An easy day...?

Today was supposed to be an easy day on the farm. The plan was to have brunch with my friend, Karen, then pick up some bigger water tanks for the sheep on the way home, and finish up the day by writing and posting the blog. Compared to most days, that sounded pretty "light," so I awoke eager to start the day!

Before I could leave for brunch, I, of course, had to do the morning chores: exercise the three dogs for twenty or thirty minutes and feed the lambs a five-gallon bucket of grain. I figured I would do the grain first and then finish with the dogs and leave for brunch, but I was wrong. On the trip out to the lamb pasture, I noticed one of the lambs drinking from a puddle - not a good sign! I checked the water tank and discovered that it was bone dry. I should have guessed that this small tank wouldn't keep up with all the sheep that drank from it! For a while now, we have been planning a trip to buy bigger tanks for most of the pastures. Once I saw the lamb and puddle, I had to readjust my plans.... I now had to exercise the dogs while filling the water tank in the back of the truck, and then fill both stock tanks (the lambs' and the ewes') from the truck's water tank before I left for brunch - thank goodness Karen called and was running late!

I had the presence of mind to throw my clothes and shoes for brunch into the truck and drove out to the pastures to fill the sheep tanks with water. I didn't dare wear my good "brunch clothes" until I finished because, inevitably, I end up fixing a coat, moving a lamb, or in some other way getting mud or manure all over me. I was pleased with the fact that I had thought to bring the clothes with me to change in the field. As I changed, I noticed that the pasture was eaten down to the point that we needed to move the lambs into a new pasture and shift the ewes into this one. Well, OK.... Later. I would have to find time later. Right now, I had to get changed and get over to meet Karen. Basically, the clothing switch all worked as planned, but then I opened the gate out to the road and unknowingly got dirt on my hands, which I then quickly transfered to my clothes as I brushed them off.... Oh, well. Maybe Karen wouldn't notice....

So, off I went to brunch at Perkin's. Our brunch is always full of laughs, lots of catching up, and just general good things, and today's was no exception. While I was there, my hay and straw supplier returned my call and made arrangements for me to stop by later today to pick up four bales of straw for the weekend. OK - no big deal. I figured I could pick it up later this afternoon, after the blog. I left Perkins at about 1:15 p.m., planning on a quick stop at Tractor Supply to pick up the three stock tanks we obviously needed, and then home to the dogs by three.

Unfortunately, Tractor Supply had only one tank that was one foot high, two feet wide, and six feet long, for a total of seventy gallons. We can't get the two-foot-high version because the smaller sheep can't reach the water. Well, I figured one was better than none, so I payed for it and pulled up to have it loaded into my truck. Darn - the stupid tank had a hole in it! There was really no point to buying even the one tank if it had a hole in it! I had to go back inside to return my purchase... another twenty minutes wasted! It was now nearly two thirty, and I still had no stock tanks.

All I could think to do was to call Theisen's in one of the outlying towns - I was afraid the one in Cedar Rapids would cater more to townfolk than to those of us who have farm animals. The one in Anamosa is located right in the middle of farm country, so I figured I had a better shot there. According to the guy I talked to, though, they had no "short" stock tanks at his store, but the Cedar Rapids branch had two in stock. I had done all my calling sitting in my truck on the shoulder of the road, so I put down the phone and headed for the Cedar Rapids Theisen's in hopes of still getting at least one sheep stock tank for the pasture and getting home by three.

Well, as I drove up, I was lucky enough to talk to one of the Theisen employees in the parking lot, who assured me that they had what I was looking for. I rushed into the store at quarter to three, and headed straight for the farm equipment section. After looking and finally finding help, I was told that they didn't carry the size I was looking for and never did! Now, what was I going to do? Amazingly, the lady who was helping me suggested we look at the catalog from the company that supplies their stock tanks - maybe they could 'special order' what I needed, and then I could either wait the four weeks to get it or I could go pick it up myself.

