[kelly58]

Could anyone tell me what they are like to keep ? Googled for info but nothing about how they are to catch ? They look like they would be difficult ? 

[shygirl]

very similar to soays, many stories about those! lol

[SallyintNorth]

As with all animals, it depends how they are brought up

[SallyintNorth]

Frightened by all the stories about them being flighty sheep, we went to great lengths to test the waters by getting 4 wethers first, so we could see how they and we coped with them being here.  There's a long story about taking them to their field in a covered trailer, getting the quad and it stuck, fetching another quad to tow, getting it stuck... ended up with 2 humans, 2 quads, 2 tractors and a covered trailer to get 4 wethers to their field!

But those 4 never jumped a fence or wall, and became very used to us, would come right up and walk alongside you if you had a sack of feed

When they went, I got 55kgs butchered meat from the 4, and it was superb. Almost gamey, very very lean, very tasty.

Then I got the 2 ewe lambs pictured above.  They were from a city farm, so very used to people and children, and very tame and very greedy

On the whole, they have been a lot less prone to escaping than the Manxes.

With all my primitive type sheep, I find that they respond well to very gentle quiet handling, and are likely to up sticks and run if things get lively and noisy.  The dogs have had to learn to be very steady, and stay well back, but we can round them up and drive them - very gently, very steadily - with my dogs if we do it all correctly.

My only qualm about the breed is that it's taken me ages to get them bred.  I didn't tup them as lambs, then the first year I tupped them, Goldie was geld and Whirly aborted.  Second year, Whirly died in a freak occurrence very close to lambing, Goldie has two nice lambs which she's doing very well indeed.

Oh, and Goldie can be rather aggressive with new sheep joining the flock.

I really like them, even so, and if I had to keep only one breed, they would certainly be a contender.

[kelly58]

Many thanks Sally,   

[kelly58]

Forgot to ask ! Do they shed their own fleece like the Boreray ?   

[daveh]

No, they don't shed their fleeces. You get an extremely soft short wool.

Catching CMMs is the wrong way of doing it. They can run MUCH faster than you can and mine do not respond to a dog. Instead of bunching up they scatter.

So how do I handle mine? By bribery. A daily feed of a handful of nuts and the come running. Fast. They are always fed in a pen and it is simple to close the pen behind them. Some folks reckon they are flighty but that is not my experience. They are totally relaxed with my quad bike and I have to pick my way through the flock as they don't bother to get out the way. Same with my Landy but a bit more difficult as I can't see if one has decided to have a snooze in front of the bonnet. A few of the more advanced scroungers in the flock know where the food is stored and can be quite bothersome in getting under my feet in my store / mess room.

If you are anywhere near Northamptonshire you are welcome to visit and see for yourself.

Regards, David

[kelly58]

Thanks david,  much appreciated,  So they are akin to the Boreray then, they behaved like  that but were great with a dog.
The small flock l am looking  to  aquire are bucket trained into pens. So thats good news , l could do the same with nuts as thats what they have now. Would love to visit but l am in John O Groats. 

[SallyintNorth]

Like many primitives, some self-shed some years, some may partly self-shed if you leave them - but in general, you had best plan to shear them.  If you get into fleeces, then roo-ing gives a nicer fleece both this year and next, but you generally can't roo the whole sheep in one sitting (as it doesn't all be ready at the same moment) so you need to be really dedicated to the fleece to do that!   

As I said, with primitives and dogs, you need the dogs to stay well off and apply the absolute minimum of pressure.  Getting them following a bucket is a good tactic, even if you do have primitive-savvy dogs

[kelly58]

Pretty girl   

[Brucklay]

Love my Castlemilks and yes they are canny, and challenging at times - but at Sally says if things are kept calm and in a routine the usual jobs can be done without me getting into a tiz. Some are pretty tame and others not so much but they all come to feed.

[Coximus]

I have 5 brought off another member on here - I find them to be very similar to hebrideans in temperment, behaviour and style - with 4 exceptions;

1) They can figure out any gate or fence IF they WANT to, (but usually go back after they get what they want - usually coming through 2 fields to see if I have a treat for them, if not they bugger off)
2) They will come for treats and have a habbit of following you if they think you have them - silently in long grass.
3) They dont mix with any other breeds, They share a 24 acres with 52 hebrideans at the moment, multiple fields and some woods - and they will not mix, go near and will chase off any different breeds that come by.

That said they are lovely sheep - and once you get them used to been fed where you can pen them in a corner, they are happy to be penned - as long as they get fed. Last week they were happy enough given some willow branches to be penned up.

[Brucklay]

PS - I don't eat lamb but I have had rave reviews on what we have produced 

[marka]

We have Castlemilks and I would echo the comments on here - some of them can be un-cooperative when they want to be but mostly they will respond to the bucket and come up to you in the field to see what you have, so very friendly.

Ours share the fields with some pet Ryelands and they seem happy enough to mingle - they also share fields with horses with no bother at all although we've not tried mixing them with cattle yet so can't comment on how they would be with them.

We've not had any instances at all of any escapes or any attempts that we know of.

The key with them is routine, whether that is a daily routine or just repeated movements from one field to another - when we move ours they know what's going on so they are easy to move.

Regards

[kelly58]

Many thanks to everyone for the input. I collect them on Sunday, cant wait 
Miss the Boreray flock l had sooo much, nothing compares to primative sheep, they are in a class all of their own Magic !