New member here in South Central Missouri

[Baymule]

It gives me another avenue of sales. I will be able to sell the best for breeding stock, raise a few for friends that want to buy the meat and take the rest to auction.

Just because a sheep is from registered parents, doesn’t mean they ALL are going to be super fantastic animals. Some will be super fantastic. Some will be mediocre and some are just not good enough.

On ram lambs, most people only need one ram. I’ve got 40 lambs, about half ewes, half rams. General consensus is rams go to auction. The top few get offered up for sale.
I have a gorgeous red ram lamb, with white markings, but he’s just not impressing me. He’s 2 1/2 months old, from good bloodlines, both parents are in that super fantastic range, his twin sister is impressing me, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to make the cut. I won’t waste the registration fee on him, he will go to auction.

Breeding rams need to be the very best. They are half of the flock. Every lamb born is half him, half the ewe. Even a mediocre ewe is ok, bred to a good ram, the lambs can be raised for slaughter or go to auction.

So I can sell registered breeding stock, sell commercial (unregistered) sell at auction, sell some for slaughter or put in my own freezer.

Feel free to ask anything you want to know. How else will you learn? I’m glad to help and everyone else here is too.

 

[massivehogticklerjable]

View attachment 115430

Greetings

 

[Sheepherder]

Yes, normal behavior. My Anatolian male has just become a fantastic lambing guardian. He turned 2 in September, before that newborns confused him and he barked at them. Lambing started in November and he didn’t bark. He finally gets it! He guards the ewe giving birth, even from the other ewes.

I had one, Sentry, R.I.P. that stole newborns with deadly results. Couldn’t let him be with ewes giving birth. After lambs were up, dried off and nursing, he would defend with his life. Just that one little thing……

Your dog is exhibiting instinctive behavior and it is good. Praise him. Anatolians are very sensitive to your moods. Give excessive praise and lots of petting, it’s what he loves for.

Hello, so now my female Great Pyrenees just chewed the ears of a lamb born on 3/6/25. She was spayed on 3/7/25, don't know if that has something to do with it or not. I suspect she did it to another lamb but didn't catch her in the act. She is 1 year old. Is this normal, and what do we do? We have separated her from the herd and our other LGD? Any help or guidance is appreciated. We are unfortunately "winging it".

 

[Baymule]

Yes, normal bad dog behavior. I had a young dog that chased, chewed, bad boy! So I put him with weaned lambs, BUT I put him IN the pen and let lambs OUT in a small field. Then put lambs in pen and let him out in field. He eventually caught on.

I make threads for all my dogs. You can click on my name to find threads I’ve started. Maybe you can find something that will help.
Paris was my first LGD, then Trip, Sentry. These 3 have gone over the rainbow bridge. I now have Sheba and Buford working with sheep. Also a farm dog, Carson.

 

[Ridgetop]

Welcome!

How old are your LGDs? Certain chasing behaviors are ore common at ertain ages when the LGD decided that the lambs are "besties" and they run with them. Chewig on a lamb is a big no-no. Remove the ram from the flock and pen him individually with the Pyr. Hopefully he will teach her not to chew on ears.

Male Anatolians are particularly attentive to baby anything. His protective nature toward the lambing ewes and newborns is good. Watch his behavior to make sure he doesn't "steal" lambs, or try to drive the ewes away from their newborns. Otherwise, his behavior of driving off other sheep, particularly the rams, is noral with lambs on the ground. During lambing any protective behavior escalates until the lambs are about 2 months old.

We are in northeast Texas having relocated our sheep flock, Anatolians, horse and mule from southern California where we were involved in raising diverse species for over 30 years. When the hay prices got too high, we moved from 6 acres of mountop to 44 flat acres of grass.

In California we raised dairy goats and sheep mainly, along with a large rabbitry. While we loved our dairy goats, once the youngest kids graduated from 4-H they elected to sell their herds. We had beautful LaManchas that routinely won top honors in Fairs and shows, but with our youngest going off to college the work load of year round milking was too much. The entire flock of 150 animals went to a breeder in northern California. A couple years later we brought in Dorset sheep to keep the brush under control. Then we switched to Dorpers to avoid shearing. We grew again! We currently have about 40 registered purebred White Dorper breeding ewes, 35+ WD lambs, and 5 rams. We run the ranch with our oldest son. The lambs will be going to auction soon, the ewes will be readied for breeding again, and the cycle will start all over again.

 

[Sheepherder]

Welcome!

How old are your LGDs? Certain chasing behaviors are ore common at ertain ages when the LGD decided that the lambs are "besties" and they run with them. Chewig on a lamb is a big no-no. Remove the ram from the flock and pen him individually with the Pyr. Hopefully he will teach her not to chew on ears.

Male Anatolians are particularly attentive to baby anything. His protective nature toward the lambing ewes and newborns is good. Watch his behavior to make sure he doesn't "steal" lambs, or try to drive the ewes away from their newborns. Otherwise, his behavior of driving off other sheep, particularly the rams, is noral with lambs on the ground. During lambing any protective behavior escalates until the lambs are about 2 months old.

We are in northeast Texas having relocated our sheep flock, Anatolians, horse and mule from southern California where we were involved in raising diverse species for over 30 years. When the hay prices got too high, we moved from 6 acres of mountop to 44 flat acres of grass.

