Saved a Life

It is a good thing I was there or I never would have seen what happened. My flock might be down one member had I not stayed in the pen to get a view of the ewes from the back side. (I am prone to do this lately, looking for signs of pregnant sheep.) 

Recently, we added a hay feeder to the barn pen.  It keeps the hay off the ground, plus the sheep tend to stay in one place while they feed. (Most of the sheep, anyway.) Sheep are greedy little creatures.  Like, Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, they want it now! Each sheep will crowd in as fast as they can to get their spot to munch whatever I have put into the feeder, whether it be alfalfa hay or sweet oats.  They are especially partial to the later, and will do anything to get a taste of those oats.
Anything includes crowding out of the youngest member of the flock, Adelaide.  Having just poured several cups worth of oats  into the feeder, I walked back into the barn to place down the pink bucket. Of course, the greedy sheep crowded to the feeder before I was finished spreading the oats out.  As I turned from the barn, I noticed something peculiar. Sometimes, the sheep will get on their knees to get the food that has fallen underneath the feeder.  One of the sheep was under the feeder, but not on her knees. She was on her back, listing to starboard.

Adelaide

It was Adelaide!  I ran over to see if I could pull her out. She wasn't moving, and her eyes were closed. O Lord, please, I thought, I don't want to loose another lamb!  Her neck had gotten stuck in the tines of the feeder as the older ewes shoved her  too tight in order to get to the oats. I undid her neck from the wood slats, and  I  pulled her body out from under the feeder.  As I pulled her further to get her out from under trampling hooves, she regained consciousness.  Sheep are resilient creatures.  Adelaide immediately popped up and ran to the feeder to eat as if nothing ever happened. 
Greed is a powerful passion.  We see only our own wants and desires, trying to get them fulfilled no matter what. If we let greed control us like that, like the sheep, we may become oblivious to others and their needs, and end up hurting them, even if we don't mean to. 
Adelaide is doing fine now on The Derby Farm.

Almost a Year

An early view of The Derby Farm homestead

Sitting on a three acre parcel, was a fixer upper manufactured home, a garage with a loft, a tool/garden shed, and a run down storage shed filled with yellow jackets. But, I knew it would be ours! We had no idea at that time what we would do with three acres. But now, almost a year later, we have a working sheep farm. (OK, so we only have a flock of 9 sheep, but it works for me!)  And, I love it!
The history of what we went through to finally get the property will come in a later blog, as well as various musings on being a farmer. Right now, I feel the need to get this blog started as we head into our first lambing season on The Derby Farm.