Biological barrier for sheep

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Isn't there something you can spray on arable crops to stop deer and rabbits grazing it? I remember seeing as advert for it in farmers weekly years ago but don't know what it was or what it was called.

But the OP doesn’t want to stop the sheep eating the weeds, sorry, sweet flowers & herbs.;)

My sheep will only eat nettles if either they are damned hungry, or the nettles are dead & dried after spraying off. Maybe mine arejust being choosy though?
 

delilah

Member
But the OP doesn’t want to stop the sheep eating the weeds, sorry, sweet flowers & herbs.;)

No, I do want to stop them, it is the rubbish on the riverbank that they are going for.

Some interesting suggestions on here, thanks, will investigate further, if only as an excuse to google ' Cardona bra' :)
Anyone think the deer buzzers may work on sheep ?
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
Make the sheep seriously scared of water, so they won't go near it? Suggested half in jest.

Sheep dog trainer pal left sheep in the pen and went for lunch. The pups on free range gave the sheep a serious ragging in the pen. Sheep were let out and loose wool picked up. A friend called with his young dog. Could he please get a shot of the sheep to give his young dog some practrice at penning? Sure, help yourself! Twenty minutes later, "I can't understand it. My dog was doing well yesterday, but today he couldn't get those sheep anywhere near the pen!". That's a true story.
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
I have been looking for a Youtube video showing a dog trained to keep sheep off growing crops. (I've seen several). I'm told that's what German shepherds were originally used for before wire fences were invented. GSDs are highly territorial so the dogs were used to protect their home territory from marauding cattle.

In my search, I came across this video about border collies used to keep birds away from aeroplane runways to prevent bird strikes. But if it took 18 months to train the dog, I can only say they were not good dog trainers!
:

I've suggested something like this might work to keep geese off young grass in the spring. I can't really see why it would not work to keep sheep away from a river, but maybe the shepherds on here can advise? If sheep are continually dogged from an area (say near the river), would they stay away? I don't know and I'm curious.

I have certainly had dogs that have a 'thing' about birds! I had one here that would not tolerate a single bird landing in it's run. It was so paranoid about small birds, it ran itself to exhaustion, lost flesh, and I was quite worried about it's condition. Same thing on a large area. Every bird had to be cleared off the local games fields before it would rest!
 

JD-Kid

Member
Egg powder + acrylic resin is what we used to spray on pines to deter hares and deer 🤷‍♂️ for what that's worth
only makes them not eat it would not make a fence
used that stuff on some new trees last year. worked very well but. would just stop them from eating some areas
 

Sharpy

Member
Livestock Farmer
No, absolutely not. They go where they want unless physically stopped. Particularly if they find what to them is nicer grazing.
Thats not entirely true. Hefted flocks stay pretty much on their own territory, and hefted flocks (original flock cullled in foot and mouth) have been reestablished by continually pushing the flock back to their territory.
 
Thats not entirely true. Hefted flocks stay pretty much on their own territory, and hefted flocks (original flock cullled in foot and mouth) have been reestablished by continually pushing the flock back to their territory.

Not if the flock know of better grazing nearby, chase them all you like they'll turn into walking skeletons to get to it.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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