I've had my pet sheep for 7 years. She was rescued from next door as a two day old lamb. Her name is Amy. She is extremely smart! I didn't think anything of it until I came across an internet arguement on how dumb sheep were. She is probably smarter than your average dog. She can: unlatch the gate ( we have a safety latch now), she knows where her oats are kept, comes when shes called, peforms tricks, know when we're going away for a long time ( she runs after the car when we're going away for a long time), hates the shearer and does all sorts of things. She is like a family pet dog that I can never have ( allergies). So, who thinks sheep are dumb now?

You know what Ratzy I have never considered sheep dumb. It is there flocking behaviour (circling) which people find frustrating and then label as dumb. For Sheep it is a survival mechanism. When sheep circle it confuses the prey animal, as all they see is a wall of wool constantly moving in front of them. It makes it hard to pick out a single individual. If you really take notice of a flock of circling sheep you'll see they can move very quickly with minimal effort for a fairly long time, long enough sometimes for predators to give up. If you know how sheep think they are not too hard to work with at all.

 

I too had pet sheep and goats and they are very smart and quite trainable. When I was a kid I use to go off on my long walks with my sheep, goat, dog and cat in tow. We certainly were sight and we got a lot of looks. Later on a Donkey got added and it just about stopped traffic!

Edited May 29, 201014 yr by RIPbudgies

That must have been quite a sight!

hahaha ratzy that awesome!

i wish i had a pet sheep !

 

ill have to add that to my list of pets, i have quite an extensive list

i might as well get a farm when im older!

 

i want alpacas, angora goats, shetland sheepdog, chickens, quails and now a sheep!

but im going to have to wait as my mum says NO!

lol oh well... one day..ill just keep on dreaming for now

 

your very lucky ratzy, tell amy i said hi!

 

and RIP thats funny!

so you walked all these animals down the street on a leash?

or did they just follow you? lol

No leash AB. I was lucky my mum was very accomodating to my animals likes. I use to ride the donkey and the others followed. My cat was more like a dog than some dogs. I have always managed to have cats that were well behaved but I guess it comes down to training and discipline too as mine would ride in cars and walk on a leash if needed.

 

The goat at that time was a Anglo Nubian and the sheep a cross breed. The Donkey was a feral from up north bought for $30. Dog was a mongrel breed.

 

I need a farm too! I want to get into having animals around me again. Just can't do it on a small suburban block.

No leash AB. I was lucky my mum was very accomodating to my animals likes. I use to ride the donkey and the others followed. My cat was more like a dog than some dogs. I have always managed to have cats that were well behaved but I guess it comes down to training and discipline too as mine would ride in cars and walk on a leash if needed.

 

The goat at that time was a Anglo Nubian and the sheep a cross breed. The Donkey was a feral from up north bought for $30. Dog was a mongrel breed.

 

I need a farm too! I want to get into having animals around me again. Just can't do it on a small suburban block.

 

if anyone needs a farm its

me

i have in my suburban yard (not actually mine )

a dwarf lop medium boy called max

a appleyard duck called ben

a sun conure called travis

a sulffa cressted cocky called 99 and abby depending who talks to her

a turtle somewhere out their in the yard called turttley turtle and a bluetonge lizard called Nevile (both i havent seen for a while im thinking hibbination )

and i just got two Elisabeth:s bantom ducks (a pair ) un named as yet

and a mule ( maskovy crossed which means she cant have babys just lots of eggs for my birds and kids ) un named as yet

we have a mut to called angel

 

thats it thats my farm

and we wont be adding to it its just perfect

along with my 95 birds mabe a few more or less

 

all the ducks and rabbit run around free range in a a large pen i made by making some wooden palling fences theirs a hand made pond i also made in a circular garden with lillys a big old weeping rose tree lots of bulbs and irises

its a little paradise

Edited May 29, 201014 yr by GenericBlue

gb i would love love love to see some pictures of your little oasis!!

and your gang!

