Hi! Folks,

Well if you remember 3 months ago my got dropped her milk 2 moonths ago she fininaly dropped two Pygmy/LaMancha bucklings. 2 Days ago I sold one for $50 and the other one I traded for 2 pregnant 4 year old Columbia Ewes ,not a bad trade huh! They purebred (not registered tho') and probably pretty close to lambing because the other 2 ewes out of 6 had lambed. What do I do! How do I know if they're close? How can I tame them DOWN they're nuts! Can I break them to an electric fence after their woven wire experience. And my Lamancha doe is in there w/them and she kinda attacks the sheep(If she had horns) she isn't hurting them though. And ANY LINKS TO SHEEP INFO WOULD BE HELPFUL. I already searched on google.com . THANKYOU !!!

-- Chandler Wible (ProvidenceFarms2001@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002

Answers

I'd think the goat could bash the ewes enough to cause an abortion, they might calm down if they weren't being attacked. Sheep and goats will look about the same when they're about to birth, you've handled goats sheep are similar. Were the ewes vacinated? Wormed? They're in good condition? You've kept them on a similar diet to what they were getting? Salt and mineral are Ok for sheep, as in no copper added? They should be on (up to, unless they are fat) 2 lbs of 16% grain ration, and high quality hay free choice but don't change the feed fast if they're not.
I'm told you can train a sheep to electric, I have terrible luck with the stuff.
A good refrence web site is the Marland Small Ruminant page I had more but they're on my other computer.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), February 03, 2002.

First take the goat out for now. Let the sheep get accustomed to you and their new home. It does take a little while. When we had sheep, I ran the goats with the sheep and while the goats would occasionally butt the sheep, it was usually to let them know that the goats were superior :) and never hurt them. To help calm the sheep down, feed them a little grain every day so they look forward to you being around.

-- beckie (none@this.time), February 03, 2002.

My sheep are my first too and they are set to lamb in March. One aborted sometime through the night last night. It was heart breaking to find it laying there in the hay. I have had my sheep since June and July and they are still skittery as all get out. I can't get near them to touch them..they run like hell.. I had a couple of goats with them this summer and they did ok though the goats were a tad pushy at feeding time. I have found Paula Simmons' book VERY useful. You might want to find it at the library.. I think the title is simply Raising Sheep. Its from Storey Publications. Good luck.

-- Alison in NS (aproteau@istar.ca), February 03, 2002.

ONE hefty thump (as in for example a butt from a goat) is enough to cause miscarriage - in goats, sheep, or people. No guarantee it WILL, but it can. The sheep shouldn't be run with the goats at this stage, unless your flock is so huge (and it isn't) that the goats won't feel tempted to need to establish superiority over individuals.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 04, 2002.

This link may give you some insights: Halter Training, http://www.fibreworksfarm.com/shetland/sheep.htm, motivational training works better than negative reinforcement with sheep. Most important is a calm manner and lots and lots of handling.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 04, 2002.

I have never found sheep to tame down like goats do. Even my bottle babies are now wild and skittish. We have a dozen sheep, and can't get near any of them. You might never get them tame.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), February 04, 2002.

It does depend on each ones personality, but one of the things we did to help them mellow is, we put them in a paddock where we had to walk through all the time to get to the barn, so we were near them a lot, the wilder ones mellowed a lot and the nice one became a puppy dog.

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), February 04, 2002.

Hi! As the others suggested, I would think seperating the sheep and goats is very prudent right now. I usually agree with what Shannon says about animals but our sheep are very very tame. I have also taken on sheem that were not friendly and eventually they became so. The trick (I think) is keeping them in close quarters and spending time with them. We usually find that even our less friendly ewes become very nice when they are penned in a lambing jug with a new baby. We have a small flock, but all of my ewes like to be pet and come to the fence when I call them. I am almost convinced tht some know their names but I admit, that might just be wishful thinking on my part.

Now if someone could just help me tame this 5 year old Dexter I'd be happy!

Please do feel free to email me if you have questions. I am sure we don't have all the answer but after 5 years with sheep we have made so many dumb mistakes we might be able to offer some help!

Kim p.s. If you can't tell, I think they are the nicest livestock you can keep on a homestead.

-- kim (fleece@eritter.net), February 04, 2002.

Chandler, any respectable LaMancha doe doesn't want to HAVE to live with sheep :) Seriously though with them being new, with them having different worms, more of a likelyhood of having CL and other nasties, you shouldn't put new and especially pregnant stock in with your stock. Once the lambs are here, then you could slowly reintroduce everyone and it may go better. You will have to gear your feeding program towards the sheep and supplement her copper with perhaps calf manna extra once a day when you are milking her. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 04, 2002.