. I think we're going to top the grass this week as it'll only remove the storks anyway, might just freshen it up a bit. I've been trying with the bucket but only about ten seem interested.

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  9. we have 4 very small chickens who keep getting the best of us. honestly i dont know how they are so fast. but we are getting the better of them now! also seconding getting a dog, apologies if this is an old subject we are are 'new friends' so i dont know if you've talked about it before. i have german shepherds who help me with the livestock and they are invaluable. thanks for the fun story and a reminder that we arent the only ones being defeated by ridiculous barnyard inhabitants. :-)

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    1. I've talked about getting a dig on here before but at the moment my girls are both young and I feel that they wouldn't (the youngest mainly) respect it's boundaries and that's not fair ont he dog.
      I try to put the bad as well as the good on here as I don;t want everyone to think that my life is sunshine and lollypops! It's a hard way of life but a rewarding one, as I'm sure you know. Sometimes are failings are more interesting than when we do it right!

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  10. Have you tried feeding them some cheapo white sliced bread. The sheep we have in our field come at the sound of a bread wrapper :-)

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    1. I've not tried bread! I've never heard of that before!

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