We recently moved everyone around a little bit and the sheep are in the “back field” behind the house for a few days. This means we get to see them a lot more regularly than we do when they’re over in “the big field”. I can see them from the kitchen window or out the back door while walking back and forth doing laundry.
It means that if someone’s acting a little strange or if there’s a visitor out there, we notice them pretty quickly.
It’s nice to see that our efforts to nurture the local wildlife haven’t been in vain. We’ve got a couple turkey families living in our wood-edge and along the gas and power lines by our property.
I could just watch the animal behavior around here for hours. That perky-eared, woolie fellow there is actually one of our ewe lambs (meaning, it’s a girl!) from this past year. Our Clun Forest sheep seem to have a very high natural curiosity and intelligence. And they’re pretty bold.
For sheep anyway.
I know everyone likes to think that their kid’s the smartest in the class, but we’ve worked with several different breeds over the last couple years and I’m here to tell you, thinking it doesn’t make it true. These Clun ewes really are smart.
And the rams?
Well, I’ll just say this, we’ve mainly dealt with one Clun ram and his lambs so far. He produces a nice lambchop, but I wouldn’t call him the sharpest tack in the box. We’re going to withhold judgement on the whole breed though since he produced such a nice looking lamb crop for us this year and he’s the only one we’ve know personally for this length of time.
You know that old saying, “behind every big, bold, beautiful looking ram, are 12 solid, practical, intelligent ewes running things…” that’s all I’m saying here.
(Oh, wait, you don’t know that saying?)
Besides, when it comes to animals, smart can be overrated.
I mean, really, which sheep sounds better to you when it’s 101 degrees outside?
The ones that figured out that wool is an insulator and they can short out the fence at the corner by rubbing on it and slipped out–making you do laps around the 20 acre field to get them back in before someone gets hit by a car?
Or the stupid ones galloping along the inside perimeter of the fence along with everyone on the outside because they can’t figure out how everyone else got out?
Yeah, me too.
What do you see when you look out your back door?
