Chasing Sheep

May 27, 2026

Chasing Sheep

Any day may bring surprises on a farm. There have been plenty of days where I think I'm going to have hours at my desk getting writing and editing done and then....something happens! One day it was Maisy, one of our blackbelly ewes, with sheep 'polio.' Sheep often die from this. With help from a friend who came rushing to my aid, we got Maisy, who must weigh 120-150 pounds, up our rather steep pasture and up the ramp into the sheep shed, and propped her between bales of hay so she couldn't keep falling over and die of bloat. I devoted much of the week to being out in the shed with her, and learned to give injections three times a day, and did save not only her life, but the life of the lamb she was carrying at the time.

This morning, I planned on a long glorious swath of hours in which to finish the last chapter or three of The Kitchi-Gammi Capers--just as soon as I finished feeding all the 'kids.' An hour of farm chores, as it was Marshell's day off, and I'd have the rest of the day to myself!

Man plans, God laughs. Oh, and how He was laughing! I started at the far pasture, where Marshell and I, just a week ago, painstakingly moved a dozen sheep, each very resistant to being led on a lead. It was hard work but finally there they were, happy in their pasture with lots of fresh, green grass.

As I filled all the buckets in the feed shed next to the pasture, I should have noticed the silence. Normally, they are very vocal about letting me know I'm not feeding them fast enough. I didn't notice the silence. I didn't notice anything wrong until I got to the gate. It was open. Not merely unlatched, but open. All the sheep gone. I searched the entire property in the UTV and saw no sign of any of them.

Luckily sheep are herd animals. They want to be with their flock. I think they also recognize the sound of the UTV means food!. When I went to feed the larger flock in the big pasture, there were my missing twelve. I have no idea how they got there when I'd searched the whole property already. But at least they were there.

Eleven of them came straight into the corral outside the pasture for their food, and from there into the pasture. The twelfth, a white ram, was much more wary. It took close to an hour of trying to herd him toward the open corral--he was having none of it. I opened the small gate at the top of the large pasture. Nope, he wasn't doing that, either.

I finally took Boo Bear out of his pasture, put him on a long lead outside of it where I hoped his presence would prevent the ram going up the driveway to the road. Spoiler alert: it didn't. Boo Bear idly watched the ram head out into the wide world. I think they even high-fived as he passed. Thanks, Boo.

The good news is, sheep just really want to be with their flock. With the gate to his familiar pasture now wide open, and once I hid behind my Jeep so as not to scare him off, our escapee very quickly ran into the small pasture that adjoins the bigger one where the other sheep were happily grazing.

I still haven't been able to herd him into the big pasture to be with his flock. Sooner or later, it will happen. For the moment, he's safe in a pasture.

While I can look at it as another learning experience, the sad part is that we think someone deliberately opened that gate. Someone drunk, someone on drugs? Kids thinking it's a funny prank? In truth, I got off easy in only losing an hour of my day. But the loss of a dozen sheep would have been a big financial loss. Causing trouble and potential loss of livestock isn't a prank and not funny.

I am glad to know, however, that I can manage, single-handedly no less, to get a whole flock of escaped sheep back into their pasture. If this writing thing doesn't pan out, I can always go intern with a border collie and start a new career!

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