For the past four or five years, Zelda has been the leader of the flock, the watch sheep, the one the others followed. Zelda is getting old, she is losing her teeth and her coat is thinning.
Rosemary, part of the Gang Of Four pack of Romneys we rescued from a nearby farm, is our flock leader now. She stands guard, sounds the alarm, leads the others where she thinks they ought to go, and they follow.
When I come into the barn with my camera, she comes forward to stand between me and the sheep.
I’m working on my get-to-know-the-sheep better. I’m a border collie person, I am always with a border collie, and the minute the sheep see me, they start to gather and move. I’m not a huge fan of sheep, I like their gentleness and pastoral grazing, but I have never really bonded too closely with any.
I think I think like a border collie now, and a border collie cares for the sheep, but does not, I think love them, if you know what I mean.
So I make Red lie down away from the Pole Barn and I went into the barn with some watermelon rinds, which sheep love to chew on. Giselle is not afraid of me or the border collies, she is a proud Romney, and it took Red nearly a year to get her in line.
The other sheep tend to shy away from me, Giselle tends to come up and sniff my camera. It was good that I had a wide angle lens.
I am making headway in my sheep campaign, they are getting more curious about me and less wary.