In California we raised dairy goats and sheep mainly, along with a large rabbitry. While we loved our dairy goats, once the youngest kids graduated from 4-H they elected to sell their herds. We had beautful LaManchas that routinely won top honors in Fairs and shows, but with our youngest going off to college the work load of year round milking was too much. The entire flock of 150 animals went to a breeder in northern California. A couple years later we brought in Dorset sheep to keep the brush under control. Then we switched to Dorpers to avoid shearing. We grew again! We currently have about 40 registered purebred White Dorper breeding ewes, 35+ WD lambs, and 5 rams. We run the ranch with our oldest son. The lambs will be going to auction soon, the ewes will be readied for breeding again, and the cycle will start all over again.

Our Pyrenees and Anatolian are both a year old. I think from what I've seen, our dogs will be running and playing which makes the sheep run and then the dogs think the sheep are playing also. Do you suppose she may grow out of the chewing on the ears? Once the lambs get bigger, she doesn't chew on them, it's just in the first 2-3 weeks after birth. I was hoping our Anatolian would stop her but he just laid there and let it happen.

 

[Baymule]

She is part of the pack, he will not stop her. My suggestion is to pen the ewes and newborns, take the female in the pen and let the ewes beat up on her. They can be very protective of their newborns in close quarters. Plus if she tries to play with the lambs, you are there to scold her.

While she is being “good” praise her. LGDs don’t work for treats. They love praise. In the next instant she could lunge at a lamb, and you scold again. About 100 times—and she still doesn’t get it. Then one day, space aliens kidnapped your dog and left you with this fabulous guardian…….

 

[Sheepherder]

She is part of the pack, he will not stop her. My suggestion is to pen the ewes and newborns, take the female in the pen and let the ewes beat up on her. They can be very protective of their newborns in close quarters. Plus if she tries to play with the lambs, you are there to scold her.

While she is being “good” praise her. LGDs don’t work for treats. They love praise. In the next instant she could lunge at a lamb, and you scold again. About 100 times—and she still doesn’t get it. Then one day, space aliens kidnapped your dog and left you with this fabulous guardian…….

Thank you

 

[Baymule]

You may have to pen the ewes and newborns until they are a few weeks old, where she isn’t interested in playing with them.

My Anatolian Buford, was confused by these weird little things that looked like cottontails. He stood outside the pen and barked at them. He also wanted to play and I had to supervise him. He turned 2 in September 2024, lambing started in November and he no longer barked at newborns. All of a sudden, (not to mention hours and hours, weeks, months and 2 years of correction, patience and frustration) Buford “got it” and is a dream dog. He even guards the ewes giving birth, not letting the other ewes interfere. He is phenomenal.
Hang in there.

 

[Ridgetop]

LGDs are puppies until 2 years old (sometimes a bit longer). They see the lambs as their "besties" and "play" with them like they would wth pack members. Pack members bite and chew on each other - it is how they learn to fight and protect. Sheep are not chew toys, and your dogs need to be taught to not chase or chew on them as puppies.

Putting your bitch with older, larger, rougher sheep that will not tolerate her play will teach her that they don't like it and to stop. If they butt her and she growls and attacks them, then she is not a suitable candidate for a guardian dog. Without the lambs around she shoud not do that.

Like @Baymule said putting her in with ewes with small lambs will not do the trick unless you are in with her (preferably with her on a long lead so you have control). She will learn that she can't do that behavior while you are with her. However, f yoi are not with her she will continue the behavior which is why you need to put her in with the rougher ewes (no lambs) and rams that will punish her for trying to play with them.

Another thing, she stops chewing on the older lambs because she has moved on to the smaller ones. Once she cannot get to the newborns she will go back to playing with the older lambs as "besties" and the chase/chew behavior may start up again on those lambs.

We had an Anatolian bitch puppy that was from excellent lines and had been raised with sheep. Her parents were excellent LGDs and we knew the bloodlines. One day we noticed that our month old lambs had bloody ears and that she was playing with them. We removed her from the lamb pen put her in with the rams. They knocked her down several times and she learned that rams "DO NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS". When the lambs were about 60-70 bs, and 5 months old, we let her in with the flock figuring she would not play with lambs almost as large as their mothers. She was about a year old. Wrong. First one lamb then another came in with bites to their legs. We thught they had gotten scratched in the brushy ravine. By the time all 6 lambs were in the barn being treated for infected punctures on their legs, we had caught her chasing and playing with the sheep again. Back to the ram pen. She eventually grew out of this stage with constant correction by us (and the help of adult rams and ewes). She is now 5 and an excellent livestock guardian. Our next in age Anatolian is about 2 years old and while she doesn't bloody the lambs she did like chasing with, around, and after them. She is finally outgrowig this phase too along with constant correction and praise. The Anatolian puppy is 10 months old. She has no desire to chase or play wth the lambs at all. Some love the lambs like playmates, others are good from the get go. Puppy Hazine plays with 2 year old Ozel instead.

Thee dogs definitely work for praise. If yo constantly talk to them in a sweet encouraging voice, then when their behavior is wrong a loud angry correction will get their attention. If you don't talk to them at all the loud correction may sound like encouragemet to continue the bad behavior. You have to make sure you know the difference between running into the pasture when the sheep are turned out to check for danger, and actual chasing. In the case of actual danger the dogs will not respnd to anything you say since they think they know better than yo about how to protect you. LOL

Watching your dogs and understanding their actions is important to proper training these LGDs, otherwise you might inadvertently chastize the for a good action. We have had LGDs for 30 years and still learn more and more from them about how they respond to threats, guard their flock, and interact with us. Fascinating dogs!