The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: lola97 on March 05, 2013, 09:19:36 am
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I desperately need someone to shear my 3 Soay sheep -yes I know Soays,I was recommended them 10yrs ago,(I was very green then!)they can jump for England and still 10 years later I can't get anywhere near them.Anyway for the last 3 yrs I have been totally let down by shearers that I have booked to come and do them - just not bothered turning up and messages I have left always go to voice mail. So if there is anyone out there who can or knows someone that would it would be brilliant as their fleeces now are horrendous ...... I do think a dog would be essential though to capture them,I have huge fields around me and they will jump the fences and disappear for the day trying to round them up on foot. :fc:
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I can see why no shearer will come :D They expect the sheep to be penned and ready to shear when they get there, not to have to chase them up hill and down dale. Soay usually self-roo ie their fleece will come off by itself, but from what you say it sounds as if they have three years of fleece on them.
You have three months before shearing time to try to tame them. The usual way is to tempt them in with food, but as we are past the worst of the winter that might not work, if they are unused to being fed. I have written a fairly long piece somewhere on TAS about how to do that. How do you get them in to worm them and treat them with anti-flystrike stuff?
A dog is unlikely to be able to work with them if they are that flighty and the dog is not used to working with Soay - they will just scatter and sail over your fences.
I once had to help my brother to catch his wild flock of Manx Loughtans - which weren't as wild as your Soay sound. We got them into the smallest field then got lots of people with a 50m length of electric netting (not electrified) and went fishing ;D We chose a corner where they couldn't jump over, herded them quietly into that whilst making the net smaller and smaller, then eventually threw the net over the lot and each person grabbed one and hung onto it. Far from ideal but it worked - twice, once for shearing then later to send the devils off to the abattoir.
I am a great fan of Soay, but if they run wild (which ideally they should to preserve their wild characteristics) then management becomes near impossible.
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Hate to say it but your required to get them in ready. Not the shearer as very few will do it. I may know someone who would do it, how much are you willing to spend?
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Where are you, if near me I'll come lend a hand catching :thumbsup:
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ive sent you a private message. i do sheep shearing, done loads of soays,potlands etc
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Even the wildest of sheep can be bucket trained in a few weeks or less in most cases.
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Funnily enough I bought some black welsh and didn't realise how flighty they were compared with my mules and suffolks. When I went to see them they seemed so calm!
Anyway as mentioned if you can tempt them up to a feeder with something tasty , not in a pen but near a safe place to catch. Once they know it contains food gradually move it near a corner and start adding hurdles or put posts in (high) to make a pen. If its possible make a catching pen on one side of a gateway as they are stupid enough to go through if used to it being open so if you can close it off when you want to catch them it should work.
Just make sure high enough they can't jump it or want to. Best of British!
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Just a thought but if you can get hold of some security fencing hurdles that they can't jump and a very long roll of fabric to use as a funnel then you have a chance.
The best way is to have people holding the fabric up and use it to guide the sheep into the hurdles.
Just a thought but I know it can work.
Hope this helps,
Philip :sheep:
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Dont know if you have found anyone yet, but im not far from you, and know a couple of local shearers. Let me know :thumbsup:
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Hello I am outside Canterbury and have two sheep on an acre at the back of my house. One is quiet enough and can be caught, at a push, while the other is very very flighty! I don't have a pen either, besides the old chicken run but one of them has run through that fencing before!
If anybody knows of anybody who might be interested in shearing these and a cost of same it would be most helpful!
Thanks
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i'm in Bethersden and could lend a couple of 15 year old hands in catching at least
send me a PM
Cheers Ed