Long story short, the company did have exactly what I was looking for. All I had to do was pay for three tanks, then bring the receipt to them and they would load them into the back of my truck. No problem. Except.... I did have to drive up to Manchester to pick them up today. I had to be there by 4:15 p.m. or it would have to wait until...next Wednesday. It was now three o'clock. Manchester is a good hour's drive from Theisen's, and I had no idea where in Manchester I was going. I still had dogs to deal with at home - they had been in their crates for nearly five hours. I called a friend to let the dogs out, and I went to pay for the tanks. Timing was going to be tight!

I should know by now that when I'm in a hurry, everything goes wrong! I have an ATM card for farm purchases. The machine at the check-out wouldn't take my card. No, there was nothing wrong with my card - the machine had been "acting up" all day, I guess. We ran it five times. We had the same problem each time. Minutes were ticking by, and I still had to be in Manchester by 4:15. It was beginning to look hopeless...until I thought to use it as a credit card. Eureka! That did the trick, and I was on my way to Manchester with my receipt in hand!

The trip was uneventful. I made it there at exactly 4:15 p.m. The guy loaded up my stock tanks, and I turned around and left for home. It was nearly five-thirty when I arrived. Still on my list to do: move the lambs into the timber, move the ewes into the rock pasture that the lambs just left, then move the lambs into the fire-circle pasture (I couldn't move them directly there because the ewes had to pass through the fire-circle to get to the rock pasture). Coda was ready to go, but Martin (our new llama) was not. We got all of the lambs and their llama, Vinnie, moved into the timber in short order, but the ewes and Martin were another matter entirely. Martin was sure that they were under attack by Coda, and he defended. It took us nearly two hours to move all of the sheep and fill two of the three troughs (the ones in the occupied pastures).

At 7:30 p.m. I came inside to write the blog. I have yet to pick up the four bales of straw for the barn cleaning tomorrow - that's my next project. Then I think I am done for the day. My "brunch clothes" are now dirty and stained - I forgot to change them when I brought the tanks back. I'm sunburned from my time outside, and I'm a little hungry - brunch ended quite a while ago. I'm looking forward to a hot shower after I get the straw....

This was supposed to be an easy day, and it has been absolutely crazy! Hopefully tomorrow - which is pretty full - will be easier than this! Tomorrow's list is twenty-four items long, but we have a couple of teenage boys coming to help out.... At least that way, I know I'll get lunch!

An early morning scare

There are times when I make a decision that seems so good, reasonable, and well thought out at the time, only to have it blow up into a mess when it actually plays out. That's exactly what happened this morning. Let me explain....

Lisa is no longer much of a herding dog. She was my first working dog, and I made all of my mistakes with her. Even after training and retraining, I realized that the biggest mistake I had made was in the disposition I had chosen for my dog, and so I eventually retired her at the ripe old age of about six years. Lisa has a mind of her own and, unlike Coda or Chance, is not at all interested in working as a team with a human partner. Actually, I don't really think she wants to work with any partner. Lisa likes to do what she wants to do at any time or place that she wants to do it. She has finally agreed to generally follow my household rules, but not in order to please me (which seems to be more the case with my other two dogs) - instead, she follows my rules because she knows that punishment awaits her if she doesn't. She will still push the envelope as far as she can, though, punishment or not!

You should also know that all of our dogs are afraid of thunder - mightily afraid. We do medicate them for storms, and we actually began doing so early enough in their lives - in the case of both of the boys, Coda and Chance - that they will actually work the sheep in a storm if need be. It doesn't happen often, but it sure is comforting to know that if I need to bring the sheep in during a fierce storm, I won't be trying to do it myself! Of the three, Lisa is the most storm phobic - there is no way she would help me in a storm.... no way!

So, this morning, thunderstorms were popping up on the weather radar all over our state - most were very limited in size, but they created a lot of thunder and lightning as they went by. I was gettting ready to go outside and finish my chores when I saw the western horizon darkening - I knew a big storm was on its way in a short period of time. I still had to exercise the dogs for at least twenty minutes before they went to relax for a while in their crates, and I also needed to fill the creep house with grain for the lambs to eat at their leisure during the day. I didn't want to get caught in a downpour walking the dogs, but I also didn't relish the idea of filling the creep house as buckets of rain dumped down around me, either.

