Ma, the ewe that Red bit and injured yesterday, looks to be in trouble. She seemed fine this morning, but is off in a corner and lying down. She is not herself. This is troubling to me. I understand completely that these things happen, Red was just doing his job, but I have never had a sheep suffer a serious injury from a dog before, and I know from experience that sick sheep do not often recover. Made an emergency call to the vet, which I probably should have done yesterday but sheep heal quickly from scratches, even  bites and this one just did not appear to be serious. Seen quite a few like it.  I appreciate the good people worried that I will be angry at Red or blame him, but you don’t have to worry about that.

I never blame animals for  being animals, I understand that he was just trying to grip some wool after she challenged him. I write often about the real world of real animals, but this one is disturbing to me, I am fond of Ma, she is a big, dumb, genial sheep. We locked her in the pole barn and closed the gates but of course Zelda somehow got the gate open and was trying to get Ma out. Ma wasn’t moving. Vet is on the way. Life happens, just about every day.