[Jacob-list] Foot stamping

[Susan Nielsen]

Who has an assessment of what it means, exactly, when sheep stamp
their feet at you. Is it intended as a threat (I'm bigger than I
look!)? Is it uncertainty? Does it mean, as I just had the pleasure
of watching, that they are about to fly?

We have three new girls in the flock, and on the fourth day, they
busted out of their quarantine pen like a bunch of delinquents, and
were all over the woods and fields. Whee. The first two came in with
only small trouble (grain!). The third took some negotiating, and
as we were patiently (well, more or less patiently) working her
pressure points back and forth between us, getting her into a corner
with the idea that she would eventually take the slot in the fence
and find herself caught (she did), as we were doing this, I was
enjoying the chance to watch her alarm behavior.

She would back up as we came forward. When she felt the pressure,
she would look from one of us to the other, deciding who looked
like the weak point, I think. When neither of us looked like a
good bet, she would start forward, stop, stamp her feet, and
stare hard. Figuring the stamping was intended to intimidate us,
I stamped back.

We kept this up for quite a while, trying not to press her so
hard she made the leap (we got better at it), weighing what we
thought was the right moment to move a little tighter toward
her. Stamp, stamp.

You sure cannot do this with one person. Two people seem to be
able to move back and forth in the pressure zone, and cause her
to back up, back up. Stamp, stamp.

So, what's the behavioral science word on the stamping?

Susan
--
Susan Layne Nielsen, Shambles Workshops      	|"...Gently down the
Beavercreek, OR, USA -- snielsen at orednet.org  	|stream..." -- Anon.
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