The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Primitive Sheep => Topic started by: Bramham Wiltshire Horns on July 15, 2015, 10:15:00 pm
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Went along to the great Yorkshire show today!
Got to say I really liked the Hebrideans and if I ever got into sheep that's one breed I would defiantly consider!
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What good taste you have Prk :thumbsup: ;D
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Ditto - 4 horn tup won GYS FW
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I got a picture but I can't attach for some reason too big!
I found them quite tame and placid
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Ditto - 4 horn tup won GYS FW
:thumbsup: Do you know who the breeder was Big Light?
Prk - don't forget that it's show sheep you were seeing - they are used to being shown, to being handled, to being indoors, to standing for hours in the ring and to being looked at by many people. Depending on where you source your flock you may have to spend time calming and befriending them before they too are calm and biddable. When we first got Hebs, they were always to be seen in the furthest point of the smallholding from us, just in case we wanted to do something to them. Now they are mostly softies, demanding biscuits and shouting for us to go and see them. There are still one or two which stand at the back of the crowd, but if we handled them more they would be more confident. The few we have shown are more biddable than some others. Everyone I know who keeps Hebs just loves them, but I wouldn't like you to get a slightly false impression of what life is like with Hebs - they are Primitives so very different to some more commercial types which have been bred for docility and ease of handling. Hebs which have come straight off the hill can take a good year or two to calm down.
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heart broken I didnt make the GYS even though Im only 3 miles from it! Really gutted but work got in the way.
I echo the above comments, and also if Hebrideans have a moody day and just dont want to do anything, your stumped.
I've had a shearer and two dogs give up on mine before now..... The sheep didnt flinch at the dogs, the ram stood his ground and droped his head, the ewes scattered and it looked like black firework streaks on the hill. The words of a shearer of 20y - "bugger them, they're not respecting the dog, they're playing with it" - as the ewes all decided to stand their ground when they got near the mobile pen.
3 days later I walked the whole lot into the top small paddock, cornered them and sheared 3 before the rest decided to climb on the hurdles and break out.
Compared to a normal commercial breed, they're almost a different species. And watch out for 4 horned rams, you get jabbed in interesting places when handling them.
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Heres the champion and reserve
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Don't worry I agree with you both and I'm not naive about it too!
I'm up for the hard graft, I can be patient to get them on side
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Digestive biscuits, willow branches, wholemeal bread, apples, all very useful tools of the hebridean shepherd
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and a rattly bucket
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and a small dog they want to chase......
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or as I found today, other sheep getting fed first, They know their place at the top and wont accept anything short of top spot/
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I, too, attended GYS, for the first time. Sheep show was bigger than Royal Highland because of a wider range of breeds. Anyhow, for Hebs the judge was H. Brewis, Newport Bagnall. The Supreme champion and male went to Cassie & Wainwright (Lutterworth, Leics) and reserve and female went to VCK Mason (Nantwich, Cheshire).
The Hebs club stand was excellent.
And a few random pictures...of hebs plus Jacob (having a trim), Shetlands and Hampshire Down
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Don't bite my head off as I admit to knowing very little about sheep yet and even less about Hebs but my friend has some ( as well as Ryelands and Dartmoors) and they appear to me to be as wild as a crate full of tigers!!
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It depends on how they are handled.
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Its funny you say that about the dogs. Ive never had anything to do with hebs. But I've noticed that the more maternal a breed the sheep is, the more of a bollock ache it is to push them around a field with a dog. My shedders are generally pretty good, but they regularly face off the dog and get stampy and sometimes rush her. Even the lambs. It's a pain in the arse at the time, but a pleasure to see as well. I often find that the ewe lambs that are fronting off the collie when cornered at 12 weeks are the ones that make the best mothers.
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They are an excellent matenal breed - they will defend their lambs to the death - well handled "tame" hebs will happily throw themselves at hurdles if you separate them from their lambs - Shearing them is usually done with lambs in site otherwise the lambs call for the ewe and they wont sit still.
They are also a breed that a working dog Needs to know and be familiar with, seen too many dogs try to round mine up and end up being chased round the field and cornered - some of my older ewes will chase anything that moves that isnt a hebridean, that includes anything white and wooly, people, dogs, dog walkers, horses.
yet with me they are either tame, ignor me to the extent I can often grab them, or just show a total indiference and observe me.
As a breed they are something else, but once you learn their weird ways, no more or less work than any other breed. Apart from perhaps this weeks latest plan - Dont let david leave the field by the whole flock going to the gate and sitting down, every day.
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I, too, attended GYS, for the first time. Sheep show was bigger than Royal Highland because of a wider range of breeds. Anyhow, for Hebs the judge was H. Brewis, Newport Bagnall. The Supreme champion and male went to Cassie & Wainwright (Lutterworth, Leics) and reserve and female went to VCK Mason (Nantwich, Cheshire).
The Hebs club stand was excellent.
Just a small point perhaps, but in the Heb shows, we try to report which sheep won, rather than which owner - the owner and breeder can be included in brackets ;D This makes a whole lot of sense, as many of those showing have brought several sheep along, often not home bred. It's the sheep which should be judged, not the owner. I'm not sure of they do this with other breeds.
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I, too, attended GYS, for the first time. Sheep show was bigger than Royal Highland because of a wider range of breeds. Anyhow, for Hebs the judge was H. Brewis, Newport Bagnall. The Supreme champion and male went to Cassie & Wainwright (Lutterworth, Leics) and reserve and female went to VCK Mason (Nantwich, Cheshire).
The Hebs club stand was excellent.
Just a small point perhaps, but in the Heb shows, we try to report which sheep won, rather than which owner - the owner and breeder can be included in brackets ;D This makes a whole lot of sense, as many of those showing have brought several sheep along, often not home bred. It's the sheep which should be judged, not the owner. I'm not sure of they do this with other breeds.
Alas, the catalogue only holds details of the owners -whom I'm sure would be willing to provide details - though I imagine the Breed Club will provide a show report.