Moving Sheep

As the weather gets warmer and our sheep spend more time grazing we like to take advantage of a pasture across the road.  Our sheep benefit from the fresh grass and our neighbours dont need to worry about mowing...a great partnership!  

We only move our sheep on days when we are home for the day.  Although the pasture is fenced we live in an area with a large coyote population so we dont want to leave the sheep unattended for very long.  To move the sheep in the morning we use a bell to alert them that there is a treat of grain waiting for them.  The sheep love moving across the road and in the morning will wait at the gate baaing impatiently waiting for the gates to be opened.  In the afternoon the sheep are trained to recognize a whistle as the signal that it is time to come home.

Fortunately we dont have very  much traffic on our road.  To be safe though it takes both of us to move the sheep...Gilles to make sure that they are all at the gate and I wait on the road to watch for any oncoming traffic.

 Sheep and lambs have lovely faces.  

Sheep and lambs love to eat dandelions.  When we bring the sheep back home they will sometimes make a brief stop to eat grasses along the roadside.  If there is no traffic we will wait for a few minutes to let them take a few mouthfuls before they come down Ash Alley on the way to the barn.

 "Hello!  How are you?"

For many years we used our dog Kodiak to help move the sheep home.  With Kodiak's passing recently we are starting to use Drakk to help move the sheep.  German Shepherds have a natural tendency to herd the sheep which they do by circling them and moving them in the direction they want.  Our dogs are not true working dogs and only spend time with the sheep when we are moving them.

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