How Not to Have Sheep…

Did I hear @andysantics48 say she wanted some animal stories? Well, I’ll just have to dig around in my memory banks and see what I can come up with…Sorry, I am a little late in getting this out. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

In the spring of 2007, we had just decided to get off our lazy butts and start building on our land. Here in no man’s land Nicaragua, one of the first things you need to do is what is commonly known as marking your territory (or in their terms, peeing on the corners of your property).

We hired a couple of fencing experts Who put in 10-inch tree logs as corner posts and proceeded to put up 10 lines of barbed wire three inches apart! That ought to keep the animals in and the vermin out!

We hadn’t even started building when a neighbour came over and wanted to give us three Pelibuey Sheep, a ram, a ewe and their two-month-old lamb. It turned out he ran out of feed for them and his place was much too small to accommodate three sheep. He had resorted to feeding them bananas! That sounded really strange to this northerner.

The boys fell n love immediately and were quick to name the frolicking herd. The male obviously had to be called Rambo. He turned out to be appropriately named. The fawn coloured doe would be known as Bambi.

Then it came to naming the ewe. She was not a pretty ewe and had a face that only a mother could love. Poor thing! The guys decided right then and there that she should be christened Ugly. She turned out to be the most docile and lovable sheep of the herd.

Rambo certainly was aptly named. He became known for his headbutt. Strangers were not welcome on our homestead and he made sure they knew!

We started the construction of the house and hired eight local, split into two groups. The sheep ran to greet them each day because these guys shared their snacks and lunches with them! Pelibuey are much like goats, they will eat anything and everything in sight. This necessitated more fencing to keep them on the opposite side of the property while we built.

The boys built them a nice little shed and organized the delivery of a truckload of dried peanut plants. These are the leaves and vines that are left in the field after harvesting the peanuts. It is baled and used for feed for cattle, horses, sheep, goats and rabbits. Little did we know that they go crazy for it. Finding the odd peanut was a bonus!

Soon the house was semi-finished: no exterior doors, holes for windows, cement floors, walls needing finishing coats of cement...you get the idea. A step above camping. Running water, functioning kitchen and Kamikaze hot showers!

We settled into the daily routine of working on the infrastructure of the homestead. The sheep followed the dogs and us around on our daily work. Coffee break for us was out under the shade trees in the sheep pasture. Romantic, isn’t it?

The sheep would wait patiently (sometimes) to be hand fed treats that we would bring out for them. The neighbours would lean over their fences to watch us. At times I felt like I was in a goldfish bowl. Other times, like I, should be charging an admission fee for the show.

Soon we were receiving visiting males, competing with Rambo for the pleasure to service Ugly. Good thing Bambi was too young to be interesting.

Soon we had an addition to the flock. A cute little male with a multi-coloured coat. The boys named him Patches. He provided hours of entertainment for the neighbour children, gambling over rocks and trees, playing King of the Castle with his sister, Bambi.

Do we still have these wonderful animals? No! They were a pleasure to have for the first couple of years. Then they became a hand full of terror. It didn’t matter what we did they always found their way to the gardens.

We tied them. We corralled them. No fence would hold them in. Even the shed was eventually hacked. They worked s a team to open doors and help themselves to my garden and to my husband’s newly planted trees.

But the last straw came when we were out in the back of our property. I had baked some loaves of fresh bread which we were intending to have for our lunch. As we approached the house we could hear the sheep enjoying themselves...in the house!

They had found the fresh bread cooling on the table and the four of them were merrily munching away on what remained of the bread. They didn’t leave us much but crumbs. We followed their trail into the living room and found the couch torn to tatters and an arm completely chewed off.

I found quickly found another neighbour who was looking to add new blood to his flock, so off Rambo, Ugly, Bambi and little Patches were shipped to meet their new family!

Bambi and patches went for a walk, willingly on leaches with the neighbour’s son and daughter. Rambo and Ugly would be another matter. The farmer came with his motorbike. I am scratching my head wondering how he was going to do this. Well, he showed me!

It was better than watching a rodeo! The farmer is an older gentleman, a bit on the chunky side and I thought there was no way in heck he was going to be able to get Rambo home with his motorbike.

He wrestled Rambo to the ground in no time flat, had him hog-tied and mounted to the handlebars of his bike! And off they went! But wait! Poor Ugly was distraught at having her mate carted off in such an undignified manner!

She ran along the fence bleating loudly. The next thing I saw was her tail end going over the 5-foot fence! I didn’t know they could high jump! Off she ran, behind the motorbike with Rambo bleating over the handlebars. It is times like these that I wished I had my camera out.

Apparently, they made it to the farm and last I heard, Rambo and Ugly were doing a fine job procreating!