"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Monday, May 18, 2009

The Wheelbarrow Baas

This is the sound of morning around here on Cedar Pond. The moment my sheep hear me they begin this cacophony! What you are not hearing is the usual noise of clucking and quacking poultry, and whining dogs...because we fed them before my husband took this video. If I want to sip coffee on the porch for awhile before beginning my round of chores and feeding, I need to slip out the study door, quietly come round to the front porch and not talk, or cough, or sneeze. The moment the sheep hear me, or any noise they associate with me, this baaing begins and does not let up until they are fed. If the wheelbarrow is used later on in the day, the sheep will again begin this ruckus, and lest you think hunger causes this much noise, they often bellow with hay in their mouths and plenty left from morning! Ahh! The quiet country life. NOTE :I feed my sheep on the ground because years of using feeders left many of my Jacob sheep caught in the feeders, or they left pieces of their horns in the feeder. Also, I now have much less hay and hay debris in their neck wool , as they are not pulling alfalfa down onto themselves and each other.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Morning Kathy, What a symphony! That is the cutest video - I love the base voice!

Southern Comfort said...

Sounds like all your babies are hungry. They see you as the mama, right? That's why I have a really hard time butchering any animal that I raise. I feel like the mama. So much for fresh chicken and beef!

Anonymous said...

LOL, I remember those days;) My parents, myself, and some good friends of ours had to help herd a flock of sheep back in their pen yesterday we had our lunch (a fish fry) down in the park we were getting ready to leave and noticed a flock of sheep were out in the road, so we parked the car and got out and our friends were following us at the time and they parked their car and came to help us, we knew the family that the sheep belong to though when we came home we called the girl's parents and my Mom got her Dad.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

We lack bandwidth to download videos, intense files, etc. so I went outside, threw some corn on the ground and called my sheep. I'm guessing it sounded, pretty much, like what you hear, eh?

-laughing out loud at myself!-

Eggs In My Pocket said...

I think they are baaing because they like you so much! So cute. Blessings, Kathleen

shadow mountain jacobs farm said...

Oh Kathy, I can relate to the noise issue when feeding time is near. My jacobs have such a good internal clock that they stand alert at the fence and wait for any sigh of me. I can't even open the blinds in the dining room to see them because if they see me in the window they start the chatter. I had some nice feeders that I got from Shawl's Manufacturing and two of my ewes broke their necks and died when their horns got caught so now I feed in a 50gal rubbermaid water trough with a cinder block in the middle of it so they don't lay down in the hay. I don't get much hay in the fleece and don't have to feed on the ground. Works pretty good.

LindaSue said...

The chorus - we have one older doe ('cause I have goats so we call them something different) - her name is Crybaby - we bought her and that was her name "you'll find out" was the reply when we asked about the name. She walks around bellowing - took months to get acccustomed to that foghorn of a goat sound! Yours really do have you well trained - oops it is vice versa isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Noisy sheep!

noble pig said...

Oh my word it's hilarious almost. I mean how they go in unison with different sounds. My boys heard this and coming running to the computer, the little one is laughing hysterically. Loved it.

KathyB. said...

Mildred, thanks, and yes, the base voice....pretty loud, huh?

Southern Comfort,They are pretty good at SOUNDING hungry, even with mouths' full of alfalfa!

Amy, It is good people like you that help hapless shepherds and livestock keepers regain wandering animals!Good on you and your parents.

Thistle Cove Farm, yup, I bet you heard exactly what I hear every day!

Kathleen they do like me, but I am pretty sure it is because I am the one who feeds them...they run from me come shearing and vaccination time!

Shadow Mountain Farms,Actually, my ducks in front ( before coyote slaughter ) were the first alarm. They would see me open the blinds , then quack that special alert that let all other animals around here know I was up and they were hungry!

LindaSue, the chorus! Good name..I think we have trained each other. And there are 2 that have extraordinarily loud voices.

Anon. yes, very noisy!

Noble Pig,I am glad to entertain the Hooligans!

Leslie said...

You have beautiful sheep and so many. That video is hilarious, the variations of Baaaas were so distinct. I didn't know that each sheep had their own unique sound. I can also see how the humor would wear off after a day or two.

Stella Jones said...

Noisy little divils! but oh the sounds of home, different to each one of us. Thank you for that delightful video. I loved watching it, I did.
Blessings, Star

Lanny said...

No wonder there is an "overeaters" shot for these buggers! Even dogs will eventually stop begging for treats when they are stuffed.

Anonymous said...

Wait, I think I hear CT's voice in there. Loved the video!

Karen

Connie said...

What a noisy morning chorus! HA! That was fun. You should come and live in my small town. It is very quiet here in the morning--ha ha ha! :D