Sheep 101

It's not often you'll find a cattleman that also has sheep, and if you do find one he usually vehemently denies it in public or the company of strangers. I'll just throw this morsel of personal information out there for you.

I have 3 sheep.

It's true. These 3 sheep have one purpose in life and that is to keep me from mowing about half the yard. They do a real good job of keeping it ate down with very little sheep maintenance on my part. Seriously... these 3 sheep get sheared a couple times a year and the rest of the time they just wander around eating and pooping and eating and pooping. It's like their lives are just so consumed with busyness that they can't take a break from eating to go over somewhere and poop... it's like watching a factory. Consumables in, some wallowing of mouth parts, take another bite, a swallow, a burp, some more swallowing, take another bite and then onto the conveyor belt inside of a sheep that hauls it all out the back end. I can't imagine how much more humans could get done on earth if we were as intense with our jobs as sheep are with eating. (and pooping)

So I started this post with "sheep 101", so I'm gonna give you everything that I've learned about sheep in 10 years of owning em. Here it is... ready?

Regardless of how advanced modern veterinary medicine is and how much money you have to spend on sick sheep, it's a moot point. From the moment you notice that a sheep is sick to the point that it dies is on average, 23 minutes. Sheep die. That's most of what I know for certain about sheep.

See the thing is, when I notice I've got a sick calf or a cow bloats up, I got some time to throw some hard earned money at it before it dies. AND it rarely dies, usually either me or the Vet can save it. Sheep? Not so much.

Here's our 2 white sheep (I'm sure there's some high falootin' breed name for 'em, but I refuse to own up to knowing it) the Psycho Sisters, Dummy and Stupid. That's Dummy on the left. They are both insane and dangerous.



And this is Ruby. Ruby is antique in the world of sheepdom, as near as we can figure she's 14 years old and is also a genius and a legend.



Okay back to sheep dieing. My classic dead sheep story is about a Buck (that's a boy sheep with the jewelry still attached, for you city folk) we had named Randy. He got named after he was here for awhile... the ol boy got around. Anyhow, one morning I left to go to the farm and when I got in the truck there was Randy standing at the orange gate just looking at me leave. 2 hours later I get back home and walk in the house and it went like this.

Sal: Randy's dead

Me: No he's not, I just saw him standing in front of the orange gate 2 hours ago.

Sal: Well, he's dead now.

Me: Where?

Sal: In the barn, he's just in there dead.

Me: You sure he's not just sleepin'?

Sal: *rolling her eyes* Yessss Jacccccceeee. He's a dead sheep.

So I go out to the barn and sure enough, there's ol' Randy, dead as dead can be. And that's the way it goes with sheep, kind of a weird thing. You got sheep they're either alive or dead, there's no in between.

I got one more picture of Ruby... this crazy ol' sheep thinks I'm 'bout it. I give her treats, leftover salad, cut up apples, jello, gum. She's my best buddy and gets it in her little pea brain that she's part dog. I'll let her out and after she get's thru gorging on yard grass she'll just follow me around like she's on a leash. Go figure. I got my best sweatshirt on for this pic.




If any of my cattle owning buddies saw this, it'd most likely be the end of any credibility that I have.

:-)
J.