Sheep and horses

Just one warning - if you have horses with excessive 'personality'. When I had sheep I also had a CBx who had that to excess. He thought it great fun to pick a sheep up by its wool and carry it around for a while. The sheep didn't like it. A single line of electric fencing tape across the bottom of the field at it's highest level (3') gave them a safe place to head to when they saw him coming. Obviously, in an ideal world, sheep follow the horses.
 
rabatsa said:
Sheep should come with ears already tagged and if not breeding you should not need to get your own.
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How do you get your own cph number on them? It's been years since Ive done it.
Also
Yes JG is right about making sure the horses are not aggressive to the sheep. I remember a small welsh pony who killed a couple of lambs and had to be separated from the sheep.
 
I had a stallion that for some reason took a dislike to my Wiltshire Horn tup. Think the tup's hormones were rising and he tarted challenging the stallion. Not a good idea, he was picked up and dragged around, had to intervene before he was killed.
I keep Easy Care now and love them. Plenty of personality if you spend enough time with them and very easy to look after.
 
D66 said:
How do you get your own cph number on them? It's been years since Ive done it.
Also
Yes JG is right about making sure the horses are not aggressive to the sheep. I remember a small welsh pony who killed a couple of lambs and had to be separated from the sheep.
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The sheep should have the flock number of birth and keep it for life. You do not have to remove and retag them.
 
Gloi said:
Don't get Herdwicks unless you have the best fencing in the world. Had some at our place one year and they wouldn't stay in anywhere! Fetched them back from a different place every day. They were cute though
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It’s true of many Herdwicks but I have six pet Herdys and they never try to escape 🤷🏼‍♀️.
 
We have a small flock of Oxford Downs. The only trouble they cause when grazing with the horses is the constant pulling down of the electric fence 😬

I would say they’re fairly hands on - feet, worming, vaccinating, shearing (horrible job, worse than clipping!) and fly strike seems inevitable at some point in the year and very horrible. They are also little beggars to round up!

That said the meat is very tasty, the wool is great for knitting with and the lambs are very cute. Plus when we show them they get to wear tiny horse rugs to stay clean 😂 Just glad my OH is predominantly responsible for them!
 

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tatty_v said:
We have a small flock of Oxford Downs. The only trouble they cause when grazing with the horses is the constant pulling down of the electric fence 😬

I would say they’re fairly hands on - feet, worming, vaccinating, shearing (horrible job, worse than clipping!) and fly strike seems inevitable at some point in the year and very horrible. They are also little beggars to round up!

That said the meat is very tasty, the wool is great for knitting with and the lambs are very cute. Plus when we show them they get to wear tiny horse rugs to stay clean 😂 Just glad my OH is predominantly responsible for them!
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They are adorable!
 
We took 4 orphaned lambs from a neighbour, lost 2 the second winter we had them (liver fluke - just awful). We liked having sheep though, 2 wasnt enough so did loads of research on fluking and took on another 4. Two came from a petting farm that was closing, one a wonky faced zwartble orphan and then a second zwartble (as the first seemed to be bullied by the 4 we had so we got her a similar friend). I love them all, they are friendly, easy to treat and move and they do a job. They also get on with the neddies. One is an escape artist which is fun to manage . . .
 
rabatsa said:
The sheep should have the flock number of birth and keep it for life. You do not have to remove and retag them.
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A CPH number (e.g. 12/345/6789) is not the same as a flock number (e.g. UK123456). Every sheep keeper needs a CPH number for animals living on their holding. The flock number is on the sheep's tags alongside their individual number and relates to the flock they were born in. You need your own flock number if you breed your own lambs. If you acquire lbs with a single slaughter tag bearing only a flock number this needs to be changed for a pair of breeding tags with both a flock number and an individual number before they are 12 months old.
 
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