[SavageU]

I have swapped fields today for boys and girls today.

Pregnant yows moved to dry ground but had 5 ewes that were very reluctant to come to bucket.

It's taken hours to move 5 sheep and I have been left with one that I could not move that I have had to leave in with the boys (and Ram) and I don't know how I am going to get her out.

My plan is to get them all to come to bucket tomorrow and trap her and get in on her own.

It's just a nightmare, motorbikes people dog walking and smoking the ewes are just like no thanks!

Any tips or advice gratefully receiveed. If nothing else I definitely need to work on them coming to bucket better for gathering in.

There are days I think I need more sheep and today is not that day.

[SavageU]

What I am posting for is...how much of a problem am I making for myself leaving her with the Ram?

I need to get her in, she's looking round to me! Will it be awful if she mambs with just 3 boys in a field?

[Bywaters]

when is she due ?

I would imagine that the rams won't be bothered by her presence unless she comes back into oestrus

They'll come to a bucket when they are hungry enough !

[SavageU]

Anytime from next week if she is indeed pregnant.

Ram was very Interested so lord knows. She looks round but I have Ryelands so it’s tricky, not bagged up.

I need her out of there as it’s waterlogged and I want the ewes on firmer ground really for their feet.

I’ll try not to panic yet and see what tomorrow brings.

[Fleecewife]

I have seen males become really aggressive towards a lambing ewe, first repeatedly making them get up then actually butting them.  Must be to do with the hormones but it could lead to the ewe delivering a dead lamb.  I would get her out.


Can you get them all into a catching pen? When I was effectively on my own for a year, I worked out a system to catch the whole flock.  I set up a hurdle pen in the highest corner of a field (sheep apparently like going uphill for safety) with a swing shut hurdle to close them in, once in. To get them there, I put out one or two 50m electric net fences (not electrified, just there and taut), in a funnel shape.  Using my Jack Russell to bark and yip, and me on my 'disabled' off road scoot, I could direct the sheep into the funnel then into the pen and shut the last hurdle behind them.  I could have put feed in there but I didn't.
This method worked and I looked after the sheep on my own for a year.  I learned after the first go to tie all the hurdles together top and bottom, as a flock of shoving sheep can tip a pen over.
It takes a while to set the whole thing up but it beats trying to chase a pregnant ewe round and round a field 

[Richmond]

Agree with Fleecewife. Set up a race and pen with hurdles and funnel them into where you want to go. You can never have enough hurdles! Always be on the lookout for 2nd hand ones or even make your own if you are able. Even if you only use them twice a year it's so worth it.

[woollyval]

Totally agree with fleecewife.
Funnel them in to a smaller and smaller area until you have all of them, rams included.
Sheep can run faster than you and lots of people getting stressed will just stress the sheep and could cause a lot of problems.


Once you have caught them all you can check all for general health and separating the ewe if she is showing signs of being in lamb….udder dropping, vulva becoming more slack etc.


Do everything quietly and plan it all and then it will be much easier.

[SavageU]

Thanks for all the replies.

Regarding the pen in the field, this is what we are finding the easiest due to the lane and people being around. They don't all come together so penning and collecting them by the gate (and letting them take their time) would indeed be easiest going forward. Still learning. They all used to come lovely to bucket and now they are a bit scatty unless they know its going in their troughs.

Whats happening is im calling them, most of them run, so I move towards my open gate and then some of them stop and we the game is jiggered as I can't go back as i'm on a footpath/bridleway.



I'll have a go tomorrow.

[Fleecewife]

Further to Woolyval's comment, when we first got our sheep, the only example we had to follow was our neighbour.  He and his family would hurtle around the field with much arm waving, shouting, cursing and swearing when gathering their flock.  This was what we assumed was normal.  Then we bought a tup from a retired vet and went to collect it.  The vet walked slowly and actually let his tups lead the way to his ewes' field (it was time to put them in).  When we got all worried and said 'won't they run off'? he said 'no, they know the way, I'll go up later and let them in'.  We were flabbergasted, as his driveway was open onto a local town so it would have been mayhem if the tups had gone the wrong way.  Of course they didn't go the wrong way, his tups with our new boy in tow, scuffed along the track, ours was calmly diverted into our trailer and the older two just carried on up, following their noses. At no point was there a raised voice or a flapped hand.  We learnt how to handle sheep that day, calmly and using our understanding of sheep behaviour to keep things peaceful and easy 

[SavageU]

Yes there is no arm waving or shouting here, all called by bucket and we like it that way.

We like calm ewes and a calm set up for them. Unfortunately, with a lame one lagging and a busy lane it just went Pete Tong.

We can easily call them in gently to a pen and take it from there.

[SallyintNorth]

There's a numbers element to whether the bucket will work.

Try calling this lot to a bucket, you'll be trampled and left dead and broken in the mud!   



Even the collies wouldn't get between these lot and the ATV-towed "snacker" dispensing their cake.   

[SavageU]

Ha Ha @sallyintnorth indeed! That's a dog job at expert level for that lot.

No just 12-16 here so manageable by bucket...she says.