Sheep at White House

It is hard to believe that Goat Roper week is already drawing to an end. We close out this series of pictures with the one above. Most people do not know that they used to graze sheep on the white house lawn. I am sure that the sheep produced lots of premium fertilizer, which is much better than the BS that comes out of that building since then. 

Remember . . . mystery person contest starts bright and early in the morning.

Working Sheep

Now I am not trying to be crass today, but I know that some of you might be thinking of getting into the sheep business, and want to make sure you know what you are getting into.

Today's topic is "Marking" or sometimes called "Working" sheep. When the flocks "lamb", or have their babies, each of the lambs has to be "marked". First step in marking sheep is to put some type of identifying mark on the sheep to show ownership. Sort of like branding cattle, but for sheep what is typically done is you have this tool that is sort of like a big set of pliars. The part that comes together has a large number of closely spaced needles, which form a pattern, like a unique number or shape. You have to hold the lamb down, and then clamp the tool down on the ear. The needles go through the ear, and then leave a scar pattern like a brand in the ear.

OK, that was the easy part. Next up, you have to hold the sheep in a headlock, and then run a metal tube down its throat. The tube has a hand pump, and is tied to a bottle of medicine/poison you carry on your back. You stick the tube down the sheep's throat, and then give him two big squirts of medicine to kill/prevent stomach worms. Not so easy, but it gets worse.

Now, for sheep, the number one problem is usually associated with the sheep's tail. It is always getting tangled up in something, and gets in the way of the sheep effectively (pardon me) pooping. It can create a blockage of poop outside the sheep under the tail. So . . . the tail has to come off. This is done with a sharp knife, and in one fast smooth cut. Then you daub some medicine on the little stump that is left.

Now, finally, most of the males have to be castrated. When lambs are born, half are female and half are male. To continue propagating the flock only one male is needed for every 10 or 20 females. The problem with letting the little male lambs grow up to be Rams is that you really can not eat Ram meat, and the Rams fight. So, you need to castrate most of the males, so they will grow up to be fat juicy docile sheep. When I used to do this, they had a tool to help you do the job. The items to be removed from the sheep are in a little "pouch" First step is to cut the little bottom end off the pouch with a sharp knife. Then, the items to be removed are very slick and slimy, and the goal is to remove them without causing undue pain or stress on the animal. Hence you can not grab in a manner that squeezes them at all. The items to be removed are covered with  a very thin skin like material which is not sensitive. If you can grab that little membrane with the tool, you can pull them right out with minimum discomfort to the lamb. The little tool had some special grippers to let you grab the membrane. Now realize, you were expected to brand, worm, de-tail and castrate a lamb in about two minutes, so time was of the essence.

When I was doing this job, the old timers scoffed at the little tool, saying it took to long and did not work. They would have one guy hold the sheep, and they would cut the bottom of the pouch off with a sharp knife, and then would lean over, grab the items to be removed with their teeth, pull them out, and then spit them in the bucket (for later making into fried Rocky Mountain Oysters). I kid you not, that is the way they did it, and in fact it was quicker than trying to use the little tool. That is the technique being demonstrated in the picture above.

Still want to be in the sheep business?

Shearing Sheep

Today we examine what has got to be the second to the worst job in the world (worst job will be described tomorrow). This has to do with Shearing Sheep. Traditionally sheep were raised primarily for their wool, and secondarily for their meat. Once or twice a year, sheep are sheared to cut the wool from the sheep. The picture is from 1890, and the man is using the old style manual shears. These are like a very large pair of scissors, but have a very strong spring to push the blades open. It takes a lot of force to squeeze the shears closed, so extreme hand and finger strength are required to make it through a day of shearing. The wool is really thick, and it takes a lot of effort to cut through it. One has to be very careful so as to not cut or injure the sheep, but at the same time must go very fast since there are a lot of sheep to be sheared.

Historically, ramboulliet sheep and angora goats were raised, because of the copious amount of wool and mohair they produced. Now days, wool and mohair prices are so low that the cost of having shearers shear your sheep exceeds what you can sell the wool for. So, many people are moving to raising sheep, like the Dorper, and spanish goats, which do not have to be sheared. They are raised just for the meat.

Counting Sheep

I would like to wish you all a warm Good Monday Morning! For a lot of you, it is the first day back to work for the new year. Many of our long time visitors have found that work is one of the best places to read OPOD. In order to maintain your good standing with your employer, we suggest that before you open OPOD, you have a spreadsheet open. Then open OPOD in front of the spreadsheet, and listen for footsteps. If you hear anyone coming, pop the spreadsheet back up to the top of your computer screen. Also, be cognizant of any reflective surfaces behind your computer screen, which might show a reflection of what you are looking at. With these simple techniques, you should be able to enjoy all the wonderful pictures, while still at work. Just a little way you can stick it to the man.

But I digress. Lets get back to Goat Roper week. If you are going to have sheep, you are going to need a good way to count them periodically. Shown above is a way NOT to do it. Standing in the middle of a flock, waving a burlap bag rarely results in an accurate count. The way sheep are counted is to put them in a pen, and then let them out of a narrow opening, one at a time.

I have found this to be the ONLY way to get an accurate count of a flock of any meaningful size. It looks like this guy is just counting them as they walk out, which will work, but it is easy to lose count. I have seen others who had a long cord with knots in it, and as each sheep goes by, they move their hand up past the next knot. Then, after all the sheep have passed by you can calmly count the knots  you went past.

One of the things you will find is that sheep, especially lambs, have a tendency to jump when being counted, which can make things more confusing. As one sheep is leaving the pen, the one behind him will jump over him, potentially throwing off the count.

This next picture looks like the man outside the pen is potentially a buyer, and sheep are being let out and counted to be sold to him. Note again the jumping sheep right at the gate.

We will be examining more advanced sheep handling procedures, but today, I wanted to start with the basics.