Sheep Journal

A shepherd must look at his sheep everyday.  Oddly this ram sauntered over from his breeding group to have a look back at me.  It's rare that sheep who haven't been turned into pets will approach humans; truthfully I felt honored to be considered inhuman by this non-human.  On my way back to the barn, I noticed the electric line between the  charger and the net fence was down.  The feed truck must have hit it earlier in the week; the sheep had been in a un-electrified enclosure for 2 days and nights. Dangerous because at night the coyotes are close in, but they've been stung by the fence and keep a respectful distance; even more dangerous because a ram, believing “the grass is greener…” can easily tangle his horns in an un-electrified net fence that he no longer respects as he sticks his snout through the opening for a frozen blade or two.  Struggling to free himself he will take the net fence down opening the flock to the coyotes.  I like to look at sheep, it’s the best part of my job.