I promised a post on “how much training/attention” should we be giving our dogs, and it’ll come, I promise. However, I’m a tad under the weather today, and since I wrote this part up yesterday I’ll post it now, and pick up the training topic soon. Fact is, things are pretty crazy here right now. Besides speeches (thanks SAVMA for having me!), finishing grading 150 7-page exams, new lectures, and the usual daily work load, I agreed to be a grant reviewer for NIH (Nat’l Institute of Health). They are due this Friday, then I fly to DC for panel reviews (and an appearance on Diane’s Rehm’s radio show… I just love her, so that’s a great perk.) If I’d known how much work these reviews would be, well… not so sure I’d have said yes. But it’s interesting, very interesting. But more on the training schedule issue soon, because I think it’s something that’s important to many of us.
Meanwhile, back on the farm: Shearing went off without a hitch Saturday morning; what a treat to see the sheep’s bodies without their coats of wool or hair. Turns out they weren’t as chubby as I thought, and given that they are due as early as two weeks from now, they’ll be getting more food for breakfast and dinner. High time, I’m sure they’d say. They are on extremely nutritious hay, glorious stuff rich with lots of alfalfa leaves, but the more the better from their perspective I’m sure. The day of shearing was cloudy, windy and damp, so I kept them inside the barn. Today it’s breezy but sunny and toasty (50’s!), and I’d bet that they are thrilled to be outside, in the sun and gnawing on tiny new shoots of grass. (New shoots! Bulbs poking green leaves above ground! Be still my heart; I’m almost afraid to believe that spring is really coming… of course, there will be lots more cold days, probably lots more snow, but still, the progression is inevitable and oh so welcome.)
I couldn’t resist experimenting with an old farmer’s trick passed on through a comment on the blog (thanks!) about anointing the sheep with Mennen’s After Shave before turning them loose after shearing as way of decreasing aggression. Given that last year Truffles and Dorothy looked like they were auditioning for a segment on “When Animals Attack” (see photos March 16th, 2009) , I thought I’d try it. I didn’t have any Mennen’s, but hey, I did have Evelyn & Crabtree Body Mist (Nantucket Briar, ummm, just love the smell), and I figured that any strong scent would do. So immediately after they were shorn I backed them into a corner and sprayed them all. At first they scattered from left to right, but after a few sprays they stood still and let me spray them all over their heads and necks. Did they like it? I swear I think they did. Sheep are very quick to run away from anything they don’t like, and either they were going into tonic immobility (which is highly doubtful), or they honestly liked the smell. And, amazingly, I saw almost no aggression between them. There was a brief moment of head-on-head pushing, but that was it.
The shearer wasn’t surprised; he is convinced that it’s not a visual difference that causes the problem, but that the sheep smell different after they are shorn. Once you take off their wool, which is full of lanolin and a unique slurry of individual scents, they smell very different than they did before. (Sort of like cats when they come back from the vet clinic?) Our experiment certainly supported that hypothesis. (And oh wow did the barn smell good.). Thanks for the tip!
Here’s Redford in “ready to shear” position. Sheep in this position look relaxed, but this probably IS case of tonic immobility… their cortisol readings are elevated when they are in this position, but they do get quiet and passive, which makes shearing much more pleasant for everyone. (The legs belong to Jerry Ace, who is the best shearer I’ve ever had; he is calm and gentle, even when the sheep are not, and there wasn’t one nick or scratch on my sheep. So lucky to have him.)
The next photo is of Dorothy, my oldest ewe, with her beautiful fleece almost off. The brown wool in the middle is the top of her fleece (which gets bleached by the sun), the darker wool on the sides is the inside, skin-side, of her fleece. She and Barbie have gorgeous wool, which will go to hand spinners for cleaning, spinning and knitting.
And here’s most of the flock after shearer was completed. That’s Brittany Spears looking at you (the white one with dark legs), who is indeed a bit of a pudge. She’s the one who crawls into the feeder to get more food–a woman after my own heart.
Charlotte says
Hope you feel better soon!
I
kate says
I can’t believe how you can even squeeze time in to blog!
It makes sense that having all smell the same would be less stressful.
I have fond memories around farm life. My grandparents owned an apple/plum/pear orchard, big enough to support themselves and kept it as close to organic as possible. No sheep, but chickens, ducks and the occasional hog. All free range in really natural settings. Trees, grass, brook, a pond even until time for bed.
They were brought in at night to cozy, warm, clean free run (no cages) and got to make their own beds in the hay.
