COWS, SHEEP, AND IRELAND

      Lambing season ended very peacefully.  The babies are growing fast - too fast.   It's fun to watch them learning "sheep" behavior like butting heads.  They tend to travel in a herd and rarely answer to mamma's call.  Here are a few photos of big babies:

      Sheep shearing this year was reasonably uneventful except for lots and lots of noise.  Wouldn't you know it that the very next day after shearing was rainy and chilly.  Good thing they can't talk - I'd have gotten an earfull.    Now bring on the heat!

     Well it was inevitable.  Once we added Annabelle to the family, we surely needed to provide her with a friend of her own.  She was starting to believe she was a sheep and it wouldn't be much fun to have an 1100 pound sheep.  So - enter Patti Labelle - all the way from Georgia.  She's a belted galloway and she and Annablle have hit if off fine.  Annabelle is completely weaned (thank goodness) although she still looks at me hopefully for maybe just a wee nip of milk.  I will say this about cows - they are trouble makers.  I kept finding the float valve from the automatic water bowl in the upper pasture flipped completely out of the water which created a water fountain of sorts.  A good way to drain the well.  After the third time, I replaced it with a system with a hidden float valve.    Also, it appears that both Annabelle and Patti LaBelle are jumping the temporary fence dividing the large upper pasture.  One minute they are on one side and a little later they are on the other.  No visible breach of the fence line can be found.  I knew that a cow jumped over the moon - but fences? 

      Finally, Jim and I are off to Ireland for a couple of weeks.  Not sure how I'll do leaving the farm for that long.  The good news is maybe I can bring back a couple of sheep!!!  Hope you are all doing well and enjoying every day to its fullest.  God continues to bless us with good health, a beautiful place to live, and thriving animals. 

      I will post when we return.