The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Hamish Crofter on March 28, 2015, 10:12:00 am
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Ok, so we are developing our croft and want to get sheep. We have to be honest though and say apart from reading books we don't know anything about the care and keeping of them. Is it worth going on one of the courses advertised in smallholder mags, if so which one. Or.....do we just buy them and learn on the job, it does seem to work for many?
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I would find a course or a friendly local personally. You can read in the books but actually doing on a live sheep is a whole other ball game :) I have learnt loads from helping at lambing and when foot dipping and before that I considered myself "book smart"
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Go HelpXing
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Ask around to see if there's a local farmer who might agree to you helping out with routine tasks - turning and foot trimming a sheep is very different to reading about it. Or you could let your grass keep to a local shepherd in return for lessons.
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My neighbour would help I'm sure, we actually let him graze his sheep on our land before we started our house build. Just really wondered whether a course would be a good head start.
There are so many courses but picking the right one seems a bit of a gamble without some guidance.
Thanks for the comments so far .........
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I seem to remember from a distant post past that you are a member of the Scottish Crofting Federation, but if I'm wrong and despite my previous comments, it's worth joining and they may be able to put you in touch with other members locally who would mentor you. I don't know what we would have done without our 'crofting angel'. Their courses are also excellent, and you get a discount if you're a member.
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Hamish, I did two courses. The first was a free day's introductory course (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=37850) run by SRUC, which included an afternoon of hands on. It might be worth contacting them to see if they're running it again further North?
Also I did the SRUC lambing course (http://www.sruc.ac.uk/directory_record/11437/lambing) a month ago. This was paid for (though you might be eligible for ILA funding if you're lucky). Again, this was a fantastic course. Not for the faint hearted (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=55221.msg477879#msg477879), but still a great way to learn the basics.
Womble.
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Thanks all. The SRUC courses sound just right, I'll give the local office a call.
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If you are able to travel, get yourself onto Tim Tyne's lambing course next March in the wild west of Wales. It's residential for about a week, and if you can read through his book beforehand even better. While you are there for lambing, you will also have a chance to do some foot trimming, dagging back ends.. and that's mostly all you need to learn.
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I agree with Anke, one day courses are expensive and you don't really get the 'feel' of sheep. 12 people around one sheep is not fair on the poor thing. Stress etc.
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Find a local farmer who needs some help. No better way than the hands on method.
Unlikely on a course to be presented with what I had this morning. 2 big lambs dead inside the ewe. Managed eventually to get them out with the help of the neighbour farmer but not entire.
Ewe suffered a heart attack and lost her as well.
[size=78%] [/size]
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I offer hands on training based on one to one or two and my friend provides the accommodation in either a log cabin,yurt or barn conversion.
My courses are tailored to your specific requirements and involve lots of sheepy time.
I cover anything and everything from foot care, vaccination, worming, fencing, nutrition, handling, etc,
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I've just been on Tim Tyne's lambing course - it's excellent.
It lasts a whole 5 days so it covers pretty much every aspect of sheep husbandry, not just lambing.