How do I catch a sheep? UPDATE- She's found!

triangle5 · 07-07-2008, 10:41 PM

Help!! My kids "won" a sheep at a barnyard scramble on Saturday night. It rode all the way home in the backseat of the car, but escaped from hubby as he was taking it out. Now it is wandering around the neighbor's field across the street but won't let us get anywhere near it. I'm afraid it's either going to end up coyote food or hit by a car if we can't catch it. Anyone have any ideas on what we can do?

Here's a couple of pics of Baaab (we don't even know if it's a ram or ewe)

Freshly caught

On the lamb so to speak

**Range** · 07-07-2008, 10:52 PM

Rope it? Got a sheep dog?

Food?

I had sheep once. They were not tame. We had to make a chute and run them into the trailer....

Crookedblaze · 07-07-2008, 10:55 PM

Ohh man.

Sheep are so hard to catch. My friend raises them and shows them. It took us half an hour to catch her sheep in a 12 x 24 pen.

If you chase them, they run until they are exhausted or have heat stroke, they are too scared to stop when they are tired. It would be best to bring some fencing in and do a chute type thing. You can use anything that is sturdy enough to withstand a few bounces into.

Good luck catchig her. She sure looks cute.

Horse poor · 07-07-2008, 10:57 PM

Will it follow you with a feed bucket? You really can't chase a sheep it won't follow the rules

. We had to entice ours in with feed or other sheep. Good luck catching your escapee.

Thekidsmum · 07-08-2008, 12:14 AM

Not to dishearten you but you probably have buckleys of catching one sheep unless you can run it into a corner. Probably need a good working dog to do so though.

Good luck.

Rusty's Girl · 07-08-2008, 12:44 AM

I'm sorry, but that's really funny. Maybe you could chase it in circles in a safe area until it gets tired, or get a dog to do the same thing. Maybe chase it into a fenced yard or something. Sorry, I can't think of anything better.

triangle5 · 07-08-2008, 01:45 AM

I know our chances aren't good. I put an ad on our local classified site for a sheep wrangler. We don't know bupkus about roping and we don't have any other sheep. What's funny is that it likes hubby's voice. If he calls "Baaaaab" the silly thing answers. It will come just so close and then spook away.

What kind of food would it find most enticing? It tried to make friends with a deer tonight (deer was having none of it) so I think it would come to another sheep. I just have to find someone that has one.

Thekidsmum · 07-08-2008, 02:04 AM

Try luring it with a SMALL amount of lucerne. You could try pellets but they wont smell as good.

Leave a little where it will get to it easily, then try dropping TINY amounts on the way home, it may follow the trail

If you give it too much it will be easy to catch.

It will laying down with a case of bloat.

farmergal · 07-08-2008, 05:41 AM

Sorry I have no advise. All I can say is good luck from the looks of the terrain it now roams free in.

We lost 3 of our cows in a state park once that we had just purchased. The local volunteer fire department and troopers tried to help us catch them.

Took us three days of chasing our bull before we caught him. The thing was never given grain so that trick didn't work. We ended up getting a heifer calf and tied it in the stock trailer. Now that he knew and climbed right in.

He was immediately sent to market.

Jadelover · 07-08-2008, 06:05 AM

Okay, my suggestion is that you get ALOT of people, slowly walk one by one way out away from her/him until you get out beyond it, and enclose it in a circle with only one escape option. prior to surrounding it you need to make a chute of sorts with a highly visible fencing material, such as orange snow fence as in the pic with your kids. make this chute so that it will funnel the sheep into a caged area, or a pen of some sort ( preferably with woven wire, or more snow fence, or solid wood etc.) Make the chute VERY wide at the sheep side, and then gradually narrower until it gets to the cage.

Your husband making that noise should be very helpful. The lamb has herding instinct, and want s to be with other sheep. he should stay near the caged area, and make the noise as the others go WAY, WAY out around the sheep, and the gradually and evenly close in on it. DO NOT SCARE IT INTO A RUN! If it starts to run, back off untill it calms down. Once it runs it will just go, and your not going to get it to calm down until you back off. This will be a slow process, and it will seem as though you will never catch it, but if you are patient, and your hubby keeps up the BAAAHing, it will come into the caged area. You can buy sheep grain at the local feed store, or lots of clover, once you get it into the pen.

Good luck, the easiest way would be to borrow a sheep, preferably a ewe from another farmer. Keep her on a leash...a long one...a lunge rope or something else long. Lure the other one in with her. That worked when we had a similar problem one time. What a pain...I will say though, that once you catch it, sheep can be a lot of fun to have around. I love ours!