 

you have alot of birds! ducks budgies geese cocky

and a rabbit haha so very cool

 

cant wait to see pics if your able sounds great!

gb i would love love love to see some pictures of your little oasis!!

and your gang!

 

you have alot of birds! ducks budgies geese cocky

and a rabbit haha so very cool

 

cant wait to see pics if your able sounds great!

lol no geese although if they went so loud i would have one make great watch dogs

sure i will get some pics of my gang and their pen

just give me a few days as im hibernating as is the turtle and lizard

its dam cold out side down my way sun should come out in the next week though

Can I come visit you GB......!!! HOW COOL

 

Can I pleese see a picture of Max.....

I have always wanted a sheep! They are my favourite animal

 

The local children's petting zoo breeds the most beautiful little pigmy goats each year and they are available for adotion for a small fee. If we ever fenced our property, two of them would be one of my first purchases!

We only live on a half farm. AB, I will tell Amy that! Wow, GB, that is a lot of animals. Amy acts like a guard sheep, once a man came looking for his dog and he got out of his car. He drove off very quickly when Amy came!

You're right Ratzy, sheep can be quite smart. It amazes me that there are some people who think that any animal which is not a common pet (eg. dog or cat) must be dumb and only suitable for the table. I believe all animals have personalities and probably a lot more intellect than we often give them credit for.

 

It's nice to see like minded animal lovers here!!! When I was growing up, my family had a small surburban backyard but a range of animals over the years:

 

over 2 dozen chooks (not all at once!)

8 cats

1 dog

2 ducks

3 cockatoos

1 galah (couldn't fly so he sat on a vine on the side of the house during the day and wolf whistle at people walking past! :fingerscrossed: )

2 budgies

7 canaries

1 rabbit

many mice

many goldfish

And lots of wild birds who'd visit

 

I would've liked to have added more dogs, a pony and a donkey to the list, but mum and dad would say no more pets!!!

 

Well I've started with budgies, who knows what's next :rofl: .

Wow that is a long list! I don't know why people think sheep are dumb, Amy knows how to unlock at least three gates. Once, when she was a little lamb, she ran at a log and litterally flipped over it. Then when she was two years old, she tried the same trick over a fence. It worked! She is smarter and better than a dog in my opinion. Dogs kill other creatures ( I have nothing against dogs, they are one of my many favourite animals) while sheep don't, both make good guard dogs and dogs keep the neighbours up all night barking.

i took pics today i will put up tomorrow

going to watch movie with daughter now

gb cant wait to see your little farm of animals and there

beautiful homestead,

a rose tree? is that a rose that has a long tall trunk and at the top has leaves, and flowers ?

or is it some type of tree?

 

pictures!!!! :hap:

here is some pics my animal family

first my rescue cocky she is just 8 months old my dad found her starving and covered in black oil she was that dirty dad didnt see her untill he went to drive off from the petrol station and she slowly dragged herself toward the road he stopped to see what it was moving so slowly in such a odd way only to find dear little gabby

we think someone stole her from a nest then dumpped her when they relized what they got them selfs in for

she was still swaying back and forward going arrr ar ar when hungry and missing most her feathers still growing in down we think she was mabe only around three months old

 

then theirs travis my sunconure

a impalse buy when pet shop was sick of himscreamming all the time

i made them an offer and they were happy to take it just to get him gone

 

 

both travis and 99 (gabby ) both talk fluently and full sentances its quiet funny sometimes they carry on chatting to eachother

like little old women

 

this is my duck pond

it was my turtle pond but i feel i wont be seeing turtley turtle again for sometime if at all sadly

 

 

 

 

thoughs pictures were yesterday

however i had a probblem with my drake trying to steel all the women and push my new little piggmy duck aside so i made some changes yesterday avo and finished them tonight so i still need to fix some stuff like new fencing i am going to have to make new fences with smaller holes between the pails so pigmys dont get out

and im making a new duck area for my bigger ducks

 

here is max

 

 

 

