Each day, we take down the old paddock for each group of sheep and build a new one in its place. Simple enough. I spend my time picking up Electronet, laying out Electronet, setting up Electronet.
But we have one sheep who makes the whole process trickier. Nevermind that the adult ewes haven’t figured out that moving willingly out of the old paddock will be rewarded with a new paddock in short order. There’s no reasoning with some critters. But the lambs have a problem child: Sue Perkins.
Sue was hand-raised by us, and views humans as friends. She is especially fond of Matt and comes running to his special Sue-call. But she also views herself as an exception to general sheep rules. She feels that she can approach us for petting anytime, even when we are trying to drive the sheep from one place to another or dealing with an emergency. She is first on the scene if someone has a bucket in their hand just to check on whether there is grain inside, so carrying medication or other non-food items must be considered from a Sue-attack context.
And when it comes time to move fence in the lamb area, she has this irritating habit of testing the fence delicately with her nose to see if it is on, and then diving under it to get on the new pasture while her friends pace at the fence line.
Yesterday, I caught her in the act- totally busted! She didn’t go low enough and is actually caught in the lowest wire. Clearly, I need to think through some ways to teach this valuable ewe some respect for the fence!
