Gracie and the Lamb
We avoided getting livestock guardian dogs to watch our sheep for a long time. We knew they were good but didn’t want the extra cost of feeding and caring for them. We tried donkeys as herd protectors and they did a great job, until they started to bully the sheep one by one. Then we thought we could get away with nothing before we finally gave in and got a few LGDs.
We bought Hoss and Copper and then inherited Gracie. And eventually acquired Willow and Zero as well. Yes, we quickly went from none to five!
The guard dogs will bark if they hear coyotes, run birds off, and deter strangers from entering their pasture. We knew they were doing a good job but quickly found out how valuable they really are.
One night during spring lambing Harry was checking the sheep around midnight. At the time we had a pasture full of ewes that were still pregnant and a pasture of ewes with their baby lambs. Harry was checking and saw a newborn lamb in the pasture of ewes and lambs and he knew it was too small to belong there.
He went in and found that a ewe had lambed twins! But the first baby wasn’t getting up and the ewe had already walked off with the second lamb. Harry knew the lamb needed help quickly but he didn’t want to leave it alone while he ran back to get the lambulance.
Enter Gracie. She had come over to check out the commotion in her pasture and saw the newborn lamb all alone. Gracie walked over to the lamb and laid down next to it. She placed her paw on the lamb and made eye contact with Harry as if to say “you go, I’ve got this.”
Harry left to get the lambulance. He got back to the pasture, loaded up the ewe with the baby she had with her and came back to find Gracie exactly where she was when he left, protecting the struggling lamb.
He loaded up the lamb, gave Gracie a pat, and drove to the lambing facility to tend to the ewe and lambs.
That night we learned just how valuable these dogs can be. They earn their keep in many ways and we are thankful we finally gave in to getting some.
