a cyberfriend lost a ram last night, and that tragedy reminded me of how grateful i am of the the relationships i enjoy with a few of our rams. in particular, there is my BFR (best friend ram) Tank. Tank isn't very handsome, nor does he have great fleece, don't know whether he produces good lambs or not because he is not in the breeding pool....but he has soul. And he is mine. He's my boy.
our rams and wethers are in an 80ish acre upland pasture that hasn't a good water supply. so i get to visit and check on everyone everyone when i take water up to their stock tanks. the main stock tank is near the large meadow and this is where most of the sheep and their llama drink. there is a fen waaaay away thru the woods, it's in this area where the four 'new' boys hang. i fill the big tank one day, the smaller one the next day.
and yesterday, as i was scrubbing and refilling the tank and visiting with the fen boys: Wally, Wyatt, Wylan and WonderBoy.... i decided to set up a catch pen in their corner so we could check their eyelids, (to see if any of them are pale, which would be because of too many barberpole worms, a stomach parasite which causes anemia....)
so i went back down to the yard and piled some cattle panels on my truck and grabbed a couple of dogs (Rock and Westfield) and went back up to the fen. there i spied a black sheep grazing near the gang of four. i walked in the gate and he turned and came walking to me. It was Tank :)))
Tank must have heard me there earlier when i was filling water, but it's a pretty far trek thru the woods, and i was gone by the time he arrived. I wonder if he comes every time i freshen that tank?? He almost always comes to say hi when i do the big-boys ' water, so it's really possible he tries to see me when i'm at the fen too! so sweeeeet!
well, so. i scritched him some, picked a tick or two off of him....Wally came up for snuggles but Tank seemed so distressed that i paid only cursory attention to little Wally...who finally wandered off to eat. And Tank sat down and chewed. (to non-sheep people, it's very unusual for a sheep, esp a ram, to lay down beside you) so i too sat, right beside him and watched squirrels and a bunny.....listened to the birds....watched how leaves from different types of trees swiggled and swayed so differently in the breeze. at one point i stopped scritching him and took my hand off and he nudged underneath my wrist to get my hand back on again :) needing to get more comfortable, i laid down and put my head on a big flat stone and Tank stretched his neck and laid his chin on my shoulder. for a couple of minutes anyway, then he lifted up to chew. (you know, they chew cud....if they're not grazing, they're chewing) so there i was, perfectly at peace, my two good dogs digging gophers nearby, and my other good dog, my ram-dog, happily beside me. i don't know what i'll do when it's Tank's time to go.....rams just don't usually live very long. we give him the best care anyone could possible give a sheep.....i dote on that guy! but i am quite aware that the time i have with him is so precious.
and yesterday, as i was scrubbing and refilling the tank and visiting with the fen boys: Wally, Wyatt, Wylan and WonderBoy.... i decided to set up a catch pen in their corner so we could check their eyelids, (to see if any of them are pale, which would be because of too many barberpole worms, a stomach parasite which causes anemia....)
so i went back down to the yard and piled some cattle panels on my truck and grabbed a couple of dogs (Rock and Westfield) and went back up to the fen. there i spied a black sheep grazing near the gang of four. i walked in the gate and he turned and came walking to me. It was Tank :)))
Tank must have heard me there earlier when i was filling water, but it's a pretty far trek thru the woods, and i was gone by the time he arrived. I wonder if he comes every time i freshen that tank?? He almost always comes to say hi when i do the big-boys ' water, so it's really possible he tries to see me when i'm at the fen too! so sweeeeet!
well, so. i scritched him some, picked a tick or two off of him....Wally came up for snuggles but Tank seemed so distressed that i paid only cursory attention to little Wally...who finally wandered off to eat. And Tank sat down and chewed. (to non-sheep people, it's very unusual for a sheep, esp a ram, to lay down beside you) so i too sat, right beside him and watched squirrels and a bunny.....listened to the birds....watched how leaves from different types of trees swiggled and swayed so differently in the breeze. at one point i stopped scritching him and took my hand off and he nudged underneath my wrist to get my hand back on again :) needing to get more comfortable, i laid down and put my head on a big flat stone and Tank stretched his neck and laid his chin on my shoulder. for a couple of minutes anyway, then he lifted up to chew. (you know, they chew cud....if they're not grazing, they're chewing) so there i was, perfectly at peace, my two good dogs digging gophers nearby, and my other good dog, my ram-dog, happily beside me. i don't know what i'll do when it's Tank's time to go.....rams just don't usually live very long. we give him the best care anyone could possible give a sheep.....i dote on that guy! but i am quite aware that the time i have with him is so precious.
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