The Most Money Spent on an Auction Trip Without Buying Anything

What a year!

Normally I would post an ad for sheep for sale and they all would be gone in a matter of weeks.  This year was a funny year.  The hair sheep ewes sold very quick but the rams were just not selling.  I had some people call and claim they were going to come, then cancel for one reason or another.  I had a lot of people call and ask if they could "butcher them on the farm" which I do not allow.  So as such I had 6 ram lambs and 3 ewe lambs left to sell. 

With only ten acres and a small barn it is not possible to keep more over winter and the rams were fighting each other as it was.

The only other option was to go to the auction.  Every Easter and Canadian Thanksgiving (October) there is a large 3 day auction about 1.5 hours away from where I live, Friday is sheep and goat day.  So we made plans to take the sheep down to the auction, but there was a small problem; the truck was not wired for trailer lights.

So.. first thing we had to do was to take the truck fitted with a light plug for the trailer.  We took it on Monday but the mechanic was busy so we did not get it back until Tuesday.  Fine.. great.. ready to go!

Wrong.

On Wednesday we hooked the truck up to the trailer and noted that the lights were not working on one side of the trailer.  It has been at least 2 years since we have used the trailer so we hauled it to the mechanic on Thursday.  He phoned to say the wires were a mess but since it was an old trailer he would do a "cheap" repair rather than putting too much effort into it.  Well the cheap repair was not cheap, $250.. but at least we were ready to go!

But...

As we were driving to the auction something caught my eye, It looked like the tire flap was shredding and falling off, but soon I realized that it was something different; a flat trailer tire!

We pulled over, being in the middle of nowhere.  We had no idea how to lift the trailer to change the tire so called road side assistance.  They came and put the spare tire on.  But it was flat - so they pumped it up and we were on our way.

By the time we arrived at the auction, already late but at least they had not started selling sheep yet, we noted the tire had gone flat again.  We unloaded the sheep and went straight to the nearest tire place.  They got us fixed up, the spare tire was not even repairable, so we had to buy 2 tires as we did not want to drive home without a spare!  That was $300+.

Now we still do not know how much the sheep sold for and just are hoping it was a good price - but what a heck of a time that was.

All told, plus gas and lunch, I think we spent over $700 just to get the sheep to the auction!

Death of Favorite Sheep, Sadly Missed

Everyday thousands of sheep are slaughtered, destined for the meal table, or to become pet food. Nobody notices their lives. These sheep are born specifically to be killed. A few lucky ones will be used for breeding but they too are usually killed, shipped to slaughter later in life, very few sheep get to live their natural lifespan. Favorite sheep was a beloved pet, but her life was somewhat complicated by a problem, as such when she died, it was also premature, but at least it was not at a horrific slaughter house.

You may have read aboutFavorite sheep before. 

When we moved to the farm in 2005 we needed some sheep to keep the pasture grass down. It was May and the grass was already knee high. We decided to purchase four ewe lambs. We picked out the four we wanted from a larger flock of about 20. The seller delivered them to us (with two llamas) later that day. We agreed we would not name the sheep.

Fate had other plans; the lamb my daughter had picked out, became very friendly, she had a unique brown spot on her back which was why my daughter had chosen her from the flock. She was a Suffolk Dorset cross (as were all the lambs we bought that day), and because of her friendly nature she became my daughter's favorite sheep and was soon referred to as “Favorite”, which soon became her name; Favorite Sheep. The other lambs got names too, Diamond, Speckle, and Teardrop, all names relating to their appearance.

Favorite Sheep at a year old, before her stroke

Favorite sheep had a pretty good life, grazing on 10 acres, she had lambs. But one summer, she had a stroke. I had noticed one of her ears was floppy, and something was not quite right. I later realized she had suffered a stroke, her tongue hung out and she got a fat cheek as she would have problems eating and her food would build up inside her cheek. When sleeping she would have great globs fall out of her mouth. She had a constant smell bad; a result of food in her cheek and drooling.

That year we did not think she was pregnant, but she surprised us with lambs, lucky lambs in fact. It was January (in Canada) she had given birth and wandered off. My daughter and I happened to be going out to take pictures of other lambs and found them, still wet, one still in the sack, with temperatures below freezing they would have died if not for the timing. We realized it was Favorite sheep who had given birth, she had blood on her rump, but was not producing milk, so we had to bottle feed the lambs. We did put Favorite and her lambs in a stall together for bonding, and she did look after them as a mother, with the exception of being able to feed them. When we let them outside she kept them close to her.  We kept one of these lucky lambs, and named her Blackie.

Over the next couple of years we had make sure Favorite sheep had enough to eat especially in the winter, and had to watch her carefully at lambing. 

Most “farmers” would have culled (slaughtered) her long ago, but our sheep are more pets than livestock. Although she was a burden in some ways her sweet friendly personality was also treasured. As much as she was not the brightest sheep in the barn she still seemed to be the leader.

She had two more years of having lambs, twins each time, each time having one lamb with a spot on its back.

Favorite sheep with her 2011 lambs (after her stroke).

Last Sunday I went out to feed dandelions to the sheep, they grow tall next to the house where the sheep cannot get them. I noticed Favorite sheep was missing. This is not unusual sometimes she is off by herself sleeping. But upon walking around the pasture I knew something was wrong, and I would probably find a body. There were piles of wool strewn across the pasture, often a sign that predators have been dragging a body. Sure enough I found her partially eaten remains.

I am guessing that she died rather than been killed, a predator would have been more likely to kill a smaller lamb, but of course I have no way of knowing.

Her this year lambs (born in March) are old enough to be without her but it was sad, I saw them standing in one of the piles of her wool calling for her.

I write this to share her memory. Many sheep go through life with one destiny, to be slaughtered for lamb meat. Favorite was lucky to be female, and lucky to have ended up on a hobby farm of soft - hearted fools, who could not slaughter their own animals. She may not have known it, but she was loved.

Meet Blackie Sheep

Blackie Sheep had a rough start. She was born on a cold and windy day, the temperatures were below freezing. Her poor mom gave birth to twins, and simply wandered away. Blackies mom is Favorite sheep, a ewe who had a stroke earlier that year – she had not even looked pregnant.

As extreme luck would have it we found Blackie and her sister only minutes after being born, still wet, laying in the snow, as we happened to be going outside to take some pictures of other lambs that had been born only a few days earlier.

We had to bottle feed them both, it was a lot of work, and cost a bundle. At one point Blackie gave me a scare. A tiny amount of chicken scratched had leaked from the bag, and she ate that, I assume this was what caused the problem because later that night when it was time to bottle feed, poor Blackie lamb had swollen up like a balloon. She could barely walk and was fully disoriented. I gave her some tummy medicine from the vet, and went to bed with thoughts and worries about finding her dead the next morning.

Blackie at age day one (insert) and exactly one year later.

As luck would fall on Blackie again – she was fine, and grew up to be a beautiful sheep. We sold her white sister, and made sure to watch Favorite Sheep more closely (she is mentally better, but physically doesn't look too good sometimes with her tongue hanging out of her mouth).

Blackies second birth day is January 11, 2011, she has been a mother twice, this last time of triplets, but sadly she lost one at birth.  She is one of our more friendly sheep and always "Chatty".

Read Blackies First Year

Meet Favorite Sheep - Blackies mom

Blackie and the Triplets

How to Care for Bottle Baby Lambs