BYFC - Random Tip #4

I hope everyone is enjoying the 2026 Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl.  There are several locations open throughout this week and almost all are open again for the upcoming weekend.  Check the map for locations nearby!  We are open Wednesday from 4:00 to 8:00 and Saturday from 11:00 to 4:00.

Today's tip involves sheep care.  One of the most important things to put into place as soon, or before, you get any animals is making sure you have a safe and easy way (for you and your animals) to gather everyone into a small area so you can safely and easily catch even the wildest of the flock.

It's very important to do regular health checks and hoof maintenance, especially through the hot and sometimes wet summer months.  It's super important to be able to easily and calmly get your hands on a sheep who's having a problem.  It's much less stressful on everyone if this isn't a rodeo every time.

A sheep who's been injured does not need to be further injured by trying to grab them on the run in a large pen or out in the field.  

A sheep who appears to be sick does not need the extra stress of running...  

You and your help don't need the risk of injury trying to grab someone as they run past or being run over by a panicked group of sheep.

Create a small place where you can crowd enough sheep together so they can't go too far and there are enough "blockers" (big fat quiet sheep, usually of the Nistock variety :-) in the group to help corner the one you are trying to catch. 

We have a series of gates that close to bring the sheep in tighter and tighter until they are in a "working pen".  I start by closing all the outside barn gates, then move all the sheep into the outside shed and close that gate.  Then I push them all into the working pen and close that gate.  

It helps a lot that our outside shed is long and narrow and basically becomes a chute as I walk that last gate closed.  Play around with your set up and figure out what works best.  Gates are your friends :-).

Here I have 18 sheep crowded into a 12' x 12' area.

This is a good amount for my particular flock.  If yours are wilder, you may need to go tighter.  If they are really wild, you may need taller gates...   

You may need a second person or a good herding dog to help you push them all into the small pen in the beginning.  

Use common sense and don't wait until you need to catch them.  Practice penning them for fun things like cookie parties so that when you DO need to catch them, they aren't panicked trying to figure out what's going on.

Here I'm doing a routine FAMACHA check.  I think it's funny how the same sheep are always near the last to be caught.  This is Muffin, who even though she's been doing this very easy, painless check for over nine years, still tries to hide until the very end.  

Guess who's ALWAYS the biggest baby and very last to get checked. :-D