There were also blackberry, raspberry, gooseberry bushes and a vegetable garden that I’d kill for these days. I think that’s why I’m so fussy. If something doesn’t taste fresh…I know it.
I wonder how many city children these days would be interested to see where their food actually comes from ?
Especially to see first hand the difference between organic farms and factory operated…
Thank you for sharing! I love the sheep names too…very funny.
Kat says
Back when I was a kid and we had a few sheep we’d lamb earlier or shear later than you do so there’d be the inevitable confusion when the lambs couldn’t recognize their mothers. Fortunately, the ewes could still recognize their lambs and it would all get sorted out. We had such a small flock that some years my father would shear with the hand clippers, back breaking work but it was always fun for the rest of us to watch his skills come back. The first sheep would be have a pretty ragged look but the last would be nice and smooth.
Alexandra says
Thanks for sharing that look at farm life. I grew up in a semi-rural area but not actually on a farm myself and have always been interested in how animals are raised and cared for. I hope you feel better, and I will look forward to hearing you on the Diane Rehm show (I’m a big fan; she always has such interesting topics).
--Deb says
Okay, the spinner in me wants to know what KIND of sheep are they? I have a friend with a fiber farm and even though she’s several hours’ drive away, I feel like I know all of them, she writes and photographs them with such personality. (And, of course, I love getting my hands on the wool, too.)
Carolyn says
About how much does the wool that is sheared off weigh? Best diet plan around!
Meganwf says
Love the look of that second fleece! What breed sheep are they? I’m spinning a wonderful Jacob / Merino cross from a local sheep named Molly. I just cleaned out my fiber stash and am ready for spring shearing bounty to come my way. I have my eye on another farm nearby that keeps coats on their Cormo breed. I’m sure my English Shepherd and I would enjoy our own Shetlands but in addition to our usual poultry we are adding bees. Not much fun to herd — sorry pup!
Traci says
Hi, Trisha! The shearing pictures are terrific! Are you sure about Redford’s cortisol lovels? he looks totally blissed out! Dorothy reminds me of my black labbie girl in her belly rub position, LOL.
And Brittany Spears (the ewe) is a woman after my own heart, as well. We have a picture from his breeder of my boxer, Harry, when he was only a few weeks old. He crawled into his mother’s food bowl and promptly settled in for a nice nap. How could he not be the dog for me?
Melanie S says
Last shearing I had done I kept my three sheep’s wool for the first time (in the past I’ve just let the shearer have it cause my twin crossbreed wethers don’t have particularly nice wool) and I’m going, eventually, to find a local person to clean it for me and then a friend and I will hopefully put it in a quilt for my very own bed. I’m looking forward to the first day I snooze under my trio’s wool.
I’m thinking of having my ewe, Mama Chook’s, wool cleaned and spun ’cause hers is finer and softer than her boys’.
Redford looks very handsome, named after Mr. Robert?
And you sure are fortunate to have Jerry!
Smiles…
Liz F. says
Wouldn
rheather says
I was going to ask what you did with the wool-I’m a newbie/wanna be spinner and have serious wool envy! Maybe this year I’ll get the (milking)goats sorted out and get a angora wether.
And now I’m off to look up my phrase of the day-tonic immobility-I can figure it out from the context but I want to know more.
Jane says
Fascinating to hear the change of smell works! We have too many to do that and nobody ever really gets hurt…they usually get over it in short time. But it never would have occurred to me to guess smell.
Another reason to shear early before lambing is that it allows the lambs access to their mother’s heat….they can snuggle up to get warm. We (the royal we…my husband really) just “crotch (or crutch) out” out ewes to assist with the issues you mentioned- then the full shearing happens later.
I’ve been enjoying watching the handicapped playing (I think that’s what you called it?) of our very large but only 8 month old Maremma with our 4 year old but only about 35 lb Border Collie. It’s interesting that they play at all but the Maremma is hard to refuse with her size and bounce! But she does gauge herself when playing…her teeth especially. She loves things in her mouth and loves to “carry” my hand around…I need to work on that a bit before glove season comes to an end!
Trisha says
To Kate: Ooooh, yes, all those wonderful berries are sitting in my freezer like little condensed ovals of summer. Love bringing them out every 2 weeks or so and making pies… I grew up on the desert, and am still stunned at being surrounded by sweet, luscious food during the summer.
To Deb: Sheep are a stew of breeds. Hair sheep are Katahdin/Dorper crosses, Dorothy and Barbie were bred for wool (Leicester & Corriedale), Brittany is 3/4 Hampshire (a meat breed, and her wool shows it!) Many of my sheep were ‘rescues’ adopted from friends who wanted them to have good homes, the hair sheep are an experiment in a hardy, low maintenance with strong lambs and good mommas. Not sure how I feel about them, lambs last year pretty small when they went to market.
