My sheep can swim !

[Robin2020]

So they were on a fresh field for 4 days....so plenty to eat. I stupidly thought the brook would serve as a fence. The gorgeous lawns belonging to a rather swish house were too inviting!
All 35 jumped into the brook and swam to the other side. It's 1 metre deep and 3 euro pallets wide. I am shocked they did it and even more shocked none drowned.
Had to build a bridge (out of pallets) to get them back.
On the plus side, they had a great feed and the owners enjoyed having them. They said leave the bridge and graze it in future . They all look super clean after the swim too!
Any similar stories?

 

[Lincs Lass]

Old lincolnshire name for them ,,Jump Dykes ,,,looking at that the name suits them

 

[BAF]

That's more of a ditch than a boundary. Once one goes the rest will follow bless their little hearts! I know of a hebridean tup that swam across the river Severn 3 times before he mysteriously disappeared. Its not much of a mystery to me because I shot him but mother who's sheep he was doesn't know that! The neighbour had a lot of black lambs that summer!

 

[carbonfibre farmer]

Well I'll tag him before anyone else does....

@spin cycle

 

[Robin2020]

That's more of a ditch than a boundary. Once one goes the rest will follow bless their little hearts! I know of a hebridean tup that swam across the river Severn 3 times before he mysteriously disappeared. Its not much of a mystery to me because I shot him but mother who's sheep he was doesn't know that! The neighbour had a lot of black lambs that summer!

wow...across the severn!! Amazing

 

[spin cycle]

Well I'll tag him before anyone else does....

@spin cycle

36 minutes before being tagged....pretty slow by past experience

tbh...that brook looks a not unreasonable 'water jump'

 

[BAF]

@Robin2020 where he was swimming it was a long deep channel. We used to play in the river and even in a drought year it was still over 8ft deep at the shallowest section!

 

[David1968]

On the plus side, they had a great feed and the owners enjoyed having them. They said leave the bridge and graze it in future .

That'll last till they start stepping in sheep sh!t

 

[Robin2020]

That'll last till they start stepping in sheep sh!t

Yes...and when they are munching all the trees and bushes when the leaves come out . I was pushing the fertiliser aspect

 

[Guleesh]

Of course your sheep can swim, all sheep can swim, otherwise sheep dipping would be called sheep drowning.

 

[Welderloon]

They are sheep in January, they are clearly limbering up for some form of mass suicide involving the accommodating owners of the large house who they have so far managed to con, probably the nightshade or yew bushes around the edges will do for them or maybe Tiddles or Rover's turds but you'll find out soon enough..................keep the bridge unless the neighbours are OK for the knacker wagon on their drive

 

[Robin2020]

Of course your sheep can swim, all sheep can swim, otherwise sheep dipping would be called sheep drowning.

Good point..Scared to death of a foot bath but happy to dive in a brook!!!

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

So they were on a fresh field for 4 days....so plenty to eat. I stupidly thought the brook would serve as a fence. The gorgeous lawns belonging to a rather swish house were too inviting!
All 35 jumped into the brook and swam to the other side. It's 1 metre deep and 3 euro pallets wide. I am shocked they did it and even more shocked none drowned.
Had to build a bridge (out of pallets) to get them back.
On the plus side, they had a great feed and the owners enjoyed having them. They said leave the bridge and graze it in future . They all look super clean after the swim too!
Any similar stories?View attachment 1087886View attachment 1087887

Sounds like a result

 

[David1968]

Hang on a minute. Are these the same sheep that refused to go when you tried to move them to fresh grass last summer?

I think they're taking the pi$$

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Get some Romneys from the marshes.
They are trained to respect water and wouldn't jump that.

 

[Troward]

Get some Romneys from the marshes.
They are trained to respect water and wouldn't jump that.

Very true re-Romneys! Bit inconvenient when every gate currently has a foot of water under it, and you can't get the buggers to leave the field you want them out of!

 

[egbert]

One of the best blackie tups i've had was a 'feral' found, stood 'at bay' on a boulder in the middle of a flooded raging Dart - having been pushed into the river by a walkers dogs.
I had to recover it, and knowing the likely breeder, sent him some whisky vouchers, and set the tup to work!
He could certainly swim.

 

[yellowbelly]

Ours are more akin to jumpers than swimmers..

 

[BAF]

@yellowbelly belly Christ you should start breeding horses if you can get your sheep to jump that well!

 

[yellowbelly]

@yellowbelly belly Christ you should start breeding horses if you can get your sheep to jump that well!

I wasn't encouraging 'em - you just couldn't get 'em to stay where you put 'em.

The only thing they couldn't jump out of was the deep freeze