Why Herd Sheep?
Question: Could you tell me why sheep need to be herded? Answer: There are several reasons why we herd sheep. The first is, that if we tried to use the old grain bucket trick, we’d be trampled by about 400 sheep at our farm! When we do chores here, we use our dogs to bring the sheep into a field. Then we fill the feeders and let the sheep back out. It gives all the sheep a better chance to get an equal amount of feed. We herd the sheep when we are doing routine jobs like weighing, sorting, weaning, vaccinating and worming. The dogs bring the sheep in from the field to an area where we have a large pen with a chute and sorting system. The way that we have things set up, one person with a dog can move the whole flock through easily. We also herd the sheep when they are grazing on the ski hill for the summer. We use electronet to fence in an area with enough feed for 3-4 days. Then we take down the fence, move the sheep, and set the fence back up. Before we had dogs, it would take a coupl
