Thursday, May 7, 2009

Stupid Sheep

Sheep have got to be one of the stupidest creatures on earth, if not THE stupidest!

I wanted to put the sheep in an area where the grass is getting quite tall and thick. I opened a small gate off the main paddock area, called to the sheep who, thinking I might have some grain, stampeded to me. If you've never seen a stampeding flock of sheep, well, let me just say you don't want to be in their way. Most of the sheep followed me through the open gate and, realizing they were then free to munch lush grass to their heart's content, moved on past me and spread out to sample the menu. One ewe wasn't so sure but decided to be brave and give it a go so off she went to join the others.

Most of the lambs, who are about 2 months old now and already about 40 lbs., followed, with the exception of 4 which, although they had seen the others go through the gate, decided they'd try their luck running further down the fence line. I moved around behind them and drove them back toward the open gate. Now having seen the others go through I thought it would be a simple matter of getting them close enough that they'd figure out they could join the flock by just moving their cute little bodies through the opening. Nope. They ran right past it. I got behind them again, doing my best impersonation of a herding dog (without the bark of course), and moved them back toward the opening. When they got close I backed off hoping they'd wander through. Nope.

I next got a goat and led it back and forth through the gate several times in the hopes the lambs would see they could go through the opening. Then I got behind them again and, with some fancy footwork on my part, moved them back toward the gate. 2 of them decided to follow the goat through with the other 2 looking on. But apparently the remaining 2 lambs felt they were headed for certain doom and ran down the fence line again. Of course by this time they were bellowing loudly for their mothers who were busy devouring the 5-star cuisine and couldn't have cared less what their lambs were up to. I got them turned around and headed toward the opening again and, again, they ran right past it.

Now I was certain these 2 were especially dumb, even for sheep. I thought that maybe if I opened the other gate, which is 12' wide, they'd go through that one. I herded them toward that larger opening and, you guessed it, they ran right past that one too. And the whole flock was just inside in plain view!

Not to be thwarted, I went to the barn, got some grain and called to the sheep who stampeded through the smaller gate back into the main paddock area. My thought was to bring the sheep back through and perhaps they'd stay together as a flock with the 2 really stupid lambs included. This plan finally worked and they all moved off to resume stuffing their faces.

I figure anything this stupid deserves to be eaten. But this leaves me with a question - If you are what you eat what does that make us when we eat stupid animals? Just food for thought (sorry, couldn't resist).

(Be sure to check out what happens next at Stupid Sheep - Part 2)

8 comments:

Michaela said...

Well, good question...
I think we are what we are and not what we eat.
But I agree with you.. Sheep can be very stupid!!!!!
;-) That is probably why I don't like to eat lamb...

:))

Andrea said...

I never really thought of THAT before!

The Three Little Bears said...

I beg to differe. CHICKENS are the stupidest. It's only a matter of time before I run over a few of those free-range suckers. lol.

The Three Little Bears said...

Not because I want to run them down! lol. But because they always run in front of me when I going down the driveway. One of those "why did the chicken cross the road" conudrums. It's cause their STUPID!

But, oh so cute too.

Shelley said...

Ha,ha - I better quit eating "stupid" animals then! Something to consider....

:-)

grammy said...

Reminds me of the movie 'Babe'. Maybe you need a pig to herd them for you. Crazy things. There is a reason for all the sermons about why god compares us to sheep. Hmmmm!

An English Shepherd said...

Perhaps some people are more stupid than sheep ;-)

Wizz :-)

Bethany said...

Sheep are stupid, that's why I raise goats. lol! We once had 2 sheep and we had only had them a few weeks when one came down with a cold. My dad gave it some antibiotic of some sort and remembers thinking "there is nothing really that wrong with him" but he died anyway. I say they are born looking for a way to die. hehe.