Thekidsmum · 07-08-2008, 06:21 AM

If all methods to catch it fail I do have a few very nice recipes for lamb with rosemary and garlic.

mandelyn82 · 07-08-2008, 07:53 AM

Is the picture where it's taken up residence, with all those trees?

You could get the orange webbing fence and start with a wide shute, I'm talking like with an opening of 40 feet so that it doesn't suspect anything.

Since the girls caught it in the first place, they must have herding instincts! Have them set behind the sheep, in such a way that the sheep has them on one side, the shute on the other.

It's important that you have the fencing loose on one end, so that if the sheep gets inside the "trap", you can close it after it runs in. It need to have a wide opening so that a person can stand still at the loose end and hold it.

The more people you have to herd it the better. The scenerio will work if the only free place to run is into the shute.

Have the shute taper down thinner, then turn into a small pen. If it's possible anyways.

It's what they do to catch mustangs out in the mountains!

Since sheep are herd animals, you can get another one, put a lead on it, and entice the other with it. They don't like living alone anyways, so you might need another anyways!

**Orchid** · 07-08-2008, 09:18 AM

Velcro mittens?

mandelyn82 · 07-08-2008, 09:20 AM

kindredspiritsia · 07-08-2008, 09:22 AM

Jadelover · 07-08-2008, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mandelyn82

Is the picture where it's taken up residence, with all those trees?

You could get the orange webbing fence and start with a wide shute, I'm talking like with an opening of 40 feet so that it doesn't suspect anything.

Since the girls caught it in the first place, they must have herding instincts! Have them set behind the sheep, in such a way that the sheep has them on one side, the shute on the other.

It's important that you have the fencing loose on one end, so that if the sheep gets inside the "trap", you can close it after it runs in. It need to have a wide opening so that a person can stand still at the loose end and hold it.

The more people you have to herd it the better. The scenerio will work if the only free place to run is into the shute.

Have the shute taper down thinner, then turn into a small pen. If it's possible anyways.

It's what they do to catch mustangs out in the mountains!

Since sheep are herd animals, you can get another one, put a lead on it, and entice the other with it. They don't like living alone anyways, so you might need another anyways!

Didn't I just say that?!

ToveroMom · 07-08-2008, 12:32 PM

BTW Lucerne is alfalfa.
I would feel so worried about the darn thing too.
Good luck finding a nice Judas goat or leadbroke sheep to help you catch it.

triangle5 · 07-08-2008, 01:26 PM

Thanks everyone. I do feel horribly responsible for the poor little thing. I tried to talk the kids out of keeping it since we've never had sheep and don't know enough about caring for them, but they had their hearts set on bringing it home. I was happy enough about the little chick they caught, I have been trying to convince hubby a few chickens would be fun to have, and they're much easier to house.

I'm just hoping someone offers to come to its rescue so it doesn't meet a bad end. If we can catch it I will most likely find it another home since I know it won't be happy here alone.

Jean Genie · 07-08-2008, 02:01 PM

"Baaaa-Ram-Ewe..." that worked for Babe

. A sheep dog would be an enormous help; or could you contact the folks at the scramble, get names of sheep owners for advice? I, literally, did a flying body tackle on mine a time or two, grabbed fistfuls of wool and held on and fought them to a halt

. I can laugh now, was NOT so funny then

but they were not as wild as this one appears to be. If desperate, I wonder if animal control could dart it? Can't tell how wooly it is yet. I had 2 sheep for a while and they were FAR more trouble than they were worth. The biggest issue is shearing; you HAVE to shear sheep or they just get woolier and woolier and get infested with wool maggots, disgusting little buggers that will eat your sheep, badly infested can kill a sheep; you live in Calif., pretty hot this year, right? Shearing and not skinning alive requires skill and NOBODY will want to come over to your place to shear just 1 sheep, been there done that. Twice, in desperation, I had to hand shear my 2, with scissors, or lose them to heat stroke/maggots, blech...it was a NIGHTMARE. If you manage to catch it, I think your idea of rehoming is a good one. If you want to try to keep it, do a lot of research FIRST so you know what you're getting into. Best of luck!

ToveroMom · 07-08-2008, 02:51 PM

They do have hair sheep-varities that do not grow wool-just hair and a fuzzy undercoat that sheds out.
We are getting two to feed out and process.

