Auchenstroan Wool

Hi, I’m Pinkie.  I noticed my pal Ymogen has been writing a couple of stories so I thought I’d have a go.  I’m a year older than Ymogen and so now, quite a bit bigger too.  My mum is Ursi. Really, my name should begin with ‘X’, but when I was born I wore a pink woolly jumper to keep me warm and so Pinkie it is.  Anyway, I thought I’d tell you about my week.

Monday was quite peaceful.  Just the usual, you know, a bit of browsing, a bit of lying around chewing the cud.  Occasionally we moved to another field.  Just a nice, normal day here in Auchenstroan.

Tuesday, well, where to begin.  It all started as normal with a visit from one of the humans.  One of them comes over every morning and count us and checks we’re OK.  It’s quite comforting really.  But, a bit later, they were back and the female human made that noise she makes that makes us follow her.  I’m not quite sure how she does it, but before we know it, we’re up on our feet and trotting along after her.  Sometimes the male human tries to call us too.  That’s hilarious, we just stand and look at him, maybe chew a bit of cud.

Anyway, we followed the female human down a new path into a new paddock.  Yes, a NEW PADDOCK.  It was amazing, it’s the first time I have seen it.  There was long grass, wild flowers and trees with leaves in reach.  Yum yum.  There was also a lovely big shed.  “I was born here” yelled Yogi.  “Me too” added Ynca.  “And me”!  “And me”. “All right all right” I thought and headed off to explore.  To be honest, we all got a bit excited.  Later, we were penned up a little, we had the shed and a small outdoor area, so we took the opportunity for a wee rest.

Things were happening outside.  Strange humans and big machines.  We kept a watchful eye.  Then, all of a sudden, we were ushered towards the machines.  Hmm, I thought to myself, I’m keeping well away.  I’m in the wee group in the photo to the left keeping my distance.  You might be able to spot me.

Nevertheless, the humans got their way and I soon found myself in a narrow wee corridor.  What’s this all about I wondered.  And then, I was whisked onto a platform and my coat sheared off.  My coat!!  I had spent all winter growing it.  It was lovely.  A bit hot mind you, so part of me was secretly pleased.  When the sun comes out, it can be a bit toasty in a thick woolly coat, let me tell you.  It turned out we’d all had our coats taken.  We looked a right skinny bunch, more like goats than sheep.

Then it was back back to our usual fields.  But, brrrr it was a bit chilly.  We headed to our usual shelter, but it was CLOSED OFF!  Oh no!!!!  I mean, I know it was a bit damp and smelly, but it’s our shelter.  The centre of our universe.  We were right put out.  So, we had a meeting and decided to shelter from the north wind behind a stone wall.  That wasn’t too bad actually.

Later in the day, the humans led us back to that new paddock.  Yippee, we had the big shelter.  It was great.  Lovely and dry and warm.  Just as well, really, as it rained in the night and none of us had any coats.

The next day, the humans left the gate open for us so we came and went as we pleased.  We sheep like that, we like our freedom to roam.

Nevertheless, when the rain came again later in the week, we’d forgotten all about the new shed.  What are we like.  On Saturday, we ended up all over the place, scattered amongst small field shelters in various fields.  Eventually the humans came and got us back together and led us back to the big shed.  Bliss.  Mind you, we lost Yumbo somewhere.  The humans went looking for him and I just caught a glimpse of him running down the hill full pelt to the man human.  He looked just like a little lamb again.  He was soon back with us.

Only down side, my foot hurt today.  On the plus side, I got lots of scratches from my man human (I have him well trained).  That’s him on the left.

Then I got a whole bucket of nuts to myself – what a treat.  Yum yum.  I should have known there was a catch when they put hurdles around me.  I felt a sharp prick in my leg – the humans had given me a jag.  Hmmph!  Then they inspected my foot.  I wasn’t entirely sure about that, but if the pain goes, then I’ll be a happy wee sheep.

