It was the long, brown curls that hung in front of his eyes that captured my heart. From the moment I first saw Hugh Ferring-Wittingstale on River Cottage years ago, I was totally in love. So when Hugh moved to the country and fell in love with his beloved Dorset sheep… well, I did too.
I remember watching him that first season on his television show as he was painfully learning the farm lessons that so many of us do. His cow was open. His ewes were wild. I loved it – maybe I wasn't alone in this world after all! I remember specifically watching his neighbor come over one night when a ewe was lambing. She helped deliver the distressed lamb and then quickly rubbed hay on it's nose and swung it in circles by it's back legs to get it breathing. Hugh looked terrified – you could tell he loved and cared for his ewe and her struggling baby.
I completely fell in love with sheep that moment.
Had I ever had them? No. Been around them? A teeny bit. But I knew I loved them. I think deep about stuff like that.
A few years back, I happily stocked our fields with a few breeding ewes and a ram from a friend of mine. Hamish, Rosie, and Eleanor were the very beginning of our Katahdin sheep herd and I was elated to have them grazing the fields. Eleanor was a bottle lamb and spent many mornings curled up in my lap drinking Sal's milk. Sounds romantic, doesn't it?
But friends. My friends. You've always been able to count on me to be honest – have you not? And you've grown to know that I continually fail in all my attempts at least a dozen times before I experience any sort of success – no?
Sheep, y'all. Sheep.
I friggin' love them. And Lawdy, do I absolutely hate them.
I appreciate that sheep are silent most of they day, apart from a few gentle bleets when the hay is being delivered for breakfast (unlike the geese who tend to verbally assault me all day). Their shape… their structure… their demeanor… their femininity… their regolness. I fall in love with them more every day.
But I'll be danged if they are not the stupidest animal I've ever encountered. Y'all. The sheep saga is REAL. I've heard it said that sheep are the one animal on the farm that seem to actively seek out ways to die. And frankly, it's the truth. Sheep – oh beautiful sheep – why must you be so difficult?!
I think our sheep survival rate is roughly 50%. Terrible, terrible odds. Our young ram, Guido, was butchered last year – he was beautiful and delicious. We brought in 3 more young rams this past spring for a larger harvest – one was attacked by a small predator and failed to recover. Another broke into the chicken coop and ate their grain, only to bloat and die a day later. One of our new breeding ewes ran off and got herself killed only God knows how. Our little lamb Pocket died after his first time Mama went mental. And just this morning, we went out to find our main man Hamish had also been attacked by a predator – what was most likely a stray dog (we've noticed him on our property recently) or coyote.
I'm sure Hamish was protecting his 3 pregnant ladies, which I am very thankful for. This big boy, while limping and slightly damaged, can take a punch. He's rough and tough and amazing. Love that ram.
In an effort to bandage and treat his wounds, as well as treat him with a pain medication and antibiotics, we knew we'd need to herd the sheep into the old milking parlor so that we could keep them in closer quarters. They were roaming a 2 acre parcel of snow land and honestly, it's pretty dang hard to chase sheep around steep mountainous terrain. They have incredible agility, balance, and stamina. I, being six months pregnant, do not.
The problem began with 8″ of fresh new snow. Coupled with the snow we've already received this year, that meant I was up to my knees in powder. Which is, ahem, super easy to walk in. Especially with coveralls and winter boots. But farming doesn't care if there is snow, and Hamish certainly needed to be treated, so we had no choice. Stu and I bundled up, brought Toby in to help, and began herding the sheep towards the parlor.
Sheep are stupid. Sheep run fast. Sheep run you over. Sheep don't care if you poke them with your shephard's crook – they just stand there in the snow and stare at you with their little beady eyes and laugh and mock you. Especially Eleanor. Because she's so comfortable with us, she doesn't have the typical ‘flight zone' that you can count on with herd animals. At one point, I sat on her back like a horse to keep her from moving back into the pasture because I was so winded. She didn't even care – she just calmly looked back at me and kept eating her hay. Sheep are heavy, too. Like, cement blocks. Best you can do is grab a tuft of their wool as they whiz by you.
