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Original poster

Why do sheep need so much help?

235 replies

SleepingStandingUp · 28/06/2022 15:28

Farmers always have to be there to look after them, seemingly more so for other animals (based on watching Down on the Farm) but why? Is it how they've been bred? Do they all need the same help really but it isn't talked about? Have cows and pigs got better PR? What would the death rate be like if all the sheep were left to give birth alone?

I'm not Ewe shaming, we should all be entitled to a little help.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
BeastOfBODMAS · 07/07/2022 05:09

The one thing I know about sheep is if you’re traversing Dartmoor overnight and a flock are asleep in the road, you can beg, plead, shoo, clap, shout, rev engine, flash lights, sound horn and they will not move an inch.

At this point you need to play them some Bob Dylan because they Do Not Care For his harmonica playing one bit.

LollipopViolet · 06/07/2022 22:00

My friend helps her dad with their sheep and echoes the voices on this thread. She says they're daft and want to die.

Another friend has goats that live near his house. They regularly get their heads stuck in the wire fence. It's always the ones with the biggest horns that have the bright idea of sticking their head through the gap...

007DoubleOSeven · 06/07/2022 19:06

Kamikaze Sheep

Idunnowhyibother · 06/07/2022 19:01

I live somewhere farmers are allowed to let their sheep roam free..ancient right etc etc. This means come rush hour on the busy A-roads many sheep suicidally decide to sleep on the wrong side of the white lines. It's carnage this time of year.

SheepingStandingUp · 06/07/2022 18:08

Soubriquet · 06/07/2022 14:25

Well, rain doesn’t tend to be warm when it’s falling down unlike your washing machine.

If it’s on a cool wash, it should be fine. It usually only shrinks on a hot wash

@Inklingpot so you can explain why they live in Wales 😂

LimaCharlieHotelPapa · 06/07/2022 17:53

ErrolTheDragon · 28/06/2022 19:27

Lambs always seem brighter than sheep. As though when they're young they have energy and ideas, but then a few months in they wake up and realise, shit, I've turned into a sheep. No wonder they lose the will you live.

Goats otoh...

Hate goats. As a kid I got cornered on a tree stump at a 'petting zoo' (i.e., Child Murder Farm) by a particularly aggressive and determined bunch that decided they had nothing better to do than eat me and whatever I was holding. Evil blighters.

LimaCharlieHotelPapa · 06/07/2022 17:48

JennyForeigner · 28/06/2022 18:46

Sheep are hella stupid though, I'm not disputing that.

(TW) The farmer at the end of the road has a ram called Suicide Sam. He's a jumper.

But presumably isn't very good at the suicide part if he's still alive....or the farmer has ninja-level rescue skills?

Bhu · 06/07/2022 17:44

I have nothing to add to this thread except this video…

LimaCharlieHotelPapa · 06/07/2022 17:40

ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs · 28/06/2022 15:44

It's not so much that they need help, it's that their sole goal in life is to find a way to die, so shepherds and farmers have to spend all their time trying to thwart them. For creatures so benevolently dim, they are actually quite innovative in finding new ways to shuffle off their mortal coil!

One of my favourite posts! 😂

Soubriquet · 06/07/2022 17:22

Wouldn’t she have to register with DEFRA every time she moved the sheep though?

shinynewapple22 · 06/07/2022 17:20

That's lovely @Matchingcollarandcuffs Smile

Matchingcollarandcuffs · 06/07/2022 15:31

picklemewalnuts · 02/07/2022 08:00

So, if I wanted to keep a handful of sheep... (I wouldn't be wanting to eat or breed them).

I'd need them sheered and there's no market for the wool.

If I wasn't breeding... say I was rescuing...

Can they potter in my secure garden, eating everything they can get at?
Will they still need lots of vet attention if they are kept shorn and not bred?

I dream of a return to the country with chickens and a handful of low maintenance animals. Do sheep fit the bill? Will they keep my lawn mowed?

@picklemewalnuts my friends mum volunteers with Age UK and takes her sheep to 'cut the grass' in old folks gardens. Cheers them up no end and sheep get lots of lovely grass

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 06/07/2022 15:24

This is just the loveliest thread over

ErrolTheDragon · 06/07/2022 15:14

Inklingpot · 06/07/2022 14:09

My niece asked me why wool jumpers shrink in the wash but sheep don’t shrink in the rain. Genuinely did not know how to answer that.

Isn't it very oily with lanolin on the sheep?
That probably stops the entanglement etc that happens when you machine wash or heaven forbid tumble dry. A lot of wool 'shrinkage' is felting rather than fibres getting shorter as such, I think.

PlatinumBrunette · 06/07/2022 14:39

My best friend farmed sheep in Wales. Many happy days before her now exH turned super twat.

They had an actual 'special' breed (of the time), as well as the usual.

Said breed was an expert at squashing its lambs, so didn't prove financially worthwhile.

Before this was discovered though, her exH spent a hefty 5 figures on a ram of this breed.

Which turned out to be gay 😄

Soubriquet · 06/07/2022 14:25

Well, rain doesn’t tend to be warm when it’s falling down unlike your washing machine.

If it’s on a cool wash, it should be fine. It usually only shrinks on a hot wash

Inklingpot · 06/07/2022 14:09

My niece asked me why wool jumpers shrink in the wash but sheep don’t shrink in the rain. Genuinely did not know how to answer that.

Morgysmum · 06/07/2022 13:57

If, they get sick or have trouble giving birth, they tend to give in a die, a dead yew and its lamb, cost the farmer deear, then the cost of lamb goes up. They also, can just drop dead, if the feel sick, funny bxxgers sheep.

SheepingStandingUp · 06/07/2022 08:12

Somethingneedstochange · 05/07/2022 23:58

Mine to my son's favourite animal.😍🥰

And my sons, but courtesy of Shauns nephew Timmy originally @grannyjacob 😂

picklemewalnuts · 06/07/2022 08:12

Yeah, I've done twin toddlers. I'm not having it. Just the words 'twin toddlers' gives me flashbacks.

The time one got himself stuck under the supermarket trolley and I needed help to get him out while he and his sister screamed the place down. It was not unlike the sheep freeing experience described below, but with squeaking instead of baaing.
The time said twin threw himself on the floor in a rage, only to find he'd landed in a puddle. Had to carry him to the car under one arm while he screamed, and hold his sister's hand.

There was a lot of screaming, now I come to think of it.

grannyjacob · 06/07/2022 01:17

Thank you all for this wonderful thread, it’s been entertaining and educational. Tbh, I only started reading it because one of my favourite animations is Shaun the Sheep.

Somethingneedstochange · 05/07/2022 23:58

Mine to my son's favourite animal.😍🥰

Original poster
SleepingStandingUp · 05/07/2022 23:40

I'm still not convinced they're less work than my twin toddlers.
Anyone wanna swap s couple of lambs to test my theory?

OP posts:
SheepingStandingUp · 05/07/2022 23:34

007DoubleOSeven · 05/07/2022 23:31

Does anyone remember in the first lockdown there was that town (I think in Wales?) that got overrun by a load of goats who couldn't believe their luck at having the run of the place?

Must have been havoc 😄

Llandudno

007DoubleOSeven · 05/07/2022 23:31

Does anyone remember in the first lockdown there was that town (I think in Wales?) that got overrun by a load of goats who couldn't believe their luck at having the run of the place?

Must have been havoc 😄