Friday morning I get to the petting barn. I walk in the barn into the "milk room", I start mixing the calves milk, and I hear clanging from inside the barn. I know that sound is the grain bins...great, whose out? It's the ponies. Their faces are covered with chick mash & the cover is off the sweet feed. Oh no! Ponies that eat too much can colic ( which can be fatal). I put them back in their stall. There is no poop on the floor, so I think that means they weren't out long. I will watch them all day, worry, and hope they are fine.
I am alone at the barn, waiting for customers, when I hear barking outside. Hmmm, maybe the kids are here with the puppy. I walk to the door and I hear the barking coming from down the road. That's strange since their isn't any house close by. Suddenly, I see across the road my ram lambs running and a dog chasing them. The grass is really tall, so I just see them leaping out of the grass. I have no idea what kind of dog, or how many. There is no one around, so I run up to the landlords house burst open the door. Their house cleaner D. is cleaning. She tells me no one is home, and asks whats the problem. I tell her there is something after my sheep & run out the door. Meanwhile, K2 & 3 are just getting out of their car at the barn with my niece & nephew. I tell them to put the kids back in the car, call Dad, call Uncle Jerry or our neighbor...anyone with a gun. I am a dog lover, but I don't know if this is a wild dog, or if there is more than one, and I don't want to lose my lambs. I run into the barn & grab a shovel. I am fully expecting that I will have to beat this dog off my sheep. While I ran to get the shovel, D. had come out of the house, climbed the fence and started yelling at the dog. By the time I get across the road and over the fence with the shovel she had caught the dog. The dog had a collar, obviously it was someones dog. There was two lambs missing. I go on a search and find them terrified hiding in the brush. One had been bitten, just a small puncture wound on his face. We crate the dog & try to find the owner. After an hour the lambs still hadn't come back to the group, so Mark & I decide to go round them up. My reward for this is poison ivy, all over my legs. We find the owner & they come and get their dog. She had accidentally got out & they felt really bad. The dog wasn't being vicious (since she stopped when she was yelled at), she was just playing - not the dogs fault or the owners. Animals are unpredictable and things happen.
Ponies were fine, lambs were fine, all was good when I left the barn for the night.....until 10 when we get a phone call from Leo, sheep are out.
Mark, K3, and I head out. Of course Leo & Arlene come to help (best landlords ever....). We finally track them down up the road in the neighbors field. It's the ram lambs, obviously still scared from the morning attack. Another neighbor stops to help & we corner them and all dive for sheep. Then we throw them in the back of my car & bring them to the barn. I am laughing because we have 6 ram lambs & K3 all crushed in the back of the Mariner. K1 has my Fusion, because I wanted a bigger "Farm" car....there have been many times like this that I am so happy I have the Mariner.
As Mark always says...." We're Livin' the Dream...."
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