Author Topic: orange fleeced sheep  (Read 16935 times)

earlybird

  • Joined Jun 2012
orange fleeced sheep
« on: August 11, 2012, 11:51:28 am »
on visiting scotland at the weekend we came across a group of sheep being herded down a very narrow country road to another field, great to see   :) in amongst these sheep were some that looked as if they had lovely orange coloured fleeces is there actually a breed that look like this or was the farmer having a bit of fun :D

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2012, 11:59:44 am »
I guess Scotland is similar to Northumberland and Cumbria  - but someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

It's dipping-time, and some breeds traditionally get some colouration in the dip.  Animals being sold will normally be quite coloured, and any not looking orange (or grey or yellow or whatever colour normally used for that breed in that area) in the ring are likely to be penalised.  For one thing, if they look white, they may not have been dipped - which means the buyer has to either dip or treat them again, or be especially vigilant in case they had not been dipped.

Because less farms actually use OP or equivalent dip these days, you can now buy 'dips' that basically just contain a dye...  These will be used on sheep being sold so that they 'look right' in the sale and show ring. ::)

Herdwicks are different again, I think.  Someone from nearer the Lakes can correct this, because my knowledge is sketchy, but I think there is a red rudd that's rubbed into the fleece of Herdwicks.  Whether the intention is to make older sheep look younger (they start nearly black and get greyer then whiter as they age) or what, I am not sure.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Dougal

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Port O' Menteith, Stirlingshire
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2012, 12:04:45 pm »
They will have been 'coloured' with 'bloom'. The colouring of the fleece makes any white in their head and legs stand out to make them look more showy in the ring. With south type Scottish Blackfaces they use moorit which gives a really dark colour to hide some of the black wool in the fleece. The idea stems from the practice of tupping on the hill and with them being coloured you can see your tups within a flock of ewes at just a glance and at a distance.
In the show ring the colour is to try and draw the judges eye gto your sheep, every farmer will favour a slightly different hue so the ring can end up looking like a colidescope of every thing from off white through yellow and ochre to biscuit and finally almost black. Smells good too  :D
It's always worse for someone else, so get your moaning done before they start using up all the available symathy!

earlybird

  • Joined Jun 2012
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2012, 12:09:58 pm »
great thanks, do you still have to dip your sheep i thought that was outdated now ?

Dougal

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Port O' Menteith, Stirlingshire
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2012, 12:15:31 pm »
Dipping is much more controlled than it once was and with the new pour ons many farmers don't bother. That said almost every farmer when asked directly will still swear that the dipper was the best thing for 'cleaning them up'. Doing all the external parasites, controlling foot issues you name it the dipper seems to help.
It's always worse for someone else, so get your moaning done before they start using up all the available symathy!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2012, 12:16:24 pm »
Smells good too  :D
uh - not to all of us, Dougal.

Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2012, 12:19:19 pm »
Dipping is much more controlled than it once was and with the new pour ons many farmers don't bother. That said almost every farmer when asked directly will still swear that the dipper was the best thing for 'cleaning them up'. Doing all the external parasites, controlling foot issues you name it the dipper seems to help.

"Showering", using mobile sheep showers, became all the rage for a while, but vets hate it, and everyone wants to be the first so you don't get all the crud from the previous farm(s) getting sprayed onto your sheep.  It seems less popular now, for medication purposes anyway.

So you're left with the pour-ons or the injectables.  Or dipping.

Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Dougal

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Port O' Menteith, Stirlingshire
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #7 on: August 11, 2012, 12:20:39 pm »
Ach I love the smell of a tup sale... must be an aquired taste lol.
It's always worse for someone else, so get your moaning done before they start using up all the available symathy!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2012, 12:22:36 pm »
Ach I love the smell of a tup sale... must be an aquired taste lol.
I know exactly what you mean.  It's a very evocative smell - the dip, the testosterone, the sheepy pheromones...

But I wouldn't say I like the smell as a scent.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Dougal

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Port O' Menteith, Stirlingshire
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2012, 12:24:33 pm »
point taken! it is a bit ripe!
It's always worse for someone else, so get your moaning done before they start using up all the available symathy!

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2012, 12:28:01 pm »
at the side of the M8  at bathgate there is a roadside feature called the pyramids ever year the sheep that graze on that feature are dyed a different colour one year they were purple     this is done to brighten the commuters day apparently :farmer:

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2012, 12:34:57 pm »
 :D

The Herdies are now done with a proprietary  'bloom' as are many other sheep. The reason it's red for Herdies though is that originally it was red clay soil rubbed into their coats. Not to make them look younger I don't think, just to make them look 'better' in the same way mules are dipped brown and texels yellow.

The biggest problem with dips (as well as the smell) was how deadly some of them were. The farmer up the road put himself in bed for a week after dipping (word was he miscalculated the strength but I don't believe he would ever put too much in of anything he'd paid for!). The injectables are great but have no persistence, so everyone on the fell has to do them the same day.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2012, 03:17:08 pm »
Aye, we've a neighbour was ill for years from the OP dip. 

Interesting point about the persistence and everyone grazing the fell having to dip on the same day... we haven't much common ground in this area, but the vets are increasingly urging farmers to put an airgap between their own ground and that of their neighbours.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Mallows Flock

  • Joined Apr 2012
  • Shepton mallet
    • Somerset Pet Sitting and Dog Walking
Re: orange fleeced sheep
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2012, 09:43:11 pm »
I vow never to bloom... wanna show my sheep au-naturale but maybe because that is cos I have NO idea about trimming either so that's my excuse... I like them natural! LOL! Hopefully the judges will see through all that colour and puffing up and notice that mine are pretty cool without all that jazz!!!
There was also an article in Farmers Weekly a while back saying about how a few farmers starting dyeing their sheep bright colours to prevent THIEVES. DIRTY,  >:( HORRIBLE, SHEEP PILFERING ROBBERS!
From 3 to 30 and still flocking up!

 

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