A sheepish adventure

Yesterday, Brian and I took a little car trip to see Gail Former's sheep. She has over 100 Shetlands.

Watching her call in the sheep was like watching a multicolored tide of wool come in. Both Gail and we have sheep from the same breeder. Gail is helping us get our paperwork straightened out. We are also shopping for a new ram.

When we pulled in the driveway, a big wooly brown ram with beautiful curly horns came right up to me at the fence. I looked at Brian. "It's Jeff! She has Jeff."

We had looked at Jeff when we bought our other sheep, but the breeder had been reluctant to sell him and he had a runny nose at the time. We always steer clear of animals that even vaguely look like they aren't healthy. So we didn't pursue it any further at the time.

Now Jeff looks great!! And Gail says he is available. We are going back to get him soon. He'll make a great ram for our little flock.

In light of that development, I have been building fence all day. Before we can bring Jeff home we have to take Ramone out of the herd and wean the babies. We are moving the goats too. They are going into a brushy area. They'll help get the brush cleaned up and they'll enjoy the job too.

The sheep are going to a new grassy area with a bit more shade than they have now. I should be able to finish the fence tonight. Then move the water troughs tomorrow. I'm planning on building new feed troughs too. Then everybody will be set until the end of October when we'll rotate again.

So for now I'm off to pound fence posts.

Dot