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Herding is an expensive dog sport. You're not only renting a large area of land, but a flock of live animals for the duration of your lesson. It's not a cost that's shared with other students, as you and the dog work alone. I offset that cost by helping out on the sheep farm whenever I can. I took care of the farm in January a couple years ago while the owners took a two week trip to Egypt. My trainer said, "You'll get LOTS of herding lessons for this!"
The pregnant ewes are separated out in a flock kept behind the barn. There's basically three flocks that don't normally intermingle. The training flock of ewes, the milking flock for the sheep cheese and yogurt, and the rams. In September, the rams are put in with the ewes for a month to breed, then they're once again separated. In February, the pregnant ewes from the training and milking flocks are kept together during lambing. The farm times lambing in February, which is the coldest month, because the mothers are needed for herding trials. The lambs must be weaned and the mothers ready for trials in April. The newborn lambs and their mothers have to be brought inside the barn in their own pen because it's too cold outside in February for the newborns.
Saturday I helped out with lambing while the owners were away all day. I would check the pregnant ewes every twenty minutes. When I got there, all was well, so I took Sabrina out to the training flock for some practice. When we were done, I checked the flock and saw a tiny head sticking up above a pile of hay and mom was standing nearby. I prepared for the move by turning on a heat lamp and opening a pen gate.
When I went back outside, I saw there were two more lambs - triplets! The video below shows mom licking the lamb. They're born covered with an iodine colored mucus. A quick way to check if there's a newborn lamb in the flock is to look for a ewe with an iodine colored nose.
Getting them into the barn isn't easy. The barn is at the top of a slope and the floor is about a foot above ground level. There's a lip of about ten inches above the floor level. The top of the lip is about two feet above the ground outside. So you enter by stepping on a cinder block, step over the lip down onto the barn floor. The door is a warped piece of plywood that swings in the breeze. Think about trying to get a sheep inside that.
My first attempt was to pick up the last born lamb, the runt, and try to lure the mother inside. My logic was that she'd want to get to the lamb she hadn't licked yet. An additional complication rose when I couldn't get the mother to cross a four inch black plastic corrugated drain pipe that was across the yard. She kept running back to the two lambs left behind. I put those two in the pen under the heat lamp and tried luring the mother in again. Another sheep got into the act and kept head butting her side and chasing her away from the door. When I got her close to the door, the other sheep met her head to head and chased her away. I got the mother to stick her head in the door and the other sheep came and rammed her good. I got a broom and whacked the other sheep until she left us alone. I was successful luring the mother to put her front legs inside the barn, then the wind caught the door, smacked the sheep in the butt and she was out of there. Several attempts later, she finally came inside the barn and was penned.
The runt wasn't doing well. I put him in the corner under the heat lamp and he just laid there. He'd move, but he wouldn't try to get up. In the video above, the first born lamb was already standing fifteen minutes after birth. The lamb mom is licking stood soon after. But the runt never stood and mom ignored it. Livestock have a sense of babies that won't survive and it's called 'failure to thrive'. The mothers will ignore them. The runt seemed alert and looking around, but wasn't getting any attention. A couple hours later, he was still shivering from the wet mucus, so I dried him off with paper towels because I thought he might catch cold. It was a sunny forty degree day, so I dried him off on the hood of my car where he'd get the sunlight. The rubbing invigorated him and he was moving more when I put him on the grass. I put him back with mom and she started licking him. Four hours after being born, he started trying to stand. Later when the owner got home, he milked mom and tubed the runt, and he was standing when I left. The owners were thrilled that mom had triplets, two of which are female, because she's their best milker and they hope the two lambs will also be good milkers.
I fed while there. The ram flock and the camel are easy - throw some hay over the fence and dump a bucket of grain through the fence. The pregnant ewes are lured to another field where grain is put out for them to keep them from being hit by hay bales from the loft. Then throw seven bales of hay out of the loft to be put in hay racks so they can eat it when they're put back behind the barn. The training flock has to be rounded up and penned so the hay and grain can be put out in the pasture.
This is Sabrina fetching and penning the flock. They started out scattered all over the nine acre pasture, and when they saw us coming, came together and walked up to the far corner. Sabrina fetches them and puts them in the holding pen. Sabrina is an easy worker. She doesn't chase the sheep all over the place. She knows when to put pressure on them and when to back off so they walk to the pen.
After the food is put out, Sabrina removes them from the pen. Once the sheep were out of the pen, they headed for the grain and hay.
