The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Collie26 on May 26, 2011, 01:28:30 pm
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Hi
Ive read about shetlands and intend to get some in August when lambs are weaned of ewes.
I have read that they are very scitty and escape artists is this true??
Also would you be able to use a dog with them or will they just scatter???
Thanks :sheep:
:farmer:
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Lots of threads about this already. Seems to depend more on the strain and the handling than the breed itself. Lots of folk have bucket trained Shetlands, so a dog isn't likely to be necessary at all.
I have Ryelands, and while docile, some are friendlier than others. All come to the bucket. Most come for an oatcake (sheep food of the gods, apparently)
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Thanks for that will have a look through later :)
:sheep:
:farmer:
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We have a mix of Shetlands and Hebrideans which we got last year as our first sheep. The Shetlands were the worst for escaping. One mum and her twins would often pop out for a few hours and then come back later. Although I was patching any holes I could find often I couldn't figure out how they were doing it. They all seem to have quietend down now either due to their winter coats making it harder to slip through small gaps or because they've grown to like it enough where they are.
Don't know about dogs as we don't have one. We just call them in if we want them to come over to us as ours are very friendly.
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our shetlands dont try to escape unless there is no grass in their field and loads the other side of the fence. even then they only try it if the fence is really rubbish. I dont think most flocks which are bucket trained are any worse than other breeds, but they do scatter more so its more important to get bucket trained ones than to get a dog. They are smaller of course than some breeds so can fit through smaller gaps!
But on the whole, the ease of handling the smaller size when you are trying to do stuff on your own is a huge advantage and the meat is amazing, added to the fact that out of over 40 lambs born here to date, not only have I not had to intervene in any birth, I also havent even seen any lamb emerging despite checking every 5 mins! And they very rarely have more than 2 lambs either and unlike Blackfaces etc they dont give birth and then run off leaving lamb to its fate, all my 12 first time mums this year have been great mothers to their lambs.
So I reckon the positives massively outweigh the negatives!
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Definately getting them now!!! I think about 4-6 ewes to start off with to run with the ponies.
The only reason i ask about the dogs is i have a collie bitch semi trained and a litter comming and want to keep a couple back to train ??? ::) :P
Another positive is the ease of lambing. Ive done a work placement with 1500 lambing ewes and that was hard!!! :o :o :sheep: :sheep:
I supose if the fencing is good then there shouldnt be a problem. And my job for the next few months until we get the ewes is fencing properly :P
Thanks for the replies
:farmer:
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I adore my Shetlands :-* :-*
They are much less jumpy than my Hebrideans and Soays !!!!
But I do have all my sheep trained to come when called for a wee handful of food ;) ;)
Bribery always works ;D ;D
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Definately getting them now!!! I think about 4-6 ewes to start off with to run with the ponies.
The only reason i ask about the dogs is i have a collie bitch semi trained and a litter comming and want to keep a couple back to train ??? ::) :P
Another positive is the ease of lambing. Ive done a work placement with 1500 lambing ewes and that was hard!!! :o :o :sheep: :sheep:
I supose if the fencing is good then there shouldnt be a problem. And my job for the next few months until we get the ewes is fencing properly :P
Thanks for the replies
:farmer:
I started with 6 in lamb ewes....despite eating some I currently have about 40 head incl the ram and the lambs :-)))) addictive!
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My shetlands are fairly tame - they'll follow me into the house (though that may be 'cos they know I keep some chicken feed in the kitchen).
They can jump over the sheep netting fence like deer, but usually they seem to respect the fences - unless there's something too tempting on the other side. ::)
mab
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I don't think of Shetlands as being the scattering kind - Soays yes unless you have them tamed, Hebrideans sometimes, but our Shetlands were always the ones which calmed the other breeds and came in meekly. As has been said in the past, it's all down to how you handle them - quietly and gently and they respond by being manageable, chase them around shouting and waving your arms and they will run away. We have never used a sheep dog with our sheep, but our Jack Russel decided he would help with gathering them and now he just has to do his 'yip' and the sheep know it's no messing about time.
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We have soays who are also know for the same traits - our sheepdog chased them madly before lambing and they always stuck together, no scattering, and we feed them a wee bit each day so they know they are looked after and where there is a regular food source - I'm told that even if they do run off, they get to know the regular handout time and come back for then. Good luck.
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Thanks for the replies
Got 4 ewe lambs on order for august when weaned!!
So excited, just need to crack on with the fencing.
Hopefully with them being with us from weaning then they will get used to be rounded but by the dogs.
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My Shetties do not do escaping, they are bucket trained (so much so that the shearer's dog had trouble getting them into the pen this year, as they are not used to the dog at all), easy lambers, no triplets.... all in all definitely recommended. Especially if you buy weaned lambs or hoggs - they will get used to you much quicker than older ewes.
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Thats what i thought, this years crop of lambs were getting i believe im meeting lad in august to discus everything!
I think they will be bucket trained but with a dog they can run faster :D
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so they are good mothers??
Lambing easy and maximum of twins?? Not adopting needed then unless something bad happens??
Also when do you put your lambs/hoggs to tup?? Born in spring tupped in august? Or wait a year??? I know some commercial flocks tup then as hoggs what anout shetlands or wait till they are shearlings???
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We wait till they are shearlings although we did have one that decided to take herself to the ram ( yes the one spoke about earlier) she had a lamb fine and was a good mother as nature intended really. But it is the done thing to wait.
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On the twins question , no they dont have triplets but sometimes pinch a lamb so they have three suckling. We have had so many twins this year, two have pinched a lamb so they have three and one ewe was letting four suckle on her today . Its mix and match at mine at the moment but I have been told by a flockman that sometimes this happens when there are lots of lambs about the place!
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Thanks for the advise hermit.
I was going to wait but just wondered so they'll get sheared next summer, and tupped in autum.
They'll just be grass cutters for not :P :D
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Sorry, going on a tangent here but having a bit of a blonde moment reading all these replies - can someone enlighten me on the sheep lingo - ewes and tups I'm ok with, but am guessing when it comes to shearlings, hoggs, gimmer lambs and what else is there out there, can someone give me the lowdown please, then I won't have to ask again and will sound knowledgeable. Thank you ::)
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Of course, it varies around the country too. But here in Cumbria:
It's a lamb from when it's born until the New Year (or late back-end) when it becomes a hogg. It's a hogg until the summer, when it's sheared, when it becomes a shearling. It's a shearling until next time it's sheared, when it becomes a two-shear....
If it's female, it's a gimmer lamb, a gimmer hogg, a gimmer shearling, when it becomes a two-shear it becomes a 'yow' (ewe).
If it's male and entire, it's a tup lamb, tup hogg etc. and becomes just a tup at two-shear.
If it's castrated, it's a wether lamb, wether hogg etc.
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And just to be confusing, here 'gimmer' equals 'gimmer shearling', and a female lamb is a 'ewe lamb', a female hogg is a 'ewe hogg'.
And then of course there are one and two etc crop ewes, whose actual age depends on when they first lambed, and two tooth sheep, four tooth sheep etc, which refers to how many adult teeth they have........
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:D
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Hmmm, thanks for that ladies! ::) ::) ::)