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07-07-2008, 10:41 PM
triangle5 Weanling Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mariposa, CA Posts: 254	How do I catch a sheep? UPDATE- She's found! Help!! My kids "won" a sheep at a barnyard scramble on Saturday night. It rode all the way home in the backseat of the car, but escaped from hubby as he was taking it out. Now it is wandering around the neighbor's field across the street but won't let us get anywhere near it. I'm afraid it's either going to end up coyote food or hit by a car if we can't catch it. Anyone have any ideas on what we can do? Here's a couple of pics of Baaab (we don't even know if it's a ram or ewe) Freshly caught On the lamb so to speak __________________ No one can make you feel inferior without your consent-Eleanor Roosevelt www.wildwillowranch.com Last edited by triangle5 : 07-11-2008 at 01:26 PM. Reason: adding update

07-07-2008, 10:52 PM
Range Super Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Back of Beyond Posts: 5,751	Rope it? Got a sheep dog? Food? I had sheep once. They were not tame. We had to make a chute and run them into the trailer.... __________________ If it harms none, do what you will.

07-07-2008, 10:55 PM
Crookedblaze Started Join Date: May 2008 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 2,470	Ohh man. Sheep are so hard to catch. My friend raises them and shows them. It took us half an hour to catch her sheep in a 12 x 24 pen. If you chase them, they run until they are exhausted or have heat stroke, they are too scared to stop when they are tired. It would be best to bring some fencing in and do a chute type thing. You can use anything that is sturdy enough to withstand a few bounces into. Good luck catchig her. She sure looks cute. __________________ Owned by Rocketman, a 17 year old AQHA and Stormy, a 10 year old Peruvian Paso x Arab

07-07-2008, 10:57 PM
Horse poor Started Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Idaho Posts: 2,145	Will it follow you with a feed bucket? You really can't chase a sheep it won't follow the rules. We had to entice ours in with feed or other sheep. Good luck catching your escapee. __________________ 'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' - Thomas Jefferson

07-08-2008, 12:14 AM
Thekidsmum Weanling Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sunny Australia Posts: 242	Not to dishearten you but you probably have buckleys of catching one sheep unless you can run it into a corner. Probably need a good working dog to do so though. Good luck.

07-08-2008, 12:44 AM
Rusty's Girl Yearling Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Ontario Posts: 802	I'm sorry, but that's really funny. Maybe you could chase it in circles in a safe area until it gets tired, or get a dog to do the same thing. Maybe chase it into a fenced yard or something. Sorry, I can't think of anything better.

07-08-2008, 01:45 AM
triangle5 Weanling Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mariposa, CA Posts: 254	I know our chances aren't good. I put an ad on our local classified site for a sheep wrangler. We don't know bupkus about roping and we don't have any other sheep. What's funny is that it likes hubby's voice. If he calls "Baaaaab" the silly thing answers. It will come just so close and then spook away. What kind of food would it find most enticing? It tried to make friends with a deer tonight (deer was having none of it) so I think it would come to another sheep. I just have to find someone that has one. __________________ No one can make you feel inferior without your consent-Eleanor Roosevelt www.wildwillowranch.com

07-08-2008, 02:04 AM
Thekidsmum Weanling Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sunny Australia Posts: 242	Try luring it with a SMALL amount of lucerne. You could try pellets but they wont smell as good. Leave a little where it will get to it easily, then try dropping TINY amounts on the way home, it may follow the trail If you give it too much it will be easy to catch. It will laying down with a case of bloat.

07-08-2008, 05:41 AM
farmergal Seasoned Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: New York Posts: 4,818	Sorry I have no advise. All I can say is good luck from the looks of the terrain it now roams free in. We lost 3 of our cows in a state park once that we had just purchased. The local volunteer fire department and troopers tried to help us catch them. Took us three days of chasing our bull before we caught him. The thing was never given grain so that trick didn't work. We ended up getting a heifer calf and tied it in the stock trailer. Now that he knew and climbed right in. He was immediately sent to market. __________________

07-08-2008, 06:05 AM
Jadelover Weanling Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Central New York Posts: 247	Okay, my suggestion is that you get ALOT of people, slowly walk one by one way out away from her/him until you get out beyond it, and enclose it in a circle with only one escape option. prior to surrounding it you need to make a chute of sorts with a highly visible fencing material, such as orange snow fence as in the pic with your kids. make this chute so that it will funnel the sheep into a caged area, or a pen of some sort ( preferably with woven wire, or more snow fence, or solid wood etc.) Make the chute VERY wide at the sheep side, and then gradually narrower until it gets to the cage. Your husband making that noise should be very helpful. The lamb has herding instinct, and want s to be with other sheep. he should stay near the caged area, and make the noise as the others go WAY, WAY out around the sheep, and the gradually and evenly close in on it. DO NOT SCARE IT INTO A RUN! If it starts to run, back off untill it calms down. Once it runs it will just go, and your not going to get it to calm down until you back off. This will be a slow process, and it will seem as though you will never catch it, but if you are patient, and your hubby keeps up the BAAAHing, it will come into the caged area. You can buy sheep grain at the local feed store, or lots of clover, once you get it into the pen. Good luck, the easiest way would be to borrow a sheep, preferably a ewe from another farmer. Keep her on a leash...a long one...a lunge rope or something else long. Lure the other one in with her. That worked when we had a similar problem one time. What a pain...I will say though, that once you catch it, sheep can be a lot of fun to have around. I love ours!