I cursed more times than I care to admit while we were moving those stupid sheep. The super steep hills we were climbing up, the snow, the disobedient animals, the whole sha-bang, man. It was just epic. It was one of those farm moments when you question what the hell it is you're doing.
Sort of like the other night when I noticed the gigantic bellies on one of our ewes, Noel. When did her belly get sooooo big? Did it ‘drop'? Do sheep ‘drop' before they lamb? Could she be ready to lamb already? Why wasn't she eating? Why was she holding her tail up like that? I couldn't really see her teats with all the snow and wool… I stared and stared and finally decided we should check her, just to be safe.
After all, it was 2 degrees. 2 DEGREES. If she had a lamb outside, even in a shelter, the chances of survival were low.
So we put the littles to bed, bundled up, and went out into the pitch black to check her.
We tried desperately to check her without having to rope her, but after 30 minutes of trying, we were freezing and ready to get on with it. I'm not the best roper in the world, but I can throw a rope. That is, when I'm not wearing ski gloves and when it's not 2 degrees and when it's not pitch black (besides the head lamp Stu was wearing). Did I mention there was 2 feet of snow?! And we were on a steep hill? Recipe for magic, baby!
I did eventually catch her head, after a few missed throws and a lot of trudging around in the snow chasing a herd of stupid sheep. Stu flipped her on her side and I began inspecting her belly… her teats… her girly bits.
I squeezed her teats. Nothin'. That's a good sign.
She looked gooey. Was she gooey? Yes, definitely gooey.
I checked internally for feet. Nothin'. Good! No feet meant no imminent births during the winter from hell.
… but then I realized the moment I was in and I began to laugh out loud in the silence and stillness of the night. Here I sat, six months pregnant, wrapped up like a sausage in all my snow clothes, in the pitch black, single digit temperatures, with my fingers up a sheep's business and a rope around my shoulders.
Oh sheep. What am I to do with your beautiful, ridiculous ways.
I love you. And sometimes I hate you. But I mostly love you.
Oh the torment!
steve
Opps! https://www.rivercottage.net/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall
Dee
Ah, yes. The mental shortcomings of the sheep. I always believed one could wander around a large rock and become hopelessly lost. Then stand there bleating to beat the band and you look at them, in clear view of the barn, the other sheep, all familiarity think, Really?
Makes you wonder why the Lord chose to refer to us as His ‘sheep’, doesn’t it?
Beth Pietlicki
You my dear, are a fantastic writer. The images that you conjured in my mind were incredible. I could see every stinkin struggle you had gone through with your sweet sheep. I also never knew that they were stupid, but I truly always knew that I loved them too.
Thank you so much for such a refreshing and delightful insight into your saga. It made me smile.
Beth Pietlicki
I had wondered the same thing about why God refers us to sheep. It must be our stubborn natures, and willfulness!
Hannah
I watched a BBC farm series (can’t remember which one) and the guys said that sheep are the one animal where you can do everything right and still lose them. Sounds like it’s dang difficult, but they’re so cute that I can see how you’d fall in love (And they’re pretty tasty too). I bet you can’t wait to be on the new farm, no more uphill battles with stupid sheep!
Suzanne
You need some corgis , girl!!!
Meredith
We have had quite the sheep saga, too. We brought a small herd of pregnant Katahdin ewes to our farm a couple months ago. The first day, before off-loading them, a stray dog jumped into the trailer and chased one of the sheep off and she ran away. We were certain she was doomed the first night- we have a healthy coyote population, but we saw her a few days later. We were unable to catch her and she disappeared again. We saw her a few times in the next week, each time she ran away and I assumed it would be the last I saw of her. Two weeks after her original escape, she showed up in our horse pasture. We were able to slowly set up an electric fence around her, and it worked! Getting her back with her friends is a whole other story…. But she survived, against all odds! Let’s see how the rest of the winter treats the ewes :-/
Peacock Orchard
And here I thought the ability to kill themselves solely belonged to goats. Well goats and guineas. Lost half of the stupid birds to walls they’d flown into.
j
Yes, I agree. Our pet Katahdin loved to be loved on, and brushed every day until about a week ago. I rescued him from our mini donkey, who had Moe laying on his side in some battle of dominance. I moved the mini donk to another pasture, leaving Moe with his calf and goat friends. Now I’ve been snubbed by this lamb, for saving him…..maybe it hurt his pride?
