A stuck sheep does keep ewe on your toes
OUT of sight is certainly not out of mind when it comes to stock.
Having taken the ewes with twins to some fresh fields a good way from the farmstead I was hoping to see a real lift in their condition.
There was everything that a sheep could desire, acres of undulating pasture absolutely brimming with the sweetest grass Ravenseat has to offer.
They’d only been there a week when at teatime Miles and Sidney came back from the chickens after apparently taking a detour. They’d found one of the ewes with its head stuck in the field gate – with one horn wrapped around a lower bar.
They tried to free her but her writhing and pulling backwards resulted in Sidney’s finger getting squashed.
Beaten, they came back to summon help. I set off not forgetting to take my multitool that has a little saw. If worst came to the worst, I might have to take off the end of her horn to release her. As it happened,it just required a few bodily contortions from her and the gate being taken off its hinges and she was free to go.
She galloped off in search of her lambs, shaking her head from side to side.
The cows are looking well, rolling in fat and coats shining. Unfortunately, one seemed to be missing an ear tag. I was annoyed as it meant I needed to order a new one and subject her to yet another ear piercing as every cow must have two matching ear tags.
Reading the number on the remaining tag was no easy task as, being a Shorthorn, she had a very hairy lug and although amenable there was no way she was going to stand still enough to let me look closer.
As luck would have it I spotted a flash of yellow in the wire fence beside the stile. Yes – it was the missing tag!
She’d obviously been either scratching on – or stretching over – the fence and her tag had got caught.
As the saying goes, “the grass is always greener on the other side” but in both these cases it clearly wasn’t. And for the sheep, especially, she nearly paid the ultimate price.