Why do sheep need so much help?

@007DoubleOSeven sounds like an idea that might help all these belligerent bored creatures!

You think it will be simple don't you. Attend to sheep, unhook horn from wire fence. Set sheep free.

reality: attend sheep. Get foot stood on by sheep panicking because you have approached it.

Sheep is now even more tangled than it was before.

Try to unhook from wire fence, get fingers nipped between horn and fence.

Wrestle with sheep and fence for a bit. Lose. Realise neither wire fence or sheep intend to budge.

Slip in sheep shit whilst realising this.

decide to give up and go back for back up/wire cutters . Realise the sheep has also given up and if you walk away now it probably intends to hang itself between the fence and the fence strainer post.

cry.

remember you have a phone and ring for help. No one answers.

Kick the quad bike tyre.

drive quad bike back and find some one who can help you .

get laughed at because you need help getting a sheep unstuck from wire.

re-attend sheep with back up.

sheep has freed itself and left the vicinity of the fence area. Get told you are a numpty.

or

sheep has died just to spite you for having the audacity to try and help it. Get told you are a numpty.

That was it Blodyn. Madly trying to herd the sheep out again before they ate everything. Constant feature of my childhood, particularly at Grannie’s, where the sheep got in all the blooming time.
I once visited my parents in their new house and jumped out of my skin when I turned the kitchen light on in the night and multiple white woolly faces stared back at me through the window.

How soon to they get the tag? The ones we see on the hills are marked (red or blue on fleece) and tagged. I know the tag is to identify each individual sheep, is the colour different?

I’ve lost count of the sheep I’ve helped this spring. And when you’re say, untangling horns from a barbed wire fence, do they stand still? Do they fuck, and I have the shredded knuckles to prove it.

Few more headshots. I have rather a lot of photos of sheep bums working out how close they are to lambing.

Maybe the Welsh sheep are more self sufficient that the Durham sheep! We regularly rescue sheep who manage to get stuck in fences or get trapped on the back or end up escaping from a field and up on the road. They are very good at escaping but super accident prone.

Sheep self-sufficient?
40 years ago, exH and I decided to try The Good Life. We bought about 30 “virgin” ewes and introduced them to a very nice gentleman ram.
Come lambing time, we brought them into a paddock close to home ready to move into the barn maternity unit in time for birth.
The first lamb jumped the gun. We found it wandering in the paddock bleating for its Mum.
Every single ewe was trying to distance herself as far as possible from this poor little soul.
Anyone seen Hyacinth Bucket coming across Onslow at the snooty golf club? “Nothing to do with me. Never seen it before.”
And you could almost see them thinking “I saw where that came from. It’s coming nowhere near me after that."
Happy ending. We found Mum.
But virtually every first time Mum needed convincing she had a young one or two to support.
Natural mothers? Not always!

Is this a joke? Sheep are self sufficient and wander about the hills and mountains of Wales eating grass by themselves. The wool keeps them remarkably warm in the harshest of temperatures, although you might see them huddling together. Most self sufficient animal ever.
Dogs on the other hand...

Loving your photographs @Wallywobbles and @Honeyroar

They're not kept in smaller fields, barns or pens like other animals (except perhaps when lambing). So it isn't so easy to look after them as it is, say, chickens who are either in a barn or a large enclosure. Sheep are virtually "free range" in many cases, so their environment can't be so closely controlled.

This is my favourite thread. Ever. Period .

Sheep and they're lambs are more vulnerable than cow's. To being attacked by foxes and dogs etc. A herd of cows can charge which is often enough to scare the s* out of someone.

Nearly every day I see Facebook posts of sheep needing help. Asking who to contact to get them back to where they should be.They're wanting to graze on longer grass.😪 One lot got down a cliff ended up down by the channel and sadly drowned. It's rare you hear of escaped cow's.

My mother was Welsh, lived in Wales in the 1930's, and she told me about how they used to shout, "sheep in the garden" and they'd all rush to save the veg.

I haven't read the whole thread do forgive me if this has been mentioned/asked.

We have cattle, although I did have a pet sheep for many years and helped with lambing when I lived in England. Cattle can die if they're sideways on a slope and their legs are pointing up hill. They sometimes can't get up when in that position and they bloat & die. We have been lucky and caught a few cows right after they calved in this position. When you flip their legs over the right way all the gas comes belching out of their mouths.

Also shepherds; have you ever seen or heard of a sheep 'pile up' or 'pile on'? I read it's when the sheep stampede and the lead sheep run into cliff face or other obstacle and the rest of the sheep pile on top of them and they manage to suffocate themselves.

Farm animals are bred to give farmers the advantage or supermarkets in some cases so the animals are not "natural". All domesticated animals need people to feed them, birth them, care for them when they are sick. Think dogs... Altho they soon go feral like cats if abandoned. Sheep are not particularly stupid but they are grazing animals that naturally live in herds which are prey animals in the wild. Think wildebeest in Southern Africa.

My DH spends his days muttering "bastardy bloody sheep" We have one that runs into the sea any chance she gets.

Usual popular Breeds
I think have been bred to have large young + twins 2b common

They're often throwing themselves in the river round here. 🙄

My friend’s mum had Jacobs Sheep & one year there were 3 orphans. Needless to say Billy, Shaun & Fifi came to live with us. Billy was a bully, Shaun was stuck in the middle & Fifi was a drama queen 😂

I worked with horses for about 24 years and at one point my boss decided to get about 20 sheep as well. I can honestly say I've never met an animal who's aim in life is just to die and seemingly for no good reason at all, apart from the fact that it was a Wednesday! Is this why farmer's have hundreds of them I wonder??

Sheep are notoriously stupid, get themselves into stupid situations & can’t manage anything without some form of supervision.
As a minimum they need shearing once a year, dipping for bugs/lice etc a couple of times, feet need checking/seeing to every few months & in the winter they need usually need supplementary feed & shelter.

Cows need their hooves trimming every 4/6weeks the same as horses need theirs seeing to. They both also need anti-fly spraying throughout the summer.

Pigs are hardier but need shelter from the sun as they sunburn, light coloured horses can get sunburnt too but I am unsure about cows, & food supplementing when there is nothing to graze on.
when it comes to babies they all need help from time to time. Some sheep are again lazy & will only push for so long before giving up or they run out of energy & sadly die. Cows & horses are a bit easier but again unexpected things can happen to cause issues at birth & pigs are notorious for laying or rolling on their babies & accidentally killing them.

😂😂

Are we talking about actual sheep or the humans being bred in this earth? Lambs to the slaughter 😂😂😂😂

Ooh, geese... they are on my list, too.

Brother's goats were supposed to keep on top of a field with brambles and stuff round the edges. They didn't. He's supplementary feeding them, and still having to do 'gardening'.