 

this is an extention of the duck/rabbit/dog run

 

this is down their looking back toward the main yard

 

again but from the tree you can see halfway down and still looking back toward main pen

a bit closser and beds

 

almost to main pen

 

looking acrossed to main pen from my portch area

 

 

and the off set pen on the left through the gate and down along the house ican see the ducks and rabbit while doing dishes if their in their and while doing laundry if their in main pen

 

 

and acrrossed from corner looking toward house

theirs another dry area for them

yes my frame i made for my aviry im now useing for ducks :hap:

max

 

 

i havent forgotten pics of ducks just ran out of room showing you their home theirs more pics of max also

I loooove Max!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :hap:

I loooove Max!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so do i hes soo soooo friendly not nasty at all

but he does chase the ducks sometimes its funny to see

 

yes a big long stemed old rose bush tree thing

when in flower its beautiful

 

im sorry some pics were side ways i did rotate them so im not sure what happened

her is my ducks

 

 

thats ben standing up

and the brown one two the left has been named aleeshia

 

 

 

max wanted his picture taken again

 

 

so their you have it my ducks oassis

Edited May 31, 201014 yr by GenericBlue

that lovely gb!

 

what a magical little area to live for them!

do they go swimming in the oasis?

 

ooh can see what you mean by rose tree, i typed it up on google

they are very pretty, what flower colour are the roses on yours?

 

poor mr turtly turtle he didnt die did he?

 

the ducks are my favourite, oh and gabby

do the birds really talk to each other in human language????

 

that amazing, so can they understand each other

say if they sun conure said to gabby "how was your day"

would she reply back "not to bad"

 

just as an example???

 

thanks aggain for putting up the pics

I think Mr Turtly Turtle might be hibernating. Where they go find a nice place to sleep for the winter. Or has he escaped? What breed duck?

Edited June 2, 201014 yr by Ratzy

I think Mr Turtly Turtle might be hibernating. Where they go find a nice place to sleep for the winter. Or has he escaped? What breed duck?

 

 

im not sure about mr turtley turtle , im hoping its hibernation but then he has never taken off before so ??? but my friend had a turtle that went missing in action for 15 years

boy were we suprized when one day we were gardening for his elderly mother and dug up

billy :hooray:

still alive and double the size :rofl:

 

yes the ducks do swim in the pond

i clean it one every two weeks by a over flow method then one every month by getting in their and scooping out all the water and muck at bottom

 

m mm boy do i smell good when i do that :rofl:

 

the big boy ben is a silver appleyard drake and his gal is a Muscovy x (a mule)(meaning infertile )

 

the two bantam ducks are called Elizabeths they are not easy to come by or breed but im going to breed them if possible so if anyone wants a duckling let me know i was told i will have pitta patter of little ducks by December and if seeing is believing well lets just say i believe im seeing the start of ducklings before the egg :rofl:

 

the roses are a light pink with white tipped edges very old fashioned and miniature so very cute the ones in the side yard a yellow and very fragrant

 

 

and yes my birds do chat to eachother in conversation but its not like how are you sort of thing its more like this

 

i go out in morning and gabby will be saying

muuuuuuuuuummmmmmmm breakfast i want breakfast mum

and i will go hang on gabby on minnit

then travis will pip up

quickly quickly quick quick quick

 

then while im getting their breacky they ramble things to each other like

travis says hello cocky cocky cocky hello

and gabby says

i love you travis i do i really do

and travis says shut up shut up

its fumy as they are just saying random things but they fit with what the other ones says

 

gabby watches parliament

so is quiet often out back saying ..

mr speaker excuse me mister speaker

id like to say id like to say

 

its very funny

she loves merlin and if the tv is not on when it is she screeches till i put it on

its no longer on tv so 430 is loud for about 10 mins or untill i can find a show on she likes

i usually stick a dvd on for her to watch around 330 so shes intrigued by it and forgets about Merlin :hooray:

she watched patch adams the other day and she loved it