The picture above is of our ewe lambs. These are females born last July/August/September who are destined to provide us with cute, cuddly lambs in 2016. The problem is that they don't want to wait that long.
Their mothers and aunts are frolicking in other pastures with our borrowed ram. Our shearer has lent us a fine specimen of ovine masculinity and our ewes are mightily pleased. Our ewe lambs are envious. Downright green-eyed with jealousy.
We think they're too young to mate and far and away too young to be mothers. They might reluctantly agree that motherhood should be postponed but they have quite definite ideas that some practice mating this season would be a good idea. Teenagers! They're all the same.
So we separated them out from the flock. As you can see, they are in what we call the front paddock which is directly in front of the house. There is a far paddock (aren't we clever with our naming?) that opens off the front paddock and we moved them in there as far from the ram as possible.
This worked fine until they ate down the far paddock and we moved them into the front one. From there the catcalls of satisfied ewes across the driveway echoed all day long. Our ewe lambs couldn't stand it. They bolted. They knocked down the fence rails, burrowed under the gate (see below picture with the gap on the left gate), and headed for the testosterone laden ram.
They didn't make it. The ram was busy elsewhere and they couldn't find a gap in the fence into his paddock. So they made do with an al fresco buffet on the main driveway. Obviously they had to be moved. Who got that chore? Guess. A subtle hint: I was the only one at the farm at the time.
So I got in my car, shut all the gates along the shared driveway and then tried to figure out what paddock to put the ewe lambs in. Notice my optimism that I'd get them in. One side of the driveway was off limits - filled with mating sheep. The only other paddock was filled with our 2 steers.
Now they could share the paddock but I would have to leave the gate open for an unspecified amount of time while I rounded up the lambs and herded them into the paddock. Not a good idea since the steers were quite likely to amble out to see what all the fuss was about and I'd never be able to get them back in.
That left the front paddock again. The far paddock is still grazed down. I eventually managed to get them back in the paddock. The key word is 'eventually'. Then I was faced with the prospect of them getting out again. So I wrapped the fence in rope and bird netting. Ditto with the gate. Finally I called Dan to report in.
We agreed that the best plan was to shepherd the lambs into the far paddock at night and let them into the front paddock to graze during the day. So that is what I have been doing. Luckily Dan is up here now and can reinforce the fence so they can't get out. Because I have to tell you, this herding stuff is getting old - really, really old. Or perhaps its just that I'm getting old - really, really old.
Til next time.
