Testosterone ( and oestrogen !!! )….we have an epidemic ( see, it’s not just limited to Hollywood ). It must be something to do with the more encouraging weather forecasts around here and the tummy high(…if you are a sheep that is ) lush green grass. It’s evident in Lady and Quests pasture, Gustav the Canadian goose is clearly very enamoured with Gertie, that poor frustrated suitor has stuck by her feathers since she returned to the ranch in early Spring. Each morning the valley resounds with the sounds of Gertie and Gustav flying over the barn, Gertie loudly honking and Gustav echoing her calls to welcome in the day. All day, whilst Gertie fluffs her feathers and faithfully follows Quest around the pasture, ever patient Gustav the goose preens his feathers and waits for the day that Gertie turns her attention to him.
Rodney our Barbados Black Bellied Ram generally reserves any bursts of enthusiasm for his grain… or a peanut treat but yesterday his inner monster emerged. Testosterone raised its unstable head and Rodney the ram turned into Rodney the rampant ram. As always, the ewes and lambs were turned out in the morning. Led by Annie and Bandit the formation eating team and their rapidly growing offspring (sorry Lesley, they are growing quickly !) leap like springboks down Cow Lane to their pasture. Bran the Border Collie just wants to do his job but the ewes don’t need any persuasion and, udders swinging, head down, they gravitate to the smorgasbord that is their dinner table. Usually, grass is all they need but yesterday the sunshine must have flicked a light switch that is oestrogen and the light bulb that is testosterone was VERY happy to light up. After the sheep, the two cows ( happily very pregnant, no oestrogen attitude from them !) and Rodney the ram are turned out, generally, Rodney leads quietly and the two cows, Molly Moo and Dolly plod behind him. Yesterday was different. Rodney must have caught a sniff of something in the air, yesterday Rodney had more on his mind than grass and Rodney the ram had attitude….lots of it ! On route to the pasture, Rodney usually pauses to accept a peanut or carrot, yesterday Rodney trotted up to me, stepped back and put his head down (aggression). Now, if there is one thing I’m not good at, it’s aggression and if there are two things, it’s aggression AND testosterone. Just to let Rodney know that I was very unimpressed by his show, I stepped into his space and bopped him on the nose..hard. Rodney clearly decided that he was not impressing me and continued on his way to the pasture, followed by the ladies. Half way down Cow lane, with all the ewes watching Rodney tried again. The two cows, grass on their mind, not testosterone were not prepared for Rodneys next move. Rodney stopped, turned ( “best side” to the ewes), paused,put his head down and charged the two cows. Were the ewes impressed ? Rodney checked out the impression he had made and when the ewes didn’t stop to watch he charged again. OK, enough is enough, the ladies stopped, stared at Rodney then put their heads down and challenged his charge. Clearly it wasn’t a show stopper with the ewes and Rodney packed up his testosterone attitude for another day and got down to the serious business of munching. One word of advice for Greg….we don’t do testosterone. Smile.
Off to the barn, busy day today and we are going down early. It’s 7.03am and Greg has his coat on…I think that means I need to go. Take care, keep safe, M
Rodney our Barbados Black Bellied Ram generally reserves any bursts of enthusiasm for his grain… or a peanut treat but yesterday his inner monster emerged. Testosterone raised its unstable head and Rodney the ram turned into Rodney the rampant ram. As always, the ewes and lambs were turned out in the morning. Led by Annie and Bandit the formation eating team and their rapidly growing offspring (sorry Lesley, they are growing quickly !) leap like springboks down Cow Lane to their pasture. Bran the Border Collie just wants to do his job but the ewes don’t need any persuasion and, udders swinging, head down, they gravitate to the smorgasbord that is their dinner table. Usually, grass is all they need but yesterday the sunshine must have flicked a light switch that is oestrogen and the light bulb that is testosterone was VERY happy to light up. After the sheep, the two cows ( happily very pregnant, no oestrogen attitude from them !) and Rodney the ram are turned out, generally, Rodney leads quietly and the two cows, Molly Moo and Dolly plod behind him. Yesterday was different. Rodney must have caught a sniff of something in the air, yesterday Rodney had more on his mind than grass and Rodney the ram had attitude….lots of it ! On route to the pasture, Rodney usually pauses to accept a peanut or carrot, yesterday Rodney trotted up to me, stepped back and put his head down (aggression). Now, if there is one thing I’m not good at, it’s aggression and if there are two things, it’s aggression AND testosterone. Just to let Rodney know that I was very unimpressed by his show, I stepped into his space and bopped him on the nose..hard. Rodney clearly decided that he was not impressing me and continued on his way to the pasture, followed by the ladies. Half way down Cow lane, with all the ewes watching Rodney tried again. The two cows, grass on their mind, not testosterone were not prepared for Rodneys next move. Rodney stopped, turned ( “best side” to the ewes), paused,put his head down and charged the two cows. Were the ewes impressed ? Rodney checked out the impression he had made and when the ewes didn’t stop to watch he charged again. OK, enough is enough, the ladies stopped, stared at Rodney then put their heads down and challenged his charge. Clearly it wasn’t a show stopper with the ewes and Rodney packed up his testosterone attitude for another day and got down to the serious business of munching. One word of advice for Greg….we don’t do testosterone. Smile.
Off to the barn, busy day today and we are going down early. It’s 7.03am and Greg has his coat on…I think that means I need to go. Take care, keep safe, M
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