[Plas Nant]

Those following threads regarding worming/fluking/Heptavac etc will realise that regular programs require frequent rounding up of the flock. Soay owners will know how tricky this. I'm due to gather them again for Heptavac boosters having had to inject three times in the last few weeks for different problems. The sheep have become very wary and who could blame them!  I don't have a dog and most Soay owners find that they wont easily respond to a dog. I use the feed bucket normally and then get the gate shut asap but they are now so wary I can't get them all in, a few hang around outside. Just wondering what tricks others with similar flighty breeds use to gather them in for regular dosing/inspection?

[Fleecewife]

You need to plan well ahead  .  Train the sheep to be fed in a certain part of the field- they may not need feeding so just give them a tiny amount.  Once they are all coming to the trough, add a hurdle on one side, then after a few days add another, then a third.  By now it looks like a cage so leave it like that for a while.  Then add a fourth hurdle, standing open.  As you are doing this, gradually stand closer so they get used to you being there.  Eventually they should let you stand at the fourth hurdle.  Be very calm and indifferent to them.  Eventually you can very quietly close the fourth hurdle across.  Don't do anything to them at that point, and let them out once they have eaten what's there.  Once they are happy with that after a week or so, you can work on them occasionally when they are in.  To prevent them jumping out, it's a good idea to surround the hurdle pen with a second pen about a metre away - they will see the second barrier and be less likely to try jumping as they can't jump both.  Also, have them packed in tightly, not three sheep running around in a full-sized pen - reduce the size of the pen once they are in it.

 
Getting them to this stage can be a long process taking several months.  In the meantime if you need to catch them before you have got them used to the pen, set up the hurdle pen somewhere else (so they don't associate their feeding pen with being caught)  To get ours in, we use one or two 50m lengths of electric netting (not turned on) and set it out as a giant funnel, wide at the start and narrowing towards the pen. The pen itself should appear to have a way out ie not be up against a wall or other solid structure.  Then drive the flock, always slowly and gently, into the wide end of the funnel and along the narrow part then into the pen.  Be right behind them so you can shut the gate.
 
If some don't get included, set up an extra section of pen ie three more hurdles, against the first one, then move away.  The ones outside should approach their chums and you can close the gate.  Always shut the gate quietly so they aren't startled.
 
The more you handle your Soay the tamer they will become until they are looking for treats in your pocket as ours do.
 
We do in fact often use a dog - a Jack Russel  .  He just barks dementedly at the back and runs around which seems to make even Soay want to stay with the flock (even though he is their best friend the rest of the time  ).  However, if we are rounding up a flock of mixed breeds, you can bet your bottom dollar it's a Soay which will lead the breakaway 
 
I think the answer is to take your time, don't use all the hissing and arm flapping most shepherds of 'normal' breeds use, stay calm and keep your body language in check, for example don't tense up before you shut the gate because they will read that instantly and be off, like the sensible little prey animals they are 

[Plas Nant]

Thanks Fleecewife. I pretty much had them at that stage but having had to give them several jabs recently, they've gotten wary. I'll have to modify my hurdle system, I don't have the funnel as yet. I think Soay are pretty intelligent and don't seem to forget in a hurry.

[in the hills]

Our approach is much the same as FW. We have a hurdled area set up permanently and feed them in there , gate left open. We stand with them or nr. the gate. If we know we are going to need to handle them in the nr. future we feed every day, just a small amount to get their confidence.


When we are going to handle, OH goes down to feed them and then locks the gate. He carries no equipment or crook .... else they know what's going on  . We follow when he gives the all clear. Everything is kept calm and relaxed.


I can understand that if you have handled a lot over a short period then they become wary. We had to treat a ewe lamb and she knew in no time at all that she was the focus of our attention and soon refused to come into the pen with the others. Hubbie set the pen up between two adjoining fields and she then thought she was just moving fields .... did the trick 


Although hard work you could try moving your catching area around ..... to outwit them    just for a period if you have a lot of handling to do in a short space of time. Ours settled down again once it was back to occasional handling.


