Sheepy mischief

Sheep ain't as stupid as folks would like you to think and given the opportunity they are more than capable of running circles around you. Shep and Moss have been dealing with their mischievous ways over recent days.

 

This picture might appear quite innocuous but them there sheep know what they're playing at, running down a steep bankside full of brackens, they were forever hopefully of hiding from sight. Fortunately at the moment the brackens are only just growing, by the next time these sheep are gathered in July the brackens will be higher, denser and give them far more cover. Should they get away with this ploy again there is no doubt some of them may well give shepherd and dogs the slip.

 

When gathering it is always wise to look back, the above photo is the reverse shot of the one previous to it, so, there are sheep running and trying to hide in the brackens ahead, but nothing behind..... look closer - just to the right hand side of the self seeded tree, is there something showing above the heather?

 

Aye! crafty beast, tried to slink off whilst the fore runners were causing mayhem, too wise to keep running, she just stood still, forever hopeful she would be overlooked.

There is a final ploy in a sheep's life. To sulk. They like to take flight, run and hide, run in the opposite direction to the one you'd like them to, then there are those who once they think the world has got the better of them they go in a huff - sulk and refuse to budge.

 

If they can run into water they're more than happy, in fact can almost be suicidal in their attempts to take to a burn in a desire to be petty. Fortunately this time the burn wasn't full. This ewe had decided enough was enough, taking flight hadn't worked, trying to hide hadn't been successful either, the last resort was to go in a sheep huff, take to the water

 

and face up to the dog - do the battle of wills thing. So it was, like staring someone out, see who gives in and blinks first. Moss was more than happy to stand his ground, it had been a long and fraught gather, the water was cool and he wasn't in a great hurry to go anywhere, he actually had the ace card up his sleeve but was being patient for the time being. The ewe may well find her nose being nipped if she continues to dig her heels in. Whose nerve will give first?

 

Good old Moss came up trumps, his nerve did hold as he was edging for a fight, mebbes the ewe realised he wasn't gonna take any prisoners. He managed to stare her out and move her on, although still in the water and travelling down the burn she soon realised she'd be able to travel far faster on terra firma

 

and off she went as though the devil was on her tail, rushing to join the safety of her mates further down stream.

Sheep are anything but stupid, they can be far wiser than those of us who try to handle them!

Sink or Swim

It's been one of them days.........

The nephew is stopping for the week and as is the norm when having a vacation at Shep's house he is treat along similar lines to the dogs, in that he is bundled into the car in the morning and finds out his destination upon arrival. Also like the dogs he has to scavenge throughout the day whilst remaining forever hopeful his dish will be filled with gruel at night. Unlike the dogs he isn't barred in the kennel (although it could be tempting!).

The thought of getting up at 6am seemed a painful one, but obviously the thought of being left behind was even worse and so it was he stumbled out of his room this morning, started scavenging then jumped into the car and off we went.

A day of gathering and lamb marking was on the cards, Shep had the quad, nephew had his legs, a grand way to waken up a teenage lad I thought. By afternoon I took pity on the poor soul and decided some fun was well deserved and so directed him on the quad whilst I went off in a different direction on foot, our paths were destined to cross eventually if the directions I had given had been understood.

Our paths didn't cross. Twice he came into view, searching the ground frantically trying to make visual contact with his 'dearly beloved' Aunty, only to fail and disappear out of view on the hill ground once again.

This behaviour had me somewhat perplexed, after all, I could see him as clear as day and yet it seemed he was unable to see me.

I stood on a raised bit of ground, rolled a fag, grinned to myself and watched the lad buzzing in and out of view like a panicky dog who had lost it's owner. Fag finished and still he seemed unable to see me by which time my humour was beginning to waver, arm waving and whistling had little effect. Was I invisible? Was I actually just living through some peculiar sort of dream? What is it with youngsters these days? Do they teach them anything at school?

