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ne day, in May 2000, we hosted a meeting of the local Small-block Holders Group. While enjoying afternoon tea, George B said his property had sold and asked if anyone was interested in having his sheep. I said we had often thought about it, but understood sheep were a lot of work. “Don’t they need shearing and having their hooves trimmed? Don’t they become ill if the weather is too hot or too wet?” I asked. “Not these”, said George. “They are Arapawas. They originally came from Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds and are easy to look after. We also have one pet Romney, named Lily”.
Because your Grandy, (my mother) was another “Lily”, we decided it would be great to have two in the family! Great Uncle Norman and I took Aunt Dora with us to see Glenda and George on their farm near Wellsford. What a special day that was! We sat in their lovely garden watching some other friends playing croquet on the lawn, followed by afternoon tea while being entertained by Glenda’s Dad, who played classical music on his violin. Then it was time to meet the sheep.
We wandered along the pretty, tree-lined driveway to the front paddock where we were greeted by the flock. I stopped in my tracks! I stared and stared at the very strange, black and white sheep that looked like goats with wool. “Oh”, I said, “aren’t they, ummmm, aren’t they, ummmm, aren’t they cute?” I was trying very hard not to say how strange they were, as I didn’t want to offend George. Then a big, white, fluffy Romney came rushing up to the fence. She was baaing very loudly. She let me rub her back and around her ears. Her name was Lily, the pet Romney. I had no trouble saying how cute she was. “Yes, my grandson will miss her”, George said. We told George if we took them to our farm at Matakana, he and his family could visit the sheep whenever they wished. We decided we would enjoy having Lily and the seven Arapawas and made arrangements to collect them several weeks later.
What a lot of fun that was – trying to get those very clever animals into the stock crate on the back of the trailer! Even offering them a special treat in the form of multi-nuts didn’t work! After a lot of chasing around, George said he would try to encourage them into a small pen while the rest of us hid – and it worked! We had learned our first lesson – they were much easier to handle when treated in a quiet, relaxed way. People told us that Lily would be a nuisance and cause all sorts of trouble – this is because pet sheep think they should be living with humans! They were partly right – but only partly. To this day we find it easy to move the flock from one paddock to another, because Lily is never frightened of us, and the others have learned to trust us, too. We can put some multi-nuts in a bucket, which we rattle while calling, “Lily! Lily! Come on, girl! Come on, girls!” They run up to us to be fed and we can then lead them wherever we want – with Lily at the front! She is a bit like a mother-sheep to the whole flock.
But ….. whenever we took Samantha into the paddock to see the sheep, Lily would try to bunt her, which was very upsetting for Samantha, especially when we weren’t quick enough to grab her out of harm’s way. I would tell Lily in a very stern voice that she was VERY naughty and Samantha was a friend. I explained to Samantha there must be a reason why Lily saw her as a threat.
Lily is a big, strong ewe and she could harm a child, so we always make sure there are adults with them when going into the paddockto see the sheep. Later, we learned from George that Lily’s previous owners had children who teased her, so she thought any child on our property would do the same. I didn’t know anything about that when Lily first arrived. I explained this to Samantha but, unfortunately, Lily had frightened her. Lily knows that we would not tease her, but she doesn’t always trust strangers.
One summer’s day, I was hanging out the washing and the sheep were quietly grazing nearby. They had been in the same paddock for a little while and were due to be moved. However, Lily had her own ideas – as I walked back into the house I could hear her calling and thought, “That’s strange, Lily sounds very close and she is being very, very noisy”. I turned around and there she was – she had pushed through the fence, walked right around the driveway, and had trotted to the door using her “I want to be moved right now!” baa.
Yes, you guessed correctly. It was enough to make me stop what I was doing, have a jolly good laugh, then move all the sheep into the next paddock so they could eat lovely, fresh, green grass. Do you think the others asked Lily to come and see me? Or do you think she is just a very independent sheep? She certainly is a rather special Romney!
Sometimes, when I’m working in the garden, or sitting down in the paddock enjoying the view, Lily comes to share some bonding time. She loves having her back massaged – she is like a great big woolly rug! Often, she simply comes and lays next to me and we stay there, two old(ish) ladies, enjoying each other’s company, in the sunshine. But … should Great Uncle Norman come into view – that’s a different story. Lily thinks he is just wonderful and she rushes up to him, baaing very loudly! We also find that Lily is like a watch-sheep because she baas when visitors arrive. However, there is no doubt that she has a very special baa for Great Uncle Norman.
Bah, humbug!!!