I decided that the thing to do was to try something I had done many times in past years when I had a similar situation: take the dogs on a walk and frisbee-catching session as we moved closer and closer to the rock pasture where the lambs were grazing. Once I got near the pasture, I could put them all into a "down-stay" and go in myself to fill the creep building. Once I was finished and out of the pasture, I planned on releasing them from their stay and continuing on the walk. This way, I could kill two birds with one stone - both walk the dogs and feed the lambs - before the worst of the storm hit!

Unfortunately, Lisa had her own plans for the morning.... We began the walk as usual for our morning routine: I threw the frisbee and walked, while the dogs retrieved the frisbee and did their 'business.' We all slowly worked our way away from the house and towards the back of the property. This time, however, I was carrying the bucket of grain for the lambs as I walked, and we were accompanied by the sound of distant thunder. The thunder was obviously making the dogs ill at ease, but they were still willing to walk and fetch, so we moved towards the rock pasture.

It didn't take long before Lisa figured out that we were headed for the rock pasture and the lambs, and decided to "help out." As she raced into the pasture where the lambs grazed, it was obvious that she was up to no good: our dogs are taught to wait at the gate for us to enter first, but she threw herself under the bottom wire of the fence and immediately ran for the lambs, barking all the way. The commotion caught the attention of the other two dogs, and all three began running around and through the group of lambs, panicking the flock. What a mess!

I called. I threatened. I tried not to scream at them (it gets the dogs too excited and tense), but I can't say that it didn't happen. I ran to try to catch them. When something like this happens, there isn't really much you can do.... The dogs are too fast and too smart to be caught. Eventually, the fun for Coda and Chance wore off, and they obeyed when I asked them to lie down and then to leave the pasture. Lisa, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with me! This was fun for her and she had no plans of stopping!

I watched, helplessly, as she charged the group of lambs again and again, scattering them to the corners of the pasture, only to regroup them and start again. It was hot and muggy, even for morning, and this crazed running was really not good for any of them, dog or sheep. I was getting more and more worried.... And then it happened. I watched as Lisa charged the group of lambs yet again, and this time, one of the black ewe lambs dropped onto her side in the tall grass and did not get up. Oh, I had to stop this, and fast!

It took me several more minutes before I could get Lisa's attention - it was finally a good strong clap of thunder that drew her attention away from her quarry. When it broke her concentration, she suddenly felt the rain and wind, and heard the storm all around her as it gathered strength. Suddenly - and thankfully for the lambs - all she had on her mind was to race for home to get away from the storm, and that's just what she did!

Oh, ... and that black ewe lamb? Well, as soon as the coast was clear, she lifted her head to take a good long look around. Seeing that the crazy dog had indeed left for home, she hopped right up and rejoined her flock-mates like nothing had happened. When I, too, turned away and left for home, she was the only sheep in that pasture that wasn't panting heavily after the early morning run. Who says sheep aren't smart?! At the ripe old age of two months or so, she has already figured out that the best way to avoid trouble with Lisa is not to play her games! If only I could figure out a way....

A bittersweet weekend of travel

After loading up both lambs and yearlings late Friday evening, we left Saturday morning for Wisconsin to begin our deliveries. Our first stop was the delivery of just one yearling CVM ram in Belleville, Wisconsin. He, thankfully, hopped right out of the trailer, happy to see fresh grass! There were also a number of other sheep in the pasture with him, so we had no problems convincing Ignatius that this was to be his new home. Within less than an hour, we were back on the road to our second stop - right on schedule!

Happily, our second stop took us to Brodhead, which was less than an hour's drive. There were three Romeldale lambs and a yearling CVM ram to drop there as a starter flock. The lambs were easy to move out of the trailer - they are still small enough that we could carry them to the paddock where they would live (see photo on right). The yearling ram was not so simple.... It did help that his traveling buddy, Ignatius, had already left, and now most of the lambs had also been taken from the trailer. We opened the side door to his compartment, and with a little coaxing, we got Iverson to jump out of the trailer and into the paddock that will be his new home for the time being.

