Working the Sheep

Its docking time! Ella, and Yabbo both still have their tales... and I'm not one for looking at nasty sheep tales. For those of you not familiar with sheep production practices,  most breeds of sheep are not born with the short nubby tails that we are all familiar with. Pretty much all modern breeds of sheep have long heavy tails that are manually removed for cleanlyness, and ease of breeding. There are several different methods for docking tails, but I choose to use elastrator bands. I like the bands for simplicities sake, and because there are no open wounds to get infected. The band is simply plased in the desired location on the tail, and applied. The band works by cutting off the circulation below that point, and the end of the tail simply falls off! Its only painful at first, but once the circulation stops (which is quite quickly), the sheep looses all feeling to that part of the extrimity. Sheep with docked tails are happier, cleanlier, and less likely to develope flystrike!(a condition where blowflie maggots eat on living sheep)



Elastrator bands look like Cheerios!



Being organized helps. Having the elastrator set up before
 you start is a bonus, and always have extra bands.







I decided to take pictues of the days proceedings, and was quite pleasantly supprised with how smoothly everything went. Of course it all starts with being organized.... wether you're working three sheep or 3000 being organized is a must to save frustration. I am by no means an organized person, but there are some things that I have found help. For me they are proper facilities, a calm mindset, and having a bucket or box that hangs on the fence to hold all your tools both within reach, and out of the way. There should hardly be any reasons to loose your temper with your sheep. If you are getting extreemely angry, then you should probably take a step back and look at your facilities. Why are you angry? Let your fences do the majority of the work. If your running like a dog trying to catch sheep, you probably should invest in some more/taller panels, whether portable el-cheapo wood panels you can make yourself, or fancy metal ones, doesent matter. Just as long as they are portable, and can be easily reconfigured to work the amount of sheep that you have. The chute I'm using in these photos is my loading chute. When I had 60 sheep I didn't work them here. I could of, but it would not have been easy enough. With as few as I have now, it works ideally. the sheep can see out the front panel, making them think they can escape, and the funnel shape directs them where I want without extra work. The sides are high, and sturdy... which I have found to be more, and more of a must with owning taller breeds of sheep. The last, and one of the most important features, is the narrow chute itself, which limits movement... and consequently chasing!



Sturdy facilities are a must, though they don't have to be permanant



I started the day with Yabbo, checking teeth, picking foxtails, and of course docking his tail. I went ahead and trimmed his feet too. Our soil is very soft, and lambs feet don't wear well here. I also gave him his CD&T vaccine. To work on sheep I like to sit them on their rump, just like I would to shear them. This gives me access to all the places I need to handle, not to mention complete control of the sheep. As a side note, make sure and use alchohol on vaccine sites, as CD&T can be prone to abcessing, also for the same reason do not give CD&T vaccines in the wool... it will fall out. I chose to give it in the bare skin on the right inner thighs this time. 



Keep things cold while vaccinating, especially
 when you will be returning it to the fridge.



Getting Vaccine pre drawn.









Next sheep of the day was little ol Ella. Her poor face was absolutely full of foxtail. I was hoping she would have shed the wool on her face out by now... but it doesn't look like its going to happen. Wooly faces make sheep far more prone to stickers in the eyes. She got banded, given her booster, hooves trimmed, and eyewigged. Lastly I worked BB. All BB needed was her CD&T booster, and that blasted top knot taken off! BB is officially Fro- free! All in all, this time the whole lot was quite calm. No launching over my shoulders, or busting my face, or breaking gates for that matter. I'm feeling a bit more confident that my prospect bell sheep might eventally make good leaders. Its just going to take a bit more time.   



Before being worked.

 

Done and already eating. Low stress handling makes for happy calm sheep.