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From: Mary Swindell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [blackbelly] Re: Catching Sheep Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:43:04 -0500
Dear Barb and All,
I've listened to your sheep-catching woes, and to various suggestions as to how to catch them. All the lassoing, roping, and football-team chasing is hard on you and your sheep -- It stresses your sheep, and is a method of desperation, which admittedly is necessary if there is no other method. But it is hard on pregnant ewes, and the possibility of sudden stampeding increases the chances that any of the sheep -- and humans -- could get seriously injured.
Since we all would rather not stress our sheep (and ourselves!) 10 times per day, there is a much better solution! It involves a calm, well-trained herding dog quietly gathering sheep and fetching them into the desired pen, chute, corral, barn, shed, etc. I have 2 Border Collies who are both capable of gathering sheep and fetching or driving them in the direction that I want them to go. It is a pleasure to watch these dogs do their work, and it makes livestock handling more of a joy than a nightmare. I hope you'll consider getting a stockdog as an option.
I do not breed nor sell Border Collies, so I have no vested interest in saying this, but here it is: There is no technique that you can use to handle or manage livestock which will even begin to compare to the value of having a good stockdog. You will find that a good "started" or a "finished" (fully trained) stockdog will be worth every penny that you have paid for it. You can generally find a nice young started Border Collie for between $1,500.00 and $2,500.00. You will probably need to get some followup training yourself as a stockdog handler, since these dogs are very sensitive to your commands, and they may become confused if you are unclear about your working commands, which most beginning handlers are. But as you become a better and better handler, your dogs will also become more capable at accomplishing exactly what you want on your farm or ranch.
At our BBSAI Annual Meeting and Workshop, September 11-12 in Cobden, Illinois, I will be giving a talk and demonstration about Ranch Chores Using Stock Dogs. I'll show how to round up sheep from an open pasture, and sort them through various gates, separate them into small groups, and force one sheep at a time into a foot bath trough, among other things. I'll show how dogs can hold sheep in a corner of an open pasture so that the handler can move up and touch the sheep he/she desires to examine. I'll show how dogs can help drive sheep into a small freestanding pen in the middle of a large open area. I'll show the proper way to approach a gate when a large flock of sheep are being driven through, so that you don't get run over in the process! And I'll show how to "gate sort", which is separating sheep one by one by opening and shutting a gate with the dog on the other side of the flock. And one more lovely "perk" about having a stockdog around is: Wonderful protection from those over-zealous 2-year old rams! My dog will run up and bite my ram on the front of the chest if the ram begins charging me.
Please know that I am only a novice handler myself, and not a stockdog trainer. But I cannot imagine how much more difficult my sheep farming operation would be without my dogs!
Sincerely, Mary Swindell
Mary Swindell Illinois Regional Director, BBSAI Bellwether Farm 815 Bell Hill Road Cobden, IL 62920 (618) 893-4568 (home) (618) 453-1697 (work) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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=============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). 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 To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