Anyway, that’s this week’s story.  Hopefully I’ll be back with more Pinkie parables soon.

 

Sheep have to be sheared once a year, it’s vital for their wellbeing.  Here, in SW Scotland, we shear mainly in June.  While Nicole and I have both done the shearing course, we contract out our shearing to professional shearers.  It’s a really hard job and the top shearers shear a sheep in just a few minutes.  So, all in all, it’s better for the sheep as it’s over quickly.

After last year, when we had assumed we’d just call in the sheep as they were needed (wrong!), we had built the sheep handling area.  We were looking forward to using it for the first time.

The shearers had let us know they were coming about lunchtime, so after breakfast we brought the sheep in.  I say we, Nicole just called them and in they trotted.

We let them have a look around the paddock.  For the hogs, this was where they had been born last tear – I wonder if they remembered.  Anyway, the lambing paddock was full of tasty morsels – meadow flowers, tree sprouts, a hedge and low hanging leaves.  They had a lovely time.

We also had to catch Yakozuki as he was limping.  He needed an antibiotic jag.  But, they were all a bit excitable.  So, after an hour or so, we brought them into the handling area and let them settle down a bit.  We caught Yakozuki and gave him his injection.  Then we settled down to wait.

The shearers duly arrived and we had our first problem.  Their trailer only just squeezed through the gate.  Note to self, bigger gate needed.  However, with skillful trailer manouevring (that puts me to shame), the shearing rig was soon in place.  It turns out one of the shearers is from one of our neighbouring farms.  It’s good when that happens.

We gathered the sheep into a smaller waiting pen and started to guide them up the ramp.  Ha ha – they took one look at the ramp and doubled back.  In fact, it was quite a tricky job getting them up the ramp – needed two people.  One to move the sheep towards the ramp and one to catch them as they turned back and keep them moving forward.

Even then, some of the hogs were small enough to turn round and drive them all back down again.  Still, the two shearers were zipping through them so these were but minor hiccups.  We kept the orderly flow of sheep up (we had 27 in total being sheared).  Of course, there’s always one.  Peaches – the matriarch and eldest of our ewes decided that shearing was not for her this year and every time we turned our back, she quickly backed herself down the ramp into the waiting area.  Three times!  I had to stand behind her for a while.  I compensated this loss of freedom with lots of back scratches – Peaches loves her back scratches.

It’s great watching top shearers in action.  What with all the keeping the flow of sheep up, I didn’t get to see much, but Sparkle was enraptured.  You can see her in the picture on the right, head resting on the gate, watching Bluemli being shorn of her locks.

Throughout all this, Nicole was labelling each fleece with the name of the sheep.  Each of these fleeces will be turned into a felted rug.  And so, we’ll know whose fleece each rug is made from.  Each rug will be supplied with a little history of the sheep it comes from.

Soon, all the sheep were shorn.  Nicole had also gathered them back into the holding area so that they would be out of the way of the trailer when it was towed out.

It’s funny how small and dainty they look without their thick woolly coats.

Once the shearers had gone and we’d had a quick cuppa, we took them back out into the main pasture.  There was a nice breeze there and that meant no flies and no midgies.  The sheep settled down and looked quite happy.  We think the shearing helps them regain full fields of vision.  The thick woolly coats can grow round their eyes causing problems.  We do trim them from time to time, but a full haircut means unhindered vision.  Bluemli even came in for pats, something she hasn’t done for a while.

And of course, Ymogem came over to pose for a photo.

It was a tiring day for all of us, sheep and humans.  So, we decamped to the pub for a well earned drink and a dinner we didn’t have to cook.

Hi everyone.  It’s been a few weeks since I posted my story, you know, about how I broke my jaw and how my pet humans nursed me back to health, that story?  If you haven’t read it, click here!!!

Well, I  just thought I’d write a few words to say I’m fine.  More then fine really, life is good.  I’m a happy wee soul, truth be told.  Lots of grass, lots of friends and lots of visits from the humans.  Hope you like the piccie of me (above), my selfie of me and my human.  Don’t I look good :).

