Last night just as Rick was approaching our driveway, Ollie, Sammy and Breezy were on their way out - probably seeking greener pastures. That, and a stiff coast breeze was blowing up their tails. He chased them down through the neighbor's lot into the ravine beyond, falling and tearing both his jeans and his knee and getting covered with sticky burrs in the process. He managed to get them turned and drove them back onto our property, shut the gate, and dashed to the house to yell for our help in catching horses. I had been directing Brian's violin practice and we were completely ignorant of the round-up going on outside until then.
The electric tape around the upper pasture hasn't been hot for awhile but the horses had been respecting it anyway. Still, we always shut the gate when we leave the property just in case. With this escape - and no clue why the fence isn't working (we've investigated) - we had to change things up. So this morning I put those three horses in the secure lower pasture, the two ewes and two ewe lambs in the wooded lot, and Dinah and Blackberry in the long, narrow lot between barn and arena. Only Russell, and Braveheart and Browning, got to remain in their accustomed spaces.
Um, Brava, your wool is showing.Brava's and Browning's sheep suits were getting a little snug, and I've wanted to get Bramble and Bronwen coated to keep those lamb fleeces clean, so last night I took stock. Looks like I need to order some more! In the meantime, I did what I could, taking the D coat off Browning and putting it on Blackberry (he's not the VM-magnet his sisters are, so no picking was necessary and now he'll STAY clean), switching the E coat Braveheart was wearing to Browning and putting a new F coat on Braveheart (my, he's a wide, meaty boy!). I like washing coats before shuffling them around like that, but keeping fleeces covered was a higher priority. (I did take a moment to drool over Braveheart's and Browning's clean, crimpy fleeces, though!) Brava and the ewe lambs are going to have to wait on a new sheep suit shipment; the ewe lambs are going to take a lot of clean-up before I can put coats on them anyway.
That's it for now at . . .
4 comments:
The sheep at our county fair had the spandex stuff on, one with leopard print , which was quite comical!
Where do you get your coats? Leopard print would be a hoot!
Christine, those are for 4H sheep that are sheared down to practically their birthday suits! I have a couple that were given to me by a 4H family when they moved, and I used them (under the cordura sheep suits I normally use) for sick sheep that had a complete break in their wool, just to give them some insulation. I think you can get the spandex ones at big farm stores where the 4H types shop, but don't think they'd work well for fleece sheep that have some growth.
That's all very new to me, Michelle. I have never seen sheep with coats on before...only horses.
Would you like to see my latest video of the garden at Barleycorn? You would? Click on the link below...See you later...
http://ourlittlecornerofparadise.blogspot.com/2009/07/softly-awakes-my-heart.html
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