Suki's first time of moving lambs

Last week, I got a call from the Sheep Farm, could we please come and help to move a flock of ewes with lambs? They tried it once before on their own, but the lambs scattered over the place and they were working for hours with a few people to move them 2 kilometers....

Of course we'd like to come and help! Jessie was used to it anyway from previous years with the former shepherd, and it would be an opportunity to take one of the youngsters with me for some "real work". I decided to take Suki, as I think she is the one who is the most cool in the head. A good choice, as it turned out.


The shepherdess setting up the portable fence at the new grazing area:

 Helping to put up the portable fences:

 Jessie and Suki inspecting the fences, wondering where the sheep were...

 After we had set up the fences for the new grazing area, we went a few kilometers further to collect the sheep. From there we were going to drove them to the new grazing area. Jessie run out to gather them all and brought them to us, and off we went...


Jessie and Suki having a look at their charges:

At first I had Suki on the long line, to keep her with me in the rear gard. I covered the left rear flank and Suki the right rear flank of the flock, as the shepherdess and her father covered the left front flank and Jessie the right front flank. Then there was the young son who drove his step up and down the left flank which was also the side where the cycling and footpath was. The dogs had to keep the lambs from wandering too far too the right into the shrubbery.

When we were halfway, I saw Suki understood her job and let go of the long line. She worked nicely alongside me, keeping behind the flock and keeping them from straying.
As we reached our destination a little group of lambs tried to escape into the shrubbery, but Suki proved again she had the job covered, and brought them back in a calm way.

All we had to do was push them into the new grazing area, that was no problem for the dogs:

 

After that we just had to close up the fences. The ewes were calling their lambs and the lambs were bleating for their mums, and after they all found each other again they started grazing, all happy with the new grass....

Moving ewes with lambs

Were we go training, the pregnant ewes were set apart from the training sheep. Somehow there were some ewes who got served by a few young rams that were removed from the flock a little too late, and so we found some ewes with lambs amongst the training sheep every week. No problem, Jessie would bring these mothers to the adjacent nursery field with the others. She did a great job, and twice per week for like at least 3 weeks in a row!
Fortunately, I thought of using my mobile one day. We moved one ewe with twins and two ewes with just the one lamb each.


The ewe with twins was rather complacent...

But the two ewes with one lamb were very, very reluctant to leave the field and go join the other mothers!

Jessie did a good job though, I was very pleased with her :)

Lambs, lambs, lambs!

It's that time of the year again, lambs are everywhere!

Jessie and Suki helped me to catch ewe mothers with lambs that had to be dosed, and then put on a trailer to go outside. It was Suki's first time on lambs and she did great! She kept distance, worked really cool and was standing her ground, the lambs would not escape!

Very pleased with Suki, I am, as she takes a lot after her mum Jessie and has lots of power.

Floyd's first encounter with lambs...

It seemed to me that Floyd is a bit anxious around sheep, and that might be the reason he dives in when we're training flanks. So I was thinking of taking him to the sheep farm where me and Jessie help out, so that he could be around sheep in a relaxed way without working them. Since they have a baby boom of lambs, it was also an opportunity for him to learn to know the difference between sheep and lambs.

I took him into the barn where the lambs are taken after they leave their mothers, so they are not the new borns from the previous post. They roam free in and out the sheep pens, and they're very curious and know no fear at all yet. Floyd on the other hand didn't quite know what these little white creatures were, smelling like sheep and not entirely being sheep... And especially because they had no fear or respect for him! So he was a bit uncomfortable at the start, but after a while he got used to them. I put him back in the car for half an hour, while Jessie helped me moving some sheep. Later I got Floyd back out, and the second time he was more relaxed with the lambs. He even started to sniff their noses, and then their bottoms. Actually, he even licked their bottoms! He's such a weirdo sometimes...

Anyhow, I managed to film it with my mobile so I made a video of Floyd and the Lambs :)

Lambs, lambs, LAMBS!

There's a baby boom at the sheep farm, some twins and quadruplets but also a lot triplets are being born. Lambs are such cute creatures, and have no fear at all. They are very curious too, so I had no problem taking pictures today. (Click on the pictures to enlarge!)

These are a couple of triplets, some were just born when I got there....

Since these are milk ewes, their lambs move to the milkbar after a few days. Their mothers' milk is needed for the production of cheese, yoghurt, ice cream and a lot more.

The older lambs run around with the grazing sheep, who are inside for the winter. The milking sheep are in the other stable, where the new born triplets are. Enjoy the pictures!

 

Lambing Time!

It's that time of the year again: lambs are appearing everywhere!
At the sheepfarm lambing has started also, and when we went to help moving some older ram lambs we took a sneak peek at the little ones...

 

 

Suki and Jessie were with me to help out, but before that Suki first got to see the little lambs with me. At first she was very suprised and even a bit scared of those little cheeky things that smelled like sheep but weren't afraid of her and came to sniff her out. But when she saw me touch them, she started to sniff their bottoms and a bit later even their noses! Soon she started to feel comfortable with the lambs around, as long as they didn't sneak up behind her, haha...

After that we moved the ram lambs with Suki on the lead behind them with me, Jessie guarding the flanks, and the farmer heading the little flock. It all went very smooth and quick, and the dogs did a really good job. I was very pleased and so was the farmer, it saved him a lot of work he said. And Jessie and I are always glad when we can do some real work, so everybody was happy!

There was also a very beautiful lamb looking like a Border Collie. The pretty smart thing probably thought it was a good disguise for later, so that the sheepdogs would think she was one of them!

To be continued...