This was before we bought Jamie Lee and Bruce Lee. I thought about it for a second or two and said, "Sure!" Jeffie gave me the lady's number. The next weekend I took Carli with me to the lady's house. I didn't bring the trailer but I had the truck and in the bed was the wire cage we had constructed for transporting Carli's 4-H lambs. It's basically a pvc frame with 2 x 4 wire bent over and wired on. Then we use tie downs so it won't fly out the back of the truck while we're driving. It's actually sturdier than it sounds.
Since I was so new to all this I failed to bring our lasso and extra helpers. I assumed the lady would know how to catch her own animals. I had been given the impression that the sheep shouldn't be too hard to catch.
We met the lady at her home and she took us to the back. She told me how she had bought the sheep over the phone and they were supposed to be "Babydoll" sheep. I had see pictures of Babydoll Southdown sheep and these two were definitely not Babydolls. They were Cheviots, pure and simple.
Fortunately she had a couple visiting her at the time, including one very tall strong looking young man. The ram, "Rambo", was very friendly and easy to catch. She simply shook a bucket of grain and his head was in the rope she provided. With the grain bucket in front and a couple people pushing from behind, we got Rambo out to the truck. The man picked up the front end and I picked up the back end and Rambo was in the truck.
Next came "Ewenice". Ewenice was on to us and would have none of the trickery that so easily captured her companion. Suddenly she dashed through the gate of her 1/4 acre corral and then we had to try and catch her in the larger yard. Just when we thought we had her cornered she would charge headlong through her would be captors. At one point she even ran straight into a fence, resulting in a small hole on the bridge of her nose. She still sports a scar there to this day.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, (it was probably really about 30 minutes) Ewenice managed to get herself tangled in an overgrown vegetable garden. We all pounced on her, grabbing hold of her long wool until the rope cold be put over her slim head.
It was hot and we were all huffing, puffing, and dripping with sweat. Ewenice was panting hard and I was worried about her. She hadn't been shorn in who knows how long. Now we had to get her to the truck. More pushing, pulling, and some dragging, and at last we made it there. We got her into the bed much the same way we did with Rambo. For a little sheep they sure are heavy! We secured everything carefully and were homeward bound.
Once home, I knew it would take some time for the sheep to get used to us and their new environment. I decided to let them keep the names they came with. Not very original, I know, but truth be told I probably would have named them the same thing myself.
The lady I got them from said she had them for about three or four years and they had not produced any offspring, even though they were together the entire time. I called the sheep vet to come out and examine them to make sure they were healthy. When he came out he gave them a thorough inspecton, including shots and worming. He declared them sound and said there should be no reason why they couldn't reproduce.
Ewenice
Rambo was a very friendly ram. He never showed any aggression towards any of us. He was like a big dog. He would come onto our back patio when we were sitting there and put his head in your lap to have his back or ears scratched.
I would take turns letting the different animals out so they had a chance to stretch their legs or nibble the grass. One day Carli let them all out together. When I saw that I yelled at her to put the cows up or the sheep up. I started out back to help put them away, but it was too late. It looked like Rambo thought Ladysmith, the cow, was a giant sheep, and Ladysmith was having none of it. She put her head to his belly and actually tossed him in the air a few feet.
I got everybody separated and looked Rambo over. There was no blood and he was walking okay, so I didn't think anything more of it. It wasn't until later in the week that I noticed he was getting more and more lethargic. One day later I found him dead in the barn. He'd only been with us for a few months. I think now he must have had internal injuries from Ladysmith's horn in his gut.
After we bought Jamie Lee and Bruce Lee we began letting the sheep all run together. One thing about Dorsets is they are very prolific. Bruce proved to be a fine example of the breed.
On July 27th Ewenice went into labor. Lacking prior experience I had to rely on other sources, books and the internet, most of which say to wait up until 1 1/2 hours before interfering with the ewe's labor. I kind of panicked a little and called the vet at his home, rather than calling the office. He politely informed me he was not the on-duty vet and to call the office. They could put me in touch with whichever vet was on call that evening. I felt bad because I knew that. (Note to vet: get an unlisted home number!)
I had never had to deliver before and I was a little squeemish about it. I knew we shouldn't wait any longer. Dean had come over and offered to help. I held Ewenice down and he reached in and ended up delivering the lamb. It was a large stillborn ram. Dean tried a little mouth to mouth and swung the lamb from it's back legs in an attempt to revive it.
It didn't work. The lamb had just been inside for too long. Ewenice lay exhausted in a corner of the stall and I brought the dead lamb to her. She carefully sniffed it all over. I think she realized it was dead. Finally I removed the lamb to dispose of it and left Ewenice to recover.
Jeffie heard about our bad luck and called. "Why didn't you call me?" she asked. "Just call me next time and I'll come over and help you!"
Three days later we took her up on her offer. Now it was Jamie's turn. Jeffie came over and after a short wait she went in and helped Jamie deliver. It was another huge single ram lamb, but this time it was wobbling around the stall. We all felt like proud grandparents.
The good news was that Ewenice proved she could have babies after all. The bad news was obviously that she lost her first baby, due to my ignorance. I swore the next time I would not make her wait so long.
Ewenice has since established that she is a good mother and fortune has smiled on us. We haven't lost any since then. Just seven months later she had twins, a girl and a boy, unassisted. We named them Doris and Boris and they ended up going to a grandpa who bought them for his grandkids.
Ewenice and this year's twin ram lambs
Things were looking up.
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