Marking and Cutting

Today was another windy day-- I am listening to the wind howl through the windows right now! It just never stops! The kids and Ryan spent the day marking and cutting sheep with some friends of ours. For all you who don't know what this entails, I will try to explain in as "pretty" a way as I can...

First, they round up all the sheep from one pasture (yes, this is done on horseback by real cowboys with chaps and boots).
Then, they pen the sheep and "sort" them by smaller groups into a chute area.
Then, the cowboys will pick out the lambs (literally picking them up one by one)and send them through an assembly line of sorts.
The first man (or woman) in the assembly line vaccinates them with several different vaccinations, the second one marks their ear (makes a notch in it with a knife), the third one cuts out their "manhood" if they are a buck, the fourth one tags their ear, and the fifth one cuts off their tail and sprays it with iodine.
Last, the cowboy lets the lamb down into the larger pen to be reunited with their Mama.

Although quite a messy operation, I was surprised at how little of a fuss the lambs make. They seem to do quite well with everything and hardly bawl at all. It was very interesting.

Sarah was in charge of sorting and counting tails.
Benjamin was in charge of helping reload the tagger.
Ryan did the tagging.
Maya and I helped out where needed.

Of course I didn't get any pictures; you probably wouldn't have appreciated them anyway! :) But it was fun and we look forward to later in the spring when they work the sheep again because it will be shearing time!