Brad, just a word of caution about herding Blackbelly sheep down alleys. We have a flock/herd of various hair sheep breeds (30 of which are Blackbelly ewes) and meat goats here at Virginia State University, and utilize a system of pens and alleys to handle the animals. Of all the breeds we have, the Blackbelly is only one that will become 'airborne' trying to avoid capture at the end of an alley.
As the Blackbelly sheep turn, to attempt to pass, they will jump (none of the other breeds will do this), and can jump as high as chest and/or shoulder height. They don't have the intention of hitting you, but can cause injury or bruising if this happens (my staff and myself have some bruises to show for this, and one of our student workers actually got hit over the eye). Alleys do work well but you want to be alert. - You may want to set up your pens, so that they form a funnel with short run at the end that will not allow the animals to turn around. Good luck with your design! Stephan Stephan Wildeus, Ph.D., PAS, Dipl. ACAP Associate Research Professor - Small Ruminants Agricultural Research Station Box 9061 Virginia State University Petersburg, VA 23806 Ph: 804.524.6716 Fax: 804.524.5186 >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11/16/03 09:08PM >>> Hello. We are new to this list and new to Blackbelly sheep. Last summer we purchased two Blackbelly lambs and we really like them. We want to start a flock for rasing our own meat. Having had these two for the last several months has generated some questions that we would like to pose to this list please. One of the first things we found out is that these animals are difficult to handle as they are very quick and hard to catch. We are in the planning stages of building enclosures just for these sheep and we wonder about enclosure shape and size in relationship to this issue. We are in the Southern California desert and have zero pasture(no rain here seldom) so all feed will be hay not graze in case this information is important. Is the shape of the enclosure important in that it can be made to facilitate easier capture and control of the sheep? Would long narrow pens be a good idea for herding the sheep down to one end when they need to be under control or selected out and moved to other pens? How do you get control of your sheep? I think we'll have many more questions and appreciate the help very much! Thanks, Brad _________________________________________________________________ Frustrated with dial-up? Get high-speed for as low as $26.95. https://broadband.msn.com (Prices may vary by service area.) =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list. To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list. To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly
