#30 - Sheep, Sheep, and More Sheep

In a country where there are 5 times as many sheep as people, you expect to see the little wooly wonders everywhere.  We learned that the sheep population is on the decline however, since more and more farmers are raising cattle.  Seems that there is less demand for wool clothing these days.  Please don’t tell me global warming is putting the sheep out of business!

But the desire to eat these little critters is still there.  Just ask the “Lamb King”.  While I look at the lambs and think how cute they are, Jeff looks at them and sees lamb chops.

There are opportunities to visit farms and see sheep shows in lots of different towns.  We went to the Agrodomome in Rotorua where we saw a demonstration of how they sheer the sheep.  The days of the hand held clippers are long gone, and today with an electric sheer the job is done in just a couple of minutes.  The sheep is not necessarily happy about getting a close shave and does a fair a mount of squirming.  But in the end, it trots off knowing that it will be at least 6 months, or one year for an adult, before the barber shop beckons again.

And before you feel too sorry for them, keep in mind that their skin becomes twice as thick within 24 hours of being sheered.  Mother Nature is just amazing.  And the next time you use a product with lanolin, you can thank a sheep.

So you have your wool sheep and you have your meat sheep.  They are different breeds, except for the Romney who sacrifices both ways.  In the farm show they had 18 different breeds on display and each looked different.  Who knew there was such diversity among ovines?

I couldn’t resist putting captions on a few pictures.

  The Picks holding court with 18 different breeds of sheep and a sheep herding dog

I’m the prettiest one here, and don’t I know it!

                                             
                                                   

                                 I auditioned for Baa Baa Black Sheep, but they didn’t want me.

                                           I’m having a really bad hair day.  What’s it to ya?

                                         I have the best and most expensive wool, so back off!

                                                      If only I were as cute as the others.

                                                  Don’t fool yourself.  I can still see you.

                                    I’m posing just the way they told me to.  Are we done yet?


After the sheep show, we were taken around the large farm on a small tram for an education about animals, shrubs, and trees.   We saw several Tea Trees (from whence comes the medicinal tea tree oil).  But the real name is Kanuka tree and they grow abundantly in NZ. When Captain Cook came to this part of the world many of his men were suffering from scurvy.  The indigenous people showed them that if they boiled the leaves from the Kanuka tree and made a tea, their men would survive.  Hence the “tea tree” moniker which still holds today.

Our tram stopped a few times along the way so that we could get out and feed the lambs and llamas. They are so cute.  I’m telling you, it’s enough to make you want to be a vegetarian.  Not that I ever ate llama.

Rounding the bend, we came upon several cows taking a snoooze under a shady tree.  Like the sheep, cows come in many varieties.  While most cows have patches of brown, black, tan, or white, the black angus is really all black.  McDonalds here serves a 100% pure angus burger.  I don’t eat a lot of beef, but what I’ve had has been very tasty which might be due to the fact that the cows are all at pasture, eating grass and herbs 24/7.  You don’t have to ask for grass fed beef.  It’s a given.  BTW, the hens seem to also eat what nature intended which may be why the egg yolks are a bright orange color and taste oh-so-good.

Just as the stoats were brought in to control the rabbit population (mentioned in a previous blog), we have a similar situation involving sheep and cows.  These grazers love to roam all over the place, so farmers looked for an easy way to keep the animals within a certain area.  One solution was to plant the Gorse shrub which has very sharp thorns, propagates very easily,  and develops into impenetrable stands.  But they discovered it also grows out of control, producing abundant seeds that remain viable in the ground for up to 3 decades.  When the shrubs are cut down they resprout quickly.  Now they had a Gorse problem.  So they are solving this by planting the Kanuka (tea tree) near the Gorse with the hope that the tea tree will grow taller than the Gorse and block out the sun that the Gorse needs to survive.

If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.