Dumb Dorset

I admit it, I was in a hurry and that was probably my first mistake. In my defense it was a simple, easy task that should have only taken a few minutes. Not the two plus hours that it ended up taking. In retrospect it was really a microcosm of how my life goes most of the time. It is a wonder that I ever get anything done.

It was a simple, easy task, all I had to do was catch and haul one of the ewe lambs Tatum showed from our farm to our working pens less than a quarter of a mile from the house. After much debate on what to do with DD we finally decided to keep her and breed her to one of our rams. DD was the Dorset ewe Tatum had shown in the county fair. Her name was DD which was short for Dumb Dorset. DD was a compromise from what Tatum had wanted to call her but her original idea would not have been fit for public release.

Back to my sad story. All I had to do was catch the halter broken show ewe, load her on the trailer and haul her a quarter mile down the road. My first road block was hooking up to the trailer. We have an extended cab pickup and it is impossible to see the gooseneck ball. If you are by yourself you can get it close but getting it exactly right is a total crap shoot.

I backed the pickup up, there is seem in the flatbed that I use to get it on line right to left but depth is a problem. The worst thing that can happen is to be an inch or two off and that is exactly what happened to me. First, I was an inch too far behind the hitch, then I was an inch too far ahead, next I was back to an inch too far behind. You get the idea and I suspect many of you have been there yourselves. Finally, on about the fifteenth time out of the truck I was close enough that with the help of a pry bar I got the hitch to slip down over the ball.

That should have been the easy part of this whole operation. DD had always been a little cagey about being caught and even more stubborn about being lead. To add to the level of difficulty she was out in one of our bigger pens with three other ewe lambs. I had convinced myself that I could waltz right into the pen right up to DD and catch her in a snap. That probably would have been true for any other old show ewe, but DD was determined to live up to her name. She and her three contemporaries raced from one end of the pen to the other and I barely made it out of the middle.

Undaunted, I opened the gate and ran them into the much narrower alley way, certain that in a smaller space I could catch her more easily. I eased up on the huddled ewes in the corner only to have them bolt past me and DD jump over my outstretched arm. At this point my simple, easy task had now stretched out to an hour and I was covered in sweat and envisioning lamb chops for supper, fresh ones. Then I remembered how much I had paid for DD and decided that chocking on a fresh lamb chop would not be a good way to end the evening.

Next step was to get my handy leg catch, I would not have to get as close to the target. It was a good plan, but the execution left quite a bit to be desired. Hand/eye coordination has never been a gift of mine, however, after three attempts and three laps up and down the alley I finally made a catch. That catch lasted all of three seconds and that is when I found out she could slip right out of the hook. Finally, on the fourth attempt it held long enough for me to grab her.

I put the halter on her and triumphantly turned to lead her to the trailer. She lead about like I expected her too and she was soon dead weight. That was when the halter went slack. Yes, it came off her narrow head, a head narrow because it was not burdened by storing a brain. An hour and a half and all I had to show for it was an empty halter.

I thought about waiting for Jennifer to come home from work, but my pride kicked in. DD and her cohorts ran to the far end of the alley. This time when I walked up they stood still. I don’t know who was breathing harder me or the ewes. In any case, I caught her with relative ease and this time I made sure the halter was on good. The rest of the event was thankfully uneventful and in ten minutes she was meeting new friends. A quick, easy task, all two hours of it.