The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: egglady on September 29, 2011, 09:25:17 am
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all our this years lambs are away from their mums...apart from one, who just refuses point blank to be caught. and since they've had no hard feed for months, they aren't bucket trained yet...plus she's far too wiley to fall for that old trick :(
we need to move our ewes to the next field (which is simply a case of opening the gate) to get them ready for the tup coming in a couple of weeks.
we are going to be using a this years tup lamb as he'll only have a few ladies to deal with.
what am i going to do about this wee lamb? can i leave her? never put a lamb to the tup before, have always put them somewhere else and only put them to the tup as gimmers.
i dont have anyone nearby with a dog that can help me and i cant afford to wait to put the ewes onto more grazing.
thoughts please?
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forgot to mention that they are shetlands
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Someone at works dad has sheepdogs but has no land or sheeps is always asking if he can help out others?
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I only have a couple of sheep and borrow a freinds ram who comes for a months holiday. I didnt separate last years lamb and dont plan to separate them this year either. I had no problems. The ram was used to being with only a few ewes and them being ready at different times so perhaps this helped!...
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Someone at works dad has sheepdogs but has no land or sheeps is always asking if he can help out others?
is he anywhere near Cupar? and what is he doing this week??????
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do you have spare hurdles/fencing?
if so rig up a pen along the boundary of the gate you are going to drive them through. they wont know they are being penned until it is to late.
i dont know how to explain it properly.
excuse me whilst i away to 'paint'
can you tell what it is yet?
(http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/missus-snow/pen.jpg)
rolf harris aint got nothin on me ;D ;D
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good luck laura our first sheep were shetlands what a bugger they were to catch three weekends with fencing and hurdles then they sused it out to go on the outside of the fence so plan tiple g move the fence and caught the last of them 2 months later and they came to the bucket no dog no bike and not running about like forking idiots :farmer:
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Build a pen on the other side of the gate, open up and when they are through, shut gate behind them. With any luck lamb will be in the pen with the mums, can then be taken out, or stays behind in the old field. In that case (and if your fence is good enough) put in some wether lambs and start feeding small amounts. they soon get used to it and you should be able to remove them again in a couple of weeks time.
I am currently "training" my lambs to the feed trough with some of my home bred gimmers in the same field - works really well.
One of my Gotland x texl lambs refuses to go into the pen (she is used to feed!), and as a result I have two of these lambs in a field where they shouldn't be either and have a logistical nightmare... can understand your problem.
I would not mate a shetland as a lamb, they are still quite wee at this stage....
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Build a pen on the other side of the gate, open up and when they are through, shut gate behind them.
you managed in one sentence what i failed even with a diagram :dunce: :dunce: ;D
i'm such a spanner ;D ;D ;D
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is he anywhere near Cupar? and what is he doing this week??????
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Think it's Edinburgh, I am nightshift Friday so will ask/ give details of this forum...
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Build a pen on the other side of the gate, open up and when they are through, shut gate behind them.
you managed in one sentence what i failed even with a diagram :dunce: :dunce: ;D
i'm such a spanner ;D ;D ;D
Very useful things, spanners. Just maybe harder to use than sockets? ;D At least you tried, colliewoman, I had three goes at writing a response and abandoned the attempt entirely. ::)
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;D ;D ;D
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Or even build a big pen and then rather than running round the pen like an idiot once they are in drag the hurdles one by one or have a couple of spares to reduce the size until the ones you want are in a very small area. I saw this done at the weekend. So simple I was kicking myself for not thinking of it.
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I am near Cupar and am a contract Shepherd in my spare time (I also shepherd Shetlands). I charge 10/hour and would expect we could get your sheep sorted in an hour. I can also bring a mobile handling system if you haven't got a pen. Drop me a pm if you are interested. Could possibly come this evening.
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thanks everyone and loved the diagram, thanks so much for taking the time and trouble to draw it at all!
we have tried the pen on the other side of the gate approach, but that is what i meant about her and her mother being too wiley to fall for that - she just wont come near it if there ar humans about, if you try and herd her in, she scoots out the way and if you arent anywhere near it she goes in fine, but as soon as you approach to shut the gate (and her in the pen), the rest of them stay apart from her and her mother!
it is driving me mental and they are clearly not hungry enough to care about a bucket of feed and i cant really wait till they are as i need to get the rest of the ewes onto more grass for the tup coming the weekend after next...so time is running out.
thanks for offer of shepherding, cash a bit tight at the moment so will need to try other means i think.
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My preferred method is a roll of fencing as a mobile and less visible race for the sheep so that if the ewe decided to try to high tail back out of the pen you have an extended area in which you can funnel the sheep back in. it may only fool her the once but have used it many times with my sheep. by having a roll of fencing that is mobile you can simply roll it up until you reach the gate. Have had a wiley old ewe who would try to find a cunning alternative to capture every time but she finally (mostly ) accepted the race.
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sounds interesting........busy people this weekend me thinks :(
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I have Shetlands and find that if you have them on the bucket even the most awkward can be penned up . If you teed them up it will take no longer than a few days. feed them into a pen twice a day do not try to catch them till you can do so easily.
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(http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae26/thomsett_bucket/PA016664.jpg) --my old dog Gypsy thinks it`s a good plan !!!!! ;D ;D ::)
- sorry we are just to far away to help. :-[
Tilly :wave:
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--my old dog Gypsy thinks it`s a good plan !!!!! ;D ;D ::)
- sorry we are just to far away to help. :-[
Tilly :wave:
Great pic ;D
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love it
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brilliant photo, really made me smile :)