To Liz F: I want a spray I can use on people too. One psych experiments sprayed oxytocin into the nasal passages of people and found them to be more trusting and caring afterwards…! Maybe on the market soon? 🙂
Michelle says
Fascinating regarding the reduced sheep aggression…brought me back to my childhood days on a small family farm where I was in charge of the rabbits which we had gotten a few years earlier for my 4-H. We had two small litters born almost simulatenously one spring…the second litter was by a new mother who rejected her young. I used Vick’s Vapor rub to mask the scents, and lo and behold the first mother accepted the additions to her litter without a fuss.
It’s amazing how strongly scent along affects us all…I am so glad that the affects of scent on animals (including us!) is gaining more recognition and research time.
JJ says
While this is a blog about dogs, I wanted to say that I find the occasional glimpse into sheep and farm life fascinating. It is a whole world I know nothing about.
I’m happy to hear your sheep have a good sheerer person. And it was fun to hear the description of spraying all your sheep. I think the result of lowering aggression simply due to the new scent is just so interesting!
I too hope you feel better.
Janice says
Hey this is cool!! I am the one who suggested using the perfume spray to reduce the post shearing aggression and I am glad to hear that it seemed to work. I hope your sheep appreciate your good taste in perfumes!! (I was just going to go to the dollar store). But we know that mother sheep identify their babies by smell and this is partly why it is so hard to graft an orphaned lamb onto a mother that isn’t theirs. I am wondering if this is going to work in my circumstances this year. Last year, my son went to shearing school to learn to become a sheep shearer. He needs practice, so with some trepidation, I am letting him shear my flock this spring. He will only do a few sheep a day as he builds up his speed and strength. I have warned him that I don’t care how long it takes him, I don’t want cut up sheep or second cuts in the wool. This is because I have a flock of Corriedale sheep, about half of them are natural colored sheep and many of those fleeces are hand-spinning quality. In fact, this year are some of the nicest, cleanest fleeces the ewes have ever grown because we made some feeding changes this year. But since Ethan is only going to be doing a couple sheep at a time, I am not sure if the perfume trick will help.
For those of you who are hand spinner or knitters, I will have some gorgeous fleeces for sale and I don’t have a web site up and running yet (the web site I paid a designer for was unusable, so I am having to start over). If it is okay with Trisha, I can send a reply that gives contact information for my farm. If she would prefer not, that is okay too…. (in fact you can delete the last paragraph if you wish. I am a lousy marketer and creative marketing is the only way small farms can stay afloat).
Trisha says
Thank you Janice! And although I don’t want this blog to be about selling things (I think long and hard about even mentioning anything I have for sale) I figured that it is a nice way to thank Janice for the favor she did for me and my sheep!
Amy says
I just wanted to say that I am delighted to have found this blog! I have been a huge fan of your book for years. It really helped us as we were raising our 1st Aussie puppy. Now we have a 2nd Aussie puppy, so it’s back to brushing up on canine knowledge. Thanks!
Lyssa says
The scent/aggression issue has been studied in pigs, which is why they have had a specific boar scented spray on the market for many years, to spray over pigs before mixing different groups or moving the same group to a new space. A major pig fight can break out after the introduction of one new pig (the entire group starts jostling for their position in the “pecking line.”)
Interesting side note: about 40% of humans can smell boar spray, for the rest there is no scent at all. The stuff smells terrible, trust me!
Alexandra says
Maybe we can legally mandate that all vehicles contain an oxytocin air freshener, or have some of that spray in the halls of Congress 😉
Lauren Mack says
Thanks for sharing those pictures! And what an amazing story, that smell really does have that much power! Hope your warm weather stays a while 🙂
Kelly says
Love the pics and love your work! Reading some of your books now 🙂 Thank you!
Anne says
We just had our first lambs of the season. A first time ewe had two tiny but healthy ram lambs. Oh, I love this time of year. She fooled me, not being very big. I was sure some of the others would have theirs first.
Mine are mostly hair sheep, so I don’t have to shear, just give them a bit of a trim in the summer for anything that didn’t shed off on the wooly crosses. They are Border Leiscter/ St. Croix/ Tunis. They always get more frisky after a trim- I don’t know if they are happy because they are cooler or the newly felt cool breeze tickles them.
Sharon says
Interesting post! As a knitter, I envy whoever gets Dorothy’s lovely wool. I do believe that happy sheep make nicer wool! 🙂