I’m sad that my bottle raised baby (now 11 months) doesn’t seem to love me anymore=(
Catherine
I hear you! we raise suffolk/hamp meat sheep and boy they are a trip. Our ewes are big and sassy especially when they have lambs and you have a flake of hay in your hand (ha). We just had a predator scare with ours but luckily caught it just in time and were able to save the ewe…Oh the stories we could share!
Miley D.
HA-HA-HA-HA!!!! Oh my…. I can barely catch my breath after reading your story!! Been there – done that! You are the best writer – for just stating it like it is! I have Katahdin sheep and I agree whole-heartedly that sheep are stupid! I love my girls to the heavens – but try to catch them – it is like trying to catch a greased pig!! We have a nice shed with a fence close to the shed – we get them all behind the shed and fence them in. That is how we do shots – deworm – check feet – etc. It is close quarters, but it works! Of course, it takes me and my 2 younger girls, and at least one boyfriend to assist! It is not an easy task – thankfully, it only happens once a year. We are pretty lucky – the coyotes get close, but have never hurt the sheep.
I hope your ram recovers! Keep up the great writing girl – you are a true blessing!
Victoria
um. Excuse me.
And Amen.
(there. I feel better now)
Carole West @ Garden Up Green
I to raise sheep and where everybody tells me their dumb I think it’s not completely true. I raise jacob sheep so maybe it’s different from breed to breed. We also use rotational grazing which is a huge help to keeping them healthy and we lamb in the field using mobile shelters. I decided to skip lambing this year because year is just really busy for us. You mentioned you have them in a 2 acre pasture, if you broke that 2 acres down to 2 or three pastures you could rotate their pasture time. It will take them a few rotations to get use to the new set up but once they know the routine you’ll find them at the gate by the end of the week waiting for a new pasture. They will begin to look at you more as the Shepard someone they need instead of someone to run from. I would also recommend a sheep run that goes into a pen area, use alfalfa pellets to train them, find out who the leader is in your flock, bond with her and the rest will follow. I also use a llama to guard them and she is a huge help when it comes to herding. I love how you described catching them, made me laugh because I’ve been there. I remember one time we had a few Katahdin and I sold them because I wasn’t particularly fond of this breed. This one was impossible to catch and at 44 I caught her in the air. My kids were so impressed! Won’t do that ever again but I get where you’re coming from. I prefer the heritage breeds they do hold heart and a bit more wisdom to please.
TJ
This was a great story. I spent yesterday chasing sheep too, trying to trim hooves. It was my first time doing it, and I have no freaking clue what I’m doing. So after a long while of chasing, I finally got the ram wrangled in. Boy did he not like it! After nearly getting my arse kicked by him, I finally found myself sitting on top of him with his belly smashed to the ground. I was careful to keep my chest low enough to always have weight on him, while I circled around to each foot, still breathing heavily from the chase and the thin cold air. And as I did this all quite chaotically, he lay there stoically eating grass.
Like you, it was a moment where I just had to laugh at myself. I didn’t have my hand up anyone’s business, but it was surely an awkward position and one I hope the neighbors didn’t see.
Clare
it is funny how believers are referred to as sheep in the Bible. & I am often reminded of that when struggling with the sheep. just remember, Shaye, “act like a sheep. think like a sheep. be a sheep.” but for real, I relate to this post in many ways! I am sorry about all your misfortune with the sheepers, but God’s doing it for a reason, even if it is just to test you. 🙂 xx
Essential Homestead
I’ve tried my hand at goats and gave up. Sounds like they act similar to sheep. Thanks for the entertaining story. Now I know to stick with cattle and chickens.
