What to expect as a new shepherd?

[ThoughtfulFox]

Hey all,
While I know this isn't a personal talk sort of subforum, I have lots of questions piling up as a new shepherd, and I want to gather a number of the herd together to ask some questions, get some insight, and hopefully glean some knowledge.

First off, if we haven't met before;
Hi, call me Fox, and I take care of East Friesians in rural Georgia for a local family.
A ram, nine ewes, (three lactating) with six weaned lambs.
I used to muck-out horse stalls, but now I'm providing a whole new level of care when I've never raised anything apart from dogs.
It's a whole new ball-game for me.
But I really love the job so far, and I want to do it right.

Here's the situation:

I'm in charge of milking the ewes every twelve hours. (not for human consumption, nor cheesemaking) One had mastitis at this time last year, and now only one of her glands produces milk at all. The other seems to produce milk mixed with a more clear fluid; about 1/4 cup per day compared to her 7 cups of milk per day on the opposite.
I want to know if this is normal, what causes this, if it signifies a problem, et cetera.
Should the liquid be left alone or milked out? She seems to be very agitated when this side is milked; is this hurting her, or is it her instinct that the 'milk' there might be harmful?

Today I got the wonderful experience of cutting wool away when it's absolutely been matted with... *ahem* stuff after the sheep was sick. "Scours" I suppose is the colorful word I'm searching for. The scissors and the shears we had on-hand weren't particularly useful. I'm thinking that paramedic shears (link to explain, not to advertise) might be a far better solution, but didn't have any with me at the time. Thoughts and recommendations on that would be quite welcome.

If you have knowledge databases you would recommend for me to have on hand, they would absolutely be appreciated.
I found this page in a previous post . It horrified me just a little bit. But it's stuff I need to be able to at least recognize if not treat, so bring 'em on.

Thank you in advance.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Hi Fox! Welcome to the forum. So can I ask what you guys use the milk for? I'm just curious. I love sheep milk, it's wonderfully creamy and rich. And sheep cheese is delicious!

On the wool trimming, I'm not sure the paramedic scissors would work well, since they have a blunt point and that won't let the blades slide through the wool very well. You didnt' find hand shears useful? You can always get some electric clippers too and try to use those. I like the hand shears for trimming since the points slide through the wool easily. They've got to be sharp though, or else they're awful to use.

And on the udder issue...it's likely the mastitis got bad enough last year to ruin that half of her udder. If it's not hot, swollen, or producing clumpy milk I'd just leave it be. If she has a fever, or if that half is hot to the touch or swollen ,I'd treat her for mastits again. Sounds like it's just not producing though, so I'd leave it be. It's probably uncomfortable for her when it's milked.

Sheep 201 is a wonderful resource. That site has info on all sorts of sheep management.

 

[ThoughtfulFox]

Hello again aggie! I was hoping you would find this thread.

We use the milk for making soap. (six varieties) As a matter of fact I'm scheduled to do some more soap-making (this will be my second batch) tomorrow afternoon. Can't say I've ever tasted sheep milk nor their cheese...but if we had a cleaner environment for milking I'd certainly give it a try. (bad fly problem we're working to alleviate)

In this case I wasn't having to penetrate the wool, so much as lift a patch and hack it off. All the work was done by the innermost portion of the scissors, and paramedic shears are made for cutting tough material such as denim or corduroy, so I thought it was a better choice at that moment. But since I had none at that moment, and can't find the two pairs that are hiding somewhere around here, it's a moot point. The hand shears I had available were of the "double bow" variety. I'm not sure whether it's a matter of them being dull, or more a matter of my inexperience in using them, but I couldn't get them to cut much of anything. I wound up having far better luck with a pair of simple dressmaker's scissors. (no serration)

I'll bow to the expertise of someone with more experience and leave the mastitis-affected gland alone. Thank you. That's something I'd been pondering for a week. Wasn't sure if it was akin to an infection needing to drain.

Today we had an all-new situation or three. (Isn't that always the case?) Our ram is usually kept separate from the ewes, but today he broke through a portion of his paddock and went out to graze in a different pasture. For months he's been pretty docile with me, through the fence. But when I came into the pasture to herd him back into his regular pen, that docility was gone. Something angered him about the situation, so I had to keep a close eye on him while trying to open his gate. He did charge once but didn't hit me too badly. (Boy am I glad. That's one big ol' sheep) But after a few tense minutes I was able to get him segregated in a small pen and repair the damage. So tonight I went in search of techniques of handling rams.