Good luck 

[kumquat]

Hi Bob,


I have a similar routine to ITH....i have a permanent corrale setup and then feed in there with me either in there or near the gate.  Occasionally i shut them in for half an hour and then let them out just so they get used to it.
mine had their 1st Hpetavac jab last week and for two days were after a little more cautious but the hunger got the better of them.  Your right they do tend to remember.....buggers
I tend to feed little and often so they are used to me and the hurdles. i always take my crook with me just in case that spooks them, so they get used to it.
As FW and ITH have said, calm and relaxed and keep it as *normal* as possible 
Jon

[SheepCrazy!]

I use my dog on my flock along with all the above methods, and have been trying to get some pic's for the Soay sheep magazine! Getting dogs and sheep in shot is harder than getting the Soay's in!

I also use a pet lamb, a bottle reared Soay twin I purposely took off last year to help me tame the flock. With her standing at my heels the other sheep feel safe and approach and now feet from the bucket (i'm working on hand fed.

Soay's flee from fear its the flight response that has kept the alive all these years the safer they feel the tamer and more trusting they will become.

I've tried to upload pictures but they are to big,  any help in how to re size them would be much appreciated so I can post them.

[YorkshireLass]

I've tried to upload pictures but they are to big,  any help in how to re size them would be much appreciated so I can post them.

Open the picture in Paint and resize to 50% horizontal and vertical, save, for some reason it saves as a teeny tiny file

[jaykay]

The best thing I've done with regard to gathering my Shetlands - also without a dog and also with one or two very wild ones who stand proud and run off, leading everyone else back again  is to make a very long funnel.
 
The feed goes on the floor at the very far end and I shut the gate at my end. It's taken a while to teach them that the feed will already be on the floor - otherwise I was down that end and when I came back to shut the gate, they beat me to it - but now it works. Once I've got the gate shut I can relax and push them into a smaller pen at my leisure.

As FW says, doing this a few times without doing anything to them is a good plan. Planning your jobs so you don't need to gather them too many times in a row is another - we're keeping smart sheep, not dim white ones  - and not feeding them the day before you need to gather helps too, so they are keen for the cake.

My only problem is that my 'funnel and race' is nowhere near the road or the lambing barn, so getting them to those two places is still a major stress.

[SheepCrazy!]

Thanks Yorkshirelass!

The third picture is of the Soay's investigating the dog as he's been told to stay, he always looks appalled

[Claracluck71]

Hello  new member

I sympathise with this so much. We used to have trouble catching our Balwens as they are very flighty and quick. We tried regularly feeding them in a pen, but it seemed to make them more wary and it could take what seemed like hours of chasing them round the field.

Our vet recommended that we tried using the plastic netting that you often see being used around road works - usually in orange. It works really well - less stress for us and the sheep! We set up a hurdle pen and then run the netting up the field and one of us then drives the sheep down the field and the other pulls the netting round behind them and down into the pen. The only hassle is rolling the netting up again once they're in.

I must admit that penning the sheep is something that I always worry about. They will try to jump out if the pen is too big, and we did lose one whether as he broke his leg by catching it in the hurdle as he went over  I think he was a trouble maker though as we've not had so many problems since!

Ours are coming in this weekend for a footbath and Heptavac so I hope I haven't jinxed it by saying how well our method works!

[goosepimple]

Don't have anything further to add - just having          at everyone's replies - remember Fleecewife giving me advice on this quite a while back.  We'll be doing it in a few weeks, so planning my attack secretly each time I go into the sheep field.  It would be nice to be catching them for a treat wouldn't it, rather than sticking a needle in them. 
 
Good luck  .

[colliewoman]

Never ever EVER approach your sheep wondering if you will be able to pen them today!
ALWAYS approach them KNOWING you will be able to pen them.


Crafty little blighters read minds and if you aren't decisive they will decide for you

[Plas Nant]

Thanks again for the replies. The plastic netting sounds a great idea, a flexible approach. I'll give that a go.

[SallyintNorth]

Never ever EVER approach your sheep wondering if you will be able to pen them today!
ALWAYS approach them KNOWING you will be able to pen them.

Top tip 

[thenovice]

Best thing to catch a soay would be a rifle i think