Sheep fencing gone wrong…

This farm is a tapestry of wonderful stories. The stories that have made us laugh are the ones we tell time and time again. Believe me, there are more then a few.

This is one of my favorites….

Remember, I was a single gal with no farming background when this all began. Albeit determined, I had a lot to learn and I quickly figured that out. When I bought the farm there had been cattle here but never sheep. Sheep require much different fencing then cattle. I hired the first fence out but after paying that bill I realized I would starve if I hired out all the fencing that needed doing.

What was this educated capable gal to do? Of course, I’'ll “educate” I thought. I started my search. How was I going to find a class on fencing? For anyone considering a life in agriculture, let me tell you, the resources are truly immence. I stumbled upon a wonderful resource, Warren Wilson College. Of all things they had a fencing class. I put on my perfect farm attire and my newly purchased farm boots and drove to Warren Wilson where I participated in a class on putting up a proper livestock fence. Someone asked if I was the only “girl” there. I don’t recall that being the case. Maybe? The good news is if I didn’t notice that I must have been there for all the right reasons. Notes? I took plenty. It was alot to take in but hopefully I was armed and ready.

I cannot say how long it actually took before I put my new knowledge to work. I do hope it was the next day but I’m doubtful. At that point I was still working off the farm to help support my plans so my days were busy. It does not matter when I made my first stab at fencing, only that I did it. Waiting to apply what I had learned might have been a bit worrisome in that I might forget something. Forgetting was clearly not my problem.

On the day of my grand adventure, feeling so proud and capable, I put on my jeans, boots and t shirt (I loved my new wardrobe) and loaded up Floyd, my vintage Ford PU with the fence posts, fence wire and appropriate fence tools, and headed to the pasture where my second fence was planned.

Hands rubbed together in a gesture of expectation, I began. I walked each post to the spot where it would be placed. One at a time I banged the posts into position. It was a beautiful day and I was no doubt full of myself. It definitely added to my state of mind looking around at these beautiful vistas staring back at me. I felt at one with the great outdoors. Now hands brushed together in a gesture of completion I knew it was time to start a strand of wire. I was pulling and securing the wire in about 250 foot stretches…remember a football field is 300 feet. I had 3 sides to complete. The forth side included a barn and my first fence. Pulling the wire around took no time. Securing the wire with clips took a bit more. I had to wear my leather gloves because the clips could be difficult to bend, even with the coolest possible tools. And we all know, the leather gloves just added to my demeanor! One wire near the bottom, then perfectly spaced, 3 more. 4 clips per post, one row and a time. Before I knew it, the job was complete! DONE!

I cannot tell you the pride! This girl had done it! All those nay sayers, LOOK AT ME NOW! I just put up a farm fence! If I could high five my self I woulda. But I think I understood the cock-a-doodle-do of a rooster, if only for a moment.

I pulled my self up to the tailgate of my Ford F-150 pick up , slid up on that “ farmers throne” to take in what I had accomplished!

Golly Girl!

As I peered around the fence in awe, I realized one MAJOR problem.

I had just spent the day building an awesome fence and there was no gate! Yep, you read that right folks, I hadn’t painted myself into a corner, I’d fenced myself in…. Good Lordy. All I could do is laugh….

If you can’t laugh at yourself, your cooked…Elizabeth Taylor

It's hard not to project

As shepherds we think we know what’s best for our sheep. The benefit of years watching and learning from these creatures has helped me realize that most of the time, they do know best and don't need our interference. If we’ll listen to them and not try to “project” our human interpretation, we can see that. Sure, we have to get involved from time to time but I’ve found if we trust their instincts and get out of their way, they’ll often take care of things.

Like the ewe that insists on having her lamb in the woods, we let her. Is it the safest? Probably not but that’s what she wants to do. It makes it harder on us once she’s had the lamb to get them to safety but I believe allowing them to have those moments and make those decisions gives us a more mutually respectful relationship.

I’m sure there’s a shepherd or two out there ranting at me right now, “we must be able to manage them and that requires some degree of doing things in spite of their natural instincts.” Like I said, I realize there are times we need to step in and I realize my way isn’t going to align with most others…it’s just my desire to let them be as true to their natural ways as I can. I might pay for it with a little extra effort on my part but I believe I gain by raising sheep that are in touch with their intuitive ways.

The Girls!

The other day I was rehashing a decision to want to keep one of our older ewes back from breeding. She has given us plenty of beautiful babies. She deserves to rest, I thought. So, I did just that. She went to spend her time grazing in green pastures with the teenagers. What a glorious gift, or was it?

Well, to shorten what could be a very long tale, Willow, that’s her name, ended up pregnant anyway. How? We’ll never be 100% sure. Through a fence? Could be, but boys were not in adjoining fences except for short stints while moving sheep? Could she be that fast? One of our lambs might have been more mature then we thought? Like i said, we’ll never know for sure.

A funny thing happened on that day I realized she was with lamb, as I walked away from her pasture something beckoned me to look back. There went Willow trotting away from me and kicking up her heels.

She was mighty happy.

It’s as if she was saying to me, I love being a mom! You don’t get to decide.

I believe I had just been reminded, we’re not necessarily smarter then mother nature!

Willow

Weaning, a whole new meaning

Year before last we brought my dear mother here to the farm from a nursing home for her final journey.  We knew her time was short.  As we approach another anniversary of her arrival here and her passing and another year of weaning our lambs from their mommas,  I felt compelled to share something that happened during my mother's short time here.

On July 28th 2018, the day before she left this life, John and I were weaning the lambs from their mothers. The window of my mothers room looked out over the pasture where we were.  In the process of separating the sheep, I looked up (my heart and mind during those days were never far from her)  toward her window and room.  At that instant, I couldn't help but feel the magnitude of what we were doing...separating the babes from their mamas.   

