Jill and her sheep

Jill catching a cat nap

yearling ewe lambs enjoying their day

In less than a year, I've acquired five livestock guardian dogs.  Jill arrived last May to protect the sheep and quickly made herself indispensable in protecting both the sheep and all the poultry on the ranch.  As I leased more pasture land for grazing my sheep, I added three more adult dogs to protect the sheep from predators, primarily coyotes.  And of course, the latest addition, my Akbash puppy, Nia.  The dogs are fearless in their natures — willing to defend the sheep against coyotes or mountain lions.  As the sun begins to set, their "work day" begins as they work throughout the night and nap during the day.  Their loyalty, service and courage are always astounding to me.

Tupping time (the boys are back in town)

So yesterday was the big day.  The rams went back in with the ewes.  Jack escorted the gents — Newman, Handsome Dude and  Mac —to the ladies in the pasture.  By this time of year, the rams have put on a bit of extra weight so the ewes easily outrun them up the hillsides.  By the end of the first day , the three rams were huddled together.  Trying to devise a better strategy no doubt. Most of the day, my farm help and I spent laughing.  Poor boys!  There's lots of ladies and lots of hillsides on the ranch.

The rams

Okay.  I admit.  I think the rams are probably one of the coolest animals on the farm.  This is Newman, a very formidable Scottish Blackface ram. When Newman isn't politely posing for pictures, he has been known to bash up an old redwood outbuilding or destroy metal livestock panels with his horns.  He's the top breeding ram on the farm and quite a confident guy.