Well, Tamara and I visited a farm near the coast of Maine this morning and picked up our first two Icelandic sheep: Fudge Baa and Bunnihaven. Both are ewe lambs about six months old. After having their ear tags installed and their ears tattooed, deworming meds and selenium paste shot down the gullet, we stuffed them in an extra large dog crate in the back of the Subaru and started home.
I never realized sheep got gas, but my gawd did they let loose some winners on the way back to Vermont! [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] Anxiety, I guess.
So we got home and drove up the back way, hoping the dogs wouldn't notice our arrival. Unfortunately, the house/dog/cat/chicken sitter had them out for play, so all four rushed up to greet us. Between crying for joy and barking over the excitement of new arrivals, the poor lambs were terrified and steadfastly refused to come out of the crate. So we just put the crate into the portable sheep shelter, brought over a couple of lawn chairs and a bottle of champagne...and toasted the newcomers. After a while we forgot all our woes, and apparently so did the lambs. They came out of the crate and started chowing down on their hay.
At the farm in Maine I sat down near a flock of thirty adult sheep. For a while they eyed me suspiciously, but then a big ram came over and rested his shaggy old head on my shoulder. I rubbed his ears and all the places I figured a sheep couldn't scratch. Very, very cool old ram! In time, with patience, our little ewes will be that tame.
Pete