Going to have a Swale of a time! (I hope)

[Anymulewilldo]

Maybe not the worst thing whilst they settle in though?

A few years back I bought 100 blackie ewes for a new to me, unfenced hill that had no sheep on, mostly casts but some gimmers too, and I thought I'd keep them close with regular feeding. I trained them to eat in adjoining fields for a good few weeks then tried them out on the hill, the young sheep stayed around for feeding but the older ones needed gathered in every morning to feed, they never got the idea at all. Come spring they were wandering further afield and I lost quite a few of them, the odd one turned up in neighbours gathers but I'd given up on the job as being a total disaster really.

To my delight I found a good cut of them the following autumn, living quite contentedly right up on the top of the hill, some of them are still up there with their daughters today. They're just about the easiest and most dependable sheep I've got now, maybe not easy to gather but always there, on high clean ground, safe from fast drivers and idiots with their dogs, nobody phoning to say one is limping or trying to mother them up with their lambs. Those blackies just crave height, which is something I've not really seen in cheviots.

It does make me laugh. Our village was a major coal mining area years ago. So most of our fields have a slag heap in them somewhere. As soon as the blackies come off the lorries they all head straight for the first heap and all stand on top of it surveying the job before they set off grazing… it really tickles me!

 

[Guleesh]

It does make me laugh. Our village was a major coal mining area years ago. So most of our fields have a slag heap in them somewhere. As soon as the blackies come off the lorries they all head straight for the first heap and all stand on top of it surveying the job before they set off grazing… it really tickles me!

They're always thinking and they do survey the ground. They come up with some very cunning plans to escape gathers, They're unpredictable and they use features in the terrain much more than cheviots do, usually involving pretending to come in nicely but then hiding and doubling back as soon as they get out of view, as soon as the coast is clear they make for the high ground at lightening speed, so by the time you realise they're not where you expect them to be they're already miles away, just a line of white dots running away along the tops. As somebody once told me, all sheep can take the pi55 but none take the pi55 like a blackie.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

They're always thinking and they do survey the ground. They come up with some very cunning plans to escape gathers, They're unpredictable and they use features in the terrain much more than cheviots do, usually involving pretending to come in nicely but then hiding and doubling back as soon as they get out of view, as soon as the coast is clear they make for the high ground at lightening speed, so by the time you realise they're not where you expect them to be they're already miles away, just a line of white dots running away along the tops. As somebody once told me, all sheep can take the pi55 but none take the pi55 like a blackie.

It’s the way they look at you while they think too…

Although the old swale can be a cunning old devil! Just not as malicious as a blackie!

 

[AftonShepherd]

No real updates but I was at a BF tup sale in Ayr on Saturday (helping someone rather than buying or selling) and everyone I told either rolled their eyes and walked away or asked if I knew a decent fencer! Is there something you lot haven't told me?

 

[Bill dog]

Were you helping Gass ? Out with him, was the trade strong ??

 

[Anymulewilldo]

No real updates but I was at a BF tup sale in Ayr on Saturday (helping someone rather than buying or selling) and everyone I told either rolled their eyes and walked away or asked if I knew a decent fencer! Is there something you lot haven't told me?

Well, I get more a neighbours swales over our wall than he gets of my blackies…

 

[AftonShepherd]

Were you helping Gass ? Out with him, was the trade strong ??

No, was helping my cousin as my uncle is self-isolating before a hernia op. Great timing with the curling season starting .

Lambs that were sold were a decent trade but a good few would head back home I think.

Gass lamb is called Headbanger because it jumped up and banged old Gass on the chin when they were trying to get a photo. Not sure if it knocked a tooth out or just loosened it but I was walking by and it looked sore.

 

[Bill dog]

Headbanger ! Good name for most blackies!

 

[Woolless]

No, was helping my cousin as my uncle is self-isolating before a hernia op. Great timing with the curling season starting .

Lambs that were sold were a decent trade but a good few would head back home I think.

Gass lamb is called Headbanger because it jumped up and banged old Gass on the chin when they were trying to get a photo. Not sure if it knocked a tooth out or just loosened it but I was walking by and it looked sore.

Do they not like Blackie tups that try and jump into the auctioneer's box? It's 'spark' isn't it?? That tendency plus a ridiculous set of horns will make the progeny of a tup like that a pleasure to dose and vaccinate

 

[Moors Lad]

everyone I told either rolled their eyes and walked away or asked if I knew a decent fencer! Is there something you lot haven't told me?

Probably a similar response if you went to a swale tup sale and started bragging about your new Blackie ewes..
I`d be VERY surprised if you aren`t impressed with how good to deal with the swale ewes are at lambing time - great mother`s that won`t pi** off when you go near the lambs and most (not all!) can count too .... I`ve heard ex blackie men admit that they are a revelation at lambing time when compared to a typical blackie.

