http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com Natural, grass based ranching and raising sheep with low inputs. Covering aspects of sheep farming, management, health, lambing, using working dogs and flock guardian dogs plus pasture management en-us raising sheep Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:10:09 GMT Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:10:09 GMT ranching-with-sheep.com http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/herding-events.html Looking for sheep herding events? Whether your working your first dog or your tenth, Dog Tale Ranch offers opportunities for training and working your stock dog in a real ranch setting Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:10:09 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-handling-dtr.html Description and photos of the sheep handling set up and sheep management approach at Dog Tale Ranch Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:08:34 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/raising-sheep-2.html Raising sheep is a very popular activity in smaller scale farming operations and other ruminant animals often compliment and add to the diversity of the flock and farm Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:16:45 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/lambing.html Why these prairie sheep ranchers prefer a laid back simple pasture lambing over the workload and time commitment of shed lambing Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:05:41 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/lambing-2.html Referred to as shed lambing because ewes lamb indoors and probably the most common practice in raising sheep Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:24:40 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/weaning.html Natural or forced weaning. Discussing pros and cons of these two sheep management options. Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:55:45 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/lambing-pasture.html Pasture lambing, the low labour, low cost, natural sheep management style of raising young Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:43:21 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dogs-charlie-the-over-diligent-pyrenees.html 2-26-12 I need help! Pyrenees male, 18 months old. Was born and raised with sheep, purchased as a 9 mo. old from the breeder by a man who needed him Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:13:13 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/flock-guardian.html Working around a sheep herding dog does not deter the flock guardian dogs ability to protect when a real predator arrives on the scene. Working dogs are expert at reading the intentions and threats of Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:58:07 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/site-map.html Ranching with sheep site map. Helping you to easily find your way around our site Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:23:06 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/guardian-dog-lambing.html One of the most critical times for the flock guardian dog to show good working dog behavior is during lambing Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:07:06 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/livestock-guardian-dog.html Perhaps more important than deciding the breed of livestock guardian dog or analyzing which types of working dogs will suit, is consideration of the life situation you'll be asking the working dog to Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:53:00 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/dtr-working-dogs-day-of-work-for-lgds-on-pasture.html With Fall grazing the sheep spread out further to find enough to eat and when there are lots of sheep they disperse in smaller groups. This makes it more Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:06:08 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/lgd.html Decided to get an LGD? Before making a choice about breed, consider the variables your new working dog may face and the dog behaviors you may need to curb in your flock guardian Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:45:14 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dogs-the-story-of-polar-bear.html One day while I was tending my sheep, my Great Pyrenees was barking and practically going bezerk. There was a coyote chasing down my Merino Sheep. My Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:24:48 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/overgrazing.html Overgrazing in pasture management with sheep, why it should be avoided Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:46:52 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/dtr-working-dogs-great-pyr-akbash-cross-lgd-willow.html This short working dog story is about Willow; at time of writing she is our oldest female guardian dog. She is an Akbash / Great Pyrenees Cross. Six years Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:13:36 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dogs-an-australian-shepherd-saves-the-day.html Autumn is the time of the year when livestock is rounded up and gathered to be shipped to market. Calves are collected and weaned and any that were not Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:46:52 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dog-ruby-saves-stuck-lamb.html Our working dog, Ruby, has a routine that she never deviates from. As we are heading out the door she runs to the gate to check on the livestock. If Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:38:20 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dogs-lgds.html Working Dogs, a collection of stories and photo essays of workings livestock guardian dogs submitted by our readers Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:29:20 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dogs-stockdogs.html Working Dogs, a collection of stories and photo essays of working stock dogs submitted by our readers Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:21:36 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-ranching.html Wondering if sheep ranching is a possible means to living off the land or to making a profit at home? Always had a desire to raise sheep? Then consider these points. Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:48:35 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-art.html Sheep Art - sharing artwork of sheep, shepherd and sheep dogs via the imaginative flare of artists Sun, 06 Feb 2011 02:33:42 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-information.html Sheep information and recommended resources, books and blogs, all at your fingertips. We've put all our sheep farming resources in one place for easy reference Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:38:52 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/pasture-grass-seed-selecting.html How we narrowed down the vast array of pasture grass seed choices when seeding pastures for our sheep flock Sun, 16 Jan 2011 22:35:00 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/pasture-grass-seed.html Five tips for selecting pasture grass seed for pasture management with sheep flocks and resources about what plants to avoid Sun, 16 Jan 2011 22:25:37 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-farming-4.html A sheep farming interview with a producer in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Part of a collection of articles on agriculture featuring farmers and ranchers of North America Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:55:06 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-farming-3.html This sheep farming interview is with the operators of Grazerie, a large, intensive sheep operation located in Northern Alberta Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:47:03 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-farming-2.html The second sheep farming interview in our sheep and agriculture articles section Sat, 20 Nov 2010 14:14:06 GMT It's been awhile. I'm just getting started again into the fall and winter groove of writing and page building. Just to let our readers know, this small bites mini blog will remain as a site update function, letting you know of new content. I have begun a full blog of regular ranching activities. If you wish to follow us there you can check out <a href="http://ranching-with-sheep.blogspot.com/">Ranching With Sheep Blog.</a> My return to website work has been initiated with a series of interviews with sheep producers across the country. These should begin to filter back to me over the next few months. Our first one will show up here if it hasn't already. Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:59:30 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-farming-1.html The first of a series of sheep farming interviews and agriculture articles featuring farmers and ranchers of North America Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:39:50 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/agriculture-articles.html A collection of agriculture articles and sheep producer interviews providing a broader perspective for a sustainable agricultural revolution and farming and agriculture in general Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:18:43 GMT Last week saw several dog and handler teams gathered at Dog Tale Ranch for the running of the National Herding Trials organized by the Canadian National Australian Shepherd Association. <img src="http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/images/stock-handling.jpg" style="float:left;" hspace="5" alt="alt text">Hosting such an event results in hard work and just rewards. On the work end livestock needs to be trial ready, trial fields need to be up to par, gates checked, obstacles set up, yard tidied, meal house and porta-potty ready. On the rewards end, it was encouraging to watch the handlers who had it together with both their dog and the sheep and it was admittedly sanctimonious yet all to easy to fence-line critique those who didn't quite have it together. I imagine someday I will have my turn walking in both pairs of handlers shoes. It was a pleasure to meet people from across the country who thrived on a passion similar to ones own. A passion of working dogs. And as always we fielded many questions about how we do what we do here at Dog Tale Ranch. Being asked questions always leaves us feeling gratified that what we do is intriguing and therefore worth sharing. We know how we operate is outside of the norm for our area of agriculture. For much of the year we work with our heads down and try to tune out the mega farms around us. Then we host an event we previously muttered about doing and find ourselves inundated with the curiosity of others and because of it we become replenished and recharged. It's more than worth it. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:31:45 GMT We've borrowed a tractor and rented a post pounder. For the next two days we'll be pounding posts in earnest trying to get as much done on borrowed and rented time as we can. The first goal will be to finish pounding posts on the east perimeter of our east pasture. After that we'll begin pounding posts for cross fencing on three different quarters. When we bought our land there wasn't a fence post on the place, nor was there much grass. It is quite remarkable to reflect on what we have accomplished. What this place is today is vastly different from what it was only six years ago. Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:01:07 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/flock-guardians.html Have questions about managing with flock guardians? Wondering how many working dogs will be enough? Look here for the answers to these and other common livestock guardian dog questions Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:33:43 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/dog-behaviors.html Frustrated with the dog behaviors you're experiencing with your livestock guardian dogs? Some understanding of the behaviors these canines exhibit can help to alleviate some of the frustrations encoun Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:20:20 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/raising-puppies-2.html The remaining two foundation blocks for raising puppies for flock guardian work. Learn why training to fences is so important and how having a social working dog can be a bonus later on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:09:50 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/guardian-dogs.html Buying eight week old livestock guardian dogs is the most common route but it's not the only option to finding good flock guardians Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:50:25 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/flock-of-sheep-starting.html Not all sheep are created equal. Establishing a flock of sheep means taking into consideration what breed traits you're after to begin with and just what type of operation you really intend to run Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:30:02 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/sheep-farming.html New to sheep farming or just started your hobby farm? Get the basic facts about sheep flocks and learn the lingo of raising sheep Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:19:03 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/accelerated-lambing.html An accelerated lambing program is not for those who prefer a more natural and simplistic approach to raising sheep Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:25:23 GMT Earlier this month we lost our rams. We went out to move them only to discover they were not where we had set them. There are vast spaces of unoccupied grassland interspersed with cropland surrounding us. Finding 18 rams proved no easy task. We gave up searching until yesterday when we received notice that they had been spotted along a road about 2 miles from they yard. We located them at dark last night and promptly lost them again. They were moving like deer. First thing this am after a couple hours of searching they were spotted again, this time about one mile from home. I grabbed a dog and off we went. It was quite the long way home with some very flighty animals, however I'm very happy to report all the rams are in. It's days like this that my working dogs are worth more than gold. Do you use dogs to manage livestock? Have they saved your bacon on occasion? Tell us about it by posting your story on our <a href="http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dogs.html">working dogs page.