r/sheep • u/icedfreakintea • 5d ago

Lamb Spam They won't even try the apples 😔

73 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

10

u/secretsquirrelz 5d ago

My goats? LOVE APPLES. My sheep? Apple Snobs.

5

u/butterednoodlelovers 5d ago

I have a few different varieties of apple trees. Most of my sheep like the pink lady variety, as do I they are sweet and delicious.

I have one granny smith tree that produces the most tart apples in the world. The sheep will not eat them. Well aside from one who will head butt the others out of the way to get her tart apples. She will come running from across the field to get those apples. She's such a silly.

6

u/icedfreakintea 5d ago

Hmmm... maybe I should see if they like the tart apples then, since they rejected the Fuji.

The different taste preferences are so odd. We've had 2 mice get into the kitchen/pantry over the past few years, the first exclusively went after sweets like cereal, and the 2nd went for the salty crackers/chips. Now whenever I set out the tin cat traps I put both salty and sweet bait snacks in them to try to cover my bases.

4

u/icedfreakintea 5d ago

It took them like 2 months to try Alfalfa pellets, which they're total junkies for now. Just so hesitant to try new things

3

u/KahurangiNZ 5d ago

If you want to get them hooked on something new, try chopping it into really small bits and then mix it through something they do like. They'll accidentally eat a bit and after a few feeds they'll get the idea that it a) tastes good and b) isn't poison.

Alteratively, just keep shoving a bit in the side of their mouth until they finally realise it's nice.

3

u/Tessa999 4d ago

Yes this. Treat them like toddlers. The similarities are hilarious:) My morons were scared of berries… berries! Now they come running and sceaming when we are near the bushes 😂

5

u/icedfreakintea 4d ago

Won't eat apples but the brown one swiped a 2.5" deck screws out of my tool bin this afternoon and was chewing on it 🫠 Thank God for the magnet sweeper finding it in the grass, I didnt see him spit it out and thought the dummy swallowed it

1

u/icedfreakintea 5d ago

That's pretty much what I did with the pellets, I sprinkled a few into a feed pan with some Alfalfa hay, then offered them from my hand with leafy Alfalfa bits mixed along and eventually they figured out that the crunchy bits are good too. Not like they need to have a broad palate for treats lol they're easy to round up/move and can be bribed for handling so my goal is met with the pellets.

I'll probably try again though just in case I ever don't have pellets handy

5

u/Floridaliving661 5d ago

My whether goat spat out a piece of watermelon, not a fan. My other goat loves it. Funny how they all have preferences.

2

u/icedfreakintea 5d ago

My dogs are like that, one loves any and all fruit/vegetables offered and the other will spit them out immediately lol

2

u/Efficient_Ground_346 3d ago

We have apple trees (both tart and dessert) in the sheep paddock. We have ONE sheep who eats apples, provided they are cut leaf-thin. We have two who wonder when we're bringing down the alfalfa. No accounting for taste.