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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:
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8
UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 05/07/2022 14:39

ErrolTheDragon · 03/07/2022 08:25

Goats would be everything cutters though, wouldn't they?
Currently in a holiday cottage with half a dozen alpacas over the fence, plus they've had two babies since we were here last year - maybe they'd fit the bill. The adults have been sheared recently, don't know if that's harder or easier than on a sheep, they look a bit big to be plonked into that undignified sitting position.

(Most of what I know about sheep comes from The Archers and from several viewings of The sheep Show at country fair type events. If you haven't seen it - and the accompanying Dog and Duck show - you should)

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Goats would eat everything else, including possibly your washing, before starting on the grass. They're browsers, not grazers. For grass, you want sheep or geese (though a pair of geese needs a full acre of grass to avoid supplementary feeding!).

007DoubleOSeven · 05/07/2022 14:06

CatrinVennastin · 05/07/2022 13:48

@Honeyroar absolutely love that photo. It’s like a scene from a gentle Sunday night BBC drama.

Will the sheep stay in Classics, though? Or will one randomly appear on its back in AIBU?

CatrinVennastin · 05/07/2022 13:48

@Honeyroar absolutely love that photo. It’s like a scene from a gentle Sunday night BBC drama.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 05/07/2022 13:44

Classics! Wahey! Well deserved.

picklemewalnuts · 05/07/2022 13:35

Aw. That's the kind of sheep I'd like. Maybe my brother will have an orphan he'd like me to raise...

I just watched an American (Canadian?) shepherd on you tube today. No idea how they knew I'd like it...

countrylifer · 05/07/2022 12:18

Honeyroar · 05/07/2022 11:43

We had a tame sheep when I was younger. She was called Baa. Her mother had been killed by a dog and we found her when she was a day old in a stream next to her mother’s body. We’d just had a roast in the oven so we popped her in a box and put her in the warm oven and she came round. My uncle was a farmer, so gave us milk replacement and bottles. She grew up thinking she was a dog.

Heres a pic of her in the back of the car with me and the dog, and an inset pic of her as a lamb on the settee!

This is one of the loveliest things I've read on here for a long time! Love the pictures 😍

Honeyroar · 05/07/2022 11:43

We had a tame sheep when I was younger. She was called Baa. Her mother had been killed by a dog and we found her when she was a day old in a stream next to her mother’s body. We’d just had a roast in the oven so we popped her in a box and put her in the warm oven and she came round. My uncle was a farmer, so gave us milk replacement and bottles. She grew up thinking she was a dog.

Heres a pic of her in the back of the car with me and the dog, and an inset pic of her as a lamb on the settee!

Why do sheep need so much help?
catandcoffee · 05/07/2022 11:34

I recently went to a farm that had a sheep called Sandra... she was a pet and followed you like a dog....😂

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 05/07/2022 09:54

Great thread! There's been nothing like enough mention of sheep on The Archers recently (or anything else farm-related, moan grumble moan), so this has scratched an itch.

Soubriquet · 05/07/2022 09:20

SleepingStandingUp · 05/07/2022 09:14

And no ones told me off for not googling!

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Ugh. OP. Don’t you know Google exists Wink

Original poster
SleepingStandingUp · 05/07/2022 09:14

Cadot · 05/07/2022 04:04

Love this thread! Great question OP! MNetters are so knowledgeable and interesting.

And no ones told me off for not googling!

OP posts:
SirVixofVixHall · 05/07/2022 09:10

I am Welsh and I grew up with sheep everywhere. I miss the shouts of “the sheep have got into the garden again” and everyone having to rush and shoo them back out. I see sheep every day but they don’t roam around the village any more.

BogRollBOGOF · 05/07/2022 08:14

Soubriquet · 28/06/2022 18:08

Its also a really undignified way to die really isn’t it?

