Sheep scanning over for another year

Fog caused problems as the scanning season came to a close. There were other minor problems. Scanning on one farm had been rescheduled to accommodate a new shepherd starting his job which found Shep doing jobs arse first (wrong way round) to other years.

I had to leave the gathering out bye to gather and help at a scanning in the Rede. Under normal circumstances out bye would be gathered, scanned and sorted before Shep had to head into the Rede to do the same tasks over there. This year was different.

Moss was getting hot paws that week. I dread to think how many miles he would clock up on those four sturdy legs of his. Between the two farms there were just short of 3,000 sheep gathered forward over a total of about 10,000 acres - he was a happy if not somewhat tired fella.

We were fortunate in the Rede. Very fortunate. It was a hazy day, forever threatening to come in foggy but failing to do so and yet I was aware that it was foggy away out bye and the gathering still wasn't going as planned.

The farmer in the Rede had left all his gathering for the day prior to the scan man arriving - dodgy tactics, but ones which paid off. Luck is on your side sometimes!

Easier ground to cover than that we had been working on days previously and sheep were fit so ran in well, it was also a great help that we could see them - does help!

Two long days were put in, first day saw all sheep gathered forward and held in fields near at hand ready for the scanning man arriving on the second day. As the scan man pulled into the pens early on the second morning the sheep were also heading into the pens, it was a dry cool morning, skylarks were singing their hearts out, a pleasure to be out and about.

Swaledale sheep this time, many of them. All awaiting their turn to go through the scanning crate.

The view Moss had of the proceedings wasn't quite as grand as my view. Makes the sheep look big when you see them from the dogs angle.

Finally scanning was over, twins were shed off to remain in fields, to receive feed and lamb down near at hand, the above is a bunch of twin bearing ewes heading towards new pastures, they won't see their hill ground again until the early summer.

The final two scannings went well. Lamb numbers up on previous years, as in fact most of the scannings have been, the geld (barren)numbers probably aren't down a great deal but the twin numbers on the hill grounds are up, the grassy and mild autumn/early winter saw ewes in good fettle, let's hope that fettle continues into the lambing season.

Travelling home on dusk the sun caught my eye. It was bright red when I first noticed it but by the time I finally stopped to take a photo it was rapidly fading and disappeared just moments after I took this shot, hidden behind a foggy greyness.

LAMBS! Just days after the scanning season drew to a close I passed these lambs just a mile or two down the valley and had to screech to a halt for a shot of them - how the seasons vary!

F******* gather

Foggy gather. Final gather. If you were thinking it was any other eff ing gather you need to wash your minds out with mustard. Take it from me, it is an ideal way to ensure you'd never touch mustard again!

The view - if you could call it that. Every morning, without fail the view hardly varied.

I guess a different spot made the view seem slightly different, but initially it was all the same, visibility extremely poor, in fact visibility was crap, there wasn't a polite way of putting it really.

A week had been allowed to gather the sheep away out bye. 7,000 + acres to cover to find 1,500 sheep. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, an inconvenience maybe but not a problem, there is always tomorrow. However, the scan man was due in a weeks time and so a problem it was.

Every morning saw us climb out into the thickening gloom, like two intrepid explorers on quads, setting out to find what no man could see. Headlights on the bikes were of little use as neither of us could see each other until we almost collided. We went forth and made noise, whistled, sang, hollered (shouted)....... whatever the moment necessitated, it would be fair to say we persevered.

As we dropped further in apparitions began to appear before our very eyes. A marvelous sight!! Sheep know where they belong and they know the spot to gather up to, they also know when we can't see them..........

Fortunately, blocks had been put in place to encourage the sheep to run to a designated area, an area where years back the sheep were gathered together for tup time and have since always been gathered to the same spot. Which means that generations of sheep know where they're meant to gather up to, they know feed blocks will be available to them on the run up to lambing time at these particular spots on the hill. These blocks were put out to help hold them to the spot, specifically for this particular gather.

It was a great help with the conditions we were experiencing, giving us a sporting chance of tracking down the sheep when visibility was so poor.

Ironical that you couldn't see a bloody thing out on the tops then drop away in with sheep in front of you and it is as clear as a bell. A quick count to see if all are present. Then the inevitable - all aren't present! There were a variety of discrepancies, ranging from a couple short, to 30 odd short and one day apparently over a hundred short (the day Shep had to go elsewhere, can't be blamed for that one!)

Those present were taken further in and held in fields whilst bikes and riders turned around and headed out to look for more.

It seemed like a long week, much bouncing around on the hill, I'm sure my arse (backside) was tenderised like the finest steaks by the end of the gathering, it felt like every muscle, joint and bone in my body had been pulverised, far cheaper than paying for a deep muscle massage that's for sure, probably not quite such a pleasant result tho'! Ground was covered and re covered in an attempt to have all sheep present for the scan man.