 

[AftonShepherd]

Probably a similar response if you went to a swale tup sale and started bragging about your new Blackie ewes..
I`d be VERY surprised if you aren`t impressed with how good to deal with the swale ewes are at lambing time - great mother`s that won`t pi** off when you go near the lambs and most (not all!) can count too .... I`ve heard ex blackie men admit that they are a revelation at lambing time when compared to a typical blackie.

That's my main hope from them, so hope you're right!

 

[Nithsdale]

Do they not like Blackie tups that try and jump into the auctioneer's box? It's 'spark' isn't it?? That tendency plus a ridiculous set of horns will make the progeny of a tup like that a pleasure to dose and vaccinate

Any time we had a Blackie with a lot of that kind of spark, I'd hang her by a horn off the nearest gate - front feet just off the ground.

10mins on the 'naughty step' soon calmed the f**ker down. Made things safer for all involved.

 

[AftonShepherd]

In the interests of honesty and openness I was trying to get a picture of some "escaped" Swales. Wasn't easy though as they heading back toward the gate which someone hadn't checked when he gave them a shift on Friday.

Other than that they've been behaving impeccably so far.

 

[unlacedgecko]

I lambed a grouse moor in 2017. Originally a pure blackie flock, there were quite a few pockets of feral sheep up the glen that had to be shot as they wouldn’t gather. I was lambing blackie ewes to swale tups, with the theory being Swales were more aggressive grazers and would rake the hill better, giving more even grazing of the heather.

 

[Moors Lad]

Wasn't easy though as they heading back toward the gate which someone

Obviously realised they`d "jumped out of the frying pan"

 

[AftonShepherd]

So, had the Swales through the pens today in preparation for chucking the teasers out.

Half a dozen a bit lame and a few haven't filled out as much as the rest but on the whole I'm happy with how they handle and look. Only three short which is better than I was lead to believe would be the case, and not one jumped out of the sheep pens.

I have seen the other three, they'd pushed through a dilapidated plain wire fence into a wood but were heading back in the right direction as darkness was falling so will catch up with them tomorrow.

They ran a lot better for the dogs than my cheviots generally do too. I'm growing to like them already but scanning and lambing will really tell.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

So, had the Swales through the pens today in preparation for chucking the teasers out.
View attachment 995711
Half a dozen a bit lame and a few haven't filled out as much as the rest but on the whole I'm happy with how they handle and look. Only three short which is better than I was lead to believe would be the case, and not one jumped out of the sheep pens.

I have seen the other three, they'd pushed through a dilapidated plain wire fence into a wood but were heading back in the right direction as darkness was falling so will catch up with them tomorrow.

They ran a lot better for the dogs than my cheviots generally do too. I'm growing to like them already but scanning and lambing will really tell.

They look well, good examples of the breed (not the society guidelines) I’d say. Watching with interest!

 

[muleman]

So, had the Swales through the pens today in preparation for chucking the teasers out.
View attachment 995711
Half a dozen a bit lame and a few haven't filled out as much as the rest but on the whole I'm happy with how they handle and look. Only three short which is better than I was lead to believe would be the case, and not one jumped out of the sheep pens.

I have seen the other three, they'd pushed through a dilapidated plain wire fence into a wood but were heading back in the right direction as darkness was falling so will catch up with them tomorrow.

They ran a lot better for the dogs than my cheviots generally do too. I'm growing to like them already but scanning and lambing will really tell.

Teasers?
Weve done teasers down here and nearly all tupped up with the proper tups now!

 

[Purli R]

So, had the Swales through the pens today in preparation for chucking the teasers out.
View attachment 995711
Half a dozen a bit lame and a few haven't filled out as much as the rest but on the whole I'm happy with how they handle and look. Only three short which is better than I was lead to believe would be the case, and not one jumped out of the sheep pens.

I have seen the other three, they'd pushed through a dilapidated plain wire fence into a wood but were heading back in the right direction as darkness was falling so will catch up with them tomorrow.

They ran a lot better for the dogs than my cheviots generally do too. I'm growing to like them already but scanning and lambing will really tell.

Tailing em or not??

 

[AftonShepherd]

They look well, good examples of the breed (not the society guidelines) I’d say. Watching with interest!

Thank you. Counting the lame ones there's probably 20 altogether (out of 195) that I should probably put to something different because I wouldn't want to keep ewe lambs off them.

Was noticeable at the sale that most sellers just seem to lot their ewes counted through a gate rather than trying to batch them according to quality as BF men do. I've known some of them spend hours deciding which 20 had the bonniest heads.