[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

Went along to the great Yorkshire show today!
Got to say I really liked the Hebrideans and if I ever got into sheep that's one breed I would defiantly consider!

[Fleecewife]

What good taste you have Prk   

[Big Light]

Ditto  - 4 horn tup won GYS FW

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

I got a picture but I can't attach for some reason too big!
I found them quite tame and placid

[Fleecewife]

Ditto  - 4 horn tup won GYS FW

   Do you know who the breeder was Big Light?



Prk - don't forget that it's show sheep you were seeing - they are used to being shown, to being handled, to being indoors, to standing for hours in the ring and to being looked at by many people.  Depending on where you source your flock you may have to spend time calming and befriending them before they too are calm and biddable.  When we first got Hebs, they were always to be seen in the furthest point of the smallholding from us, just in case we wanted to do something to them.   Now they are mostly softies, demanding biscuits and shouting for us to go and see them.  There are still one or two which stand at the back of the crowd, but if we handled them more they would be more confident.  The few we have shown are more biddable than some others. Everyone I know who keeps Hebs just loves them, but I wouldn't like you to get a slightly false impression of what life is like with Hebs - they are Primitives so very different to some more commercial types which have been bred for docility and ease of handling.  Hebs which have come straight off the hill can take a good year or two to calm down.

[Coximus]

heart broken I didnt make the GYS even though Im only 3 miles from it! Really gutted but work got in the way.

I echo the above comments, and also if Hebrideans have a moody day and just dont want to do anything, your stumped.
I've had a shearer and two dogs give up on mine before now..... The sheep didnt flinch at the dogs, the ram stood his ground and droped his head, the ewes scattered and it looked like black firework streaks on the hill. The words of a shearer of 20y - "bugger them, they're not respecting the dog, they're playing with it" - as the ewes all decided to stand their ground when they got near the mobile pen.

3 days later I walked the whole lot into the top small paddock, cornered them and sheared 3 before the rest decided to climb on the hurdles and break out.

Compared to a normal commercial breed, they're almost a different species. And watch out for 4 horned rams, you get jabbed in interesting places when handling them.

[Big Light]

Heres the champion and reserve

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

Don't worry I agree with you both and I'm not naive about it too!
I'm up for the hard graft, I can be patient to get them on side

[Coximus]

Digestive biscuits, willow branches, wholemeal bread, apples, all very useful tools of the hebridean shepherd

[Big Light]

and a rattly bucket

[Fleecewife]

and a small dog they want to chase......

[Coximus]

or as I found today, other sheep getting fed first, They know their place at the top and wont accept anything short of top spot/

[namethatsheep]

I, too, attended GYS, for the first time. Sheep show was bigger than Royal Highland because of a wider range of breeds. Anyhow, for Hebs the judge was H. Brewis, Newport Bagnall. The Supreme champion and male went to Cassie & Wainwright (Lutterworth, Leics) and reserve and female went to VCK Mason (Nantwich, Cheshire).

The Hebs club stand was excellent.

And a few random pictures...of hebs plus Jacob (having a trim), Shetlands and Hampshire Down

[Kimbo]

Don't bite my head off as I admit to knowing very little about sheep yet and even less about Hebs but my friend has some ( as well as Ryelands and Dartmoors) and they appear to me to be as wild as a crate full of tigers!!
 

[Fleecewife]

It depends on how they are handled.