Sheep ahoy!

We have been so insanely busy, I haven't been able to post.  In fact, this is nothing but words really (they'll be one or two pics at the bottom).  And trust me, once you read the sheep story below, you will understand how impossible pictures would have been, and how desirous at the same time.  We were working on the upper fence, see below, and Arlis went down to check on Booger and Betsy.  All of a sudden, he yells up, "There's two!"

"WHAT??"

 I come down there to see the new calf that Betsy does NOT want us to see.  He's up, still a bit wet, and running around without a hitch-awesome.  We can only assume she's had them taken away in the past or something b/c she hides hers crazy like (as you can see from the pics below.  That's the best I can do).  In the meantime, we have been milking Booger with good results, and using the milk.  Yes!!  Grocery bill decreased again!  And there's the convenience benefit, the health benefit....  She comes to the barn to be milked all on her own now-NICE!

Now for the good part.  Arlis finally won, and we went to get sheep.  He wanted Suffolk.  He really wanted them to look like Shaun off the show.  We didn't find Suffolk, but we did find Shetland.  This poor woman's house burnt down, and we bought her seven sheep for $700.  Three rams, two ewes, and two lambs-one of each gender.  They're in great need of hoof trimming and wool shearing.  We planned on doing that next year.  So, on top of everything else, we've had to spend a huge amount of money on sheep shears-NOT cheap!!!-and hoof trimmers, and vaccinate and do everything else we were hoping would already be done.  They do not appear to have foot rot though, for that I am thankful.  They will roo, but it was going to take a very long time.  


two curious rams

One of the ewes appears to be about two (you count their teeth), and one of the rams appears to be in my belly soon (we're going to give them three months pasture time to "flush" their systems).  Another ram we will sell/eat as time goes by.

(Words cannot do this justice-sorry.)


So we show up to the RV she's living is as her house gets built.  She's kept everything is good looking condition (yard wise), so she's obviously a good and decent person with a bit of pride still.  She grabs a loaf of bread from her truck, I assume for lunch, and takes us to the field.  This is where she goes, "Here baby!  Tum here babies!" and tosses them slices of bread.  OK...  They are pets and cute as can be.  She answers our questions and we decide to go ahead and get them.  This is where it gets fun.  We didn't bring the horse trailer, we used the stock racks.  We should have brought the horse trailer.  Arlis starts with the biggest ram.  That was my idea to get it out of the way.  He grabs a hold, and the ram drags him in circles around the stall while the other sheep get trampled and do some trampling themselves to Arlis.  I start laughing so hard I can no longer see what's going on.  He lets go and is now covered in...well you can imagine.  He finds his hat and spits out...I didn't ask.  I laugh harder.  At that time (quoting Mary McCormack) I was a "love challenge" I'm sure.  He grabs a smaller ewe, not much different at first, but he was able to pick it up and shove it on the truck.  Then her lamb, the next ewe and lamb, and the smallest ram.  The two big rams are all that's left.  He jumps on top of one, wraps around it's neck, and rolls it over.  He is then able to lift it and scream for help as it weighs more than he can lift.  I grab the back two legs, get nasty flung all over me, get kicked a few times, and we carry it to the truck.  Last one...he gets out of the stall while we're carrying big boy to the truck.  Bread will NOT coax him into the stall THIS time!  We herd him in, it took 5 of us (her granddaughter was there), and proceed to do the same method on him.  He drags Arlis around first for good measure, knocking my feet out from under me in the process.  We get him in, shut up the truck, and wait for the woman to stop laughing.  She thanked us and told us we have given her one memory to look back on.  Glad to be of service.

  
Unloading wasn't a problem.  One lamb got out and into my strawberry patch.  I was able to catch it when it tried to literally jump through the fence and got stuck.  Of course, the truck smelled like sheep until the second rain, not the first, the second.
We kept them in the calf pen until just recently, as we had to put up smaller fencing over the barbed wire.  This resulted in us working 8 hours in the freezing rain and acquiring several new incisions on our hands.  This also resulted in another set of manure laden clothes as the wire got drug through the patties near the fence line.  And with all the rain we've had, you can imagine how joyous laundry day has been.

Well, that's it for now.  Soon, I'll be able to post about the milk from Booger, wool shearing, and then I'll update with the duck journal.  So, how was your last adventure?