Hooray, the neighbour’s sheep are visiting us for the first time! Sunday afternoon, just before sunset, the neighbour knocked on the door to announce the arrival of his flock. Across the street they were driven from their previous piece of land to ours by three helpers. Fences were closed and opened on our land to show the sheep the right way. And less than a minute later they were happily enjoying their first young shoots of our olive trees. The highlight of the flock: a two-week-old lamb!
The neighbour has 38 sheep, or with the newborn lamb probably 39. There are lots of white and one brown sheep. This flock grazes all kinds of land in the area and will be staying with us for a week or so. There is plenty for them to eat, because the autumn rain turned the dry land green again in no time.
Irma and the sheep
The big question was: how will Irma react to the visit? Irma always has an enormous fascination for other animals, large and small. But sometimes the fascination is that she wants to slaughter and eat them (rabbits) and sometimes that she wants to play (other dogs or insects). And then there is the category where she doesn’t know what she wants to do with it yet. Cats and snakes fall into this category. In this case, she runs circles around the animal in question, barking incessantly and deafeningly.
To our horror, the neighbour let Irma walk into the field of the sheep. He was clearly not aware that she is not well behaved at all. Irma immediately sprinted to the herd, which started to run in panic. Except for one sheep. That fell and could not get away. This was the time to know in which category Irma was going to place this animal. It turned out to be category three: no idea. So it was barking and running in circles again, while the stressed sheep did everything she could to get back up.
“No problem,” the neighbour’s son reassures me. But it doesn’t calm us at all. We know how impossible Irma gets when she feels anxious. An absurd spectacle of all of us running in circles after both Irma and the sheep followed. Both animals were determined to prove their toughness to the other and couldn’t care less about us. So while the sheep had long had the option of taking an escape route to the herd, it preferred to stamp threateningly towards barking Irma.
No idea how long it took, but it must have been at least fifteen minutes. Then we finally managed to grab Irma and put her on the leash. Still the sheep had little desire to move, so it had to be pushed forward with some force. Conclusion: Irma is never again allowed in the meadow with the sheep.
As far as possible
Whether it is because of Irma or something else is unclear, but on their first day the sheep stayed at a safe distance from the house and our path. We can look at them, but not up close. Looks like, unfortunately, we won’t be cuddling them any time soon. The lamb is fantastic. It hops through the herd with crazy jumps, but the other sheep don’t really seem to pay attention to this youthful enthusiasm. We from behind the fence do pay attention and are already in love with him or her!