Eventually for all I could still hear the bike I was aware it didn't sound as though it was moving, then there was the sound of much engine revving............

Humour was getting heavier as I retraced my steps, muttering under my breath, repeating the directions I had given him to myself, how could he possibly get it wrong? Okay! He'd never been on this ground before, never been on a quad on this ground before but really! I'm sure my directions were fairly straight forward and anyhow, if I could see him, surely to god he could have seen me. Should I suggest an appointment at the opticians, could there be something wrong with this lads sight?

I followed the sound of the bike, had he turned the engine off I would still have known the direction to head. What on earth had he been thinking of?

On coming into view I just couldn't help but laugh, I was gonna give the lad a bulling but hey! it was the best thing that had happened that day, how could I possibly be annoyed, especially when, just as the dogs would, he seemed to drop his lugs upon seeing me and that look came over his face of "Oh god! I'm in trouble now"

It's amazing what we learn in life, for instance, nephew now knows that quads don't float - they have a tendency to sink!

That's a pretty impressive bogging it has to be said, even Kale found it funny! I patted the lad on the back and told him there was nowt like keeping it in the family, after all, Shep herself has a pretty impressive track record of bogging bikes, it must be in the genes I suggested!

 

It also ended up in the wellies! Give the lad his dues, he could give me a run for my money any day, but how is it his wellies didn't get filled?

gathering again

You just get finished gathering at one farm then off you go to another...... Blimey! Like I often say - no peace for the wicked!

Moss and I chose to use shank's pony last week, in other words we gathered on foot, by choice I may add, as we could easily have taken our own quad bike, however, I decided walking would be good for the body and soul. Has to be said, as I found myself negotiating some thick heather on an uphill climb towards the route taken by the Pennine Way I concluded my little stumpy legs may well be getting stumpier, however, the body needed a stretch, or so the mind told me and so persevere we did for a few days.

We stopped off en route to take some pictures, okay! the truth is Shep needed a pee and the old shooting hut was a grand hidey hole where the world and it's neighbours wouldn't be able to view my bare arse, then I decided to take some photos before resuming the journey, views of where I was heading on those little short legs of mine.

Sheep are being moved by Moss who worked well, my abilities to keep up with some of the fore runners was limited, strange how you miss a quad! Moss' wide outrun came to the fore and he didn't let me down once, the pair of us were very happy with the proceedings. I gain a lot of pleasure from working the dogs, especially so when they work well and keep the job under control. I couldn't help but think Moss was working better with us being on foot, or maybe it was because he was a solitary dog and had me all to himself - who knows?

Finally all were gathered and were being brought towards the pens.

Once held in the sheep pens the sheep were run up the shedder. The twin bearing ewes were being taken off. They had been in such good fettle at the scanning it was decided to set them back to the hill, it was now time for them to be coming into the fields and receiving a bite of cake (feed).

The twin bearing ewes are waiting expectantly - what next? Would they be lucky enough to just run through the pens or was there some man handling going to be done to them?

All the sheep were going to receive treatment. They needed their pre lambing innoculation, a booster for them and a cover against clostridial diseases for the lambs within them. They also required an oral dose for liver fluke, some for worms. Then there was the pour on which would be applied to their backs, not for lice this time........

For ticks

Them blood sucking critters which can cause havoc to ewes and lambs when the spring rise occurs. We found out that it was already occuring. This tick was one of many which had taken residence on the sheep. In actual fact it was ready to depart. My hand under the sheep's chin whilst dosing had naturally dislodged the fella. Gorged and full of blood it was dropping off ready to commence it's reproductive cycle. Instead it found itself smiling for the camera and then unceremoniously squashed into a bloody mush on the fence post.

The pour on which had been applied to the sheep's back would kill off any of the critters which had latched onto the animals and it would also prevent any others from taking up residence over the following 8 weeks. The lambs on this particular farm have to be treated quite soon after birth and definitely before they head back to the hill with their mothers, otherwise they suffer all manner of unpleasant disorders, including turning cripply and quite obviously struggling to thrive.

