Thanks for the input. Lucky for us, we witnessed this airborne phenomenon the first time we laid eyes on the sheep at their place of purchase. The owner was very poorly setup and had made arrangements with my wife for us to "catch them ourselves". We trtied exactly that for some time one Saturday morning, in a pen full of gnawed off creosote bushes, jumping sheep and ornery goats ;)
We were just about ready to give up when her partner walked out with a huge long handled net. I can tell you I netted our two ewe lambs in mid air!
I have become a fan of these sheep however, due to an admiration for their toughness. When I saw the cluttered, unkempt pen and noticed yet the excellent condition of those sheep I knew I had found a tough animal that would do well for us. This last sumer I observed these two closely. Our average summer day temps range from 108 to 115 degrees(in the shade), with hot spells pushing the 120 degree mark. The sheep appeared to not be bothered by these temps. I have thought about Dorper sheep but I'm concerned I would end up with large white overheated animals in the summer like our big yellow Labrador who must spend summer days indoors.
Anyway, I will take your advice and create a narrow run at the end of our alley pens. I imagine these chutes or runs should have lids on them?
Thanks Brad
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Stephan Wildeus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [blackbelly] Some tips on how to handle blackbelly sheepand enclosures
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 07:50:47 -0500
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
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