Thursday 6 December 2007

Tupping the sheepies

This entry is dedicated to Geraldine Evans. Hello Geraldine.

We bought a 'tup' a few weeks back. The vet got him for us at the tup sale in Dingwall when he was buying the sheepstock club rams. A 'tup' is a ram, in case you are confused. I am usually confused with animal terminology. For instance, in the case of sheep, you can have ewe, ram, lamb, tup, wedder, shearling, hog and gimmer, not necessarily in that order. I mean, a sheep as a 'hog'? Never, I hear you say, a hog is pig. But don't take my word for it, Google.

The idea when breeding any sort of beast is for the stockman to determine when, where and with whom. The tup that we had bought for our little flock of mainly 'gimmers', was therefore put into a field with an old ram (kept for sentimental reasons and don't ask me ask the wife), a wedder and a young ram who had escaped the knife. The new tup would be introduced to his harem on the 28th November, or thereabouts, and all was rosey at the Romesdal croft.

A few days later working at the byre I noticed something odd about a sheep in the distance. It was nothing specific, it just looked odd. Gathering my trusty dog Jay (a bitch) off we went for a closer look at this strange sheep. As we neared it dawned on me that the sheep was 'odd' because it was obvious that it was a ram! And not one belonging to Romesdal.

Moreover, our little flock was nowhere to be seen and there was mystery as to how this strange beast got into the field in the first place. Anyway, I surmised that the flock was 'over the wall' as the gate had been left open to let them and the cattle come and go as they pleased. So, driving the strange ram in front of us, Jay and I heading in that direction.

It was a full on flabbergast when, on through the gate, I saw the flock and not one strange ram, but five! They all looked at home and was that a one smoking a cigar? As to how they got in in the first place that could wait, as the problem now was getting the blighters out.

The easiest way to do so was to the drive the lot of them, ewes, gimmers and rams back through the gate down to the yard, pen them and then separate. And with the invaluable help of Jay, that is what I did. As to ownership, that was easy, as they were clearly marked as Kingsburgh sheepstock club tups.

Sheep successfully penned and rams separated from the rest, the livestock trailer was backed up to the pen. The rams were shooed into the trailer for the short journey back to were they belonged, at Kinsburgh fank.

The best laid plans of man and dog scuppered and the prospect of early lambs to boot.

Such is life and what can you do?

PS As to how they got in amongst the flock, that remains a mystery, as a walk along the fence line revealed no breaks. They either jumped the fence, flew over the fence (unlikely) or some half-wit (not me) left a gate open for a while and then closed it.