Tess, our most gentle ewe, collapsed in the pasture today while Red and I were doing our daily sheepherding work, she dropped to the ground and I thought we might lose here. We got her up and walked her to the Pole Barn with the help of our good friend and neighbor Jack Macmillan. She improved a bit, but is lying still in the Pole Barn. Sheep illnesses are difficult to diagnose and treat, he belly seems bloated, her breathing labored, I suspect she ate some poisoned plants or brush in the outer pasture.

I don’t see anything here that a vet can really treat, she is in the barn and we are watching here. Odds are 5–50, I think, as the vets always say, Sick Sheep Suddenly Die, that is often the sad truth of sheep illnesses. I hope it isn’t so, we are very fond of Tess.