[LOCHBYRE]

As I am sure you all know, I have been trying to catch one of my soay ewes and her twins to bring them in for a little tlc after Tess there Mum has been a little weak and not had much milk.
Tess not a prob to catch but the twins not so keen   
Tonight the weather is foul that they were all huddled in the rashes, scooped up the lambs , left Mum eating food while I went for the quad.....all 3 now safely in stable, managed to get lambs  to take 75 and 40 mls bottle to help them out a bit, have put creep and haylage in with them all too 
Will decide tomorrow where to put them I am sure Tobby pony won't be too happy at his stable becoming a sheep house 

[kanisha]

welldone! I know that feeling!!

[jaykay]

Hurray, hurray 

[in the hills]

Oh ..... tell me about it!

Wednesday evening, hubbie away, heard a terrible din from the third paddock. Dont hear much from our Soay and just knew something was amiss. Torrential rain and mist. Went to have a look and discovered one little tup lamb in my neighbours field. Children helped me chase him around for over an hour .... tried everything. We tempted with food, attempted hooking with the crook, driving into corner with huge plastic sheet etc. Eventually rang my neighbour, who bless him, came down with his highly trained collie. Attempted to drive lambie with his collie into his flock .... idea being to get them all into a building and then grab lambie. Total failure .... lamb chased a very bemused collie, ran with flock but kept breaking and eventually decided to jump into the fast flowing brook. Collie attempted to bring him back..... lamb faced him, stamped his foot and then managed to get through another fence into a wood. Thought I would never see him again but the collie managed to bring him back down and lambie finally ran into the stock fence and became wedged by his fat tummy  ......three hours after being discovered and with all concerned soaked to the skin.   

I dont know what I would have done without my neighbour and his dog. Dog now needs therapy but lamb safely back home. All we can find in the way of a hole is a slightly enlarged square in the stock fence.

Any tips on catching Soay lambs greatly appreciated!!!!!  Ewes are fairly easy in that they follow a bucket into an area where we can close the gates when needed. Lambs have followed them in for vaccinations, etc. so that has not been a problem. Escaped lambs another matter. 

[Fleecewife]

It sounds cruel but in a desperate situation you can eventually run a Soay down.  They reach a point where their wild side tells them to play dead.  You just have to hope they reach it before you run yourself to exhaustion.  Helps to have a quad I suppose.


Well done for finally catching your lambies Susan 

[Brucklay]

Oh I can just see it - good on the Collie 

[bigchicken]

The joys of keeping sheep and very good exercise.

[Pedwardine]

WHAT a drama  Well done and sounds a fab neighbour. Poor confused collie 

[bloomer]

i feel for the collie, being threatened by by a stropy upstart of a lamb!!!

[in the hills]

Loch byre - How old are the lambs?  Did they take the milk readily from the bottle?  I would imagine mine would not be keen. Maybe they will if they are hungry enough? 

Fleecewife - Run them down?  Useful to know that it is possible. Will have to do some serious training first. 
Running shoes ready and number for the Air Ambulance because I reckon I would need it if I had to out run the little chap on these slopes.  Neighbour said his dog was exhausted and Rob looks fitter than me.

[Fleecewife]

    It actually doesn't take long - they don't stop because they are exhausted, which is why it's not actually cruel, but much sooner than that when they realise they are not going to win, so their primitive instincts come into play and they hunker down - you may have noticed your soay lambs doing it when their dams are away grazing.  Some wild animals do a similar thing - in fact it's what we are supposed to do when we are attacked by a bear     play dead  .

[bigchicken]

That's will be why some of my Shetlands lie down when caught you live and learn.

[LOCHBYRE]

Thanks everyone 
In the hills that sounds like a nightmare !!!! 
The lambs were born on the 6th april I thought they'd be reluctant to take any bottle but tonight they took 200 and 150 mls then ran off to Mum for a top up from her 
Just as I thought they must be not quite getting enough from her, prob help her out too if I can take a bit of the presure off by topping them up , as soon as the lambs know to come to me for a top up I can pop them back out as Mum already looking perkier too    phew !!!

[dontworkclimb]

so glad I opted not to have Soays-they look so cute too!!

[in the hills]

Oh, they are quite a few weeks old then. I am surprised that you could pick them up .... bad weather or not. My ewes have become quite tame but I cant get anywhere near the lambs unless theyve followed their mums into the feeding area and weve trapped them! I wonder if your little ones were a bit weak or are mine particularly wild?!

You did well to get them to take the bottle. I am sure it will help them and mum.