When my brother and I were young lads, too small to help our father catch and hold the big Suffolk ewes he favoured, a neighbour from down the road would call to lend a hand.

He was called “the pet”, since he added “pet” to the end of most of his statements.

“The pony broke out again, pet.”

“We had a lot of drink last night, pet.”

“The trade was bad in Goresbridge yesterday, pet.”

You get the idea.

To put it mildly, he was a bit of a character and was invited by my father to keep us all laughing as much as to catch and hold the big black-headed ewes. The only time I recall making him laugh was on a sunny August evening, when we had the sheep in the yard to sponge them.

For the non-sheep reader, sponging means introducing hormones to ewes to help synchronise the flock’s breeding cycle and/or get them cycling earlier.

I know now ewes prefer to cycle when the evenings get darker

The pet caught the first ewe and my father went to her business end, to make good the insertion of the little white sponge. I might have been around 10 or 11 at the time, and us lads going to rural schools were probably not best informed on how babies (or lambs) were made.

When I saw where my father stuck the sponge, I expressed shock and said: “I thought you dose them with it.”

Breeding delays

Nearly 30 years later I can still hear my father and the pet laughing, the latter having to remove his cap and sit on a low wall to gather himself he was laughing so much.

The pet is still alive and well.

And if he’s so inclined I might ask him to call up to the yard in August next year when we might sponge the ewes. We’re thinking about sponging because breeding this year has been delayed and drawn out.

The ram effect didn’t work as we didn’t leave the ram beside the ewes for long enough before removing him.

To make matters worse, I innocently thought the introduction of the ram would automatically bring the ewes cycling 18 and 23 days later.

However, I know now ewes prefer to cycle when the evenings get darker, meaning that without a hormone intervention, it’s unlikely they’ll all come cycling before mid-September at the earliest.

Since I’ve now observed this fact first-hand, the advice several farmers gave me has started to make sense.

I’m sure the pet would laugh again if I told him.

“Sure I thought the gentleman just had to turn up and the ladies would oblige!”

Kieran Sullivan and his brother farm part-time in Co Waterford. You can follow him on Twitter: @kieran_sullivan

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