A First Time for Everything

We sold our lambs Saturday. All three went with a nice lady to a farm down south. She already has some sheep, so they will have friends. And we are now down to a more reasonably sized flock for our 3 acres of pasture.

What was interesting is how the buyer transported the sheep.

I should preface this with the fact that we have transported animals in odd ways as well. Gladys the cow came from Grandpa Ed's farm riding in the back of the truck pinned in with hay bales and with Jeremy sitting in the back with her. Notag jumped out of the back of the truck while we were trying to tie her down. I ended up riding in the back with her and Lilly. It was after that experience that I bought the large dog crate - the biggest crate sold, it's like for a mastiff. The crate makes transporting sheep, and pigs, much easier.

So today the buyer pulled up in an Acura MDX, no trailer. She opened up the hatch and had lined the back with tarp. She said that when her other sheep were delivered, the man who brought them had the lambs tied around the middle and then to the seat belts. So this was the plan.

Jeremy grabbed the lambs one at a time. We brought each out, tied a rope around its midsection and then tied it to a seat belt in the back. Sue was first and he was very unhappy about it. He jumped and kicked. He fell out the back and was dangling for a few second by the rope. Me holding Notag back from escaping, yelling at Jordan "Grab Sue!" while Jeremy was catching Spot. The buyer came around and put Sue back inside. I went over to stay with Sue, bear-hugging him, until we got Spot loaded. In that process Notag escaped and went into the barn and started eating the left over pig feed. But we got Spot in the Acura with Sue and that made them both settle down. Then we closed the hatch and loaded Bo from the side door.

I grabbed the pig feed and put it up. I hope pig feed doesn't harm sheep - we'll see. We wrangled Notag back into the pole barn, luckily none of the other ewes got loose. And off the lambs went tied up in the back of an Acura. I'm sure it was a noisy ride home.