Muffy and DoeDoe

Saying Goodbye to Rocket

My test cow (aka Rocket the horse) has moved out. The two ramadas for the cow space and milking should be started tomorrow morning barring any rain. And I have two more sheep.

It all started when we went over to Angelica's house and helped move a couple corral panels to get ready for Rocket's move. I had asked to see the arena and the area where the horse would be staying.

Behind their house, next to the arena was a pen with wheels on it and two mixed breed sheep. One looked sort of like a Barbados with a bit of hair sheep in her as she had one fat dreadlock hanging down from the middle of her back. The other was a huge round ball of wool with hooves at the bottom and a spotted face. Not sure what she is, but she's definately a wool producer.

DoeDoe and Muffy

We later went to visit the landlord and asked about the sheep. He agreed to give them to me for free as well as their pen and a homeless chain link gate I can put to good use for a future pasture area. My plans of being able to rotate the goats and sheep are slowly getting along. I will need several more gates and a lot more rolls of wire fence and t-posts.

After the corral panels were in, Angelica quickly lassoed the sheep and we put them both in large dog carriers. The wool-ball barely fit inside. She was so big she filled in all the space and all we could see through the vent holes was globs of wool.

When we got them down the street to the ranch, we unloaded the non-wool lady first. Since we had her out I figured we might as well trim her hooves and her dreadlock. Then we put her in the old Milk Jail area. The wool-ball was entirely another story.

We lifted her dog carrier onto the little red wagon we have and wheeled her to Milk Jail. After setting the carrier on the ground, we hoped she'd just sort of come out on her own. She wouldn't budge. We tipped the carrier thinking she'd back out. No luck. So then Angelica took hold of the rear hooves and I grabbed the wool and we pulled and pushed and pulled and pushed. "Then I screamed. I see the head!" The wool-ball tumbled out. I congratulated Angelica for giving birth to a wool-ball and we both laughed. Farmer G was onhand to laugh at us too.

I got the scissors just to see if we really could get through that wool. I chopped and I chopped. Angelica was just dying to get a hold of the scissors so I relinquished my custody of them and that girl went to town!

Muffy before the Scissor Attack

Muffy during the massacre. It was like removing two sheep from her body!

Muffy after.
She needs a nice proper shave. We will have to consult someone
in 4-H that has real sheep clippers and knows what they're doing...

DoeDoe Smiling.
We can't be certain, but we think this sheep likes her new home.