And I’m much bigger, too.  Been growing lots and lots.  You can see also how much I’ve grown in my piccie here to the right.

The humans are always keeping an eye on us and it’s good to know.  I mean, Yaar, silly thing, this morning he only went and rolled himself into wee depression in the ground and got stuck on his back.  We sheep are useless when that sort of thing happens, no idea what to do.  Anyway, one of the humans, the man human rebuilding the wall at the top of one of our fields, well he happened by and rolled Yaar back onto his feet.

Poor wee Yaar, but he’s fine now.  Of course, half the flock raced over for pats and scratches, surrounding the man human.  He did his best but he’s only got two arms and it’s hard to scratch about 10 sheep all biffing him for attention.  I stayed well out of that one.  I know it’s best to go over and see him when he has his black jacket on – he’s usually got nuts in that pocket and I love my sheep nuts, yummy yum.  Still not entirely sure about the head scratches though.

Anyway, back to me.  I’m fit and healthy and enjoying life.  We’ve had lots of sunny days (sometimes a bit hot phew) and we’ve had a bit of rain but I don’t mind that, keeps the midges at bay.  Those midges can be a right pain, let me tell you.

See you all again soon.

Shearing time is nearly upon us.  Last year, we were slightly embarrassed at not being as ready as we thought.  In previous years, the shearer had turned up with some shears and we had found ourselves trying to root out a large piece of sheet wood for them to shear on.  We thought we were ready last year as we had built the lambing shed with power and also had ready an 8x4ft sheet of plywood.

But last year, the shearers turned up with a fully equipped shearing station on a trailer.  We hadn’t penned the sheep up as we were expecting a gentle progression, but with two of them shearing away, they rattled through them so fast we had trouble getting the sheep to them fast enough.

We also have a general issue when it comes to vaccinations – we have plenty of hurdles and can set up temporary pens, but we really needed something a bit more robust.  Preferably, it should be made of stock fence as that might help avoid injuries such what happened to Ymogen earlier this year (Ymogen’s story).

So, our new handling area was born.  It combines the lambing shed with three pens.  It’s important to have the shed involved as sheep must be sheared dry.  If there’s a chance of rain the night before shearing, we can now keep the sheep dry in the shed.  I’ve also installed a water trough in there fed from the water butt, so they’d have plenty to drink if confined to the shed.

The smallest of the pens is where we can treat individual sheep.  There’s enough room for two of us and a sheep to move around plus a wooden bar for hanging buckets on (keeping nuts and medication out of range of prying mouths).

The remaining area is split into two, using hurdles as gates, so it can be one large pen or two smaller pens.  Using hurdles means we can also pack them away when not in use so the area doesn’t look cluttered.

One other job was protecting the fruit trees.  Last time the sheep were in here, the temptation was just too much and a few trees had their bark nibbled.  So, each tree now has a little cage surrounding it.  Given each tree has 4 posts, that was a lot work knocking those in.  The multitude of subterranean rocks didn’t help, so some of the posts are not quite straight.  But the main thing is, the trees are safe now.

And we’re looking forward to shearing next month when we should be well prepared.

Hi.

I’m Ymogen. I was born in April last year to Sparkle, along with my sister Yndia. Life here at Auchenstroan has been good. We have plenty to eat, there are lots of handy drinking spots and a nice wee shelter for when the weather gets grim. And it does get pretty grim sometimes.

So life has been great, only about two weeks ago, I had a bad accident. I can’t remember much about it really, all a bit of a blur. But I do know that I really hurt my jaw. In fact, the front bottom bit went all flappy so I couldn’t even eat anything.

I did try, but I couldn’t get hold of hay, even the long bits. And nibbling grass, well that was nigh on impossible.

The humans, bless them, spotted that I was in trouble very quickly. I was given some nuts to eat and I managed to lick those from the she-human’s hand. They were very welcome, let me tell you as I was getting pretty hungry. But she only gave me a few, I couldn’t figure out why.

