Author Topic: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!  (Read 20103 times)

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« on: September 24, 2012, 09:35:33 am »
Well. black and blue and aching all over from this weekends MOT ing session with my 14 shearlings!  We built a hurdle pen the other side of a gate at the bottom of the current field (I'd initially built it at the top - been feeding them in it all week, no problem - came to shut them in on Sat - NOT A CHANCE!!!!  They can smell 'treatment') and got them all into it a dream - but then it proved to be too big as catching them was an olympic event (watch out on youve been framed!) - and I had tied the hurdles with baler twine to make sure it didnt fall apart - so couldnt make it smaller! 


So I am now very motivated to build me dream handling sys and would love to see any pictures you may have of yours/lessons learned :eyelashes: :eyelashes: [size=78%]. [/size] I have the Tim Tyne book - but just wish I could see more pictures to help me decide (shape, place, materials...).

in the hills

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2012, 10:24:20 am »
Sorry, can't help FiB but will follow this thread with interest.


We used to lure our ewes into the enclosed chicken run. Worked a treat and found them fairly easy to catch as not too big an area. With the arrival of the lambies it wasn't so easy - always one or two reluctant to go into the space - think because of the small size and ewes butting them away from the trough.  ::) Invested in some hurdles and now have an area as semi-permanent pen and feed them in there on a regular basis. The area is quite large - otherwise they won't venture in - but as you say catching the tinkers is then quite tricky. Takes hubbie, myself and daughter to do it with an element of composure. Once in, we have to decreases the size of the pen by moving in the hurdles. Cannot make the pen as small as we would like because the sheepies are by now well aware of our plans and looking to escape. Once they are out, that is it, no chance of recapture. One lambie managed to dash under the hurdle being moved last week so missed his fluke/worm drench :'( . Still have to use the crook to catch some of them in the pen and they seem to be able to twist and escape this if one of us can't get there quickly to grab hold of them and those horns are a bit hazardous!!!


Think being able to reduce the pen size once they are in maybe the answer but not sure how to do it without escapees.  ???

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2012, 10:32:20 am »
Funnel.  Ideally funnel with interim gates.  (Properly called a forcing pen, I think.)  Or if you can think how to do a temporary one, a circle pen, with two radial gates so you can squish 'em up once they're in.

If you have a shorter width, not square, you give yourself a better chance of catching them.

Plus, I have two pieces of advice.

1.  The most important ingredient in catching them is self belief.  YOU must believe you ARE going to catch them.  Not eventually but right now, this time.

2.  The most important ingredient in catching them is self belief.  THEY must believe you ARE going to catch them.  Not eventually but every time.

 ;)
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

Mel Rice

  • Joined Sep 2011
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2012, 10:41:04 am »
Enjoyed Sally's post. Yep I to would add a short corridor/exit from this corral you have got, just one sheep wide with gates/spare hurdle. When they find that you have mysteriously tropped them in their feeding corral they will go for the only exit....this new corridor the you have just opened....Freedom!!!
Thats where you grab, do what has to be done and let them go on their way. Out back to the field or into another holding area (Just incase one is faster than you )

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2012, 11:18:43 am »
 ;D ;D Glad to hear I am not the only one in the hills!  And agree there was some lacking psychology over the weekend Sally!!!!  All part of the learning!

goosepimple

  • Joined May 2010
  • nr Lauder, Scottish Borders
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2012, 11:40:33 am »
Sally was a sheepdog in a previous life :D .


When a local shepherd came to shear our gang this year it needed 4 adults, 5 kids and 2 sheepdogs to catch them all (jumpy primitives).  On realising how jumpy they were, he immediately set up a funnel system as Sally describes, using metal sheets and pallets and that made it worked a treat.  We're going to build a new sheep shed next year and make a permanent funnel, makes life a lot easier, especially when you get to an age you can't face the olympic challenge!
registered soay, castlemilk moorit  and north ronaldsay sheep, pygmy goats, steinbacher geese, muscovy ducks, various hens, lots of visiting mallards, a naughty border collie, a puss and a couple of guinea pigs

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2012, 11:49:36 am »
Sally was a sheepdog in a previous life :D .

 :roflanim:  Love it.   :roflanim:

Actually I was a dog in this life until I was 9.  ;)
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

Greenmoor

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Lancashire
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2012, 11:58:32 am »
We inherited ours with the smallholding.  It's in a permanent place so it's not always easy to get them into it, but once they're in we have no problems. 

