I have watched sheep solve problems and get what they want. I've seen them learn. They observe other sheep and follow what works.
A neighbour told me a story about sheep and a cattle stop that I won't forget.
A lot of people use cattle stops where a gate is inconvenient or impractical. Further down our road, there is a road that runs through a paddock often with sheep grazing in it. You can't put a gate across a public road, so there are cattle stops at each end.
For those who are unfamiliar with cattle stops, they're a patch of road that contains a series of steel rails set parallel to each other with a gap between them. Animals can't see exactly where they are placing their hind feet and don't like the way it feels to step on a narrow rail.
This neighbours children didn't like walking over the cattle stop either, so he placed a narrow board over it at one side so the kids could get across.
After about a week, he looked out to find the sheep in his garden. They had watched the kids and were going carefully across the board in single file.
So with the exception of the sheep who can't find the open gate because they are trying to follow their friends down the other side of a fence, I've usually said sheep are smarter than you'd think.
Not anymore. I have one hogget ewe who carries wool that is probably smarter than she is.
Today I untangled her from blackberry for the fifth time in about a month.
Because of feed and parasite issues, I've let them loose in the gully. We don't normally graze the gully as it's a mess of gorse, blackberry and honeysuckle. It's on the list to tidy up, and it gets a bit of work now and then, but it's not a priority until the grazing areas are sorted completely. When we do graze it, it's usually cattle because they do a lot of the work for us.
So this daft ewe has tangled herself up a few times. The first two times weren't too bad. Getting fairly close to her was enough to make her panic and free herself. The next two times were kind of one time twice. I cut the blackberry that was wrapped all around her, pulled the majority of it out of her fleece and she ran headfirst into another big tangle, twisted herself around and I had to do it all over again.
On Monday, I went for a walk to check on my sheep. A combination of lousy weather and a visit from my granddaughter had meant I didn't get a chance over the weekend.
I was one short. I was missing the daft brown hogget ewe. I checked all her usual spots to tangle herself up in and couldn't see any sign of her. I chose not to worry too much, she might come out of the gully when I'm not looking.
Yesterday I put Coco the lamb out with the other sheep during the day. I also put out a feed of sheep nuts which usually brings them running. Still no sign of her.
Today I went for a walk again, and I found her. At first glance, I thought she had finally managed to kill herself, but a closer look showed she was still breathing.
I spent probably half an hour cutting her out of this lot before she wobbled off unsteadily.
I'm putting the pictures out of order because the one that would come up as a thumbnail would probably upset folks who hadn't read it.
Here is the epitome of a stupid sheep.
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| After untangling |
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| This is her as I found her |