The Flock Grows

May 9, 2006 was an exciting day for us. Both Ewenice and Jamie Lee decided to lamb on that day.

I was hoping for ewes this time around because I had made up my mind I was going to get rid of the two rams. One of those was Bruce Lee, the other was his son with Jamie, Freddie. I would keep the ewe lambs and get a new ram. That decision was made because the two Dorset rams had turned mean. They could not be trusted. Bruce was worse than Freddie. It wasn't that they were mean to their ewes, it was to the humans. You could not turn your back on them for one second. I carried a running hose that was crimped to stop the flow of water if I had to go in one of their pens. That way I could do whatever I had to do and if they decided to charge me I could blast them in the face with the hose. That always made them think twice about ramming. At least it slowed them down enough so I could escape the pen and slam the gate shut.

The year before, my brother and his family were visiting from Illinois. While the adults were chatting in the house, their youngest daughter was out back, picking grass and feeding the penned animals. After a while she came in, looking a bit disheveled. She said Bruce had somehow managed to squeeze out the gate and had butted and trampled her. (The gate had not been shut properly.) She managed to escape to a tree and then sneak back to the house when his attention had turned elsewhere. We were extremely fortunate that she wasn't seriously hurt.

The tree that saved my niece
In fact, I had been really thinking about getting rid of the sheep all together. That would give me enough room to add a cow, and maybe even get my own bull. The problem with the sheep, especially the rams, was they were too big and difficult for me to handle. It seemed no one else was willing to help me without a lot of grumbling so I tried to do everything myself, and it was getting frustrating.

On that evening in May I had just fed and found Ewenice in the barn, one baby on the ground, another obviously on the way. It was apparent things weren't going well with the second baby. I started going into the panic mode. Dean wasn't home so I couldn't call him. I also knew that Jeffie was gone too, a meeting or something. That meant I was going to have to bite the bullet and do something myself.

Just then, my hay guy pulled up. Franz is the dairyman husband of my friend Vicki. I also buy hay from him which he delivers to me for free (very much appreciated). He had just transferred the first bale from his truck to my pallet when I ran up to him. "Franz! Can you help me out? Ewenice is having a baby and I think you need to help her!" (Notice how I put that?)

Without a further thought he trotted back to the barn with us. While I sat on Ewenice to keep her from running away, Franz reached inside to figure out what was going on. After all, he regularly did this with his cows, so it was no big deal to him. He figured out that the lamb had it's head back and one leg down, instead of in the "diving" position of a normal birth.

It took a bit of doing, but soon he had the lamb positioned properly. Ewenice gave a push and the lamb started coming out. Another contraction and there it was. Everything appeared to be fine. We cleaned it up and let Ewenice take over. I told Franz I would have to name this lamb after him, but it turned out to be a ewe lamb. The first lamb was ram lamb, so I did the next best thing. I named the twins Franz and Francine.

Francine

About two hours later Jamie Lee went into labor. Franz was gone by then, but Jamie was able to have her babies without any complications. She had two girls. My luck was holding out. We named them 3of4 (after Seven-of-Nine from Star Trek and she was the third of four lambs for 2006) and Poppy.

Watching the four babies running and leaping, in fact, gamboling about the yard in the next weeks made me change my mind about getting rid of all the sheep. I would keep the girls, that would be five ewes, and I would get a smaller, gentler, more manageable ram.

Meanwhile, I had to get rid of the rams. I was sick of them and just wanted them gone, preferably before it was time to shear. Off to the auction then. Freddie wasn't too bad. He was still young enough to not know his strength entirely and once I got the halter on him he led easily to the trailer. I got him tied up and went back to get Bruce.

I got a rope over Bruce's head and pulled him close to the fence. I thought if I could keep a tight hold on his head and keep it cranked up he would lose some of his power and I could walk him to the trailer. Everything was going fine until we got half way to the trailer. Suddenly he stopped, twisted his head out of my grasp and backed up. I was trying to hang on but he broke my grip and threw me down. He was loose and I was on my back side.

He took a few more steps backwards, then lowered his head, reared up and charged. I did my best to keep my feet in front of me to fend him off. He rammed me a few more times and then nonchalantly meandered off to nibble the grass. I managed to get to the big garage and grabbed the lasso. When I went back out I was able to keep a tree between us while I got the rope over his head. I tied him to the tree and went in to call my husband. By this time the adrenaline was flowing fast and furious, and I was shaking and breathing hard.

I was practically in tears when I called him. "You gotta (sob) come help me (gasp) get this sheep loaded! (sob)" About ten minutes later he came home from work. We put another rope over Bruce's head and walked him between us to the trailer. He went back to work and I went to the auction yard.

While I was unloading the two rams some people were showing interest and asked about them. So I let them and anybody else within earshot know that this was the 2004 Kern County Fair Supreme Champion Breeding Ram and his son, and they were just too much for me to handle, which was why I was selling them, and yes, they were both registered and I had brought the papers with me.

I ended up getting about $300 for the both of them, which is what I paid for Bruce. I was very happy with that.

Poppy (foreground)

3of4

3of4 and Poppy were Bruce's babies and Franz and Francine were Freddie's. Franz has since been sold. He went off the farm to an older couple who wanted a replacement ram for their small flock. Towards the end of April or sometime this May, we will put the new ram, Perry, in with all the girls.

I'm really looking forward to when they all have their babies in the fall.