The weeks work went well, we had dry weather if not somewhat overcast and coupled with a cold wind, although when walking whilst gathering the wind wasn't too much of a bother, body warmer than it would have been had it been astride a quad bike.

As evening was drawing in and sheep were heading back out to the hill the sun graced us with it's presence and made the dead hill grasses appear almost golden in the light it cast across the hill. A grand way to finish a day in mid March.

F******* gather

Foggy gather. Final gather. If you were thinking it was any other eff ing gather you need to wash your minds out with mustard. Take it from me, it is an ideal way to ensure you'd never touch mustard again!

The view - if you could call it that. Every morning, without fail the view hardly varied.

I guess a different spot made the view seem slightly different, but initially it was all the same, visibility extremely poor, in fact visibility was crap, there wasn't a polite way of putting it really.

A week had been allowed to gather the sheep away out bye. 7,000 + acres to cover to find 1,500 sheep. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, an inconvenience maybe but not a problem, there is always tomorrow. However, the scan man was due in a weeks time and so a problem it was.

Every morning saw us climb out into the thickening gloom, like two intrepid explorers on quads, setting out to find what no man could see. Headlights on the bikes were of little use as neither of us could see each other until we almost collided. We went forth and made noise, whistled, sang, hollered (shouted)....... whatever the moment necessitated, it would be fair to say we persevered.

As we dropped further in apparitions began to appear before our very eyes. A marvelous sight!! Sheep know where they belong and they know the spot to gather up to, they also know when we can't see them..........

Fortunately, blocks had been put in place to encourage the sheep to run to a designated area, an area where years back the sheep were gathered together for tup time and have since always been gathered to the same spot. Which means that generations of sheep know where they're meant to gather up to, they know feed blocks will be available to them on the run up to lambing time at these particular spots on the hill. These blocks were put out to help hold them to the spot, specifically for this particular gather.

It was a great help with the conditions we were experiencing, giving us a sporting chance of tracking down the sheep when visibility was so poor.

Ironical that you couldn't see a bloody thing out on the tops then drop away in with sheep in front of you and it is as clear as a bell. A quick count to see if all are present. Then the inevitable - all aren't present! There were a variety of discrepancies, ranging from a couple short, to 30 odd short and one day apparently over a hundred short (the day Shep had to go elsewhere, can't be blamed for that one!)

Those present were taken further in and held in fields whilst bikes and riders turned around and headed out to look for more.

It seemed like a long week, much bouncing around on the hill, I'm sure my arse (backside) was tenderised like the finest steaks by the end of the gathering, it felt like every muscle, joint and bone in my body had been pulverised, far cheaper than paying for a deep muscle massage that's for sure, probably not quite such a pleasant result tho'! Ground was covered and re covered in an attempt to have all sheep present for the scan man.

Did we succeed? Well almost........ The final tally saw a handful missing, a handful unaccounted for, we ran out of time and luck but under the circumstances were also highly successful. Let's hope those missing few are fit and healthy and come in on the next gather.

I started the posting with Foggy gather.Final gather?

http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2011/11/springing-into-winter.html

This link takes us back to the gathering for tup time where I wrote the following:

I mentioned to the shepherd that this ought to be our last day out here, a day to hold strong in our memories, a perfect day. There are changes afoot on this particular farm, a parting of the ways. Neither of us knows if we'll ever be out here again to gather, let alone be in each others company doing so. This was the first day of many to gather sheep forward for tup time, wouldn't it have been perfect if it had been the last day of many.

At long last we had the final gather. 'Twas a shame we didn't quite go out on a high! Although there were high moments, and much leg pulling. There was probably also a sense of relief.

A relief that at last there was a shepherd on the farm, a farm which has been unoccupied for four months, four winter months at that. I think there ought to be a party!!! A leaving do?? A pre lambing bash - now there's an idea!