Working Sheep
We’ve been working sheep a lot lately. Sorting lambs from the breeding stock…sorting healthy from those falling behind…sorting for sale from for keeps…
We’ve all being working sheep.
Completely mixed signals!! The shepard(s) should always be behind the sheep!
It was a little chilly this weekend, but sunny and overall nice. A little muddy from rain on Saturday. I made the crew wear their hats because we have a complete terror of ear infections and take no chances!
Ok, except if you're the one with the bucket of grain! I don't know what happened that the Ladybug had to chase them down with a bucket of feed!
We’ve had so many visitors coming to the farm lately. We’ve had Egyptian-Americans, Bosnia-Americans, Nigerian-Americans, and Iranian-Americans stop by just in the last week or two. I love when customers bring their families with them. Our kids run around with their kids, chasing the barn cats and climbing on gates and we hear the most interesting stories about people’s travels and customs. It’s not unusual for customers and visitors to stay for more than an hour looking over the flocking, chatting, and picking out their animals.
This is how it should look!
Speedracer has asthma-like allergies that seem to only kick in during the winter, and they’ve been kicking up a lot of coughing and wheezing with the weather change lately. I try to keep him out of damp weather, but otherwise we bundle him up and let him get fresh air with the other two. It worries me sick, but we keep praying he’ll grow out of it and counting our blessings that it’s not worse! He was quite the helper this weekend.
Speedracer had to call in reinforcements, but he didn't give up!
The sheep have gotten so use to moving back and forth between the top field and the sorting field that you open the gates and we almost don’t even need to be there. They just gallop from one to the other. Our older ewes are really good about the chute too. They know that if they go in one end, they get out the other end. So they go through pretty easily once they get pointed in the right direction. But the lambs are more nervous and flighty, so they can get stubborn and really hold the line up.
The older animals go through pretty smoothly. The younger ones get stubborn.
Right now we’re mostly taking deposits for later pick ups. We sort the sheep into a pen, the customer picks which animals they want, and we mark them with washable wool paint for when they come back to pick them up.
The Cowboy was really hustling--he turned this "fall" into a full roll right back up onto his feet. He was bringing the marking paint.
The crew spent a lot of time this weekend running back and forth, opening and closing gates, and carrying buckets, fixing fence and moving cows. They were tired last night!
I can't believe how much they've all grown since last year!
Fall is in full swing around here!
How was your weekend?
Loved your post! It’s like being there with you all!
sounds like an exciting time for your family. we are about ready to sort out our calves that we will be taking to market along with some older cows that are past their prime. Looks like everyone is jumping in and helping out! That is terrific!
What a fun weekend!! I was away, and we survived a heavy wet snow that took down thousands of trees and power lines. I am giving thanks moment by moment that right now we have power. One day I would LOVE to visit your farm 🙂