A home for Bob

I've had a few emails from a sheep producer a bit south of here who has a flock of 800 (eight hundred!) Barbados Blackbelly sheep. These are a hair breed: you don't shear them, they shed their hair every year all by themselves. Very cool looking animals, really good for meat, from what I have read. Anyway, these nice folks are in need of an additional guardian dog to help supervise all those sheep on a full quarter section of land (that's 160 acres, which is an awful lot of land). They have Maremma guardian dogs already who look after their flock - they lost one a year ago to a sudden and unexpected illness, and with all the coyotes, extra paws are welcome.

We've been emailing back and forth for awhile, exchanging details, talking about the possibilities ... and it is sounding like a really good home and job for Bob. The farm won't be finished with the chaos of lambing for another several weeks, but the current thinking is that when things calm down at their end, Bob will move south and take up a position with their flock. Something might shift between now and then, but I think this is how it'll go.

I was outside tonight doing some chores, and I sat down and hugged Bob hard for a few mintues. I love that big silly dog so much. I love it when he wags his tail so hard it thumps against my legs. I love it when he takes my sleeve in his mouth and tugs on it to show that he's happy to see me. I love it when he sees the truck come in the driveway and trots over to greet me as I climb out, waiting for me to scratch his head and say hello. I love watching him lie there on the hill in the sun, looking out over the sheep through his half-closed eyes. I will cry when he moves away.

Okay, okay, I cry even now when I think about it.

But I know it will be good to think of him lying on a hill in the middle of a 160 acres of land that is his to roam, watching over a big flock of sheep and working with two other dogs to chase off the coyotes and foxes and stray dogs.

Won't be the same without him, though.

Fencing

This weekend's adventure was fencing off a proper pasture for the sheep.

We've had heavy rains which have softened the ground, so it was the perfect time to pound in wooden fence posts. Of course, it's still a lot of work ... just ask Union Guy, who did most of the post pounding.

Our skills with fence posts and woven wire have improved dramatically, I must say. I suppose there is no teacher like experience! We now know to build good solid H's at the corners to brace against, to weave a t-post through the fencing and then pull against the post (rather than one of the fence wires), and to use the come-along pulling against the tow hook on the truck to tighten the fence, rather than the fence tightening ratchet pulling against a fence post. We also learned that wooden posts hold up much better than t-posts, so even though are harder to pound in, they are worth the effort! And, we learned a trick for getting them in the ground easier: first pound in a metal post, remove it, and put a wooden post in where it was.

In one day, we put in 22 wooden posts, six t-posts, and built 3 H's. We pulled, tightened, stapled and wired over 200 feet of woven wire fencing and we now have a large pasture for the sheep, who are enjoying the spring grass.

This is the first step to proper pasture management on Apple Jack Creek!

Of course, there are more than fifty more posts to be put in and another 500 feet or so of fencing to put up ... but this is a good start.

Paul Bunyan paid us a visit

Several trees were in the way.

Paul Bunyan showed up and looked after the problem.

(ok, it was Union Guy ... but he actually chopped a few of those down with the axe, not the chain saw!)

Bob has been found!

Bob was found today!

We thought we heard him last night, barking, in a field to the north of our land. Then again ... maybe it was the dog who lives up that way. Today, Union Guy headed over there and walked around, but had no luck. After The Boy got home from school, Union Guy suggested that he take a look over near the one line of trees that we hadn't checked yet ... and sure enough, there was Bob, tangled around a fence. He'd jumped over, gotten snagged, and wrapped himself around a few more times in an effort to get free. The Boy unhooked him and brought him home, where Union Guy had his dinner ready and a repaired trolley line waiting. Bob is now fed, happy, and safely tied up in the pasture.

McKenzie has been behaving very well - he stays home, stays with the sheep, and has pretty well outgrown his sheep-harassing stage. He barks at the coyotes (and the geese, and trucks on the road ...) and is being taught manners by the horned sheep (Bruce the ram has taken advantage of more than one 'teachable moment' when McKenzie got too enthusiastic!) Mac does climb the fences if they aren't tight enough, but I think he can be contained (our fencing skills are slowly improving). Unlike Bob, McKenzie can't leap a five foot fence from a standing stop: he has to crush the fence down with his not-insubstantial-weight and then force his way over. A line of tight barbed wire across the top should stop that particular habit.

Yup, fences are next on the list.

All that said, in the course of this latest adventure we had to do some hard thinking. We felt horrible wondering if Bob was hurt or lost or suffering ... but then again, McKenzie had things well in hand, he's quieter when he is by himself, and he stays with the sheep and doesn't need to be tied up. There was a measure of relief ... which of course was swiftly followed by guilt. We love Bob for who he is: his personality is somehow immediately engaging, and you just can't help but hug him when you see his goofy grin. Still, he doesn't seem to be a good fit for the job he was hired to do.

