An Ovine Adventure - Part II

First a quick recap. Dan suspected fly strike in the sheep so Yael and I corralled them in front of the red, red barn and I waited for our sheep expert, John, to come and evaluate them.

And I waited. In fact, I waited all day. I finally called Auckland at twilight to report that John had never called. See, the idea was that John would call when he got near our farm and I would go down to the corral and meet him. No John. At least, so I thought. During my phone call to Dan we agreed that I would go to Dave's place (sheep savvy neighbor) and get him to look at the flock.

Off I went. No Dave. Nobody home at his farm so I was on my own. Now I am not comfortable making major decisions, indeed, life changing decisions, on my own when these are not my sheep. But needs must. Climb the gate, walk very slowly to the corral and observe. Nothing! Only one ewe who twitched slightly. No head buttings, no twitching, no flies, etc. etc. So I follow plan C which is to release the sheep back to paddock #2. The corral is small and they have been there all day. They need space and fresh grass. BUT, there is one ewe that might have fly strike. I will need to keep her in the corral.

Now, how do you let 16 sheep out of a corral, up a rope line and into a paddock while simultaneously keeping one frantic ewe (and a mother no less!) from going with them? I didn't have a clue; I just knew that that was what I had to do. And do alone! I felt pretty much like a Survivor contestant. I am happy to relate that I rose to the challenge.

I had two things going for me. The first, the sheep wanted nothing to do with me. Wherever I was, they weren't. Second, they desperately wanted out of that corral. The gate to the rope line is long, wooden, wet and heavy. I could not swing it from near the hinges, I had to be out in the corral near the open end. But if I did that then the sheep wouldn't come near the gate because I was there. It took a few futile attempts but I managed to run with the gate back and forth, letting just a few sheep out at a time. All this while I am keeping on eye on the possibly infected ewe and trying to hustle her to the back of the queue.

Each time 2 or 3 scooted through, I had to shut the gate and scurry after them to chase them past the rope line and up far into the paddock. Then back to gate swinging duty and isolating of the "sick" ewe. Eventually it was all done. The 16 sheep were huddled around a tree halfway up paddock #2 telling war stories of their escape from Stalag 17. The one remaining ewe was standing huddled in the far corner of the corral too dispirited to even look at me.

I went home and called Auckland to report. "I couldn't find any sign of fly strike." I began. "But there was one ewe that was iffy so I kept her and released the rest back into the paddock." I was nervous. This was a major decision to make on my own. "Good news", Yael reported back. "John dropped by and didn't see any sign of fly strike either."

Yeah it was good news. Better news would have been if John had called me and we had met up at the corral. I could have let all 17 back into the paddock and not frantically worried about getting it wrong. So that poor, pent ewe was trapped in isolation. I thought about her all night. And scampered down to the corral at daybreak to let her out. Her baby was still calling for her and she was so frazzled that she bolted right by me, right through the rope line, and into the wrong paddock.

I tried to move her but the steers were in paddock #1 with her so I couldn't leave the gate between 1 and 2 open. She was totally berserk and I finally gave up. When Dan gets back, he and I can move her together. So for another 48 hours she and baby lamb will be separated. But at least the lamb is weaned and the ewe can move freely around the paddock.

And that it what she did. She hung close to the fence between 1 and 2 and seemed relatively content. That is until Dan and I came to move her. And that will be the third and final episode of my Ovine Adventure. Stay tuned.