Deb Mickey Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Just curious how others of ya do this... What do you do to maintain your flock of sheep so they don't become dog sour? Do you rotate what you use when training? Do you cull? Do you keep your puppy sheep separated from the rest? Justa curious ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyO Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Hi Deb, Since no one has answered, I'll put in my 2 cents worth. I tend to rotate what sheep I am working. Normally whatever gets shed off is the group that gets worked. This is also true if I put them thro the chute to sort. Anymore I have my young dogs shedding and can use them to shed off a group too. Also I only work one group for 1 maybe 2 dogs. changing the sheep frequently helps keep them fresh, even the dorsets. The only time I get a specific group out is if I want some to stay on a little bit of grain to work on outruns. then I will sort out a few of the dorsets. I think the type of sheep you have will also make a huge difference. I've changed my flock over the past 3 years so that I have a more desirable lamb to sell at New Holland. So now I have mainly dorset or dorset crosses. But they become dogged really quickly. So I've added a few tunis/cheviot crosses. Even if you have dogged sheep, if you change the way you use your field, it can make a big difference. I only have 12 acres, split into 2 fields. For some reason I rarely use the smaller upper field to work my dogs, so when I do use it it's almost all new to them and the sheep. To get longer outruns, I will open the gate between the fields and the dog then has to "see" that gate and go through it to the other field. Recently when I drive in my upper field and don't see the sheep, I've been working on blind outruns with each of my dogs. First dog goes out finds the sheep, brings them and sheds, and then drives them back over the rise. Then the next dog gets thier chance at a blind outrun. Right now I only have about 30 ewes, normally I have 50. Sometimes I will work all the sheep together rather than splitting them up. And yes, I have culled only a few sheep because of the way they worked. Since I have a small flock, I need to be able to use them for production and for working my dogs. So I think if you are creative you can use your sheep and field to your advantage. Nancy O Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Mickey Posted November 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 Thanks, Nancy O! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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