I have for years posted on the jobs our dogs do during lambing; this time I thought I'd describe the jobs they help with in preparation for sheep breeding.
We have ~70 adult ewes; all were together in one group along with the lambs from this spring. The tasks at hand are:
separate ewes from lambs
separate ewes by their sire
trim the hooves on all ewes & check for health issues
remove ewes that we will not be keeping (had mastitis, rejected a lamb, are injured, are unhealthy, etc)
trim hooves on rams, check for health issues, and deworm
put individual rams with the group of ewes they will be breeding
My wife and our friend (a Vet) used their dogs to separate ewes into groups. This is facilitated by the color of the ear tag each ewe has; the color is associated with their sire. We don't want to breed father/daughter. They put the sheep into a large pen using their dogs and then let out sheep based upon ear tag color; different colors to different fields.
Each ewe group was then run through handling equipment (see photo for example). The dogs put the sheep into the pen and then push the sheep towards the single file chute. Our equipment is in an old dairy barn.
Each individual ewe was put into a tilt table to flip the ewe sideways for trimming hooves and checking her utter. We use this equipment to save effort when doing this task on 70 sheep.
Tilt table
There were a few ewes that ended up with the lambs. Fern and I pushed this group into the pen of our handling equipment. I then guided these ewes into the chute to be check and sorted into their ewe group. Fern and I then move the lambs and the cull ewes (ewes we're not breeding/keeping) to a separate field.
Fern moving lambs and cull ewes
The last task is the most challenging. The rams were gathered by Fern.
Fern gathering rams
They were put into a small barn stall; it took two people, two dogs (with some biting) to convince them to go into the stall. Once in the stall I caught one ram (~300lbs) at a time, flipped them on their butts (feet in the air), our friend trimmed hooves while I held them, and dosed them with dewormer (not ivermectin :R this time). We then let one ram out of the stall and brought his ewes to him (trying to move a single ram is asking for a fight).
The rams will be with their ewes for 1 month; this way we know when lambing will start and when it will end.
We have ~70 adult ewes; all were together in one group along with the lambs from this spring. The tasks at hand are:
separate ewes from lambs
separate ewes by their sire
trim the hooves on all ewes & check for health issues
remove ewes that we will not be keeping (had mastitis, rejected a lamb, are injured, are unhealthy, etc)
trim hooves on rams, check for health issues, and deworm
put individual rams with the group of ewes they will be breeding
My wife and our friend (a Vet) used their dogs to separate ewes into groups. This is facilitated by the color of the ear tag each ewe has; the color is associated with their sire. We don't want to breed father/daughter. They put the sheep into a large pen using their dogs and then let out sheep based upon ear tag color; different colors to different fields.
Each ewe group was then run through handling equipment (see photo for example). The dogs put the sheep into the pen and then push the sheep towards the single file chute. Our equipment is in an old dairy barn.
Each individual ewe was put into a tilt table to flip the ewe sideways for trimming hooves and checking her utter. We use this equipment to save effort when doing this task on 70 sheep.
Tilt table
There were a few ewes that ended up with the lambs. Fern and I pushed this group into the pen of our handling equipment. I then guided these ewes into the chute to be check and sorted into their ewe group. Fern and I then move the lambs and the cull ewes (ewes we're not breeding/keeping) to a separate field.
Fern moving lambs and cull ewes
The last task is the most challenging. The rams were gathered by Fern.
Fern gathering rams
They were put into a small barn stall; it took two people, two dogs (with some biting) to convince them to go into the stall. Once in the stall I caught one ram (~300lbs) at a time, flipped them on their butts (feet in the air), our friend trimmed hooves while I held them, and dosed them with dewormer (not ivermectin :R this time). We then let one ram out of the stall and brought his ewes to him (trying to move a single ram is asking for a fight).
The rams will be with their ewes for 1 month; this way we know when lambing will start and when it will end.
