Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[CntryBoy777]

That news about your herd sure has to make ya feel really Good about your practices there. Especially since they have been dry-lotted for a while....ya certainly deserve a "Pat on the Back" for sure....
You may have gotten to #3 just in time too...but then again, he could be upset that his Voice won't be changing now.

 

[Mike CHS]

We will watch closer when they get out on the pasture soon. There is a lot to be said for dry lots where they aren't grazing but just eating what's brought to them.

 

[Mike CHS]

I forgot to write about Lance. I couldn't get pictures because I was working the panel going into the chute and keeping Lance on the stragglers that remembered that evil handling chute and didn't want to go in. Lance did good. As soon as I started setting up the table the sheep hauled butt to the other end of the pen. I went down with Lance and got him into a Hold and his stare sent them packing back to the handling chute. He did his stalk on them and set them up better than he has done since we started training.

The vet was running a bit late so I kept Lance keeping pressure on the sheep to keep them in the chute. A couple of the dominant ewes tried challenging him and he went right at them (with a closed mouth finally). All told he had to hold them for over a half hour and he is one tired Border Collie tonight.

 

[Bruce]

1) They get to know you and don't see you as a threat since you are the food bringer
2) You have more work to do but they have less.

However, my silly alpacas still think there must be some reason to "forage" wherever there isn't snow covering the ground. Can't be finding anything. Though that hasn't changed in months they seem to be eating more hay. Maybe due to the greater amount of daylight hours. Burn more calories when they aren't asleep. Or some other reason

 

[Bruce]

I forgot to write about Lance. I couldn't get pictures because I was working the panel going into the chute and keeping Lance on the stragglers that remembered that evil handling chute and didn't want to go in. Lance did good. As soon as I started setting up the table the sheep hauled butt to the other end of the pen. I went down with Lance and got him into a Hold and his stare sent them packing back to the handling chute. He did his stalk on them and set them up better than he has done since we started training.

The vet was running a bit late so I kept Lance keeping pressure on the sheep to keep them in the chute. A couple of the dominant ewes tried challenging him and he went right at them (with a closed mouth finally). All told he had to hold them for over a half hour and he is one tired Border Collie tonight.

Fantastic!!! I was going to ask what happens with the chute the second time around. Having a trained dog to make them decide they prefer the "evil" chute is a definite plus.

 

[CntryBoy777]

The "Fruit" of your labor is nice when it is Sweet. I bet that was a thrill to witness, and I know he really enjoyed the work too. Did Sassy get involved or not?

 

[norseofcourse]

Sounds like a great day! How did the vet like your handling system and the tilt table?

 

[Mike CHS]

You are right Bruce - they have zero fear of us which is why we keep training the dogs.

Fred - Sassy has been a disappointment. Most of her work had been close up because that is where she excelled. We are finding out that most of what she did was with dog broke sheep which is where she did good. Most of our 'herding' will be with a grain bucket. Our sheep will never be routinely worked so they hopefully will never get used to them. She does a super round up circle if the sheep are already moving but when you have a bunch like ours who are stomping their feet and standing their ground she doesn't do so good. Lance has the focus and complete lack of fear so he's going to be the primary. Sassy is why we are keeping 3 wethers (plus getting another pup sometime this summer). We will keep the sheep's trusts since they don't equate us with the dogs so that fear will always be there hopefully.

 

[Mike CHS]

Sounds like a great day! How did the vet like your handling system and the tilt table?

He loved it. We had the sheep under control when they got here and everything took less than 30 minutes. He said that was one of the first times that he could remember when doing this kind of a farm call was a pleasure even though you could never call castrating sheep a pleasure.

We never had to use the tilt table. We just ran the lambs into the chute and picked them out one at a time. Since the parasite load was so low we didn't treat any of the ewes.

 

[Baymule]

Do you think that you will castrate lambs next time? They do seem to get over it quickly don't they?