A productive day with working a few of the dogs.
Since the flock was essentially 'sorted' with all the new moms and babes by the barn with the wethers and pregnant ewes in the sheep pasture, I decided to work Jinx and Sting on the ones in the pasture. The 2 pregnant ewes looking like they would lamb abit later but worked this group lightly anyways.
Sting didnt take much to polish to where we left last fall, covering her stock nicely. The pasture group definately lighter since a lower number of
sheep worked as well my 2 heavy leaders were amongst the ones in the barn. Nice to work the group without my old leaders who know the drill too well so
the dogs have to really cover heads and 'not follow' as the sheep themselves turn into me. Jinx came up short on catching the heads..partly as she needs
to either get out or speed up to get where she should...she was coming up short at the top with sheep getting away a few times...so we went back to some
corner work to end on a successful note.
Since there is so much muck in the barn yard I decided to move the moms and babes to the sheep pasture which had enough challenges moving a flock of
concerned moms and babes around 4 corners and keep them together enough to be bunched but not so babes got jostled or stepped on. Each Ewe was on the fight from the get go so the first gather took abit of time to get heads turned and moving....to be repeated with first few tight corners as a few babes got seperated within the group causing concerned moms looking for their babes. Things went smoother once we got out into the open to move the flock down to the pasture. Each family unit had hooked up by then and the pressure was off from working in the small space.
Since the flock was essentially 'sorted' with all the new moms and babes by the barn with the wethers and pregnant ewes in the sheep pasture, I decided to work Jinx and Sting on the ones in the pasture. The 2 pregnant ewes looking like they would lamb abit later but worked this group lightly anyways.
Sting didnt take much to polish to where we left last fall, covering her stock nicely. The pasture group definately lighter since a lower number of
sheep worked as well my 2 heavy leaders were amongst the ones in the barn. Nice to work the group without my old leaders who know the drill too well so
the dogs have to really cover heads and 'not follow' as the sheep themselves turn into me. Jinx came up short on catching the heads..partly as she needs
to either get out or speed up to get where she should...she was coming up short at the top with sheep getting away a few times...so we went back to some
corner work to end on a successful note.
Since there is so much muck in the barn yard I decided to move the moms and babes to the sheep pasture which had enough challenges moving a flock of
concerned moms and babes around 4 corners and keep them together enough to be bunched but not so babes got jostled or stepped on. Each Ewe was on the fight from the get go so the first gather took abit of time to get heads turned and moving....to be repeated with first few tight corners as a few babes got seperated within the group causing concerned moms looking for their babes. Things went smoother once we got out into the open to move the flock down to the pasture. Each family unit had hooked up by then and the pressure was off from working in the small space.
Found a few round hay bales to tie me over abit.
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