# Taming sheep?



## Dogwoodhill (Feb 27, 2011)

Hi, we just got our first sheep today, 4 harlequin sheep. They were just left alone pretty much for over a year. they need to be shorn (sp?) really badly and feet need clipping. anyways. they wont let me near them. any ideas or tricks to help me out to make them friendly? I want to be able to maybe milk one, so i need them pretty friendly. We have 3 ewes and a ram.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Food. Just feed them and stay near while to eat. They should get used to you being close and eventually handling them more and more. Sheep live for food.


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## kalmara (Aug 21, 2011)

food/treats/time, take a book & sit in the paddock, ignore them if they come close.

The only way to get a really tame sheep is to bottle raise from a lamb.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

What Ross and Kalmara said.
Put them in a small pen, sit with them while they eat. 
Normally this is enough to tame most sheep.

None of the sheep I have tamed have been bottle fed. Some sheep like the Soay I had, were a bit of a challenge. Tried the pen and food method but it only worked so far. 
So I caught them, put a well fitting Alpaca halter on them, one I could leave on and started halter training them. They were in a small pen, and tall enough they couldn't jump out. Within two weeks, I had totally tame Soay's and could do hooves and so on with them. 
This is the condensed version.


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## hastyreply (Nov 10, 2012)

For your sheep, I'd try the food and proximity or haltering them. With lambs, what has worked well for me is while they are still small and easily catchable, to hold them until they calm/still and then put them down. I repeat that a few times and they learn really quickly. I've found that later when I have to handle them they are calmer and don't fight as much. I don't know if this works for all breeds but so far it's done well with mine. I can tell the sheep I did it with and those I didn't. 

When I recently sold a large heavy ewe the buyer was surprised when we both grabbed her and picked her up into the cage on the back of the truck. If she'd fought it would have been hard but she was calm. So was the ram. I told him they were gentle sheep, not tame. He liked it since he was using them to replace barbadoes. (crazy sheep).


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## Dogwoodhill (Feb 27, 2011)

Awesome thank you. Today when i feed them they wouldnt come near the feed untill i got out of the little run they were in. oh well. just time. The did get out of the run tho. after my four year old left the gate open, but ill get them back in there tmw since it was dark when that happened. but thank you for the answers, i figured thats what i needed to do, but jsut wasnt really sure!


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## eieiomom (Jun 22, 2005)

_I was told by a much older shepherd friend of mine, that the best way to gentle sheep, that are not friendly, is to put them in a smaller area (stall or pen). Keep them in there for a while (about a week or less) and spend as much time as possible sitting (on a straw bale), read a book or just hang out talking in a gentle tone. Then start to feed them grain (in a feeder ) or in a bucket and eventually offer them feed in your hand. If you have other family members who also want to join you, (with quiet moves), this will get them used to others as well._
_When they are settled in, you can pet their underside or stroke their face._
_Then when you let them out, they will connect the grain and your voice to the positive behavior they experienced in their stall. You can also feed them in there so they connect this place as a positive, safe place to settle down._

_Hope this is helpful and enjoy your new sheep _

_Deb_


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

Trick is going to be keeping them from mobbing you with a bucket of grain once they know you are the provider of feed. Enjoy your peace while you have it.


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