Sheep don't much like to be alone - they are flocking animals and feel very uncomfortable without a group around them. Iverson called and called to find other sheep, but for whatever reason, the lambs that we had just off-loaded into the adjoining paddock did not answer - they were too interested in eating the tall grass! Iverson was getting more and more nervous as he called and called to a seemingly empty field. Just as he seemed about ready to give up hope, the three lambs that we had just delivered ate through some of the vegetation between the two adjoining areas. They could see him, and he could see them! The lambs were much more comfortable with an older sheep there with them, and Iverson was no longer alone! Once the paperwork was done and all questions were answered, we hopped back into the truck for the drive to our next stop in Sheridan, Illinois - our last stop of the day.

Although it took us several hours to travel this leg of the trip, it was a good time for Rick and me to discuss all of those things we somehow never seem to have time to get around to hashing out at home. Before we knew it, we were at our last stop to deliver twin Romney ewe lambs - one black and one white. Carrying them to their new home from the trailer was easy enough at this age. We had delivered a ram lamb, Grissom, to this same farm in the summer of 2007. It was especially fun to be able to see Grissom again, as we had only seen one picture of him in the spring of 2008. It is always interesting to me to see how our breeding animals grow up because we often only see them as lambs.... Grissom has grown to be an impressive Romney ram - quite muscular and well-built, with a gorgeous gray fleece! It was hard to take my eyes off him as we stood at the fenceline - but we had to be on our way home to spend the night and to reload the trailer with lambs for Sunday's trip!

We got home late (nearly ten), so decided to load up Sunday's lambs in the morning before we left. Unfortunately, because we knew we were going to be gone much of the weekend, we had put all three dogs into the boarding kennel for the weekend - that way, we didn't have to worry about arranging for someone to let them out during the day. Well, with no dog available Sunday morning, loading the lambs we needed into the trailer became quite a project! If Coda had been home, we would have been finished in ten minutes. As it was, the loading process took us over an hour as we tried to outwit rather than outrun the lambs we needed.

Eventually, we had the five lambs rounded up (plus two extras), and we were on our way to Reinbeck, Iowa. We arrived just after lunchtime, and almost immediately unloaded the lambs. We had brought two ram lambs for a final decision on-site, and also January to keep the unchosen lamb company on the trip home, so we only had to unload five of the seven we had brought. Once the five purchased lambs were carried to their new barn and pen, Rick and I were able to sit down with the Heistads to finish paperwork and talk sheep for a bit. Buying a starter flock is a big deal, and we try to share as much information and answer as many questions as possible before we leave. If we miss anything, there is always e-mail or the phone - we try to be available as questions come up during that first year or so.

By mid-afternoon, it was obvious that they had just about hit information overload, so we said our good-byes and headed for home, knowing that all of the lambs delivered over the weekend had gone to wonderful new homes. This is always a bittersweet time of year for us: saying good-bye to the lambs that we have worked so hard for, yet knowing that, unless they go to new homes, there will not be room for any more lambs next year! So, as we made our way across Iowa, bound for home, we began our list of "K" names for the 2011 lambs. It really helps to keep looking forward.....

The first lambs ready for delivery

This weekend is a big one for us - many of our lambs will be going to their new homes in the next two or three days! As simple as that sounds, there is a lot of preparation that goes into getting them sold and settled in, and it started weeks ago....

Beginning at about five or six weeks of age, we gave our lambs their first immunizations for tetanus and a couple of common sheep diseases. Trying to catch lambs of that age for anything can be a trick: they run so quickly and jump so high that we've had to develop a method to our madness in trying to catch them! We have found that locking them into a small area - like a stall in the barn - works much better than any other option. We need to give them a booster shot after about three weeks, so, between coats and shots, we handle the lambs a lot in those first weeks!

We also try to clean them up a bit before we turn them over to their new owners.... We make sure that if they are going with coats, that the coats will still fit for at least a couple of weeks, and that they are not torn and fairly clean. If the lamb has manure tags from grazing rich grass, we try to trim them off - it is important to make a good first impression, even if you are a lamb!

