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Senior Member
 
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Last Login: 9/21/2009 3:50:17 PM
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| I've wanted to get a hair sheep bottle lamb now for several years and yesssss, I'm picking my boy up tomorrow! So, I've set up a blog so folks can monitor his progress (I'll eventually train him to pull a wagon). I'll also be posting all sorts of sheepy trivia to Mopple's blog, so if you like sheep, check it out! http://themopplechronicles.blogspot.com/ Sue
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Starting Member
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Last Login: 8/3/2009 11:30:17 PM
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Congratulations Sue! I am so exited for you and to follow the blog. Do you have one that you drive already? I would love to see pictures of this. I guess I have to do some searching about these sheep too. 
Steph
Lazy L Ranch
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Senior Member
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| No, but I collect vintage sheep and goat photos and postcards and I have a number of old items depicting people driving sheep or using them to pull small wagons. I talked to a guy a few years ago who taught his ram to pull a cart but he described the wool problem, hence my interest in a hair sheep wether instead of a woolly. Two of my wethers are easy going enough to drive, I'm sure, but they both woolly and small (being Miniature Cheviots), so I knew I'd need a bigger guy. I like Dorpers and they are about the size of Boer goats at maturity, so even if Mopple is slightly smaller due to Katahdin background he'll be more than big enough. My experience with sheep is that they're very clever. They're more fearful than goats, though, hence my interest in starting with a lamb so I can acclimate him to things while he's small. People at my sheep list who have bottle raised hair sheep lambs say their personalities are very goatlike. We shall see! We'll be off to get him in a little while. This is an adventure as I've never bottle raised a full-size lamb before, just my teeny woollies, and I have no prior experience with hair sheep. :o) Sue
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Average Member
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Last Login: 11/1/2009 6:18:12 AM
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do you ever sell stuff???? I mean you always get things? You are like the guy next door. It looks like Noah's ark crashed over there.
I'm just picking.......... I know you don't eat them.
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Senior Member
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wallsostone (7/10/2009)
do you ever sell stuff???? I mean you always get things? You are like the guy next door. It looks like Noah's ark crashed over there.
I'm just picking.......... I know you don't eat them. <LOL> You sound like John (my husband)! Actually, I do sell breeding stock Miniature Cheviot lambs. We have 2009 lambs for sale right now. And I'd love to find a home for my younger llama so the older one would go back to guarding again. He'd be free to someone who would take good care of him. Sue
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Senior Member
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If I lived closer I would take him Sue. After the donkey incident...how bad could it be right? (LOL)
I follow you on everything, and agree and certainly hope you do well, but my question is in regards to the Dorper aspect...I heard they were really wild. It was discussed at a wool pool where a lot of major sheep farmers were gathered who represent a lot of different breeds. The Soay got the first vote, Dorper's got the second.
But a lot of that is management style I know...I just wonder how the small part of wild genetics will play into a pulling animal? I have been around a lot of sheep for a lot of years and just don't see any of them pulling anything, but they are as close to free range as you can get here too so its altogether different. It will be interesting to hear if the Dorper can be tamed out of him.
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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| Well, he isn't gelded yet (can't find a vet to do it, though we're still looking), so it could be as bad. Intact male llamas sometimes like to breed their favorites. As you probably know, llamas breed in the cush position, so if a male happens upon his goaty or sheepy lady love lying down... So, neither llama is with the sheep or goats right now. I do think Stormy would probably guard once he's gelded and had time to de-testosterone. He's virtually grown up around sheep and goats--but you just never know. No problem with this Dorper being wild. We've never had a more people-oriented lamb. All he wants to do is sit on our laps; he screams absolutely bloody murder when returned to his crate. And he's smart. He nursed his dam for three days yet by the third bottle feeding he had it down pat, didn't even need his chin supported to keep him from falling off the nipple. I was just thinking, "Geez, I wonder if all Dorpers are this laid back?" Maybe not! His dam is tame, so that probably made a difference too. People talk about how wild Cheviots are but we've had lambs that bug humans for attention the day they're born, many in-your-pocket adults and a few that no matter how much they're handled, they are wild. I think there are probably some of each kind in every breed. Sue
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I agree...my Montadales are pretty "flighty" but I'll be darned if when you are shearing them, they go almost comatose.
As for "smart"...I think all livestock are smart. I know everyone of my sheep are even though sheep have a bad reputation in regards to intelligence. The problem is, they just do not do what I want because most of the time they simply are not doing what I want them to do. I sometimes fail to adapt my methods as quickly as I can.
Take my sick sheep. Trying to run them through a foot bath is not easy and I would get mad, yell and soon they were really high strung. It sounds counter-productive but now I use a squirt bottle, win their trust via grain and reassuringly approaching them, and then dousing their feet individually. It sounds like it would take forever, but no, its actually a lot faster...½ the time.
Livestock are smart enough...its us humans that are too dumb to convey to them what we want them to do.
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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