We’ve Been to this Rodeo Before

As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, I think back to a year ago. The summer and early fall of 2012 were a whirlwind, to say the least. Move to Vermont; buy a flock of sheep; lose two (for 5 nights) and one (forever, to parasites); buy a small barn; learn to manage our flock and our pasture with movable electric fencing; train the flock to come to grain; install a permanent electric perimeter fence; cut down 20 trees and make lots of firewood. By the time late October rolled around, the pace slowed a bit and we started getting used to our routines. But we still had our exciting times – playing doctor to Calvin and Danny; putting Calvin in with Martha, Dolly, and Daisy; Superstorm Sandy.

This weekend we reviewed our barnyard setup. When the snow flies and covers the fields, we’ll bring the flock up to the barnyard, and we’ll need to set up barriers between the boys – Calvin and his son Nash – and the girls (six which we hope will be pregnant, and two lambs – Ella and Jewel – that we really don’t want to get pregnant – yet). As we stood in the barn discussing options, Peg said, “Do you believe we’re doing this again?”

Winter isn’t all that hard for us, but it does involve more daily work – giving the flock hay, making sure the heated water buckets are working and full of clean water. We’ve learned from last winter that we need to be more diligent about moving snow around in the barnyard. Last year we found the snow piled up right inside the barnyard gate, making it increasingly difficult to get in and out of the barnyard. Peg finally went out and carved steps in the mound to make the going easier. Also, the yard in front of the barn doors got very mucky.  You can’t tell it now, after a full year of grass growth, but it will happen again if we don’t make the sheep move around more in the yard. Personally, I’d like to keep the barn doors closed (with the sheep on the outside) more often to minimize the amount of muck that builds up on the barn floor. Peg isn’t as “concerned” as I am on this point.

We have agreed on a new setup for the boys.  We are going to bring their rolling shelter up from the field, set it just south of the barn, close up the west-facing opening, and pretty much keep the boys completely out of the barn. This may let us use some of the space inside to store more hay. We can only get about a dozen bales at a time on the shelves we’ve built, but if we could stack some on the floor, we could easily double our storage capacity. George came by to tell us there are 50 bales down in Leo’s barn waiting for us. He kindly contributes the bales as a “thanks” for allowing him to cut hay on the east field for his dairy herd. Last winter it was a weekly trek to the barn to replenish the hay. Hopefully, with the new feeders we’ve built, the sheep will be more efficient consumers, but we’ll still need to make regular barn runs, probably beginning in a month or so.

There is some comfort in thinking about the months ahead. We have a year of experience under our belts. Our mentor, Louise, jokingly called us “pros” when we chatted with her at the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival. Hardly. If we know one thing, it’s that there are plenty of surprises ahead. Some we’ll be ready for, others will throw us for a loop. But knowing how the sheep behave, having some sense of what to look out for, gives us more confidence.

Here’s an example – a couple days ago, we thought that Jewel might be limping – favoring her front right leg. After feeding one morning, I grabbed on to her (we can still do that with the lambs, not so much with the ewes) and Peg picked up the poop-covered hoof for an “exam”. She tried to feel if it was hot (infection), but really couldn’t see anything amiss. We decided to “monitor” the situation. Sunday morning Peg suggested taking her temperature. Using grain this time to entice her, I grabbed and held her as still as I could while Peg did the rest of the work. 102.8 degrees – normal (for a sheep), no infection. We feel pretty confident she is OK. A year ago we wouldn’t have felt so sure (and we might still be wrong), but we’ve done what we can and feel pretty good about it.

Todd