There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be put in order before a sale, too. Every lamb we sell comes with not only a registration, but also a print-out of all of the computerized information that we have collected on that lamb since birth. That includesweights every month (beginning at birth), every notation we've ever made when handling the lamb (when it was dewormed, immunized, medicated, etc.), any color genetics that we have been able to figure out from the sire and dam, any illnesses or injuries (not common), etc. Thank goodness the paperwork is computerized! I can't imagine having to sit down and write it all out longhand - including the five generation pedigree!

My last task, besides loading the lambs up for transport tonight, is to mix up creep feed for their first week or so in their new home. Sheep, and especially lambs, require a pretty consistent feed ration - dramatic changes will really throw off their digestion. Because of that, I make sure each lamb goes with about seven pounds of creep feed to slowly make the transition over to whatever their new owners will feed them. Our ration is not a ready-made mix - we mix it ourselves for our lambs each day. That means that I now have to mix enough in my little buckets for well over a dozen lambs for at least seven days or so. Needless to say, it's going to take a little time!

Once we leave tomorrow morning to deliver the first lambs, it will be exciting! There is nothing like watching a family welcome home a small flock of little lambs - especially when there are children involved! At that point, all of the preparation is suddenly worth it, and we drive away knowing that not only are our lambs in good hands, but we've also likely made new friends with their new owners in the process. It won't be long now....!

Our working dogs

I have to admit that I couldn't do what I do with my flock of sheep without my dogs. I know that a lot of shepherds say that they can move their flocks using a bucket of grain, but my sheep are too wary to fall for that. Most of them will come in, but a few stay back and watch to see what we have planned. When the others see the few outside, they become nervous and run out of the barn, too, so that we then need to get more grain to try to bring them back in. We eventually got to the point where we knew we could not move the sheep reliably, so we got our first dog, Lisa.

Because she was our first dog, I made a lot of mistakes with Lisa - both in selecting her and in her training. She is still around now, seven years later, but retired, having gotten to the point where she is more trouble than help. Because border collies need a productive job to maintain their sanity, she has developed the task of protecting me from the rooster when I collect eggs from the nesting boxes. This isn't something I would have thought of on my own, but she has embraced it as her task in life since her retirement and, since it has created a kind of peace in the household, we go with it.

Coda was the next dog to arrive and is now, at five years of age, our main dog. Although I am constantly reminding him to slow down while he's working, he can do just about anything I need with little instruction. He is tough enough to move the most ornery rams, and yet can be gentle and patient enough to move even the youngest weaned lambs. I am afraid that he is a once-in-a-lifetime dog: he is just that easy to work with. I used to think that he read my mind, but I have come to realize that he must read my body language and often knows what I need him to do even before I even tell him.

Besides being so good with the sheep, Coda also knows to steer clear of the llamas. We have one llama protecting each group of sheep. When I take Coda into an area to move sheep, he keeps an eye open for the llama and, although he will move my sheep as needed, he will also keep from being killed by the resident llama. Chance isn't so savvy and the llamas are my major issue with him right now....

Chance is the youngest and also the smallest of our three dogs. Being two years old, he doesn't yet have the experience that Coda has developed, and I don't think he realizes that being too close to the llamas is a danger. He becomes so involved with working the sheep that he loses track of where the llama is - and that can be fatal! When I take Chance into the flock of sheep, I have to keep an eye out for him, to keep him away from the llama. I am hoping that, eventually, with more experience, he will figure all of this out for himself the way that Coda did - but he hasn't done it yet. Right now, it can still be a heart-stopping experience to let Chance work the sheep.

Of our three dogs, Chance has the most unusual personality. If you were to meet him in the house, you would think he's still a puppy - he's much too playful and immature for you to consider him a working dog. Yet, if you take him in among the sheep, all of that silly puppy behavior drops away, and the working dog comes to the fore. If you met him in the pasture with sheep, you would have a hard time reconciling the dog you saw indoors with the one you met in the fireld - he is that different.