Bob has a wonderful personality and as a 'person' he is tremendously loveable. He is gentle with the lambs and sheep, and an excellent coyote deterrent. It is clear, though, that he needs much more space than we have: he simply cannot get it through his head that he only needs to guard our six acres ... he wants to keep an eye on everything he can see, which is, in fact, characteristic of his breed. The neighbours, though, don't really appreciate his help guarding their land.

It hurts to do it, but that doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do. I posted an ad tonight on the agriculture sale board where I first located Bob, last summer when we acquired our first sheep. There is a whole section on the board dedicated to herd and guard animals. In the right environment, I'm sure he'd do very well - but he needs something like a large cattle ranch (which is where he grew up) where he can keep an eye on the cattle and check out everything in the area unimpeded by fences.

It is painful to think of letting him go, but keeping him tied up is hard on him and on us, our fences are not likely to ever be sturdy enough to hold him (although with enough effort we might manage it), and it just seems unfair all around.

I did specify that we are looking for a "loving home", and I will be screening any prospective buyer carefully. It hurts to think of sending him somewhere else, he is such a neat character ... but it just feels wrong to keep him tied or harnessed or fenced in when his heart just needs to roam.

I hate tough decisions.

Bob, MIA again

Our news from today is not so good: I went to the city yesterday to do some shopping and when we got home today, Bob was not here. Union Guy had made Bob a 'trolley run' so he could have some space to run but still be tied up - Bob is a danger to himself since he roams if he isn't tied, and the neighbours don't want him around (for which one cannot blame them). Anyway, it appears that Bob managed to pull the cable loose, and his lead slipped off the trolley ... so he is off somewhere, trailing 15 feet of coated airline cable. That will snag on something - and Bob will be caught. We searched the near vicinity, called for him, got no reply. We looked around his usual haunts... no Bob. No sign. I can't imagine him getting very far with that lead behind him, but he didn't turn up in our search of the area. Not encouraging.

I miss him already. Bob is such a cool character, even if he has some issues with doing the job we need him to do ... as a 'person', I really like him.

At least McKenzie stayed home with his sheep, doing his job and being a good guardian. That's an encouraging bit in a long day.

Shearing by hand

Most people call a professional shearer when it is time to get the wool off their sheep. Since McKenzie had already removed half the fleece from Split earlier in the year, though, and I only have five other sheep that need shearing, it didn't really seem worth the trouble to bring someone in.

So ... I got a pair of hand shears, and talked Union Guy into volunteering for Sheep Restraint Duty: he holds the sheep steady, I trim. Trimming a sheep with hand shears takes me anywhere from one to two hours: I am sure it can be done faster, but I'm still learning! Cookie went first, and she looked like a completely different animal when we were done (I don't think she'd ever been shorn!). Natalie was second, and she was very unhappy about the entire process ... perhaps because her lambs were nearby. Brownie was the last we've done, and she was pretty relaxed in comparison ... she struggled some, but her fleece came off in lovely large chunks (I am not yet skilled enough to get a fleece off all in one piece). We put an old carpet down where we were shearing, so her fleece stayed nice and clean.


Unfortunately, the sheep look like they were attacked by a weed whacker when I'm finished with them. They are much cooler, though, and the fleece fluffs back up again after a few days, so they don't look quite so bad. :)

The rams are still not shorn, and they are panting and looking quite miserable, even at temperatures not all that far above zero.

We got plenty of wool from the Icelandic girls, and it is indeed lovely to work with. Brownie's fleece was cleaner and in larger pieces so I tried spinning it directly from the shorn fleece. Wonder of wonders, it worked out! I have several skeins of spun singles washed up and ready to be added to the scarf I am knitting from the fleece taken from my own flock of sheep. What a wonderful feeling to raise the sheep, shear them by hand, prepare the wool entirely on my own, and knit it into something useful!

Lamb updates

It's been awhile, so I thought I should post some lamb updates. :)

We went over to Leader's house today and picked up Curry, the Boy's new 4H market lamb. He was purchased at the beginning of the month, but he needed some extra time with his momma to get more milk and grow big ... and my goodness, that must be good milk because he has definitely gotten big! How do I know this? I carried him from the pen to the truck, and he is heavy!

We've been periodically weighing the other lambs, using our less-than-exact method of standing on the scale, picking up the lamb, and doing the math. It would appear that our first lambs are not gaining particularly well - they weigh only 15 lbs each, which is the same weight as Coca Cola and Clarence, who are a full month younger! Cola and Clarence are doing really well: they have lovely fleece and are gaining steadily.

Corolla still is our most active lamb. She loves tearing around the pasture, and at 25 lbs she is the biggest of our new arrivals (not particularly surprising, as she is a single not a twin). Cutter and Crumb, the first lambs, are healthy and happy, if small, and Cherub, The Boy's 4H breeding ewe lamb, seems quite content to sit on the hill and bask in the sunshine most afternoons. She is well up over 50 lbs, so weighing her is getting to be more and more challenging!

Aaaah ... sheep are great. :)