To WEAN: accustom (an infant or other young mammal) to food other than its mother's milk.  accustom (someone) to managing without something on which they have become dependent or of which they have become excessively fond.

 We knew my mother was shutting down and that it wouldn't be long.  At this moment I felt the arms of mother nature comforting me.  Yes, it brought tears but in that moment I felt my mother communicating with me through nature as if to say, it is a fact in life, it is real,  and it is happening.  Sooner or later we must say good bye.

This year weaning will be no easier then it ever has for us.  We don't like separating them and for several years we didn't.  What we observed when we didn't wean is healthier lambs (less stress) but the mothers will drop from exhaustion trying to feed their babes and combat the heat.  Either choice is difficult and we make our annual determination based on environmental factors (heat, humidity etc) and weigb in the added stress...because it is real!  This year we've had such extreme heat I'm thinking not, for now.

I will never, ever,  take this process lightly.   I never did.  Especially now.   Nature speaks to me all the time.  Many of her messages bring me to tears.  This one...well, it really got me and will stay with me.

The life of a sheep!

Gabby

I was in the barn the other day and our eyes locked on each other.

My mind raced back over our years together. I was amazed at the many facets of this pretty gals life here on the farm.

The daughter of Willow, another of our very photographed and storied gals here on the farm. Gabby was born several years ago. A real beauty of a lamb! Shiny black and long strong legs with a very happy bounce that took her about the barn and pastures. One day during barn chores I noticed her mother, Willow, seeming to talk to me, she kept baaing at me and standing in one place. I followed her cue and found Gabby, clearly not feeling well. Her wonderful momma kept nudging her with her nose. Gabby didn’t have the strength to even nurse her mother, which of course was her life blood. Long story short, we almost lost Gabby. After weeks of constant attention and TLC she survived and was soon romping again about the pastures.

As a shepherd you become especially connected to sheep you’ve spent such heart rending time with. Anyways, I always noted a sort of smile on this little girls face (she’ll always be a little girl to me).

The first 18 months of her life she got to enjoy just the frolic! Then at her almost 2nd year of life she had a baby of her own but poor Gabby freaked! Her instinct, so viable in the Navajo breed , brought her to a wooded area to have her lamb. She gave birth with ease. As she stood over her newborn trying to put two and two together my husband John spotted her and went to check on her. She saw him coming. A little freaked already, his approach was just too much and she bolted, never to accept her little girl again. We tried and tried but to no avail.

Some farms/shepherds might decide it is time to move her along I felt I couldn’t. One might say the situation was contributory. To our wonderful surprise the next year Gabby raised a beautiful healthy lamb!

As we share this moments glance my human self is sure she too reflects back over our many emotional moments together.

Silly human!

To Wean or not to Wean

Observing a mother and her new born is a heavenly site.  We respond  based purely on emotions,  whether we've actually "mothered" or not.   At the moment you lay your eyes on this site all the world around is a blur and all that matters is the true love that halos around them.  It is such a pure connection that under no circumstances one should want to come between them, right?

A lot of the methods used in sheep farming  are about "management" of the flock.  The larger the number your trying to manage the harder it is to keep "order".  Orderliness becomes a goal for efficiency.  Efficiency adds to profits.  Follow me?  This is a slippery slope.

Weaning is one of those "management" tools.  According to reference books,  lambs should be removed from their mothers at 8-10 weeks old.  The reasons are mainly that the needs of the lambs for maximum market potential are different then the mamma's.    Growth of the lambs requires richer, higher protein grasses or grains which the mamma's don't need.  The only way to accomplish such a task is to separate them.  The other argument we found (didn't read it in a reference book) to support weaning  is the mothers will give and give until they are basically spent.  We find the heat of the summer, coupled with the very selfless nature of mom's takes everything out of them and begins to compromise their own health.

For these reasons one might wean.  

Wean:accustom (someone) to managing without something on which they have become dependent or of which they have become excessively fond.

Now that I've given you a bit of knowledge about weaning I'd like to share our journey with this decision.

We began this farm knowing we would make choices about the care of our animals based on our experiences, not just because everyone said so. Many topics of care and handling were researched and we found enough disparaging information that we felt strongly our decision to observe first was a worthy one.

Many of our farming practices were established by observing,  educating ourselves, then we'd established our way.  Weaning the lambs was one really challenging task.  Now 8 years later, after going back and forth, this year, we're not weaning again.  The first three years we didn't wean.  I wish I could tell you why we decided to wean the 4th year but I'm betting we succumb to the "text" book ways.  Most other shepherds around us weaned which made us question our decision even more.  Our farm was growing and as often happens after you've immersed yourself in something you loose some of your "curiosity" or better yet, the luxury of time to remember to be curious and ask questions.

So, we spent a few years weaning.  It is a very difficult task, not physically challenging, just heartbreaking really.  They cry and baa for easily 48 hours.  The mothers also.  Eventually they all settle in but gosh it never felt right.  As often I'm guided on this farm, if it goes against nature my heart cannot find peace with it...this is one of those lessons.  

With most industrial farming models, maximum growth of the lambs became the  shepherds primary goal in order to get those lambs to market fast and efficiently.  Is fast and efficient our ultimate goal.  Those that know this farm know our answer to this question is NO.  We strongly believe you sacrifice so much in order to achieve those fast/efficient goals.  It is this very reason that so many breeds of livestock are in danger of being lost for good...they don't meet these industrial models!

In summary, we've have some of the best looking, healthiest lambs ever, happily growing on mothers milk...there must have been some divine wisdom in that!

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