Apparently my bosses are not familiar with the term "sheep sitting (rumping, tipping)" so I was blissfully unaware of the technique.
Found some good videos describing the tactic, so I'll share them in case anybody else comes along with a situation similar to mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhILbeFr_o (demonstration begins at 7:40)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jWflb1DBiI
From what I've heard there are also methods of taking down aggressive rams, but I've had no luck finding descriptions of them, yet. So if you might know where I could find that information before I find myself in this situation again, it would be most appreciated. While I believe I could have put him on his back had worse come to worst, the last thing I want to do is actually hurt an animal. (particularly one that doesn't belong to me, and I certainly can't pay to replace.)

Any help or insight is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I honestly dont' really know that tipping/sitting/etc a ram will do anything for his temperment. I worked on a farm that had a very aggressive ram, and he would charge you in an instant if he was out with ewes. He wasn't too bad when he was with other rams, but he hit me several times, and hit my boss really badly one day. We'd put him on his side, but really it didnt' seem to stop. We'd just get him in a headlock, and turn his head back (think of steer wrestling) to make him go off balance and go down on his side. We'd hold him down for a few minutes and then let him up. I think it made us feel a little better about the situation, but I don't think it really "showed him who's boss". He didn't care. The only thing I think worked better was to catch the ram if you had to be in his area, and either tie him up or move him with you.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

The only thing I think worked better was to catch the ram if you had to be in his area, and either tie him up or move him with you.

I am always very cautious around the rams. We had one that started butting us & he is now in the freezer - very tasty too. We will not do mean aggressive animals here - it is just not worth the risk. Our health is way more important.

Liz

 

[SheepGirl]

Whenever my ram acts like he's gonna charge me, I stick my foot out towards him and it stops him immediately. I think he gets startled that something new appeared in his path and he stops. I could do it ten times in a row and he'd fall for it every time. Also, if you can get him a collar and hold onto it, that will stop him from charging you since he'd be right next to you. We used that technique on my ram's sire and it worked great.

Then again, these are Babydolls, so they are shorter and not as heavy as East Friesians.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Whenever my ram acts like he's gonna charge me, I stick my foot out towards him and it stops him immediately.

That's fine if he is in front of you but what do you do if he is behind you & you cannot see him coming? I know you should always keep the males of any species in your line of sight but sometimes it is not possible. One day last week, our normally very docile bull was very agitated with our other bull across the fence. it was scary. We stayed out of the pasture as much as possible until he returned to his normal self but if he had threatened any of us that would have been his last & only chance.

Liz

 

[BrownSheep]

Sitting a sheep is only for when they must be handled. Shearing, meds, ect. My ram is agressive, a former bottle baby. When we move him we generally keep him pressed against us, by holding his horns. Or we use our crooks to keep him back, often just by lightly tapping his nose.

 

[SheepGirl]

Whenever my ram acts like he's gonna charge me, I stick my foot out towards him and it stops him immediately.

That's fine if he is in front of you but what do you do if he is behind you & you cannot see him coming?

If I'm walking away from him, every few seconds I will look back at him to make sure he's not doing anything he shouldn't. Normally he just stands there looking at me and then he starts fighting with the other ram. My ram is proven to be too fat and lazy to charge at me from a distance going uphill (the gate outta the pasture is on top of the hill...so I will go from the fence gate up to the 'real' gate) But sometimes I will walk him up the hill with me if I feel he's acting extra rammy, just so I can keep my hands on him and make sure he's not gonna ram me.

However, if I see him coming, I move outta his way or I will stick my leg out to the side so he can see it (because when rams are full-on charging, they can't see directly in front of them, so if you stick your leg out slightly to the side, he'll be able to see it). But like I said, that always stops him. Other rams may be different.

 

[SheepGirl]

Sitting a sheep is only for when they must be handled.

X2. Tipping a sheep too much or for too long may be too hard on their rumens, especially if they're full. When you shear sheep, you have to fast them for 12-24 hours before shearing for just this reason: being in this position with a full rumen is too uncomfortable for the sheep and some have even died from it. I wouldn't ever do it for 'discipline' because in flocks, sheep don't tip each other to discipline each other. They use physical force. Personally, I think that's the only thing they would respond to.