Leave them Alone and They’ll Come Home

Er…can y’all explain to me why you just let me think it was Winsday yesterday?  When in fact it was Tuesday?  It’s not even summer vacation for Darling yet, and already I’m losing track of time.

In anycase, a winner I said there’d be and a winner there is.  Dixie totally caught the whole behind bars concept I’d been thinking of.  Congrats, Dixie!  Pop me an email @ desperatehorsewife (at) gmail.com and a bottle of lotion will be headed your way shortly!

How did I get arrested?

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Yesterday was busy around here.  Lately I’ve been stringing a lot of hot wire, trying to divide pastures into paddocks in an attempt to keep livestock from overgrazing.  So far, I’ve been unsuccessful.  But I do believe I’m gaining.  The horses have been divided into three paddocks, and while there’s really no grass to speak of, it’s nice to see Sunny outside where she can at least stretch her legs a bit.  To read more about how she’s progressing, trot on over to the Mustang Diaries. 

Ohren has finally grown into his ears!

Do you remember Little Bo Peep?  Of course you do!  The last line in her rhyme said to leave them alone and they’ll come home, wagging their tails behind them.  Most folks only see sheep with short little tails when they go the the county fair.  But those of you who’ve been hanging out here for a few months know that sheep actually are born with tails!  The primitive breeds, such as icelandics or shetlands, have naturally short tails.  Most other breeds will have their tails docked.

Why dock a tail?  Sheep are very woolly, and their poop gets stuck in the wool along their back legs and under their tails.  Those long, poopy locks are referred to as ’tags’.  During the summer, this draws an incredible amount of flies, as you can imagine, which leads to ‘fly strike’.  Or, in other words, infection.  Flies eat away until they come to the flesh of the sheep.  Now, most city folks would think you’d just clean it like you do a long haired dog, but most folks with sheep haven’t got time to spend 15 minutes per sheep each day cleaning up the backsides.  Which is why the next time you read something printed by PETA extolling the horrors of tail docking, you’ll know that it’s much worse to leave them on.

Of course…these little East Friesian sheep have what’s known as a rat tail.  No wool!  So, like the primitive breeds, I am not docking tails.   

There are only two ways you can tell Baron and Ohren apart these days;
speckled nose on Ohren, and Baron has a woollier tail.

I honestly thought we’d wake up this morning to Bessie being a mamma.
Notice how full her udder is looking?

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