sheep......

[skeets]

So this morning my Bud calls and say hey what ya doing? Drinking my coffee why.... Well I was wondering if you werent busy maybe you could give me a hand with some lambs,,,, Hmmmm lambs,, I don't like sheep,, but well lambs how hard could it be, cute fuzzy little balls of wool,,One of more stupid questions of the day. After spending 2 hours trying to get them out of the field with 4 people and 2 quads, said cute little wool balls are beginning to get on my last nerve. 10 foot wide open gate,, stop look at it and run the other way any other time they would run you over going through it!
OK 158 lambs in the barn.
OK Bud I ll see ya,,, NO WAIT WE HAVE TO WEIGH THEM.. WHAT?
Have I even mentioned that I don't like sheep, after a young ram took my knees out from under me, all the fun was gone!! 4 hours to weight and mark 158 lambs going from 40 to 140 pounds, and dont let anyone tell you that a 40 pound lamb cant knock you down, or tear up your knees..
The only smile I got was, when we were loading them into the stock trailer headed to NYC..

 

[OldeEnglish]

Sounds like your buddy needs a good heard dog!

 

[85Hokie]

You are a hellva nice guy .........who often get taken advantage of!!!!!!!


When my wife says she wants to go uptown......I ask very specific questions.....

cause if it is only one stop I am game, but if the mall is included - my answer is a quick, "O, hell no!"

 

[Lil Foot]

"O, hell no!"

About the 52 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zftcZYdOl3Y&list=RDzftcZYdOl3Y

 

[sheepfarmer]

Oh skeets, I can just imagine your day Now you know already, but that age bracket is the very worst to get to go anywhere you want. Absolutely schizo! Unless you put a couple of old ewes in with them that will sucker for a pail of grain and follow the shepherd through the gate, none of them will go until one brave soul can be pushed pulled or dragged first. I sure hope your buddy has better sheep handling facilities than I do for that many lambs! You are a good sport to participate in that rodeo.

 

[pendoreille]

I was just going to say "call the sheepfarmer" sung to the tune of "call the ghost busters"

 

[Tooljunkie]

Thats nothin!
I got to participate in ostrich roundups. They is mean when they wannna be. Couple hundred pounds at 30 mph in three steps and can turn on you in a heartbeat.

 

[PHPaul]

I raised sheep for 20+ years, but never on that scale.

I wasn't long figuring out that it was better to con them than to chase them.

They had free choice hay at all times, but I fed them Coarse 16 sweet feed twice a day. Not much, just enough for everybody to get a taste. They knew when feeding time was and would come running. If they were head down in a particularly tasty patch of pasture and didn't see me, a couple of shakes of the bucket would bring them.

I always fed them by the hay shelter. It had a catch pen behind it. Any time I needed to catch them, I'd start feeding them in the catch pen a couple of days prior. On "the day" I'd feed them as usual, and just close the gate behind me.

The catch pen was divided into two sections with a gate between so I could sort them. That DID take a bit of doing as they were onto me by that time, but I always managed, often by myself, or with SWMBO manning the sort gate if needed.

 

[D2Cat]

PHPaul, what you describe is simple, effective animal control!

I have a few head of cattle. I feed them protein pellets or range cubes as you mentioned. I've had them get out and be 1/2 mile away. I'd just need to walk out there with a bucket and they'd start moving towards me.

Many times I would see a calf off by itself and want to get it back with mom who might be off in another field. I'd just take a bucket out of the truck and put a few rocks from the side of the road, go back where mom is and rattle it. Works the same!

It's really pretty basic, come to think of it. Look at those picture of Daren's Gypsy come to get the candies she knows are in the bag. Or, how about the local church has a meal....to get folks to show up!

Things that eat are motivated by food!

Food seems to be a big motivator!

 

[sheepfarmer]

It is definitely easier to work with their instincts than to do what is logical in our eyes...sometimes a small lamb can lie down next to a cross fence at my house and wind up on the other side from the rest of the flock. It doesn't work to try to catch it to pick it up and move it back, or to chase it through a gate. They just hurl themselves against the fence to get back to the flock and their mother. Much easier to let the whole flock come in and envelope the loner and then lure the whole flock back where you want them with that pail of grain. My pasture has been so good the last couple of years, I haven't been feeding much grain, so if I am not careful I will be paying the piper the next time I want to catch them for deworming or vaccinating.

 

[skeets]

Yep try to work with them, but the bud has about 300 acres and so far this year about 1300 lambs This is his lively hood and some times he just has to holler for help, he had half a lung removed early this year so things are a bit tuff on him.
This shipment was a spare of the moment thing, other wise they would have been right where they needed to be. I mean when a processer calls and says I need X number of lambs between this and this weight and Im paying live weight, and the truck will be there at X time,,, Well all hands on deck,, Now if he could only get a good price for the wool,, which brings me to a question,, If sheep get wet why dont they shrink

 

[olthumpa]

,, which brings me to a question,, If sheep get wet why dont they shrink

Just like wool pants, if you let them air dry they don't shrink. Did you ever put a sheep in the dryer and see what happens to them?

Where do you think lambs come from . . . . dryers.

 

[olthumpa]

. . . or with SWMBO manning the sort gate if needed.

My wife been up there bothering you again?

 

[PHPaul]

My wife been up there bothering you again?

Tickles me when some folks get all wound up about that acronym...

 

[olthumpa]

Tickles me when some folks get all wound up about that acronym...

Ahhhh you like acs hi1, mvsesajcl

personnel, I learned to greatly dislike them

 

[skeets]

With 35 years of Givt work under my belt I learned that if you cant type the what you mean I dont need to know and dont care

 

[skeets]

With 35 years of Govt work under my belt I learned that if you cant type the what you mean I dont need to know and dont care