Bad luck and trouble ...

The Wiltshire Horn is a hardy and ancient breed of sheep. It is speculated that they are descended from the breed brought to Britain by the Romans, but their true origin is probably lost in the mists of time. They are known to graze more independently than other sheep and can survive on rough terrain. From our point of view, their main selling point is that their fleece sheds naturally, eliminating the need for shearing and reducing their susceptibility to problems such as flystrike. An additional advantage is that there is casual evidence to suggest that they are relatively docile in nature – clearly an advantage when their farmers are complete novices!

Anyway, to cut to the chase, yesterday we took delivery of 6 lovely Wiltshire Horn ewes that we hope will be the foundation of a bigger flock. Three of the ladies are still yearlings (born in October 2021) and other three are younger (born December 2022). In April 2024 we will need to decide whether we try to breed from all of them or give the younger ones another year to mature. Much will depend on their condition after munching our grass over spring and summer.

Ladies in waiting 

The chariot

Our first bit of bad luck was that the recent run of dry, glorious, early spring weather came to an end a couple of days prior to the organised collection day. The resultant deluge made the steep track down to our bottom paddocks very treacherous and it was down this track that we had to transport our trailer with our newly acquired sheep.  The result can best be described as controlled slide down the hill (although Cath disagrees with the controlled bit).  With my heart rate and adrenaline levels hardly back to normal, I then had to take the empty trailer back up the hill. There was one particularly hairy bit where the ute started to drift sideways but luckily things worked out okay and I made to the top in one piece. We were extremely fortunate to get away with this manoeuvre safely and we are both agreed that remedial work on the track is a priority.

Before the descent

Unloading

But our problems didn’t just involve transport. It turned out that, despite our best efforts, both the bottom paddocks in which our sheep are based were not quite ready for the big arrival. It’s a long story and not one to dwell on. Suffice it to say that we needed to corner off a bit of the southern paddock with an electric fence to keep the sheep safe until the entire area is ready for them. As bad luck would have it, some parts for our planned electric fence had also not been delivered in time, so we had to rely on a prefabricated electric mesh fence that we had bought some time ago and this was the origin of the trouble. Everything was peachy when we left the ladies and set off to Franklin Post Office to pick up the delivery of the parts we had been waiting on. Unfortunately, in our absence one of the younger sheep got tangled in the mesh fence. The poor girl is extremely shaken up but luckily still alive ... at least at the time of writing. 

 

The matriarch (#130)

 

Settling in to the new pasture

 

We have not yet introduced the dogs to the sheep. Pepper is so manic that she is likely cause a stampede and Knut is such a playful big fellow that he would gladly join any mayhem. We will let the ladies find their feet in their new home first before we inject some spice into their lives. Talking of spice, I doubt that Cath and I will easily forget our first day as sheep farmers …