Has anybody encountered this problem?

I had noticed magpies sitting on the backs of some sheep in the field, especially the ram. I even thought that I saw blood on the ram’s back.

Sure enough, when the flock was gathered for scanning I saw close up that the ram had a significant puncture hole in the centre of his back. This indentation was at least 2.5 cm (an inch) deep thanks to the magpies.

As well as dressing the wound we had to tie a protective sack on the ram like a blanket on a horse. Then the magpies turned on another sheep. She too had to have the protective sack. I’ve brought out the shotgun but couldn’t get close enough to the magpies. I have no intention of doing a William Tell job and try to shoot the bird while on the sheep’s back. I can only hope that the magpies turn their attention to something other than my sheep. Already either magpies or grey crows picked the eyes and belly from a ewe that went over on her back. And as we are not allowed to bury dead sheep, on top of the loss of the ewe, I had to pay a €20 knackery fee.

Scanning

Some might argue that the ram should be taken away from the brood ewes at this stage of the year. However for sheer convenience I have left the ram with the ewes for the moment. The ewes have been scanned and only one is not pregnant. The scan showed a litter size of 1.88. I am happier with this than was the case 12 months ago when out of the blue the scan came back with a litter size of 2.24. This included two sets of quintuplets none of which survived when it came to lambing time. The ewes are ¼ Belclare with some Suffolk as well. Some people have suggested that this cross can be very prolific but thankfully the scan is back to normal this year.

A case of bonding

Mention of taking the ram away from the ewes reminds me of an incident two years back. The ram was on his own in a paddock beside our house. My daughter brought down her horse for a period of free grazing. We turned the horse in with the lonely ram. Initially the horse chased the ram in circles around the paddock so much so that I feared the ram would get a heart attack.

The two settled down together.

A couple of months later the grass got scarce and the horse had to go home. When we walked the horse into her box the ram wanted to get in with her. So much so that in order to get the ram back into the paddock we had to bring back the horse as well. Next time we slipped the horse out without the ram but the bleating of the ram when separated from his new pal was almost heart rending.

This is not the first case of bonding across the animal species.