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

[fayg at mebtel.net]

I suppose this is why the large producers reduced the intelligence of their sheep!

Gary

Quoting Karen <karen at benjaminfarms.com>:

>     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
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