Many people ask me if I have a favorite from among our dogs.... In fact, I do have a favorite. The problem is that my favorite changes by the day. Actually, it probably doesn't take that long to change from one to another - it can be minutes! Coda is definitely my favorite for certain tasks with the sheep, but Chance is actually better at other times in moving the flock. Lisa can be a doll - or a stinker, depending on her mood. Overall, life with three border collies isn't easy - they have way too much energy to simply be household pets. Yet, for our lifestyle, I can't imagine doing what we do without them. Their intelligence and drive make working the sheep infinitely easier, and our lives away from the flock infinitely more interesting.....

A bittersweet reunion

Saturday marked the final weaning date for all of our lambs. The oldest lambs were done a few weeks ago, but since we wean in two groups, the lamb flock still had the mothers of the youngest lambs in with them. The project this past Saturday was to pull out all of the adult ewes - except for Zoe, who would act as "granny" and provide leadership for the lambs - and put them into the timber with the rest of the ewes.

We then planned on splitting the lambs into two groups.... The youngest lambs who would be weaning this week would stay in the barn with the lambs who will be leaving for new homes next weekend - both of these groups would get a little extra attention this week, so keeping them close just made sense. The rest of the lambs went with Zoe to a new, fresh pasture.

Our bottle lambs, Jasper, January, and Jareau, were weaned with the first group in late April, so they ended up being split up between the two groups: Jasper stayed in the barn because he is leaving next weekend, and January and Jareau were intended to go with Zoe's group out to the pasture. At the last minute, January got in with the barn group, so we decided to leave her there as a companion for Jasper. One more lamb eating hay is no big deal, and she seems like a fixture in the barn - it would almost be odd to go to the barn and not find January there, getting into places and things that she wasn't supposed to!

That left Jareau in with the older lambs in Zoe's group, going down across the lawn, through the orchard, across the ram pasture, out across our small foot-bridge over the wetlands, to the newly opened south pasture. All of the lambs moved easily, following Zoe with llama Vinnie in the lead. The remaining lambs at the barn were given lots of hay and water, and then barricaded in so that they couldn't take off to find their mothers in the timber. The day's project seemed done, and I went inside the house to call it a day at about five in the afternoon. However....

It wasn't long before I noticed that there was a lamb outside of the enclosure around the barn! This really couldn't be possible, as we had used the same barricade that we used a few weeks ago, and that we knew was lamb-proof! How could a lamb have gotten out? I turned off the TV news and went to investigate....

It turns out that our barricade is indeed escape-proof - no lambs had gotten out: they were all still inside their enclosure. There was a lamb outside, though, poking her head into every nook and cranny, but she had not come from inside - she had come from Zoe's group in the new pasture! It was Jareau! Missing her two bottle-lamb friends, she had decided to strike out to find them, rain or shine, over high ground or wetlands. She had obviously taken the hard route, as she was wet and filthy, but happy to have found her friends. Her biggest issue now was that they were inside and she was out - but she was determined to change that!

January and Jasper, on the other hand, were the cheering section inside the panelled fence, calling and calling to their friend, Jareau. By the time I got up to the barn, Jareau had put her head into the only opening into the area and gotten stuck there with Jasper and January jumping onto her and rubbing against her, encouraging her on. The whole scene made me smile - these three friends, of two different breeds, had become 'family' only because of chance - they all had to be bottle fed to survive. Yet, they are now so connected that separating them into distant pastures had caused such a scene.

So what could I do?! Jasper leaves next Sunday for his new home, so I decided to let them have their time together this week - what is one more lamb eating hay in the barn? So now, January, Jasper, and Jareau have one more week to celebrate their friendship. When I went out this morning, the three of them were busy chowing down a flake of hay from the same hay feeder, keeping all of the other lambs at other feeders - this was "their" feeder, and they worked in unison to defend it. I know that their time together is short, and that this is the way life on the farm goes, but I am going to be sorry to break up this little trio.... I am happy that two of them will have a permanent place here, and that Jasper has found a good home, but I can't help but feel just a bit of sadness each year as our lambs leave our care and disperse to start their new lives. As always, I wish them well.

