coyotecreek

Thanks for the reply. I can definantly understand your points..but I think mabey I made him seem worse then he is. His age (5) and willful streak make him a challenge. he was also an older shelter pull...he is exceptionaly useful on our place for daily workings and needs..its away from home when the issues occur. Thanks again for the input.

yall have destroyed my plans....these two ewes do a fine job of yanking the tags out, but not ripping their ears. The biggest inconvience is having to re-tag them.

Julie, thank you so much..that explained alot. I am in Texas and browsed the TX Sheep and Cattle Dog site abit last night..but that explanation you just wrote out helped me visualize alot better. Sounds like I may need to go and watch afew in my area to see how a novice novice class is run in my area.

Thanks Eileen...I would like to see what Amanda says..then perhaps I will post in the general area as well? Ill ammend my post. thanks again.

I, like Debbie, simply use my scrapies tag for ID purposes. Occasionaly, I do use the ones like the yellow ones above, if an animal requires a second number on them for whatever reason. I have two ewes who are extremly successful at yanking their scrapies tags out..its quite annoying..I am thinking of going to the button tags instead. I to wait til the animals are a pinch older to tag..or wait until its absolutely nesscary to tag them (sale, show,ect). We used to tag baby lambs and I also experienced ripped ears or droopy ears that never righted themselves. I have a month old lamb that wil

I dont know when he will stop being considered "green" either.. He successfuly completed some time with the trainer just recently, who had good things to say about him. I have used him on my place in the past..for both sheep and cattle. This dog lives to work...but is quite single minded when he thinks "he" is right. I have afew problems and while there are some things I know I can do to work thru them, a large part is making sure I am right so he can be "right"...its amazing how if I change, I can set him up for success or have utter chaos. He works my flock of sheep beautifuly..

I went to the link provided by Eileen, that was super informative. I browsed youtube last night to see dogs doing a novice course (I am a definate visual person) and I saw afew that the sheep did not go thru the "panels"..Im assuming driving thru the panels (which were directly in from of the post, so the dog drove the sheep thru the panels as he was fetching the animals to his handler?? am I correct?) is something all trials do? so those videos I saw, perhaps the dog lost points for this part? Do-overs are not allowed, whats done is done type of thing? I also noticed during the pennin

I know this is abit early, but Im hoping some people might be able to point me in the direction of clinics already schedualed, planning to be schedualed, or are normally schedualed for 2013 in the Texas/Oklahoma/even New Mexico area...handler and dog are still green..so something semi beginner friendly is a must. Thanks!

What type of sale was this? a cataloged sale? show and sale? I learned ALOT by attended the Midwest Ram Show and Sale this past June..in regards to different breeds of sheep. I am a dorper person thru and thru..but it was definantly neat to see some of the other breeds..the Montedale was by far the "neatest"..I got a picture standing next to a yearling ram..he was SO TALL!

I raise dorpers. I have a commercial flock and a registered flock and run a fullblood or purebred ram on them both..gives me a good corner on feeders, market lambs and seedstock.

After experiencing a small issue pasture lambing, I now try to lamb in "jugs"..or at least have the ewes confined abit..makes it easier for me to help, if needed...espc with a skittery ewe. My last one to lamb was like that..if she'd been out in the pasture, I dont know what I would have done..I had to pull her lamb and she is not very friendly. I agree with Cynthia on the Dextrose injection..it usually brightens the lambs considerably. Heat lamp or space heater on the lamb, in the house, seems to help with hypothermia too.

Abit late into this discussion, but I watched a ewe lamb, thru NO pressure run into a gate and break her neck, while we were working them WITHOUT a dog..we were seperating the ewes and lambs we had just bought..we ushered her and 5 of her penmates thru a gate..she ran into the panel and broke her neck. It was interesting, as it was the first time I got to see a lamb butchered and the animal did not go to waste for the owner. As a "shepherd" (owner of sheep)..I have come to a realization that stockmanship is about sheep sense..we used to say in order to work a cow well on horseback, you had

My concern would be..protection from potential predators..sheep are not good at protecting themselves and must be "put up" or have some sort of guardian out with them (dog, llama, donkey,ect). Having sheep in with horses wouldnt work for me..Ive watched a horse chase and try to stomp into the dust a sheep..Ive also seen a ram chase a pony around the pasture..just better, IMO, to get them seperate.

they've been lightly worked..our of nesscity more then anything..but if I do put them back in with the general flock, they will get worked when I work the dogs..but good to know..I wouldnt work three young sheep by themselves..get one of my older ewes who has been worked to work with them

Well, then I may keep the little buggers til they are old enough to butcher..I have folks who want to buy halves..but not live animals..the buyer still may come thru..but who knows. I know when I was looking for sheep, I wanted EWES..so I could breed later on..while wethers are unproductive to an extent, these would have afew months and then they'd be eaten.. thanks for the thoughts