Dogs with jobs

[BCSnob]

Is there any interest in stories about dogs doing farm jobs? It is lambing time.

[BCSnob]

Lee, Wendy, and I sat down to watch the lambs while the ewes got their grain.
Feeding time for ewes

Training session with Fern working on driving a few of the ewes we didn’t breed.
Fern Driving


Ewes lambed: 52
Singles: 17
Twins: 34
Triplets: 1
Died: 2
Lambs: 87

[BCSnob]

The pace of new births has eased a bit.

Ewes lambed: 37
Singles: 9
Twins: 27
Triplets: 1
65 lambs

[BCSnob]

My wife and I have been streaming shows on BritBox and have been watching This farming life. It’ll give you a nice look at livestock farming in Scotland and Ireland. The scenery is spectacular and they don’t gloss over the hard parts of this lifestyle.

[BCSnob]

Good question.

Once in a pen several tasks are completed.

Lambs get ear tags (color is associated with their sire, number identifies individual animal, and ear with tag is associated with gender) and this information is recorded.

Ewe gets a dose of deworming medicine.

Ewe’s hooves are trimmed. I mark the ewe once I have trimmed her hooves. The mark tells my wife this ewe can be turned and it makes it easier for us to identify new mothers (no mark) from other mothers.

We use this marking method whenever we are doing something to all the sheep (vaccination, deworming, etc) and we want to make sure not to miss a sheep. Marking crayons are available in several colors and we might change colors for the next treatment if the previous color is still visible.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Why are the ewes sporting pink stripes?

[BCSnob]

Night time lamb pen check

[BCSnob]

During Sunday morning’s sheep check I found 2 new born lambs with a new mother in the barnyard. I moved these into a barn stall and then moved the other ewes and lambs out if this stall. I then found another new mother in the barnyard. I searched for more new born lambs amongst all the others but found no more. I caught the new mother using Lee and a crook and put her in the stall with the 2 new born lambs and the other mother. Fortunately they sorted out who belong together and were standing separated in the stall. I moved each ewe with their lamb into their own pen. After church we had a surprise, one pen had a ewe and her single in the other pen there was now a set of triplets.

[BCSnob]

The sheep understand the commands mean there is a dog and they go on high alert; they don’t seem to understand that one commands mean the dog will do. Like other animals they learn routines. The first day we brought the ewes and lambs into the barnyard before dark too a long time and effort. Now that we’ve been doing this for several days at the same time of day, they are more willing to move to the barnyard. They won’t come in on their own (at least not without feeding them grain.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

I could watch the video of Lee moving the flock, all day long. It was so sweet and peaceful.
Do the sheep ever learn the commands you give the dogs? At least enough that they seem to anticipate where the dog is going next?

[Scottiemom]

BCSnob wrote:
Lee and I walked pass Wendy curled up in the grass on our way out to the flock. Wendy was “off the clock”; she did lift her head looked at me with sleepy eyes and gave me a moan.

🙂

[BCSnob]

As of 8am Feb 23 our total is

Ewes lambed: 34
Singles: 10
Twins: 24
58 lambs

[BCSnob]

Lee and I walked pass Wendy curled up in the grass on our way out to the flock. Wendy was “off the clock”; she did lift her head looked at me with sleepy eyes and gave me a moan.

[Scottiemom]

BCSnob wrote:
We find it easier to deal with new lambs after dark if the flock is in the barnyard. A daily job is to bring the flock off the field into the barnyard before dark. Forgive my poor filming ability but here is Lee moving the flock.

Working dogs are just amazing. Love seeing them doing their job. Enjoyed seeing Sam. Where was Wendy? I don't think I saw her in the video. Sam looks like such a happy dog. . . so does Lee for that matter!

Great job!

DAle

[BCSnob]

We find it easier to deal with new lambs after dark if the flock is in the barnyard. A daily job is to bring the flock off the field into the barnyard before dark. Forgive my poor filming ability but here is Lee moving the flock.

[BCSnob]

I got hone early enough to do some dog training. I worked on Lee’s pace while “wearing” sheep ( Lee keeping sheep to me while I walk). His pace was really good with 4 sheep.
Lee wearing 4 ewes

Lee was pushy and too reactive while wearing 1 sheep (just like when moving ewe and her lambs).
Lee wearing 1 ewe
After this was filmed I worked on correcting Lee when he was too pushy and overreacting. Lee improved; but still needs more training on this.