My friend Jake came to visit which was gloriously refreshing. Jake and I met in Vancouver and he's just a little bit more of a diva than I am. Despite this, before he came I had already gotten him to agree to be our sheep and lamb tagging helper while he was here. I had researched how to tag, and if there were any alternatives to piercing my animals ears. There are not. I thought I was prepared. I was not.
The three of us ventured out in the morning, ready to capture sheep after luring them to us with oats. That worked well for the first sheep. Calpernia was the first up. She is the tamest and easiest to catch. Once we had her munching away on oats I was able to grab her by the horns, pass her off to Jake and Dylan and get the tagging started. The two boys held her still while I prepared the tag gun and her vaccination. I did the vaccine first, one shot into the armpit. That went smoothly. Then I found the spot on her ear where I wanted the tag to go and got ready. I was unprepared for the accompanying crunch. My hands immediately started to shake. I pulled the gun away and for half a second was incredibly proud of myself for getting the tag on. Backwards.
Scout was next, not to be fooled now by our oat tricks she would come close to the bucket only if we were kneeled down. Once again we learned that you must fully commit to catching a sheep. Fully commit I did. My favourite pair of jeans remains a casualty of our adventure. There are grass and poop stains I'm sure will never come out. Once we had Scout firmly held I did the shots and the tag. The tag went on the right way and I was once again feeling quite proud of myself. 1/2 is a pass. Polly was next. Fully committed we caught her relatively easily. I had to herd them back from the opposite side of the pasture after Scout because they were absolutely no longer going to be fooled by my meager offerings of oats. Polly got her shots and tag done. 2/3 tags on the right way now. Molly was next. She peed on poor Jake but he had dedicated himself to the role of "Farm Jake" for the week so he only made a few complaints. He was a champ and remained in place holding her still while her tag went on. Backwards. 2/4 back to that 50%.
Tags are on, half right. Now they all have pretty matching earrings
We had to take a little break in between the ewes and Walske. By this time I wasn't sure whether I was on the verge of tears or hysterical laughter and my hands were shaking so bad I had to sit on them to keep them still. Poor Jake was covered in pee. We needed a beverage break. We had earned it.
Next was Walske. He was a great deal more difficult to catch because he is both bigger than the others and more aggressive. It does not help that he is a part of the yak herd and our yaks don't love having us come in and mess with their crew. I brought a bucket of oats in with me and Dylan to run interference, (we advised Jake to stand on the other side of the fence) eventually we were able to lure him away from the yaks and finally grabbed a hold of his horns. Normally when I have to grab him and move him anywhere I grab him from the back and then kind of walk him to wherever we need to go. Mistakes were made. I grabbed from the front. He immediately bowled me over. There I am, on the ground in front of him, his big horns still in my hand. Very very aware of my mortality. Fortunately Dylan and Jake were able to step in and rescue me. Walske has bigger horizontal horns than the girls and smaller ears making getting that big tag gun in the right spot a tricky venture. I was finally able to get the tag on though, the right way! 4/6.
Jake and Dylan held Walske, much to his dismay, while I tagged
The bucket of oats was sacrificed to the herd when I caught Walske and he was happy to return to it.
He went back to the yaks to finish off the oats and seems to have forgotten that I was mean to him. Either that or he's plotting an elaborate revenge. Very difficult to say.
He went back to the yaks to finish off the oats and seems to have forgotten that I was mean to him. Either that or he's plotting an elaborate revenge. Very difficult to say.
Of course as it turns out, I used the wrong kind of tags. So all of our efforts were for nothing, we have to do it all again with the right kind of tags in the other ears. Clearly I should have spoken to my farm friend prior to our little endeavour. Once again he reiterated that I should stop googling and start talking to real people like himself. I would save myself a great deal of time. I like to think that this will be the last time I do a terribly silly thing like tagging the wrong tags though it's unlikely.
Jake and I were able to squeeze in a couple rounds of cow searching though we still have been unsuccessful in finding our missing cow. Previously I would have been astounded at the idea of losing a cow. It's a giant 1000+ pound animal how is it possible to lose one? I am the queen of the farm and also queen of doing ridiculous things so I managed. JoJo our beautiful black highland has been missing for nearly two months now. One day she was home and happy the next day she was gone. We still don't know how she got out. There remains a small hope within me that she will return. Though it's seeming less likely with each passing day.
