[Jacob-list] experience and wisdom needed

[Chovhani]

Hi Virginia. Jacobs vary enormously in how tame they are when you first 
aquire them. Some will have been treated as pets and will behave 
accordingly. Our first two ewes were 7 months old, and as wild as hell. 
They came from a huge flock, in fact we chose them from a barn with at 
least 100 ewes in it. We chose them exclusively on horns and markings, 
because both of us come from SE England and were used to the huge 
commercial flocks there - we never even considered temperament.

Well, those girls were skittish and shy. But when lambing time came they 
changed completely, and became very approachable. Over time they are 
just semi-tame, they'll never be as easy as the lamb we bottle-raised, 
but she is a real nuisance.

We have electric fencing, and they respect it. The only ewe who has ever 
been a problem is the bottle-lamb (spoiled) and I've never had cause to 
fear any of my sheep.

Melanie

virginia ferguson wrote:

>Dear All,
>We have never raised sheep. This weekend I'll pick up
>our two ewe yearling and one with her lamb.(2 ewes and
>1 lamb.) excitement,excitement! Then my husband said,I
>thought we were getting 3 young ewe lambs? I thought a
>year old ewe was young. Nope. my husband is very
>concerned that the ewes will be too hard to handle.
>They will damage our woven wire fence,hurt themselves
>and jumb over the fence....never to be found
>again...because they will be looking for their herd
>and any thing that is familar to them. WHAT IS HE
>TALKING ABOUT??? My husband is very protective of me
>and I treasure this. What can you folks tell me from
>your experience with a new flock. No, we don't have a
>barn to keep them in for a short time. Well,we have a
>big barn...but it is full with equipment. We have a
>small shed that open into 1/8 acre that I thought
>would be perfect for them. Hey, I may be right! Ohh, I
>have this imperfection that  4 legged critters are my
>best friends. It is hard for me to believe that
>Jacobs' are too "primitive" to be  friendly.ie. come
>when they are called,feed from hand and want touched.
>Your turn to respond ............ may be I'm in denile
>about  whatever. I sure do want my/our  Jacobs'. How
>can something so simple to me turn out to be
>complicated?       Gini
>
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