Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Rosa's are red Violets are two...

YESTERDAY was one of those days(even if I didn't say it in last nights post) that I call Sheep Boot camp 101. Rosa one of our Great Pyrenees started running the sheep while trying to transfer them to a new field. Now this is complicated by the new llama, Gypsy not knowing what to do when the sheep are moved. The sheep, they know exactly what to do. ...UNLESS the DOG is CHASING THEM. You just move toward any gate w/a bucket and they follow.
Gypsy, she is interested in the possibility of grain but doesn't trust this new gate she is supposed to go through and actually there are 3 gates.
SO I FINALLY get the sheep moved w/out mishap, but the llama is still loose. Rosa is tied up in disgrace and we wait til "Dad" gets home. He does and we go out w/the bucket again. Takes 40 minutes to get her out of the old field into the front yard then she won't go through that gate. Finally we hang the bucket on the outside of the gate and go do something else. Eventually she spots the bucket and walks through the gate to eat the grain. I slam the gate behind her. ONLY ONE MORE GATE. However at this point, the sheep are in a frenzy because they see the bucket and they are STARVING to death (NOT). So every time we get Gypsy to the gate they are pushing from the other side and Gypsy freaks out and heads down the drive. Okay our drive is like 1/10th of a mile long on each end and each time she runs further down. For another hour, it's back and forth, up to the gate and then all the way back down again. There's no danger of her getting on the road, but we are all getting stressed. Finally we lock the sheep in yet another field, leave the gate open and I make one more trip back down to the END of the drive and RUN her all the way back up and she goes in. Our butts are kicked. Not that I don't need the exercise, but I'd rather get it hauling compost to the raised beds.

Today however we had a better day, and pictured here are Violets two new EWE lambs. Violet is a Navajo Churro in bad need of a haircut. The lambs are 1/2 Navajo and 1/2 Katahdin cross.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sam,
You're amazing, how do you find the time to do all that you do????

I was also lamenting the fact there aren't at least 48 hours in a day.

Cheers to you. See you in May.
Hally