Land Ho!

With 2 feet of snow in the storm yesterday I'm afraid training is completely over for winter. All that is left for the dogs is to push the sheep off so I can feed. This morning I fed the hay in the small paddock above the barnyard. I trudged through the deep snow and scattered the hay about a small area, forcing the sheep to make trails. It was fun watching them alternate from shoving through the snow to trying to jump from spot to spot. When I returned this afternoon the sheep had narrow lines between where each pile of hay had been, sort of like a giant connect-the-dots drawing.

This evening the sheep were eager for dinner so I had Levi push them ahead of me as I carried a bale out. They moved easily enough up the worn path, but then I wanted them off the trampled area so I could walk through to spread the hay. I had Levi turn them after the gate and push them off to the right. It was like grounding boats. The front girls moved into the deep snow and just stuck. I figured the flock was going no further so I had him hold them there while I spread the hay. Once done I surveyed my squat girls, bellies cradled in snow, legs nowhere to be seen. I rather wondered if I'd need to wait for high tide to get them out. I pulled the dog off and the sheep in the back ran to hay, while the front line slowly plowed their way back to the trampled areas.

I had spread some of the hay outside the trampled area to force them to expand their terrain. Some hay I put on the pristine snow between where the morning piles were. The sheep loved this arrangement as they could stand in the paths and dine on the table of snow.