Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to walk. I will gladly go with anyone at anytime, it is just my thing. This is the kind of walking I have been blessed with this week.
These little guys have had quite the afternoon (I will try to explain why), and then we take this little walk to a new pasture or sometimes for fun they get to take a ride in Farmer's truck. Either way, it is an adventure.
A typical afternoon at Farmer B.'s looks a lot like this. A wild woolly round-up of sheep and if you look over at the truck,
...these two border collies, the Wonder Twins watching from their special seats.
And when those two elements are mixed together, it look like this...
These two border collies are full of vigor and vim, I have decided to call them the "Wonder Twins". One minute they are in the truck and the next minute they are half way across the barnyard. It is amazing to watch.
**I don't know them well enough to even begin to explain them (and they do need an explanation). I will have to get Farmer B.'s life (wife) to be a guest blogger for their post. They need a blog all their own.
All I can say today is - they can take a bunch of uneasy sheep and turn them into a blender of whipped fluff, loud bleats, and flying pooh. That gets pretty exciting!
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All the babies get lifted up out of the swirling-whirling Mums, two at a time (and usually by one leg), and hefted into another pen.
Farmer takes a count.
Farmer looks over the brood for misfits - the little scrawnies that need some extra care.
Then the tools come out and the Ewes freak out.
(Not at the tools, but at the fact that they can't get to their little babies. The noise level is off the charts at this point.)
(a slight disclosure: If you can't handle the truth...scroll past this section. I don't want to be responsible for scarring you.)
A helper holds the little lamb by his/her legs, and sets them up on the make-shift operation table. Farmer clamps them all with a red metal ear-clip, a way cool piercing that makes them part of his sheep gang.
The little girls get a working over with the ear snips and the boys get a working over with male parts snips (isn't that what you would call them Farmer?).
You still with me?
Then the little cuties head over to Grandpa (Abuelo Papa), and he fixes them up with a "short" or "not so short" new tail (depending on the type and color of the wool), and they are ink-branded with a big beautiful letter B.
Look at that trusting little face...
Rarely one gets away from us and we have to go chase him around.
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The Mums and babes decide that they have had enough fun, and they are ready to go now.
The pasture is a short walk down the road. But when it fills up - everyone hops in Farmer's truck for a drive to a new field.
Here they are all loaded up in the truck. See the little ears? Not an easy task to get them all buckled in their little car seats.
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Here's a pic of one of the sweetest faces you could ever see. So precious.
Bye babies...miss you!
Mums get loaded in the trailer, and they don't really want to. They make a huge fuss over who gets the window seats. There is a lot of hoofing and yelling, but they all eventually get inside. I stay out of the way, I know what damage can be done with that much estrogen in one place!
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Then we wash up. I get to wash up with gasoline because I was covered in blue dye (never good when you are a Utah Utes fan). I will be more careful next time.
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And on walking days...we take a walk.
On this day Farmer B. thinks the dogs might want to walk with us. After we get herded into circles a few times, the dogs found their way back to the truck.
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In minutes, we find our way to a heavenly place - a happy field of fresh greens, an all-you-can-eat kind of place. Yes, this is seriously a lambs paradise.
Love to you all,
& warm prayers for our little lambs on this cold wet night,
remembering they are always in HIS hands,
jj
Keep reading older posts for other stories of lambing adventures in the barnyard!
