The Great Escape (…part 1?)
September 29th, 2007 - Posted in self-sufficiency, sheep - by Sarah|
On Thursday this week we headed across Lewis Pass towing a horse trailer behind the car. We were going to pick up our latest purchase and a significant addition to our community here at the croft.
Cardigan & her twin lambs Socks & Mittens
We took the opportunity to wander about civilisation (ie Christchurch) for an afternoon and then on Friday morning we collected a sheep and two lambs and headed back across the pass. Their previous owner told us we were lucky not to have bought another of his sheep – Houdini – as no fence known to man would keep this sheep somewhere she didn’t want to be. When we got home we did wonder for a while if we had collected the wrong one.
Everything started off fine as we herded them into the enclosure we had made for the purpose near the gate of our paddock. Then, just as we were relaxing for the evening one of the lambs wandered though the wire and baton fence between us and our neighbours’ paddock and the game was on. Cardigan dived though the fence feet first and promptly legged it to the far corner of the field. She looked as though she was about to head through the next fence too but some hefty beef steers came over to investigate and she thought better of it.
Our neighbour Mike came down to lend a hand and the next hour was spent trying to herd the recalcitrant trio back to where they belonged. Cardigan seemed to calmly assess the relative locations of her pursuers and maneuver us into positions such that she could put on a burst of speed and break through the line. Eventually Mike managed to catch Cardigan with a flying tackle as she was attenpting to climb over a sheep netting fence. Brendhan rushed to assist and between them they carried her upside down, by her legs, across the field and back to her own paddock. I followed, gently chivying the lambs in the right direction. Cardigan seemed completely unfazed by the undignified end to her escapade and stood nearby to watch carefully as we spent another half hour improving the fencing.
Since this adventure they all seem to have settled in well but perhaps they are just biding their time…
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