[Jacob-list] Catching /Wrestling your sheep for eye drops......

[Karen]

    It amazes me how well my sheep remember how they have been caught.  
I think I must have some unknown body language, they have learned to 
read.  I can never catch them the same way twice in a row, so I have to 
get creative.  If they see my husband coming their way..... they know.  
So I feed them in a variety of ways and in a variety of different 
places.  Some times it is in my outside catch pen,  sometimes it is in 
the barn, or in the middle of a yard.  I find the more the merry when we 
go in for the catch.  When we use the barn, my husband waits behind the 
door and I walk in with the food.  After the sheep we need walks in, the 
door gets shut.  Food almost always wins when the decision is to eat or 
not.  Or  I can throw hay on the ground and they all dive in, pushing 
each other around. It can take a moment for them to figure they were 
caught and I was not just another sheep wanting food.
    With goupy eyes.  I try to hit it hard the first time. Shot of 
LA200, eye drops and antibodic ointment around the eyes.  My friend 
(with the real sheep) uses the same medicine used for mastitis for cows 
and says it works great. If I can time the medicating for a weekend, we 
can usually get it under control.  In the end I try to give the sheep a 
different idea on why we got them.  Giving them scratches and grain, 
hopefully having them go away thinking, well maybe that was not so bad.
Karen Sigler
Benjamin Farms  Utah