Did we succeed? Well almost........ The final tally saw a handful missing, a handful unaccounted for, we ran out of time and luck but under the circumstances were also highly successful. Let's hope those missing few are fit and healthy and come in on the next gather.

I started the posting with Foggy gather.Final gather?

http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2011/11/springing-into-winter.html

This link takes us back to the gathering for tup time where I wrote the following:

I mentioned to the shepherd that this ought to be our last day out here, a day to hold strong in our memories, a perfect day. There are changes afoot on this particular farm, a parting of the ways. Neither of us knows if we'll ever be out here again to gather, let alone be in each others company doing so. This was the first day of many to gather sheep forward for tup time, wouldn't it have been perfect if it had been the last day of many.

At long last we had the final gather. 'Twas a shame we didn't quite go out on a high! Although there were high moments, and much leg pulling. There was probably also a sense of relief.

A relief that at last there was a shepherd on the farm, a farm which has been unoccupied for four months, four winter months at that. I think there ought to be a party!!! A leaving do?? A pre lambing bash - now there's an idea!

pregnancy scanning - how did it go?

The scanning season is over for another year. Shep assisted at the first scanning at the end of January but the scanners themselves had been on the roads for weeks, battling through the bad weather to get to farms and scan sheep when many in Tarset had only just put their tups out.

It all depends when your tups are put to the ewes as to when your ewe flock will be scanned http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2010/02/pregnancy-scanning-of-sheep.html The hill flocks are the last to be scanned as they are the latest to lamb.

Shep has attended a number of scannings, some just to assist on the actual day, others to gather beforehand, help at the scanning and the ensuing days. There has been some good crack (conversation) and banter as many hands are on deck to keep sheep forward so fresh faces and fresh stories come to the fore.

 

Later in the season foggy days caused problems for gathering, but sheep were found and were gathered.

Fortunately the burns (streams) were never up (flooded) so bringing sheep across water was never an issue unlike other years.

Thousands of sheep over the weeks were brought towards home and into the pens ready to be scanned. Shepherds were relieved to find them footy (lively), especially after the poor weather earlier in the winter.

Whatever the set up on the day, be it indoors, or outdoors, with the scan man in a tent or livestock trailer such as here, all ran smoothly on the day. All systems employed worked well. Plenty of staff and dogs on hand to keep sheep running forward and the job was easily done.

I asked one scanning man what was the most sheep he'd scanned in a day - 6,000+ was the answer!! That was in an 8 hour day! It did happen whilst scanning in New Zealand, the kiwis have good set ups and far more sheep than you'd find in this country. We have flocks, they have mobs! Where we have hundreds on a farm they quite literally have thousands. The scan man went on to say whilst spending 6 weeks in New Zealand he scanned an average of 3,750 sheep per day - wow! He also said it was far easier over there, the sheep are far more docile, there are thousands and thousands on each farm, good handling facilities and you only have to look and see whether or not they are in lamb, whereas in this country the farmers want to know how many lambs the ewes are carrying and so it takes longer to read the results. It was all very interesting tho'!

There are few times in the year when all the sheep on a farm are to be found in the pens on the same day. These in this photo have all been scanned, the twin and geld marks are on their wool and they are waiting to run up the shedder and have the twins shed off to be kept in the in-bye fields. Many took the opportunity when the sheep were in to dose, innoculate, treat for lice or whatever task was necessary at the time before realising the sheep back to the hill.

Ewes carrying singles found themselves heading back to their hill ground

 

They'll remain out there until lambing time, some will be brought closer to home to be lambed and others will be lambed on the hill.

Whatever the farm, all sheep were only too pleased to be returned to their home ground and to be left in peace to graze their patch and live their lives away from the hustle and bustle of the pens. Those twin bearing ewes kept in will find themselves receiving sheep cake (supplementary feeding) to ensure their lambs are strong and they themselves are fit enough to rear two lambs. It will take them a while to settle down to being held in an enclosure and for those who have never had feeding before it may take them a while before they consider eating this strange stuff that comes out of a bag (in fact odd ones never do get around to eating the stuff).

I learnt some fascinating facts whilst the scannings were on. Apparently scanning was a British idea. Why oughtn't it be? Well many of the sheep innovations seem to come from either New Zealand or Australia, but not sheep scanning! It came from Edinburgh in Scotland.

Thirty years ago some obsolete NHS (health service) ultra sound scanners were tried out on sheep. It was deemed necessary to sit the sheep on its backside and shave the wool off its lower tummy to allow the probe to be used. After a year or two it was realised that this could easily be done in the standing position and the wool did not need to be removed as the skin in the lisk (groin) gave natural access to the uterus lying inside.

The first scanning probes did not last very long, after having scanned about 500 sheep they were being held together with tape, I suppose they didn't need to be so robust when used under hospital conditions.

The company which produces all the scanning equipment today is still the same company, the same company which supplies our hospitals, the only difference being they have produced a far sturdier model a design which will cope with the hattering it receives from dealing with livestock.