07-08-2008, 09:22 AM
kindredspiritsia Started Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Iowa Posts: 2,302	__________________ In Loving Memory of my Grandpa and Best Friend, Stanley Howard Sherer Oct.3,1932-Mar.25,2007

07-08-2008, 06:21 AM
Thekidsmum Weanling Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sunny Australia Posts: 242	If all methods to catch it fail I do have a few very nice recipes for lamb with rosemary and garlic.

07-08-2008, 07:53 AM
mandelyn82 Coming two Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ft. Campbell, KY Posts: 1,962	Is the picture where it's taken up residence, with all those trees? You could get the orange webbing fence and start with a wide shute, I'm talking like with an opening of 40 feet so that it doesn't suspect anything. Since the girls caught it in the first place, they must have herding instincts! Have them set behind the sheep, in such a way that the sheep has them on one side, the shute on the other. It's important that you have the fencing loose on one end, so that if the sheep gets inside the "trap", you can close it after it runs in. It need to have a wide opening so that a person can stand still at the loose end and hold it. The more people you have to herd it the better. The scenerio will work if the only free place to run is into the shute. Have the shute taper down thinner, then turn into a small pen. If it's possible anyways. It's what they do to catch mustangs out in the mountains! Since sheep are herd animals, you can get another one, put a lead on it, and entice the other with it. They don't like living alone anyways, so you might need another anyways! __________________ "The more people I meet the more I love my German Shepherd"

07-08-2008, 09:18 AM
Orchid Super Moderator Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 9,867	Velcro mittens? __________________ Be thankful.

07-08-2008, 09:20 AM
mandelyn82 Coming two Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ft. Campbell, KY Posts: 1,962	__________________ "The more people I meet the more I love my German Shepherd"

07-08-2008, 12:32 PM
ToveroMom Pasture Pet Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cleveland TX Posts: 15,313	BTW Lucerne is alfalfa. I would feel so worried about the darn thing too. Good luck finding a nice Judas goat or leadbroke sheep to help you catch it. __________________ "In America,anyone can be President. That is one of the chances you take" Adlai Stevenson

07-08-2008, 01:26 PM
triangle5 Weanling Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mariposa, CA Posts: 254	Thanks everyone. I do feel horribly responsible for the poor little thing. I tried to talk the kids out of keeping it since we've never had sheep and don't know enough about caring for them, but they had their hearts set on bringing it home. I was happy enough about the little chick they caught, I have been trying to convince hubby a few chickens would be fun to have, and they're much easier to house. I'm just hoping someone offers to come to its rescue so it doesn't meet a bad end. If we can catch it I will most likely find it another home since I know it won't be happy here alone. __________________ No one can make you feel inferior without your consent-Eleanor Roosevelt www.wildwillowranch.com

07-08-2008, 02:01 PM
Jean Genie Started Join Date: May 2006 Location: NW Illinois Posts: 2,010	"Baaaa-Ram-Ewe..." that worked for Babe . A sheep dog would be an enormous help; or could you contact the folks at the scramble, get names of sheep owners for advice? I, literally, did a flying body tackle on mine a time or two, grabbed fistfuls of wool and held on and fought them to a halt . I can laugh now, was NOT so funny then but they were not as wild as this one appears to be. If desperate, I wonder if animal control could dart it? Can't tell how wooly it is yet. I had 2 sheep for a while and they were FAR more trouble than they were worth. The biggest issue is shearing; you HAVE to shear sheep or they just get woolier and woolier and get infested with wool maggots, disgusting little buggers that will eat your sheep, badly infested can kill a sheep; you live in Calif., pretty hot this year, right? Shearing and not skinning alive requires skill and NOBODY will want to come over to your place to shear just 1 sheep, been there done that. Twice, in desperation, I had to hand shear my 2, with scissors, or lose them to heat stroke/maggots, blech...it was a NIGHTMARE. If you manage to catch it, I think your idea of rehoming is a good one. If you want to try to keep it, do a lot of research FIRST so you know what you're getting into. Best of luck! __________________ Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle. Last edited by Jean Genie : 07-08-2008 at 02:03 PM.

07-08-2008, 02:51 PM
ToveroMom Pasture Pet Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cleveland TX Posts: 15,313	They do have hair sheep-varities that do not grow wool-just hair and a fuzzy undercoat that sheds out. We are getting two to feed out and process. __________________ "In America,anyone can be President. That is one of the chances you take" Adlai Stevenson