The total lamb loss is now six, leaving us with only four lambs, including Princess, who is living in the barn. This evening, we tried to catch the lambs, so we could put the rest of them in the barn, but that was more ridiculous than I'd anticipated. Finally, we decided that my oldest daughter would sit outside all night with a gun. Mike has to teach in the morning, so he needs his sleep. Before you think this sounds too "old west," I'll add that she'll keep herself awake by watching her video iPod. She just received it in the mail a couple days ago, and she's already downloaded two movies, two episodes of M*A*S*H, and an episode of The Simpsons.
The livestock guardian dog was out there last night, so I'm not sure how the last lamb was taken, other than to assume that the LGD was in the wrong pasture. He can go between two pastures, and for some reason unbeknownst to us humans, he doesn't like the pasture where the sheep are currently grazing. Still, each pasture is no more than two acres, and he should have certainly known what was happening so close. We're terribly disappointed in him.
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3 comments:
I'd be desperate, too; I'm so sorry! Don't you have a building of some sort to lock them up in at night? Ours come in readily for their little snack of grain....
The only time we ever bring the sheep into the barn is for shearing, and they've gotten quite smart about that whole scenario. We used to be able to get them in there with grain, but this past year, I could just hear them saying, "You expect us to fall for that old trick again?" That's why we got a herding dog, but at only five months, he's not ready to take on the whole flock. He did do a great job, however, the other day when a few sheep got out.
If you brought them in every night, they wouldn't have that once-a-year torture session in mind with every attempt! Glad to hear your herding pup is already a help, though. Those sheep will soon have no option but to come in!
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