Alyssa
We have Katahdins as well!! Love them! We also have a couple donkeys! Donkeys are easy to care for and hate canines and felines. We have a serious coyote and stray dog problem and our donkeys are great protectors of our small herd. They’re cheap to buy and are perfectly happy eating hay and oats. You may want to look into one to protect your sheep!
Melissa Laurita Kohl
This was an excellent read! It’s amazing what kind of shenanigans we get into when we keep animals. I do agree that some of your troubles might be a breed issue (along with too big a paddock). I have border Leicester crosses and most of the time they are anything but stupid. I second the idea of training them to feed. They will do anything for it. Very easy to catch a sheep when you hold out your hand with grain and it comes running. We free range our sheep often and never have a problem herding them. When one gets separated from the rest they come find us, bleating, and then follow us as we call for their friends. The stupidity they express when they fear they are separated is just a survival instinct and not stupidity at all. I grew up around dogs as my mom is a dog groomer. My sheep are just like dogs in many ways. A few lambs (which are 8 months old now) follow me around like puppies begging to be pet. It seems like a lot of khatadhin owners have difficulties. I have the border leicesters for their wool, but apparently they are excellent meat sheep as well. One shepherd told me that they taste like beef but more tender. They only need to be sheared once a year. My full grown ewes are probably about 250 pounds and the lambs are 100-150 pounds. I have only had them since May, but I am completely enamoured. As to bloat, there are some quick fixes if you catch it quickly enough (many people have success with more severe cases but I don’t have any experience with that). A strong carminative herbal tea (fennel and anise are great), vegetable oil (if it’s foamy bloat), and massage has worked well for us. The tea works amazingly well for wool block (in rabbits) as well. The tea is so effective, I don’t think we will ever lose an animal to bloat or wool block. Of course, we do not have the coyote pressure you do. In Vermont, while we have coyotes, they seem to avoid the sheep (I don’t know anyone who has problems with them). I have seen large dogs run away from our sheep. The sheep huddle in a group and stare them down and off the dog runs. Like I said, they are large (and sassy).
Janae
Hi Shaye,
What a great post! Our family has raised sheep for over 12 years, the last 6 raising Katahdins and a few Dorpers. We love them all and also hate them at times… but mostly like you said…. we love them. 😉 We did cull out all our Dorper Ewes as they were crazy wild and soooo strong! Always seemed to get knocked down or drug around the pen when trying to catch those crazy ewes!! We now have all full Katahdin Ewes and thankfully they are all quite tame and friendly. They will come to us in the pasture and stand waiting for their turn to be scratched (hand feeding grain is a great help). We had a beautiful Katahdin ram but sold him last year as he was always trying to butt us and knock us around, never again will I buy a bottle fed ram lamb!! So now we have a Dorper ram…. hoping to add a bit more meatiness to our butcher lambs. Thankfully he was not bottle fed and is a little standoffish. Know exactly what you mean about them having a death wish… from day one our vet always said “sheep are born looking for a place to die”, what a true statement! Even still, we love them and I can’t imagine not having them on our farm. My favorite books for sheep, goats and cattle are the books by Pat Coleby, wouldn’t want to be without them! My bloat go to fix is mineral oil mixed with baking soda and given as a drench…. having them “chew” on the metal drencher stick after dousing them seems to make them burp and seems to help them get over it quite rapidly. We love our farm life and feel blessed to been able to raise our children on a farm. We also raise Alpines and Mini Alpine goats, as well as Mini Herefords (love. love. love my cows!).
Farm living is the best life!
Janae @ Willow Creek Farm
Delci
Oh, my. This made me laugh 🙂 We are planning to get bum lambs next spring to help with our excess milk. We may be crazy come to think of it 😉
Tushar
Hey u have written very nice about the sheep , came to know more about them . Thanks you for your nice write up . U have shown the inner qualities of sheep which are hidden under her big wool sack . Thaankuou once again