The Animal Kingdom Strikes Back

While I have been busy battling possums, the rest of our animal kingdom has been plotting its revolt. We had put the flock and the herd together in the big paddock in front of the new barn. They always got on well; how well we didn’t have a clue.

Dan strung the electrified wire tape to protect the oak sapling and the hay in the barn and went off back down to Auckland. The next morning I began my morning bed check. The tape was down, the barn had been invaded by the flock and the steers were resolutely refusing to look me in the eye.

Now I’m not the brightest bulb in the pack but even I knew something was amiss. I called Dan and got instructions on how to de-electrify the fence (which was still ‘on’) and restring the tape. I had no problems and the steers were conspicuously uninterested in my endeavour. That in itself was strange. They are usually all over me; watching any unusual event with silent intensity.

Back to my normal routine. Down the road to the mail boxes; back up with a detour to check the lambs. All was going well there. Then I sashayed past the barn paddock again. The tape was down!  I couldn’t figure it out. There was enough voltage surging through to stop even our steers. I was stumped until the next day when I finally glimpsed the ram pushing past the tape and into the rain-free barn. The rest of the sheep followed suit. I guess 30 pounds of wool operate as insulation from the electricity.

I reset the tape. I didn’t see this myself but some time that night, the sheep ran interference on the voltage for the steers and into the barn they went. Our hay supply diminished rapidly. The sheep smirked. Okay score one for the four-legged team.

I didn’t realize that even the wild critters were part of the revolt. I was setting my possum trap every night and coming up empty all of a sudden. From one possum a night to zero night after night is a bit of a puzzle. But I had clues; there were bits of fur around the trap, the apple pieces were gone, and the trap had been dragged a significant distance. Conclusion, Watson? Some fairly strong animal was pulling the trap and extricating the fruit. Some animal with fur. My guess is some sort of weasel or ferret.

At the same time I am invaded by rats yet again. My attic sounded like a rodent convention at happy hour. Since my rooms are under the eaves, the revelry is pretty darn near me. Now rats creep me out and I keep imagining them storming my admittedly flimsy door and swarming over me. Dan has put out more rat killer. I plan on asking for a monthly application (just for peace of mind).

But the last straw in this hostility-filled week was the lambs’ revenge. I went down to the mail box as usual but didn’t see the lambs. Okay, sometimes they were over the hill and out of sight. But they weren’t visible that afternoon either. Into the #2 paddock I went. And there were the lambs – 2 of them – clustered near the fence separating the paddock from the underbrush, creek, and trees that act as a buffer between #2 and #3 paddocks.

Closer examination revealed Starlight caught in the underbrush. I have no idea how long she had been there but she obviously couldn’t get out on her own. Okay, in climbs the 2-legged old lady. The lamb thrashes around and finally we both emerge dishevelled and irritated. Starlight bolts back through the gap in the fence. I clamber through and watch as all 3 lambs start bellowing at me. For once they are not running away; they are standing their ground. This makes me nervous. I do a makeshift repair on the fence.

I gingerly skirt the sheep and make my way back past the surly sheep and steers to the safety of my rooms. No rats! No revolt! I’m safe for another night.