The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Je on August 15, 2015, 06:56:17 pm
-
Any tips? My ryeland ewe! one of 4, has a bald patch on her head. I managed to pen her last night 6x6, with food and get summer cream on it. Suprise, surprise she will not pen tonight, other 3 of course did. Patience and food im guessing. So frustrating. :-\
-
Yep that's it patience and food. Leave it a day before you try again
-
Thanks DavidandCollette
-
Do you have, or could you borrow some poultry netting or similar? If so, you could make a race into the hurdles and fool her that way. Then give her a treat when she's in. Good luck!!
-
Digestive biscuits work here every time!
Who knew the power of the humble digestive?
-
I find it easier to pen animals or to get them to move readily to where you want them to go, if you don't look directly into their eyes. It's something we all do without thinking about it. But eying an animal is exactly what predators do when they're hunting a prey animal, so if your animals are feeling a bit unsettled, having only yesterday been "conned" into going into a pen, then you "eying" them again is confirmation that you're going to try and catch them again. So look at the ground near them, or at their back end rather than their face, and just casually walk them in the direction you want them to go, while not really looking at them at all, and you will find them calmer and more amenable.
-
Run her through a gate into a pen.
Or borrow a dog?
-
If she is running away from you should be fairly easy to catch
Set up a funnel using gates/hurdles/anything into a pen and run her in, slam it behind her and bobs your uncle
Or as above borrow someones dog
-
I use sugarbeet pellets, patience and a good sheepdog. Alternatively you could get people to help herd em for you
-
Trouble is this isn't a one-off event - the OP is going to have to catch this ewe every day until her wool has regrown. So learning how to bring her in calmly so she isn't spooked will give best results. I agree with the funnel method, but it's best if she walks in, not gets chased. Sheep are not daft and chasing her around will only make her wilder to catch each time. Making a pen on the other side of the gate can work, if it's a gate she's used to going through.
If you can bring all four together, even though it's only one you want to treat, that will make the target ewe feel less vulnerable.
One trick, if the other sheep are calmer and happy to be penned, is to build a pen like a Larsen trap, with two sections. Get the other sheep in, put a hurdle across so she can see them but they can't get out, then with patience she will join them.
Once they are in and the work is done, give them all a treat.
In the long term, get the flock used to going into a pen to be fed in the winter, so they are really calm and you can quietly close the pen across when you need them.
-
I agree entirely that getting her to run/chasing her is not the answer to easy catching.
However, as you've treated her, can you not leave her for a few days to regain her confidence before you quietly catch her up again?
For future reference, if you have difficulty catching the animal the first time, and expect to have to catch her up again the next day for further treatment, then you'd be better keeping her shut up until you've finished the treatment altogether.
-
We had similar issues with a flystruck ewe.
In the past I've found that setting up a gated of pathway into the pen area and then leaving it till she follows the others in has worked, she wouldn't follow them in if we were looking so either turning our backs or leaving the area completely but spying so we can shut the gate to keep them in, has worked.
This time round though she was doggedly determined not to be caught. In the end, neighbouring farmer came over with his dog and we kept her penned until completely treated, recovered and able to go back into the main field. Whilst she was penned (4 days) I made a point of quietly sitting with her and hand feeding her with sheep nuts or biscuits/crackers. now when I go into the main field she will actually come over to have a fuss so fingers crossed, the intensive treatment might help with your ewe too for future :fc:
-
I use sugarbeet pellets, patience and a good sheepdog. Alternatively you could get people to help herd em for you
Just out of interest, why the first two?
-
Assuming you have a pen, possibly made with hurdles and a gate, can be another hurdle of course. Then the method I use that works every time on my sheep when they are in a smaller field, is to use a long rope attached to the gate, at about the shoulder height of the sheep. With the gate open, walk across the field laying out the rope on the ground so the sheep are on the side nearest the pen. Now pick the rope up and pull it tight and keep it horizontal and walk along the field boundary closing down their available space. They will run at some point towards the rope, but by keeping it tight the chances are they will back away from it, mine do. Keep closing off the space and eventually they will run in to the pen.
Well, it works for me, but I guess my sheep think the rope is electrified fencing rope.
-
I take it you don't have primitives OldGaffer ;D
-
Hello Fleecewife, they are Shetlands, they sometimes jump the rope but mainly keep to the correct side, give up running about and go in the pen. I am planing on buying some Hebridean sheep next week, so I guess I need to buy sheep dog as well, unless they will follow my obliging Shetlands!
-
No no - replace your rope with lengths of sheep electric mesh, not electrified but use that to make your funnel, held taught with a guy rope at one end, and tied to the pen at the other. The Hebs will take a few goes to learn not to get tangled in it, but your Shetlands should get it straight off. With Hebs it's calm, calm, calm all the way for ease of handling. Hopefully they will integrate well with the Shetlands (eventually) and should be calmed by them.
-
Lots of great advice already given, something I always do is when I have initially penned the sheep the first time is let the one that I want to treat eat up the small amount of corn/nuts with the others and then catch and treat when they have eaten up.
Catching and treating the sheep before its had at least a mouthful of corn and expecting it to come back in the pen tomorrow for more treatment can be hard work and i've learnt my lesson!
Good luck with finding a method that works for you and your sheep, perhaps a little of everyone's suggestions.
-
Thank you everyone. A pen, food and patience did the trick. I have learned another lesson to pen and feed frequently. :D
-
Good to hear, well done :thumbsup:
-
And remember sometimes its worth seperating wilder sheep from the main flock for a month or two to tame them:
I recently brought a flock that contained 2 very wild, primitive type hebs, which had been drafted from a fell flock - lovely grey, longish necks and feral as hell. they Live as a pair and their safe distance from me is about 100m.....
They are seperate now until they tame up - as when they ran, EVERYTHING went with them, under fences, over gates, into hedges.... if these two run like hell they all figure something must be up.
Once a few get used to you, the rest follow.