My day wasn't over. I left my ignition on to recharge my phone. I didn't turn off my headlights when I got there in the morning, so I had a dead battery. Fortunately, I had the keys to the farm truck, so was able to jump the battery.
The pregnant ewes are separated out in a flock kept behind the barn. There's basically three flocks that don't normally intermingle. The training flock of ewes, the milking flock for the sheep cheese and yogurt, and the rams. In September, the rams are put in with the ewes for a month to breed, then they're once again separated. In February, the pregnant ewes from the training and milking flocks are kept together during lambing. The farm times lambing in February, which is the coldest month, because the mothers are needed for herding trials. The lambs must be weaned and the mothers ready for trials in April. The newborn lambs and their mothers have to be brought inside the barn in their own pen because it's too cold outside in February for the newborns.
Saturday I helped out with lambing while the owners were away all day. I would check the pregnant ewes every twenty minutes. When I got there, all was well, so I took Sabrina out to the training flock for some practice. When we were done, I checked the flock and saw a tiny head sticking up above a pile of hay and mom was standing nearby. I prepared for the move by turning on a heat lamp and opening a pen gate.
When I went back outside, I saw there were two more lambs - triplets! The video below shows mom licking the lamb. They're born covered with an iodine colored mucus. A quick way to check if there's a newborn lamb in the flock is to look for a ewe with an iodine colored nose.
Getting them into the barn isn't easy. The barn is at the top of a slope and the floor is about a foot above ground level. There's a lip of about ten inches above the floor level. The top of the lip is about two feet above the ground outside. So you enter by stepping on a cinder block, step over the lip down onto the barn floor. The door is a warped piece of plywood that swings in the breeze. Think about trying to get a sheep inside that.
My first attempt was to pick up the last born lamb, the runt, and try to lure the mother inside. My logic was that she'd want to get to the lamb she hadn't licked yet. An additional complication rose when I couldn't get the mother to cross a four inch black plastic corrugated drain pipe that was across the yard. She kept running back to the two lambs left behind. I put those two in the pen under the heat lamp and tried luring the mother in again. Another sheep got into the act and kept head butting her side and chasing her away from the door. When I got her close to the door, the other sheep met her head to head and chased her away. I got the mother to stick her head in the door and the other sheep came and rammed her good. I got a broom and whacked the other sheep until she left us alone. I was successful luring the mother to put her front legs inside the barn, then the wind caught the door, smacked the sheep in the butt and she was out of there. Several attempts later, she finally came inside the barn and was penned.
The runt wasn't doing well. I put him in the corner under the heat lamp and he just laid there. He'd move, but he wouldn't try to get up. In the video above, the first born lamb was already standing fifteen minutes after birth. The lamb mom is licking stood soon after. But the runt never stood and mom ignored it. Livestock have a sense of babies that won't survive and it's called 'failure to thrive'. The mothers will ignore them. The runt seemed alert and looking around, but wasn't getting any attention. A couple hours later, he was still shivering from the wet mucus, so I dried him off with paper towels because I thought he might catch cold. It was a sunny forty degree day, so I dried him off on the hood of my car where he'd get the sunlight. The rubbing invigorated him and he was moving more when I put him on the grass. I put him back with mom and she started licking him. Four hours after being born, he started trying to stand. Later when the owner got home, he milked mom and tubed the runt, and he was standing when I left. The owners were thrilled that mom had triplets, two of which are female, because she's their best milker and they hope the two lambs will also be good milkers.
I fed while there. The ram flock and the camel are easy - throw some hay over the fence and dump a bucket of grain through the fence. The pregnant ewes are lured to another field where grain is put out for them to keep them from being hit by hay bales from the loft. Then throw seven bales of hay out of the loft to be put in hay racks so they can eat it when they're put back behind the barn. The training flock has to be rounded up and penned so the hay and grain can be put out in the pasture.
This is Sabrina fetching and penning the flock. They started out scattered all over the nine acre pasture, and when they saw us coming, came together and walked up to the far corner. Sabrina fetches them and puts them in the holding pen. Sabrina is an easy worker. She doesn't chase the sheep all over the place. She knows when to put pressure on them and when to back off so they walk to the pen.
After the food is put out, Sabrina removes them from the pen. Once the sheep were out of the pen, they headed for the grain and hay.
My day wasn't over. I left my ignition on to recharge my phone. I didn't turn off my headlights when I got there in the morning, so I had a dead battery. Fortunately, I had the keys to the farm truck, so was able to jump the battery.
Trust me he looks bigger wet than he does dry.
