Running through barbed wire

2024 September 18

Yesterday, the ranch caretaker texted me a picture of a bleeding lamb. So, I took off to Waimea to pick it up and check on the others. It turned out that the entire flock had once again escaped their electric fence. Apparently, this lamb cut itself when crossing the barbed wire. The video shows the field they escaped into and how barbed wire is useless for confining them.

Dixie had ample opportunities to engage the sheep as we rounded them up. However, she kept stopping instead of trotting ahead of me. Then at the very end of the roundup, she got brave and volunteered to chase the sheep. So nice to see the potential.

In the flock, there are brave sheep and those who are far more nervous. But all of them feed off each other’s behavior. If just one goes through the fence, and the others see it happen, they will all go together, even the well-behaved ones. I put alfalfa pellets on the inside of their paddock to get the leader to move, and the others would follow.

Jesus knows us well; we are embraced by the most intelligent, loving, always-seeing “shepherd” ever. Trust in him will influence those around us.