Yesterday with my morning coffee in hand, I contemplated breakfast. Maybe it's my awareness of controlling the diets of the sheep that makes me think more about what I eat. Some days, I wish I had a nutritionist to prepare my meal plans. Well, I guess I'll have bacon and eggs and maybe some fruit for breakfast. That's a good start for the day, and I seem to get that right fairly often. Off to do chores and feed the sheep.
This week is a bit different than usual. I get to the barn and am met by a symphony of baas – not like a quiet lullaby but like a full orchestra finale, complete with timpani drums. You get the idea. My first goal is to get everyone something to appease them and quiet the whole situation down. But here's the issue this week. We are preparing to wean a group of lambs away from their moms, and before we do this, we restrict the moms' diet to some basic low-quality grass hay. This slows their milk production and ensures they don't get mastitis when we take the lambs. Most ewes will have already weaned the lambs themselves, but there are always a few that seem to hang on till the end.
So what to do? All my friends are staring at me, crying for some alfalfa hay. I fluff up some grass to try to make it look more enticing for the girls, but that doesn't work. As I come into the barn to feed some other sheep with a big armful of the hay they want, I can't resist, and they all get just a little. There, I think, everyone's happy. But not two minutes later, the cries start again. I ignore it for a while, but then when I'm feeding the lambs, I think, well, maybe I'll just give them a bit of this. That won't hurt, right?
As lunch rolls around, I'm lucky if I avoid some fast food. By the time evening hits, I'm into the processed junk food and chips. Every day starts out with great intentions, but weaknesses come through inevitably. Some days are better than others. And my poor sheep, I guess, are subjected to my own weaknesses. They need to be on their diet too, but unfortunately, I can't seem to always maintain that either.
We're actually a few days into the ewes' diet, and they seem to be getting a bit more used to their new hay. Maybe today I'll have the willpower to not treat them! Soon, when the lambs are gone, they'll be outside where they have as much good hay as they want every day. Just a few more days, girls, I'll tell them this morning.
Wishing you all a weekend full of strong willpower and fewer temptations,
Farmer Rod