Here's my interpretation lol



It works for us, because you can push the ones that you have caught up a pen and still leave the gate open while you get the rest in, if half of them bolt before you can shut them in, without having to lose the lot and start again.  It also works well if you need to sort them at all.  We struggle for a while before we bought the turnover crate, it's been some of the best money spent!

kanisha

  • Joined Dec 2007
    • Spered Breizh Ouessants
    • Facebook
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2012, 12:25:02 pm »
Hi I have an area similar to greenmoor in that its a large pen that i can then divide up, I like this as I can alter the holding arrangement on my own meaning that catching them is easy and I can hold a ewe and a lamb or a couple of ewes in there for a day or two if needed; Mine is situated between two paddocks with gates at either end. variously the sheep are fed from one paddock or the other so that they don't see it as a dead end and whilst i can't force them in ( no dog)  i can lure them in very easily . Mine is permanent with my standard fencing and internally I have moveable fencel panels that fit posts cemented in for the purpose at various points according to how i want to divide interally.
Ravelry Group: - Ouessants & Company

Greenmoor

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Lancashire
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #9 on: September 24, 2012, 12:38:39 pm »
I like the thinking behind your location kanisha.  Ours is in a corner of a field next to a building and the air often turns blue trying to get them in  :rant:   :roflanim:

goosepimple

  • Joined May 2010
  • nr Lauder, Scottish Borders
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #10 on: September 24, 2012, 02:12:11 pm »
Yup, our shepherd told us to build these runs and houses in a corner of a field or up against a wall so they can't run you round in circles  :relief:
registered soay, castlemilk moorit  and north ronaldsay sheep, pygmy goats, steinbacher geese, muscovy ducks, various hens, lots of visiting mallards, a naughty border collie, a puss and a couple of guinea pigs

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2012, 02:28:37 pm »
As we have about 7 fields of variious sizes and not all next to each other (across the road etc) we need a flexible system... so we just use hurdles and get the sheep into a big pen (always in the corner of the field and as much as possible on the top corner, as ours don't like running down hill, always have the open gate bit on the fence side as they run along the fence line especially the tricky ones. Once a few are in, these are pushed into smaller internal pen, and then open big pen again. Sometimes we need to wait a few minutes until the dopey ones work out where the entrance to their mates is... but it works. Then inside set up a few smaller pens, depending on what you need to do and how you need to divide them up. Also got two girls who think they are sheep dogs... my sheep are also not jumpers  fortunately.
We have found that with a dozen 6ft hurdles we can pretty much do anything that needs doing. Also we load the sheep into the trailer using the tractor, so don't depend on having them collected right next to the field gate. (we don't have 4 x4 car).
If you have your sheep in several fields most of the time, just get a dozen hurdles and move them in the trailer from field to field. Oh and we leave ours always out of view or right next to the house... hurdles do seem to walk off farms quite regularly...

in the hills

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2012, 03:09:02 pm »
Brilliant Greenmoor - a picture ..... now I get it.   :thumbsup:


Can see how this would work for us. Hubbies next project  :excited:

Castle Farm

  • Joined Nov 2008
  • Hereford/Powys Border. near Hay-on-Wye
    • castlefarmeggs
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #13 on: September 24, 2012, 05:06:43 pm »
The pen you drive them into should be running uphill if possible, as sheep when driven prefer to run uphill.

The race (allyway) should be about 16ft long and 18inches wide with a gate at both ends.

The gate farthest away should be able to open two ways.

1. into another pen.
2 Back out into the field.

The allyway is filled with sheep and both gates closed.

You walk along outside the race and drench (worm) or whatever.

If your looking to foot treat run a few into a smaller pen at the end of the race.

Hang a bucket on the fence with all you need to treat the sheep.

 And to make life simple  :thumbsup: buy a sheepdog
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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Sheep handling - we really MUST build something!!
« Reply #14 on: September 25, 2012, 12:39:56 am »
I agreed with all of that CF,  :thumbsup:, except your last statement.

And to make life simple  :thumbsup: buy a sheepdog

Most farmers and smallholders I know who have a collie dog say, "I haven't got enough work for him/her, really," - and a bored collie is not a good thing...

So it's not something I would recommend anyone to rush into if they've just a few sheep need gathering every now and again.

Better to make friends with one of those farmers / smallholders nearby who have a collie dog and say, "I haven't got enough work for him/her, really," - and give them a bit of extra work to do every now and again!   ;) :D

And anyone within 25 miles of this farmer - who has two collie dogs and says, "I haven't got enough work for them, really," - she's always willing to work her dogs, just shout! ;D
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

 

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