Imagine if that happened to humans. Your gravestone would read “died…cos I couldn’t get off my back”

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I felt like that by the last weeks of pregnancy. I even got stuck in a disabled toilet with a reluctant sliding door and was left forlornly staring at the foot wide gap that I'd normally get through 😂
At least being human I quickly learned that I couldn't sit on the sofa if there was no one else to keep heaving me off.

Team Sheep!

sashh · 05/07/2022 05:05

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Cadot · 05/07/2022 04:04

Love this thread! Great question OP! MNetters are so knowledgeable and interesting.

mackthepony · 05/07/2022 03:24

Absolute funniest thread in a while

SirVixofVixHall · 05/07/2022 00:10

lambs ! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I love lambs, the way they get together in little lamby gangs and charge about.

Original poster
SleepingStandingUp · 04/07/2022 23:16

Wallywobbles · 04/07/2022 23:03

Some or our lambs from this year. Better than cat/dog photos to me.

In front of the aga is a dwarf lamb and a sick lamb. We do everything we can to keep every soul with us.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

OP posts:
GrouchyKiwi · 04/07/2022 23:05

I love how giant lambs' ears are. Grin

Wallywobbles · 04/07/2022 23:03

Some or our lambs from this year. Better than cat/dog photos to me.

In front of the aga is a dwarf lamb and a sick lamb. We do everything we can to keep every soul with us.

Why do sheep need so much help?
Why do sheep need so much help?
Why do sheep need so much help?
NutsaremyNemesis · 03/07/2022 15:01

I love my sheep but as others have said they do have an overwhelming drive to die, often under improbably ridiculous circumstances. They also love to escape. We end up with a handful of pets every year and they all get given names. This one is Colin - he used to wander in and sit with my sons to watch the football 🤣 We had a Doris who would come in and flop in front of the fire like a dog.

To those wondering about righting sheep stuck on their backs / sides or with their heads stuck in fences please do help them out.

Why do sheep need so much help?
derxa · 03/07/2022 13:28

Scrowy · 03/07/2022 13:20

And well done Derxa Grin

a tup we bred got reserve champion in its breed this time at the RHS, it's no longer in our ownership but it's always nice to see other people doing well with something you have been involved with.

we were thinking of going this year but due to the time of year couldn't commit to having buy tickets in advance. Were they really also charging for car parking this year?!

The organisers of the RHS are daylight robbers. You had to book and pay for car park and entry tickets online. It cost me £200 to enter sheep, book pens, trailer park space and stock carpark plus my membership fees. DS saved some money by sleeping on the top deck of the sheep trailer.

Scrowy · 03/07/2022 13:20

And well done Derxa Grin

a tup we bred got reserve champion in its breed this time at the RHS, it's no longer in our ownership but it's always nice to see other people doing well with something you have been involved with.

we were thinking of going this year but due to the time of year couldn't commit to having buy tickets in advance. Were they really also charging for car parking this year?!

Scrowy · 03/07/2022 13:15

LivingDeadGirlUK · 03/07/2022 11:03

There is a breed of cows (Belgium Blue?) that have to calf via c-section because of how they are breed. Extra meaty but unable to give birth naturally.

Its all about the product, turkey is bread to be so big they sometimes break their own legs.

Eating less meat but from sustainable and more natural farmers is the way forward imo but I do understand why people go veggy!

That's not true. Sometimes cows need caesareans but it's not a particularly cost effective way of rearing cows and is usually avoided wherever possible as it has huge risks for the cow. We've got plenty of Belgian blues amongst several other breeds and it's years since we last had anything need a c-section.

I don't know anything about commercially bred turkeys but generally the mass production poultry industry isn't that great for anyone except family food budgets.

derxa · 03/07/2022 12:43

SleepingStandingUp · 03/07/2022 12:02

Now don't be coming on my thread with big words I don't understand and no pics of your fancy sheep 😂😂. Congratulations tho 🐑

What is a kist?

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😂A kist is wooden chest which usually contains stuff for the show. White coats, combs, clippers, halters etc etc.

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