I am much struck by their groundedness, presence and their beauty and the beauty of their wool. There are two other Romney sheep looking for homes, one is a ram we cannot take. The other is another gorgeous and unshorn Romney ewe with silver wool – also very unusual and very beautiful.
As Rosemary’s wool begins to grow in, I am struck by the nature of it. And I am taken with these sheep.
Rosemary is a beautiful animal with great dignity and individuality, and she has rekindled my on-again off-again affection for sheep (I do not love sheep, I am too close to the dogs.) The problem with the remaining ewe is that she is a jumper, she has jumped many fences and we live on a busy road and cannot be careless about that.
I am thinking we will take a chance on her – Maria agrees. Zelda was a jumper also, and a break-out artist, but sheep are fairly predictable. Once they bond with the flock – and this silver ewe already knows Rosemary and Izzy – she will have no reason to jump and no desire to jump.
More than anything, sheep want to be with other sheep. We are guessing she jumped because she was hungry.
When we went to get Rosemary and Izzy, this silver ewe – I don’t know her name – went after Red and they had quite a brawl, and he bit her on the nose and marched her up the hill. My plan will be to let her settle, bond with the sheep and appreciate our grass (she hasn’t had any grass for a long time) and settle in, get used to the dogs, get to know me and Maria.
Very few of our animals have ever tried to run off. Life is good here,and there is nothing outside of the fence better than what is inside. We are discussing it today, but making tentative plans to get her on Saturday. I think it’s the right move, these three Romneys will transform our block and give Maria some beautiful wool to sell as yarn, which she very much loves to do.
We will not shear until October, when the shearer comes to our Open House on Columbus Day Weekend. All of our sheep will be here for people to touch and see and meet. I’m thinking Red and I can handle the new ewe.