I also learnt that there appears to be very few younger people on scanning. No disrespect to those who are scanning, but the time will come when younger blood will be needed. The drawback has been that those scanning today are well established, many who learnt the trade from the offset. They are experienced, rarely if ever make a mistake and they are also fast. They started off in the job when expectations were low and they learnt as they went along. Anyone wishing to start up now has a lot of catching up to do, it will take a good while to be as good as those going around and farmers now expect their scanning results to be correct, they don't want mistakes, they don't want it to take all day.

Having said that I learnt of one young person who has spent many thousands of pounds and bought himself a scanning machine. He has then asked friends and relations if he could scan their sheep, which he has done slowly and meticulously, even pushing them into the crate himself. He has put a tiny mark on them to signify what he thought they were carrying lamb wise and then he has been present when the 'official' scanning person arrived to scan. He has watched, listened and learnt. Apparently he had done a fairly decent job on those which he had practiced on. There is hope that some young blood may well be going to join the ranks.

So? How did the scannings go? Well all those responsible for sheep flocks were relieved at the end of the day. Those with earlier lambings had had very high percentages and as the weeks went on the lamb numbers dropped.

The hill scannings were better than expected although there will be less lambs on the ground than last year, however there were not too many geld sheep, the lower percentages were due to less twins being present in the sheep. The hill men don't mind that unduly. One is far easier to rear than two, in general they were all relieved that most of their sheep were in lamb. Their nightmares of the bad weather causing their flocks not to be in lamb were unfounded and they can sleep well at nights now. Until that is, lambing time arrives!

Hard at work

The dogs have had a busy time lately, much gathering to do for the scannings and then all the work in the sheep pens driving sheep forward to be scanned.

Moss has been doing most of the gathering. Glen being older and suffering from 'pains' finds himself left out of the big hill gathers, much to Moss' pleasure as he is far happier if he has you all to himself and doesn't have to share your attentions with one of the others.

Glen however comes to the fore when pen work is on the agenda. Tough old cookie that he is he does like to keep the sheep running forward on scanning and clipping days.

The pair of them are seen here driving sheep into the sheep pens.

They don't pussy foot around through the clarts (mud), it doesn't seem to bother them unduly, they have their minds on the job in hand and seem to be oblivious to whatever the conditions are on the day.

Soon the pens are jam packed full of sheep all waiting their turn to head into the scanning crate

They queue up patiently (or ought that be impatiently?) awaiting their turn. However, they're not always totally willing to walk into the crate, usually hopeful of escaping back off to the hill somewhere.

Now I could battle with these sheep in a physical manner, I could grab them and haul them into the crate or I could use 'sheep sense' and find a simpler solution. I always prefer the simpler solution.

A dog at the back of the pen and you at the front where the sheep are to run up the race. The sheep don't want to go to the back of the pen coz there's a dog there, so as you walk towards them they think they can see an escape route past you and head for it, by the time they've realised they've run into the race it is too late and they are trapped - crafty! Without the dog at the back of the pen you might well find the sheep are crowding to the back and not as keen to run past you and in the direction you want them to - I always opt for a dog in the pen!

It's a hard day for the dogs working the pens, they have to keep their wits about them, the sheep are bigger than they are, heavier also. The dogs have to shoot past the sheep and encourage them to move on, sometimes the sheep will try to resist and offer to butt the dogs, the dogs will retaliate and teach the sheep to show some respect.

For all Glen loves the job his mobility can become an issue, he starts the day jumping between pens of sheep, naturally knowing which pen full have to be moved next and being their like a flash to do the job, as the day wears on he slows down and struggles to jump anywhere.

I have noticed that should a tup (ram/male sheep) be present in the pens old Glen will exit the pen. He has never shown fear towards anything to date and I can only presume that his mobility is his issue, should the tup go for him (which they can be prone to do) Glen probably feels he's no longer able to physically and successfully stand up to the beast. Which is fine by me. An injured dog is of little use and only causes great concern. Moss' grandfather suffered a cracked shoulder when a tup refused to turn and rammed and butted the dog up against a stone wall, since that day I have always erred on caution where truly bolshy sheep are concerned. I would sooner call a dog off and do the job myself than see them get hurt.

As said it is a long hard day for the dogs, tousling with sheep all day. Occasionally sheep run over the top of the dogs in a bid to 'escape', others face the dogs showing resistance and defiance, but they never win, the dogs always come out on top!

At the end of the day I had two gay mucky, tired, but happy dogs. A quick run down to the burn (stream) to get the rough of the muck off and home we'd head.

Did I hear someone ask where Kale was? Well, it all depends on how much time I have on my hands, some days he'd be at the hill with Moss, getting an opportunity to stretch his legs but riding on, or tied to, the bike when real sheep work had to be done. On scanning days he'd be tied up out of the way as there is no time on hand to keep an eye on a keen young dog and make sure he wasn't learning bad habits or getting up to mischief. Don't worry tho' he was there or there abouts, his time will come!