</a> Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:13:41 GMT With lambing complete the pace of the daily routine has slowed. While pasture lambing is indeed a low labour affair there is still the checking of animals twice a day and moving the flock to new paddocks every second or third day. And moving portable fencing in between. And somewhere in there is docking tails and castrating lambs as well. At the end of lambing we are back to doing one daily check on animals and the flock moves are spread out further since the grass growth has slowed. Our stint of mob grazing is done as the alfalfa in our pastures has matured considerably. The flock is back on a piece of land that we began early spring grazing on in May. This means they are set on a larger tract of land for the time being and will be there for about two weeks. This is affording us a bit of a reprieve. We still need to do a lot more cross fencing to realize the kind of rotational grazing we would like. That or buy a whole lot more animals. Not something we're willing to do until we can pay cash for them. For now we'll take advantage of using some larger pieces of grazing land for part of our summer and letting the flock park for a bit. Everything else will happen in due time. Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:20:56 GMT In an attempt to manage for bloat on rain lush alfalfa pastures we tried our hand at mob grazing. We rotated roughly 340 ewes with lambs, two heifers, one calf and a llama on 2.5 acres. We were moving the mob every 12 hours. A few things happened. Moves were easy since animals were always ready to move to fresh grass. It got so the sheep would begin following us as soon as we showed up, just waiting for us to drop the fence and let them go to the next piece. The grass was better utilized for sure. Now the animals had to eat some grass where previously they could select all the alfalfa they wanted. What wasn't eaten was trampled into the earth. Keeping up with the water station was a chore at times. So was keeping animals in the fence. Our fencer is highly challenged this year as many sections of our fence-line are sitting in water plus the grass growth along the fence-line is drawing a lot of power from the fence. Sheep figure these things out. The only place they ended up was on another piece of our land but it was amazingly aggravating to have sheep outside of the fence. We took personal offense to the sight every time! Without established permanent or semi-permanent cross fencing already in place mob grazing is a lot of work. We were setting up and taking down Electranet every day to keep up to the moves. In the end bloat was not a real issue for us as many suspect it will be when grazing on alfalfa. Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:33:19 GMT We corralled the flock on the one dry sunny day we had this past week and docked tails and castrated ram lambs. We were pleasantly surprised to realize just shy of 300 lambs were on the ground, alive and well. I am amazed at how many lambs came through such miserable weather conditions as we have had for the past three weeks. Our <a href="http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/lambing.html"> lambing</a> takes place on pasture so we are subject to whatever conditions we get. The conditions have been less than sunshine and lollipops. And while newborn lambs will survive more cold than I thought they would they don't handle being wet and cold at the same time - for days on end. I wrote a brief post regarding the wet weather about two weeks ago, never imagining it would continue for another two weeks and drop almost eight inches of rain. We're soggy and we're not used to it. This year is indeed an anomaly. Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:59:24 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/swath-grazing.html Swath grazing sheep is not a common occurrence but can work well to alleviate winter feed costs while providing alternatives in pasture management Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:24:23 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/grazing-in-the-grass.html Sheep grazing in the grass is a pastoral scene but figuring out and maintaining a rotational grazing plan is the real art. Here's a few tips that we learned along the way Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:10:43 GMT http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/rotational-grazing-2.html Feel overwhelmed by the rotational grazing lingo and keeping track of the do and don't's? Consider a mowing the lawn approach to help you with grazing in the grass Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:03:06 GMT We have just come through hosting a two day stock dog training clinic with instructors Dave & Trudy Viklund. While I expect to learn by attending clinics, I am always amazed at the number of puzzle pieces that fall into place for me. This clinic with Dave and Trudy did not disappoint. I worked my young Kelpie, Cajun, and it was a treat to witness the shaping of progress over the two days. The capacity of <a href="http://www.ranching-with-sheep.com/working-dogs.html">working dogs</a> to learn to work in partnership with people while utilizing their instinct to move livestock is enormous. From Shelties and Beardies to Kelpies and Collies these dogs possess more talent and communicative skills than all of us at the clinic combined. There were numerous and generous comments on the respectful training approach Dave and Trudy employ and the learning that occurred for the people in attendance. We are sure that Dave and Trudy will be back at Dog Tale Ranch in the future. Sun, 30 May 2010 20:50:53 GMT This week of lambing has certainly not gone as planned. Planned was each ewe birthing twins with ease and in the sunshine, with room for acceptance of the occasion loss. What is - is a week of if-it-could-go-wrong-it-did. Miserable weather, ewes with birthing trouble, ewes walking away from lambs, and painful not fair scenarios like one ewe who laid down to birth with feet uphill and was not able right herself in time to take care of her newborn lambs. She appeared more distraught than we were to discover they were both dead. The look in her eyes showed dismay and if any ewe needed to have live lambs it was her. While the above scenarios make my eyes well with tears, if I put emotions aside all these occurrences are only wrong because I hold onto a perception of right and wrong. Maybe there is no right and wrong and things just are. While no easy feat it is less stressful when one can understand the concept that right and wrong do not exist and accept that life experiences are just that - life experiences. The goal is to figure out how to be grateful for each experience because the experiences symbolize that we are still thriving in this game of life. That's more than can be said for the dead lambs we've picked up this week. Sun, 30 May 2010 20:46:36 GMT