The Great Animal Shuffle

Keeping Charlie and the lambs separate unfortunately requires us to engage in a twice daily Great Animal Shuffle.  The first thing you should know is that making sheep go where you want them to go is next to impossible.  There is a reason that shepherds use sheepdogs.  Second, and lucky for us, a lamb acts as a homing beacon for its mother.  It is really quite amazing how quickly most ewes come running when her lambs call.

Each morning and evening, Ian and I must move both sets of ewes and their lambs from the barn in one paddock into the goats' grazing field in a separate paddock.  Unfortunately there is no gate directly between these fields, so we must wrangle the sheep through the backyard and past my ever so delicious vegetable gardens to get to our final destination.  Alice is an excellent mother and stays glued to the leg of whomever is carrying her lambs.  Violet, on the other hand, gets easily distracted by new greenery.  This often results in one (and usually both) of us yelling repeatedly, "Violet?  Focus!  Where is your baby??"  and hoping Cobalt baa's continually to keep her on track.  If it wasn't so frustrating, it would be funny - Violet running haphazardly around the backyard in search of her lamb stopping every 2 or 3 seconds to munch a tree, vegetable, or hops plant as she forgets what she is supposed to be looking for until Cobalt's insistent call jogs her memory and she continues on her way.

Liam and Seamus helping with morning lamb relocation.

The ridiculousness of the Great Animal Shuffle cannot continue.  Tomorrow Ian and Weston are constructing a fence to divide our back paddock into two sections so that Charlie and the lambs can co-exist safely and in relative harmony on their respective side until the lambs are grown.

Seamus and I secured all the necessary fencing materials today.  Ever the helper, Seamus aided Mr. Pierre at TSC (thank goodness for his patience) in loading our trailer with bags of quick set post cement. I have no doubt that he would have tried to load the t-posts and corn crib if I'd let him.  Seamus was the talk of TSC with many the farmer noting his exceptional work ethic and alerting me that I am lucky to have such a fine farm hand in the making.  I know.  Seamus is quite the kid!

Seamus and Mr. Pierre at TSC.