Sheep Eat My Grass; the Year in Review

Simple temporary shade shelter

It has been an interesting first summer of having livestock on the property.  With the challenges of building fence, rotating the sheep through pastures, building temporary shelters for shade and experiencing the shearing process, we have learned a great deal.  It was delightful to come home from work and enjoy the bucolic scene of sheep eating the grass that I no longer had to mow.  We would sit outside watching and enjoying, joined by the gregarious hens.  All so peaceful…that is until coyotes killed two of our flock. 

The ewes after shearing

A harsh lesson was learned about how to protect the sheep from predation.  And then there was the issue of losing our American Black Bellied ram, Simon to a massive abdominal infection with another valuable lesson learned about not getting too attached to livestock that were never intended to be pets.  And we did have a couple of incidents of the sheep escaping captivity before the perimeter fences were complete.  In both cases, we got lucky.  The first time, one of the ewes escaped while we were building a new enclosure and had a gap that we thought we could protect.  We were wrong and she took off like she had a wolf on her tail, headed west at a high rate of speed.  We followed her for a couple of miles before we gave up, realizing we couldn’t flank her or get her turned for home.  The young Border collie we were training just wasn’t ready for prime time and was no help.  It was getting dark when we gave up, figuring her to be the next meal for the coyotes.  To our surprise, she showed up the following evening and we were able to get her back in with her mates. 

Cattle panels for security

The second incident happened when the temporary fencing we were using as a chute fell over in the rocky ground and the sheep calmly stepped over it and went for a stroll, all of them this time.  Fortunately, they weren’t trying to escape, just wandering a bit.  With the use of the older Border collie and help from a neighbor, we were able to get them back inside the pen in about and hour without too much difficulty.

A tank heater will prevent ice this winter

All things considered, it has been a delightful experience with a couple of not so pleasant events mixed in.  Our emphasis now is preparing for winter and lambs next spring.  There is much to be done; building shelters, making sure we have enough hay put by, and installing freeze proof water tanks along with feeding bunks. 

The sheep have to share the pasture!

I sometimes wonder why we are doing this.  As I approach retirement, I should be simplifying, not adding more work and responsibility.  And yet, I can honestly say  that after the first summer, even with the difficulties we experienced, I would do it again in a heart-beat. I would do a couple of things differently and I will have that opportunity and more next year.  Just wait ‘till you see the photos of the lambs!