Re: [GZG] [OT] Re: Sheep

Michael R. Blair wrote:
> Sheep are weird and have creepy looking eyes. They get
> stupider as they get older as well, lambs can be quite
> quick but there are few things as stupid as an old
> ewe. They will get stuck in a hedge and then just
> before you reach them to free them they will pull
> themselves free and run away – otherwise they would
> stand there until they die. Of course sometimes they
> will die on you for no apparent reason. Another
> favourite trick is getting stuck on their back so you
> have to roll them upright again.
>
> For the last coupe of years our lawnmower has been a
> couple of tups, rams, which are away at the moment,
> away doing their duty with the ewes. My uncle lured
> them onto the trailer full of ewes with a bucket of
> meal – the two great lures, food and sex. The tups are
> more sheepy than the ewes, they stink very strongly
> (of sheep) and mostly just eat and sleep, except as
> this time of year when they do the four letter thing
> as well; for this purpose they have enormous testicles
> (very obvious when they are standing facing away from
> you, you do not need to look too closely at them).
> They are not entirely stupid – they know about
> windfall apples and come looking for them.
>
> They do get some odd diseases and maggots can do
> horrible things to them. Very often their feet need
> trimmed (my uncle would not make a good chiropodist)
> which seems to involve a weird mix of tools involving
> rusty knives and old pruning shears them spraying any
> wounds with a weirdly coloured antibacterial aerosol –
> unless it is a stray can of paint!
>
> Sheep dip is worth a mention as well. It was derived
> from German research into nerve gas and has done
> horrible things to farmers over the years – a group
> notorious for such games as how many people (and a
> dog) can you get onto a quod bike and I recall two
> adults, four children (and a dog) fitting onto a small
> tractor ( I was frequently one of the four children).
>
> A hand reared lamb is cute but when it gets bigger it
> can be a problem, it is not afraid of people and a
> make can be very aggressive – and big enough to do
> some serious injury.
>
> Some people like them, my uncle could spend all day
> working with them but others do not, his son hates the
> things despite having inherited his father's charm for
> animals (and inability to train dogs).
>
> Apparently they do have quite good eyesight (to spot
> predators) and they seem to exist in an almost
> permanent state of fear.
>
> The best place for them is on your plate.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
>
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GZG XI must be coming up soon with all the talk of sheep.

>Sheep are weird and have creepy looking eyes. They get
>stupider as they get older as well, lambs can be quite
>quick but there are few things as stupid as an old
>ewe. They will get stuck in a hedge and then just
>before you reach them to free them they will pull
>themselves free and run away – otherwise they would
>stand there until they die. 

Your discussion of sheep reminds me of my limited experiences with 
goats. Now there's an animal with spooky eyes.

I had a friend in South Carolina with 22 goats and 4 cows on a 
creekfront property where he was building a house. The theory being that

between the two animals they would keep the undergrowth down. You still 
had to bush hog the land with a John Deere Tractor periodically.

Once there was a flood at the property. When they arrived to check on 
the animals the cows were fine, and the goats were all crowded on top of

the little feed shed. Except for a baby goat trapped under the dock at 
the little dockhouse on the creek. Between him and his wife it took a 
half hour to pull this baby goat out from under the dock, all the time 
the water was rising. To get it out they had to pull the goat out of the

mud under the dock and into the rising creek. The goat was pretty sure 
that pulling it *into* the water would not make it safer, and it did not

want to go.

-Mark k.

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