The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: AlexInLincs on April 20, 2010, 06:09:53 am
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Hi
A friend of ours has shetlands and has just got a couple of Soay lambs. The shetlands will not tolerate the lambs and have tried to trample them and they have had to separate them off. Any suggestions for how to get them together?
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don't until the lambs can run faster than the shetlands. i love our ponies but they are very tough on the sheep. we lost a lamb last year to the boys. the ewes need to be away from them when heavy with lambs. they trie to use a cheviot as a toy this year. you will also need two feed points or your sheep are oing to go hungrey.
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Our tups are out with our neighbours horse. I have a corner of the field taped of with one strand of electric fence that the sheep can get under but the horse can't - that's the boys' sanctuary!
I will put the ewe lambs out later but I wouldn't put my ewes or young lambs out in the field.
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I would never put our ponies with lambs as they will chase them. Once older they have the sense to run under the electric fence which the ponies stay well clear off.
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one of my neighbours (very gentle) horses killed one of their lambs last year - and they saw it happening but couldnt get there till it was too late. horses and lambs are just not a good combination i think. agree with everyone else that you need to wait till the lambs are bigger AND that they have somewhere to escape to. the only problem with shetlands (having some i feel 'qualified' to comment!) is that they dont particularly respect electric tape when their winter coats are still in - too thick to feel the sting i think!
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i would agree with that i really cant see it working unless it zaps them on the nose.
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I have Dobbie the wonderhorse in with my pregnant and just lambed ewes and he is fine. He is a 15.2hh Dales and I have been surprised about how gentle he is with the tiddlers. Plus with my orphan lambs he licks sucks their ears when they have managed to get them covered in milk after arguing over teats on the milk bucket! :horse:
I do know however of a horror story at an animal sanctuary where the horses and ponies had been living happily with the sheep until they were sheared and then they kicked the sh*t out of them over night and have had to be seperated ever since!
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i think we need pictures of that. shetlands are more like a group of tennagers. not always nice ones either. but there good points out way there bad ones.