[colliewoman]

Something odd happened here over the weekend.
I went out sunday morning to find one of my girls had disappeared without a single trace
They are in a little area of the field right next to my place. there was no hoofprints, no poo no nothing on the outside of my leccy netting. the field they have a section of has sheep proof fencing, and the gate to the road was shut. They have hay, grass feed water and shelter, and have NEVER challenged the fence, ever even when at times it was switched off.
I found a lump of fleece inside their area, and another of the girls has a large lump of fleece pulled off her flank.
I searched in tears for hours, no one had seen anything.

Most bizzare thing of all? After hours of searching I found her about 1/2 a mile away in a field of sheep, inside their electric fencing. It's like she was just picked up and carried off
I know most people would say she jumped the fence and ran off, but hornbeam wouldn't I am sure of that. she is tame and adores her sisters, who were bleating continually until the saw me walk up the hill with her on a lead
She is a tiny little thing and heavy in lamb, if she had jumped the fence there would have been some fleece or hoofprints surely?

They now have 2 fences, a meter apart from each other and after letting them settle down for a few days, i'm taking them back down to the goats where no one knows where they are.

I know she probably ended up in with the other sheep (fortunately a friend of mines) cos someone found her and bunged her in, but how could she get so far without leaving any traces (I'm very good at tracking, so I would have found something)

I'm worried for my girls now

[jaykay]

That's scary  I'm glad you found her safe 

[Brucklay]

That is really strange - we all know the ones that 'may' escape, the ones that try to escape and the one that have never bothered going though an open gate!! We don't have a lot of land or many sheep but I can;t keep my eyes on them 24/7 - I hope everything calms down for you and the girls now

[Gunnermark]

Funny you should say that about 5 years ago I lost a ewe and there was no trace whatsoever and she was a big big ewe not capable of jumping fences and. All our gates have padlocks on! No trace of wool or anything asked around but no one had seen a thing!

[Rosemary]

Aliens

[colliewoman]

See, I knew you guys would get it! Everyone here just say, oh she jumped out. they don't understand it when i say hornbeam doesn't jump. hornbeam does't go more than 10 meters from the hay rack. hornbeam does come running at the approach of any human though, and is small enough to pick up and carry off
But never mind, she be back now

Thanks guys

[colliewoman]

Rosemary...
It might be, of they came looking for our leader, she is brighter than most round here

[doganjo]

If you hadn't found her I'd have said she'd been picked up and be in someone's freezer double quick, which is why I can't have any livestock here - just too tempting, although having said that, touch wood, no-one has tried to catch my ducks or chickens.  But finding her half a mile away suggests that she was nicked and that the thieves either took cold feet or she was making such a racket at being manhandled and being away from her sisters that they had to dump her.  Either way I'm so glad she's back.  I go looking for even a chicken - onto the bypass the other day too!

[Remy]

How bizarre!  But glad she's back safe and sound  .  I know that if anyone tried to take my sheep (most of my ewe lambs are soooooo friendly and also VERY vocal) they would not go without making a sound - all are in earshot of my house and make a real racket the moment they spot anyone passing in case they have food!  So unless I was out I'd know about it ...

I did however once have a horse who hated electric fencing, but I came to the yard once and found him in a neighbouring field, which means he'd have had to jump the quite high electric fence (more bizarrely the field he was found in had hardly any grass in it, so it couldn't have been a case of 'the grass was greener'!).  It didn't happen again and I never got to the bottom of it 

[SallyintNorth]

The lump of fleece and the missing fleece on one of the other sheep makes me wonder whether it's possible that a dog got in, gripped the one with the lump of fleece missing and spooked the others, making the wanderer jump / get over / through the fence somehow.

Otherwise it's the aliens again.   

[Fronhaul]

I would go with the theory that she was frightened out of the field and then found wandering and a helpful person pushed her in with the nearest sheep to her.  It amazes me how high the most placid of sheep can jump when they put their minds to it.  One of our Shetlands who would not dream of challenging a fence hops up on a quad seat or into a trailer without batting a proverbial eyelid.

[Anke]

I would think the "got worried by dogs" theory is quite credible. But as everyone said, she's back and hopefully still all ok with her lamb.

[TheCaptain]

I went out first thing in the morning in June, the day after my lambs had been weaned, to find my entire flock (all 13 of them  ) gone! They'd gone through the biggest, thickest hedge on the farm a mile and half down the road. Some kind soul had come across them and bunged them in a field for me - fair play as the Ram was with them...