Then the humans disappeared and I lay down in the shelter. It’s hard when things hurt.

Then the humans re-appeared and had a stranger with them. I kind of recognised her, I think she had been around before, but I wasn’t sure. Turns out she was what the humans call a vet. We’re a bit wary of vets, they have a habit of sticking sharp, prickly things into us. Sure enough, this vet looked all round my mouth (ouch) and then stuck a prickly thing into me. Twice!!

I watched the humans, a bit warily now. The vet had a funny look on her face, it didn’t look very good. She kept looking at me like I was in real danger. Well, I suppose if I can’t eat, I am in in trouble I thought to myself. I had heard that some humans thought that sheep just spent their time looking for ways to die. Not me, I thought, but what am I going to do?

The humans wandered off but then my two re-appeared soon after with a green bucket. Hmm, I thought, green buckets can mean nuts. The she-woman tried to lure me into a pen. I wasn’t too sure about that, I hadn’t forgotten the prickly pains. But the lure of sheep nuts was strong and so in I went. Then the she woman presented me with a handful of something I’d never seen before. I didn’t know what to make of it at all. The human was muttering words like “turnip” and “finely chopped hay” as if us sheep could speak human. What was she on about?

But she sprinkled some nuts on top and I did my best to lick them off. Some of the strange stuff got into my mouth, it was all shredded and felt a bit odd. Tasted all right though. But I wasn’t sure about it, what I wanted was hay and grass.

Anyway, the humans came over lots of times and each time they offered me the same mix. And I licked a tiny bit but I wasn’t really too sure about it.

After a couple of days I was really quite hungry. The humans had given me more prickly things and the the funny thing is, my mouth didn’t seem to hurt so much. The she-woman had vanished, not sure where she had gone, but the he-human came up into the field (we were out and about now) and tried to lure me into the pen. Well, I wasn’t too sure about him, but when I was half in half out, he offered me the same strange mix with some nuts on top.

I was really hungry, so I started to lick it up. It was pretty good actually. It helped that my mouth was not so sore. My back teeth were OK, but I couldn’t seem to get my nibbly teeth at the front to work.

Anyway, I kept licking and the he-man kept adding more in his hand, then he left. I looked at him, how can you leave – I’m starving, I want more. But off he went. These humans, I thought to myself, I wish they spoke sheep.

But, amazingly, he was back soon after and had more food. I licked it all up and he seemed really pleased.

Over the next couple of days, the he-human brought me lots of food and I ate every scrap. I soon realised that the pen was not to imprison me, but to keep my pesky brothers and sisters out of the way. Not to mention some of the wrinklies – they could dive right in, and my mouth was still a bit sensitive. But the he-human kept me safe. I started waiting by the pen.

A couple of days later, the she-human re-appeared and she brought me new food. I heard her say “carrot” and “sprout”. It was an odd colour, the mix, kind of orangy, but it was yummy.

In-between the visits from the humans, I kept trying to grab hay from the feeders and to nibble grass, but I just couldn’t seem to do it. It was so frustrating. I wasn’t hungry though, the humans brought me as much food as I could eat. And I could chew the cud.

And we had some adventures. I hate being left behind by the others, but I also hate not being able to finish my meals. But sometimes, the human would take the bucket away (I was eating straight out of the bucket now) and call me. And I’d realise the other sheep had gone and would panic. But the human kept saying something like “Ymogen”, or “thisway”, or something like that. So, I’d follow and the human would lead me to the others.

Phew, I would say to myself. One day, my meal was spread right over the hill as the others were on a right long walk. The human didn’t seem to mind, he just let me eat a bit, called me, we’d catch up, eat a bit and so on.

Anyway, after a few days of this, maybe about 11, I found I could grab hay from the feeders. That was great. In fact I was so excited I hardly ate anything the humans brought that day. The humans looked a bit non-plussed so I ate the evening meal to keep them happy. My jaw was a bit achy now, though. It occured to me I hadn’t had a prickly experience for a few days. Ha! That didn’t last. Next morning, head in the bucket and ouch, pin-prick. Still, my jaw started to hurt less.

