Tag: Sheep

Those horns are REALLY hard!

But that isn't what this is about. I have to give a bit of background first.

This time of year we separate the boys from the girls. This is so the lambs will not encounter constant bullying from the boys. Sheep can be very territorial when new animals are introduced to the flock. S, this is for the lambs safety. The poor little critters have to deal with the other ewes bugging them and pushing them out of the way. A large set of horns doing the job is not really a healthy option for a growing baby.

So, Thomas, and Harry both migrated to their boy-house. They were NOT happy about this. Harry still bellows as often as possible to go back to his girlfriends. Thomas is far more reserved. But, after a few days they have calmed down, and accepted their own little barn filled with straw, hay, and even their own light.

Of course this little barn is not a real barn. It is more of a very sturdy shelter. Made from salvaged and scavenged pallets, metal, and wooden boxes. Inside is a hayrack, and even a wall so the two boys don't have to "share" the space. the only downfall is that it is a very confined space. Great for sheep, not so great for people. Really bad for people and sheep together. Terrible for people and rams with horns that really want the food the people is holding.

In a nut shell I was incredibly stupid. I put myself in a position of danger. this is not normal for me. I am normally very careful about where I am in relation to a large, unpredictable animal that can knock me flat in a heartbeat. But, on Monday I was about to leave for a talk about Nature Connection I was involved with. It had been months getting this together with a group of people so to see it actually happen was great. I was excited.

Our sheep love grain. They REALLY love it. They will do ANYTHING for it. All brains go out the window at grain time. So I hurried through chores. I stepped inside the boy-house and put down grain. I put the first lot down. Harry came into the house. I was just about to leave and thought "Oh shit. I Shouldn't be in here". No sooner than I thought that then

WHAM. I heard a crunch and felt a bolt of pain go through me face, travel up to me forehead, and around to the back of my head. The back of my head went numb. Harry and I had just gotten in the way of Thomas and his food. And Thomas wanted Harry out of the way. I got in the way of the the two of them.

I backed out of the boy-house and shook my hand off. It was covered in blood and tissue. Oh great.  I had to steady myself so I didn't fall over. The back of my head was still numb. Wow. I couldn't believe what had just happened.

Of course the sheep were all bellowing for their grain. Mmmm. I proceeded to fill up the second grain bins for Harry then went back to the paddock. The girls and babies all got their grain as well.  I put the tarp back up on the gate (a shelter when the boys wanted to be close to the girls and it was raining) and made my way up to the house. The one thing I didn't do was finish collecting the eggs. Tim could do that when he got home.

My head was pounding, I was getting shivers all over my body, and I was still bleeding like mad. into the house I went. I had to call and let the others know I wouldn't be there. I needed a cup of tea. I needed to call Tim to tell him to come home a bit early. I needed to sleep.  Ouch. Boy was I stupid.

So to make a long story short, I did all those things. Tim and I went to emerge and got a clear for any major damage. My family doctor agreed, with a likely hood that I had fractured my nasal bone, and possibly my hand. I know my hand got hit somehow, but I don't know how).

The moral of this tale is one simple thing. DON'T RUSH. Being hurried caused me to disregard basic safety precautions. I knew better than this. I was an IDIOT! Animals are unpredictable and must always be monitored, even the nice ones. Thomas is a great ram, calm, gentle, and respects people most of the time. It wasn't his fault.I feel really lucky to be alive. If I had of fallen in that confined space with a jealous set of horns and a bucket of grain...I hate to think what could have happened.

Yesterday I spend most of my time on tenterhooks. I thought I would wait 24hours to see if Izzy and Thomas improved. Knowing how I feel when my stomach is rebelling against the rest of my body, I thought it would be good to just watch and wait.

Several times I went into the paddock and walked Thomas and Izzy around the pen. Really this was just slowly walking behind them to get their  systems active and to get them to poop. It is really amazing how much of animal management is based upon animal poop. I am consistently watching poop consistency, colour, smell, frequency, and viscosity. Yes it seems kind of gross, but when they can't talk you have to look for other ways of figuring out how they are feeling.

So I watched to see how the bowels of both Izzy and Thomas were reacting to their overeating experience. Thomas took longer to show signs of recovery than Izzy.

Izzy went from diarrhea, to producing healthy looking cow poop, to what could have been mistaken for soft-serve ice-cream that had a definite sound when they hit the ground.

Thomas only started to improve later on in the day. I was very happy when he finally started firming up and his back end no longer behaved like a hose squirting thick, muddy water. I was very close to calling Dr. Rob back to entubate Thomas again.

By the end of the day, both were a bit more interested in eating. They mouthed and nibbled on a bit of hay. This was encouraging.

Today I will be watching again. If they don't eat then Dr. Rob will be coming back, but I am really hoping they will eat.

The lambs and Itchy are so sick of being in the pen. They will get to go out to the paddock for a little bit this afternoon.

Wish us luck!