[Emmett]

I'm starting out with sheep soon and I have had some queries, how do all of you get by with drenching and dipping sheep without a crush? for the first year I dont think it would be economical to pay out big on a portable crush and run. Any help is greatly appreciated

[shygirl]

sheep dont get dipped anymore, they get sprayed along their backs etc. with drenching them for worms etc just have a yard to gather the sheep and make a smaller pen out of hurdles to contain a few then just catch them, mark them if necessary. if you havent got a yard then make one out of gates and feed the sheep in it regularly so they are used to it.
we have put ours in a stable before and caught them with a crook. sit them on their bums, they wont go anywhere if their feet arent touching the ground.
the joys of sheep - the first year is the most entertaining 

[mowhaugh]

We dip our sheep.  We hire a mobile dipper from a neighbour for the day - can't tell you how much it costs, though, as we have not had a bill yet, and it is at least 4 years since our old concrete dipper cracked so we filled it in.

[Emmett]

I was working for my neighbor last weekend and noticed a concrete bath thing along the side of the shed, when I asked him what it was for he said it was for dipping the sheep, and as he hasn't kept sheep in upwards of 6 years so I was wondering, if dipping i still needed, if I could use his. That's an interesting point about just needing to spray them along their back, I'll look in to that!

I have to say since joining the site yesterday you have all been the friendliest and most helpful people!

[twizzel]

We don't have a sheep crush, we made a race out of gates last year once which worked quite well. For general worming/flystrike prevention one of us catches, the other sprays/drenches then they are marked. This year we have a new cattle crush that is variable width... might give that a try!

[Emmett]

I think a run out of gates will be for us as well haha once we get our proper shed up we'll put a crush up against the outer back wall

[SallyintNorth]

BH has farmed sheep for over 50 years, up to 400 sheep running on the farm, never had a sheep crush.

For dosing / drenching / jagging it's best to have a 'treatment race'.  Opinions vary as to what width and height is best, some like it so narrow only one sheep at a time can be in it, the operator is outside and leans over the sheep to drench it; others like it wide enough to be in there with the sheep; I've also used wider yet ones but then you do need to mark sheep as you dose them in case of a mix-up.

The key thing is to have enough sheep in the pen/race that they don't have much room to move, so you don't run about catching them, you just squeeze alongside them!

Best thing is to experiment with movable hurdles up against a wall and find out what works best for you before investing in anything more sophisticated / permanent.  Ideally you'll want solid panel hurdles for the section in which you are dosing the sheep; railed hurdles for collecting / routing and other penning areas are fine.

Here's our treatment race - you can see that it isn't wide enough for two sheep side by side.  We do all our dosing here.

[Marches Farmer]

There are now very strict rules in place for the use of sheep dip, particularly disposal of used dip.  It's also very expensive.  We use Clik pour-on as soon as we see the first greenbottles for the shearlings and as soon as the fleece is 1cm long for shorn adult sheep.  Lasts 16 weeks, so most of the summer. 

[Emmett]

Sounds good! I think we'll be using the hurdles against the wall for a year or two

[Bramblecot]

Buy as many hurdles as you can afford they are a great investment and multi=purpose.  Good luck with your sheep, they are addictive

[Emmett]

Thanks Bramblecot! From experiences with my neighbour I know they are!:)