Anyway, the she-human brought some hay into the pen. After I’d scoffed the shreddy stuff, I tucked into the hay. The human seemed very excited by this, can’t think why. But it was a lot easier eating it like this than at the feeders where there was always a bit of argy bargy going. We sheep, we’re always arguing about the same piece of hay.

Next day, I tried nibbling some grass again and you know what, I could do it. The she-woman was so excited that I think she filmed me doing it. Can’t think why, it’s what we sheep do, all day, every day. But it was nice to taste real grass again.

The elders tell me I’m lucky, that there was no grass around this time last year, Apparently, the weather was dodgy last year. Dodgy? The last two weeks have been nothing but snow, hail, torrential rain and high winds.

Anyway, the humans don’t come out with shreddy meals quite so often now. Probably just as well or I could turn into a right porky like my mum. I know I shouldn’t say that, but really, have you ever watched her walking downhill?

Anyway, I just hope my humans have told the vet-stranger that I am still here. I’ll bet she will be well surprised, init.

 

Last Friday morning, Nicole noticed that Ymogen, one of last years lambs, had a problem with her jaw. The lower palette seemed to be all askew. We called out the vet and she confirmed it was a bad break. When an animal is in mortal peril, vets kind of have this look on their face, and our vet had that look. The prognosis was not good.

We are not sure how it happened, but we suspect she had put her head into a gap in the hurdles and then been hit from behind by another sheep. We had been doing routine vaccinations the day before and sometimes had been using sheep nuts to lure them into a pen. She may have been trying to reach the sheep nuts through the hurdles. Sheep nuts are both a blessing and a curse. You can use them to train sheep (like dogs and dog treats). But the possibility of getting sheep nuts can cause a little but too excitement. And for some of the sheep, their way of saying “give us a bit of space” is to jump onto the rear end of the poor sheep that’s in the way.

Anyway, the vet gave her a painkiller and some antibiotics and we retired to ponder what to do.

Inspiration came via one of our neighbours. She keeps guinea pigs and offered us some chopped hay. Well, we have a shed full of the stuff and plenty pairs of scissors, so we got to work. I say “we”, but in reality, Nicole created a masterpiece of a meal for injured lambs, a mix of chopped hay, grass, brussel sprouts, a bit of liquid life aid and the key ingredient, shredded turnip (swedes to non Scots). Luckily for us, we have grown loads more turnips than we can eat.

For the first couple of days, Ymogen licked some of it up. However, she kept trying to eat grass or hay from the feeders and when she couldn’t, she would just go and stand somewhere with her head down. It’s kind of heartbreaking to watch.

Anyway, come Monday, Nicole was off to work. Mid morning, I set off with a few handfuls of “magic mix”. Ymogen was still a bit wary of coming into a pen, so it was not that easy. She needed to be in a pen to keep the other sheep out more than anything. In order to tempt her to eat the mix, we sprinkle some ground sheep nuts on the top. The smell attracts a lot of unwanted attention from the others.

I couldn’t quite get her into the pen, so I started feeding her with her standing half in, half out. I was able to keep the others at bay and they soon lost interest. Amazingly, she scoffed the lot and then looked at me, like Dickens’ Oliver, and asked for more.

So I sent an update to Nicole (with freezing fingers) and trotted back to the house to make a second helping. She scoffed all of that too.

It has now been just under a week. Ymogen is not out of the woods by any means. The injury is to bone and cartilage so could take weeks to heal. At least Ymogen has the advantage of being young (about 10 months old). She is on 5 feeds a day now. She is often waiting by the pen and now trots happily in. She happily eats from a bucket (making a it easier on us). She is cudding which is a great sign.

She is still on her medication, antibiotics and painkiller jags (jabs to non Scots), every 2-3 days.

So, it’s fingers crossed.