Dear Farm Journal,
Flock health days are a flurry of flying wool, forceful hoof kicks, and fun. The crew was overdue for deworming and de-burdocking, so Rufus and I rallied in the rain to give them a reset. The deworming went relatively smoothly, apart from Cauliflower biting off and nearly swallowing the drench apparatus, before I plucked it from her throat. It was the de-buring process that defeated us. Betty was first, because she’s always underfoot, is by far the most compliant, and had the least amount of burdocks. After almost 15 minutes of chopping, it felt like we’d barely made a dent in the damage, but decided to set her free and move on, based on the fading daylight. Cauliflower was next, our largest, most spirited sheep, with the most burdocks. The scissors seems to have dulled considerably, and as always, Cauliflower wasn’t having it. Rufus gave me a look like we were on a fool’s errand, put down his blunt scissors, and said, “This is crazy”. I agreed, “Let’s just get them all dewormed, clip around the eyes, and regroup”. We definitely need a tool upgrade and there is a concern about taking too much wool off before winter. I feel like I need professional help. Yikes. It was quite fitting, however, that I somehow snapped a selfie of Cauliflower sticking her tongue out at me.
~Joy