Into the shepherd's arms....

It was a pretty typical spring storm in Iowa: the wind was bending the trees to the point of breaking, the rain was hammering down in sheets, interspersed with bits of hail, and arcs of lightening lit up the sky. It was evening, and it was beginning to get dark - I knew that the lambs had to come in to the barn to get out of the storm.... Cold rain is not good for young lambs, and several years ago, we lost a lamb in a lightening storm - I certainly didn't want a repeat!

Most of the lambs had come in when the storm first began, but a few of them had gone to graze in outlying areas earlier in the day, and now couldn't get back on their own. So, there I was in my yellow slicker, trying to bring the lambs home for the night. The first one that I noticed had obviously crawled under the seven-wire fence and was grazing with the rams. Jake had figured out how to get to the 'greener pastures' on the other side of the fence, but now couldn't figure out how to get back. I quickly turned off the power to the ram's fence, hopped it to pick up Jake, then came back over it with Jake in my arms. It seemed easier to carry him to the barn than to get one of our herding dogs out in the storm to teach Jake how to cooperate with a dog - a lesson better left for a calmer day! When I got to the paddock at the barn, Rick opened the gate, and I set the ram lamb on the ground to run into the barn. One down, and five or six lambs to go....

Next came the group of lambs who had crawled under the west pasture fence into what we call the Rock Pasture. I was hoping that all I had to do was to open the gate adjoining the two fields and the lambs would be smart and run for the barn. The rain and hail was now really pelting me, and although the slicker was keeping my sweatshirt dry, my sweatpants were soaked through, and I was getting cold.

As I opened the gate that I hoped would bring the lambs in, I realized that Gianna and her daughter, Jezebel, were two of the sheep in the rock pasture, and rather than come back up to the barn, Gianna slipped back under the fence to the timber where her fellow flockmates were riding out the storm. That was fine for her, but Jezebel followed her into the timber.... I would have to find her later. There were still three other lambs in that same rock pasture who I had to bring in - and this time, I couldn't just carry them!

As I walked into the middle of the pasture, with one lamb to the west, and two more in that same field to the south, I was trying to figure out how to get all three moving towards the barn. I was afraid that the single lamb who had been grazing with Jezebel and Gianna would try to follow them into the timber. And as I walked towards him or her, that was just what he/she was trying to do!

Then, I noticed that this lamb was pretty small in comparison to our other lambs.... And it was wearing a new, white coat - I had just yesterday changed Jareau's coat for a new, bigger one. I wondered, could this be my little Jareau - the bottle lamb who, at one point, would come to the sound of my voice calling her name? As I walked, I began to call Jareau in the high-pitched call that I had always used to call her for her bottle, hoping against hope that maybe it would convince this little lamb not to take off for the timber in this nasty weather.....

Believe it or not, it worked! Fighting my own disbelief, I continued to call, and not only did Jareau stop trying to find a way under the fence, but she also turned to look in my direction. As I called again and again, she began to run as fast as her little legs could carry her in my direction! When we met in the middle of the rock pasture, she was so excited to see me that she was like a gleeful pet dog, jumping up on me and rubbing her soggy head against me - all she wanted was for me to pick her up!

I popped open my slicker and tucked her under as much of it as I could manage, protecting her from the worst of the downpour, while she nibbled on my chin and nose - Jareau was obviously happy to be at least partially out of the storm. Now, I had to shift my attention to the other two lambs to the south.... As I began to walk towards them, the oldest of the two suddenly realized that I had opened the gate that stood between them and the barn. All it took was for me to give them a little incentive to get moving (by walking towards them), and the two ram lambs took off for the barn, with Jareau and me bringing up the rear.

It wasn't long before all of the lambs were safe in the barn and out of the nasty weather. With all of the lambs warm and dry for the night, I headed for the house, reflecting on all that had just happened. It still amazes me that even weeks after her last bottle, little Jareau heard her name, knew that it signalled an end to her misery in the cold, and came running to me for help. This is just another one of those stories that makes the tough parts of what I do completely worth it.