Mike CHS
Herd Master
Your sheep are really tame aren't they?
Baymule' 3rd Lambing
- Thread starter Baymule
- Start date
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
Most people want tame sheep.
Wild sheep are a major PITA to work with, esp if your trying to do solo work. I have seen "feral/wild" sheep do some crazy things to avoid being caught by a human, like impale themselves on metal fence posts, accidentally injure lambs, ram/hurt humans, try to go thru/over electric net, kill them self from overheating after running, give themselves bloat, refuse to care for their lambs, etc. I'm sure the degree of wild and your catch area has a lot to do with possible outcomes.
I personally wants my sheep as tame as possible so when i have to do something with the 3yr old ram who weighs more then I do he isnt trying to hurt me or fight back. We spent last summer shearing for hire and let me tell you what a nightmare most of those sheep were to get a hold of or handle. The worst was a group of 47 sheep we had to shear and do hooves on, it took 9hrs, it should have taken 3hrs at most.
Wild sheep are a major PITA to work with, esp if your trying to do solo work. I have seen "feral/wild" sheep do some crazy things to avoid being caught by a human, like impale themselves on metal fence posts, accidentally injure lambs, ram/hurt humans, try to go thru/over electric net, kill them self from overheating after running, give themselves bloat, refuse to care for their lambs, etc. I'm sure the degree of wild and your catch area has a lot to do with possible outcomes.
I personally wants my sheep as tame as possible so when i have to do something with the 3yr old ram who weighs more then I do he isnt trying to hurt me or fight back. We spent last summer shearing for hire and let me tell you what a nightmare most of those sheep were to get a hold of or handle. The worst was a group of 47 sheep we had to shear and do hooves on, it took 9hrs, it should have taken 3hrs at most.
Bruce
Herd Master
Charge the people with wild sheep more for the job, gotta pay for your PT and massage bills 
Mike CHS
Herd Master
Mine are just tame enough that they don't fight me handling them but we have a very good catch/handling area. Our ram is the tamest of any of them but he will get sold soon.
- Thread starter
- #75
Baymule
Herd Master
Yes, they are fairly tame. I like them that way. Most of them eat out of my hand. Some of them were bounce off the wire/walls wild, but finally settled down. In the picture of the 16 month old walking among the flock, she has her tiny hand on one of them. Priceless.
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
I've been working on catching ip on your thread @Mike CHS so i have seen your setup with your catch pen and chute, it looks very good.
The only problem is you can't use a chute to shear, so calmer wool sheep at least are sort of a requirement if you want a decent shear without a lot of stress on everyone. We do have a trimming headpeice to restrain sheep so that helps.
While i won't say our sheep enjoy being handled a lot i would consider them friendly. They do come running when we walk to the pen or follow us around the pen but dont enjoy being petted a lot. Except captain our smaller ram always wants to be petted.
Bruce
Herd Master
Replace "sheep" with "chickens" and I can say the same thing
Can't say they enjoy being petted at all but they do enjoy the "bringer of treats" being around. Especially if there are treats.
Wehner Homestead
Herd Master
Our cows stand like Baymule’s sheep when we walk through them. Our pigs either run from us or for us depending on which group and how tame they are. Our goats swarm us like dogs.
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
Replace "sheep" with "chickens" and I can say the same thing
They do like being petted....when they choose too. They remind me of cats really, they only want to be petted and want attention when they choose to want it.
Wehner Homestead
Herd Master
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