January 29, 2011: Sheep - who'd have em?

For the last few months we've had lambs in the 'hospital' wing of the shed. The first patient had pneumonia. She arrived here last October and that's when we started treating her. When the weather really got cold, we made her a comfy pen in the shed, fed her like a princess, and continued to treat her. The second patient, a wee beulah, broke its leg. We're not sure how she did that but it was a bad break. Off she went to the 'hospital' with a nice bright blue splint and bandage.

Because our shed is full of hay at the moment, these two scallywags had to share a pen. In so doing, we discovered, cheviots don't like beulahs! Or rather, this cheviot did not like having to share her cell, her feed block and her instant access to 600 bales of hay. The poor wee beulah was bullied, harrassed, and head butted. Every time we came in with fresh water, the cheviot would tackle the beulah so hard we had to intervene!

So, last weekend we decided the cheviot was fully recovered and it was time for her to join the main flock. She was quite enthusiastic to leave the pen. Off she trotted like a happy camper. At last the little beulah would get some peace and quiet to enjoy the feed block and other goodies all to herself.

Uh-uh! The wee beulah must have liked being bullied. She did not take a liking to being in the pen on her own. Twice on Tuesday I came into the shed to find she had jumped out of her pen and was making a right mess of our wood pile (firewood). Twice I picked her up and put her back into her pen. After the second escape attempt, I reinforced the pen by using various what-nots to increase the height of the pen. She was contained!

No mishaps Wednesday.

Thursday I was out training and during a 20 minute break when I was resting the sheep, I came back to the shed to find the beulah gone! No sign of her. None! Vanished! All I knew was she had not jumped out into the yard as all gates were shut. I looked all over for her. Nothing! No lamb in sight. Now this lamb doesn't actually belong to me. She's on loan. Oh, great, I thought. I have already called the owner to tell him she had a broken leg. Now I was going to have to call and say I'd lost her too. Pretty responsible sheep farmer I'm turning out to be!!!! Well, it had been a bad week already so I decided to hold off on that phone call until I had scoured the entire property. No sign of her on Thursday.

First thing Friday, the three muskateers - Meg, Jamie and Keeper - and I went off up the hill. Since the sheep are running on the entire property at the moment, I decided to gather in small groups at a time and see if I could spot her this way. We had just gotten started when a perfect opportunity presented itself to give Keeper a wee go. This was his first day 'on the hill' with the large flock. As he was bringing the sheep back to me, I spied the wee lamb. She was tootling along on three legs, split still perfectly in place and as happy as a pig in a field of strawberries.

Well to cut a long story short, we got her into a small field and while Keeper held the sheep in the corner, I grabbed her and muscled her back into our smaller group of sheep. She can stay with her friends but there'll be no training with her for a while yet.

How did she make her escape from the shed? She jumped out of her pen, up onto the hay, then from the hay, she jumped up to the back entrance to the shed, which is open to the hill save for a temporary fence, which she jumped over. Her leg is obviously mending!

It's been a fantastic week for training. It's been cold but mostly dry. The one day it did rain, it was the light, misty rain that I love. The dogs sure had a big week! As much as it is nice to sit and work by a warm fire, I must admit that being outside is much more fun! The only thing I hate about winter is the short days!

Earlier in the week I found out I am going to South Africa in April!!! Now this has been my dream travel destination since I was 5 years old and 16 years later (cough, cough), it's going to happen. Who would have thought sheepdogs would take me to South Africa? I'm already polishing my camera lens and working on a supply of compact flash cards and camera batteries. The words of Dr. Seuss are ringing in my head:

"Oh, the places you’ll go!

You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head. ---> (Ok, well this is debatable!)
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

...You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights"

Oh my goodness, I can't wait.