So my powers of “knowing which Ewe will lamb” Clearly Do Not Exist!
I thought one of my Katahdin ewes was going to lamb last night. So at 2:30 AM I was moving sheep in the dark (well Drover was!) I had the ram in with the ewes and thought better of it! I opened the stall door and out sprang 3 ewes and the ram followed before I could do a thing! (like shut the stall door) …Off they raced. Drover and I fixed the other stall up and I told him to ‘Go bring my sheep back” He did a fine job. It was foggy and pitch dark…I could not see a thing. But Drover fetched the sheep from the woods in along my drive way back to the barn where I was waiting.
No that ewe I thought was in labor was not.
This morning I went to the barn …looked in each stall no lambs! so I let the sheep out. Shut the stall door and went to open the gate to the big field. I heard a ewe calling and went back to the barn opened the stall door and out sprang a Churrio Navaho ewe ! Left that lamb like it was nothing! she took off, and I caught the lamb. I told Drover to stay and he did! Then I took the lamb (A ewe) and enticed the Momma to follow me back to the stall! Lesson learned LOOK good in the stall before letting sheep out!
I have 14 ewes that are all bagged up and I believe ready to lamb!
I had some really nice folks in yesterday and they spent the night in The Shepherds Cottage. (they were here from Alabama to pick up their puppy) They brought me 2 beautiful, big, really nice Roosters! They are beautiful! The hens are happy…Maybe we will have come baby chicks by Easter!
Photos tomorrow!
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We enjoyed our trip and were so blessed by your kindness and hospitality. The Shepherd’s Cottage was such a nice place to stay after the long drive! We named our puppy: Drover’s Dallas, or Dallas, for short.
Dallas was great on the way home and was very used to the leash by the time we had arrived back in Alabama. We are surprised to see how intelligent Dallas is and how quickly he has learned to sit and wait for us to go outside and then follow only when invited to follow.
He is sleeping good and adjusting to the new home with new things to learn. He is getting along fine with our two Yorkshire Terriers. “Whew!” They are trying to teach him all about hunting field mice. He seems to enjoy his time around the chickens and is gentle with them.
We took him to his first Vet visit this afternoon and he quickly won over the hearts of the doctor and staff. The vet gave him a series of pokes, prods, needle sticks followed up with checking his joints, ears, eyes, teeth, etc… Dallas took it like a champ and returned his rough treatment with kisses and affection.The doctor gave him a excellent bill of health and said that he is a healthy 14.4 Lbs. The folks around here have not seen an English Shepherd before Dallas arrived, but are intrigued and fascinated by him; asking us a lot of questions.
The vet said that he had read a lot about the breed and that he was happy to see one in person. He described the English Shepherd as a large Aussie with an off switch. He also commented how intelligent and calm Dallas seems as compared to the border collie and Aussie puppies he has seen lately.. commenting: “they are all over the place and will not sit still for a second. Dallas, on the other hand, just looks from one person’s face to the next.”
Ill try not to be so long winded with the next update… We are so pleased and feel very blessed to have Dallas. Thank you again and God bless!