Taking Care Of Kim

A few of my sheep have tags in their ears (similar to the way we humans pierce our ears).   It’s a way of keeping track of the sheep when there are so many.  We don’t use tags, but  most of my sheep weren’t born on the farm.

When we got Kim she was about a year old and had a hole in one ear where there used to be a tag and a tag in the other ear.  Over the years she lost the tag.

Two days ago, one of the holes in her ears was ripped and bleeding.

So I called Kim into the barn where she’s used to getting grain. I put the grain in the pan as usual, then got the all purpose antibiotic ointment.

Kim will run into the barn for grain, or up to the gate to get a treat, but she’s still skittish about being  touched.

I knew it would be a bit of a tussle, but was also confident that I could slather the cut in her ear with the healing ointment. (If it were Asher or Issachar, who love to get their backs and necks scratched,  I wouldn’t even had to confine them to apply the ointment).

The space where Kim gets her grain in the barn is only big enough for a cow to be milked.  So it only took a few tries for me to get one hand under Kim’s chin lifting her head up, a position that makes a sheep stand still (mostly).   Then I was able to rub the ointment I already had on my fingers on the cut on her ear.

Although it looked gruesome to me, Kim showed no sign of being in pain.

The next day the wound was already scabbing over.  I imagine even if I hadn’t put the ointment on it, it would have healed.

This morning as I gave Kim some grain in the barn (with Lulu and Fate watching) I got a good look at her ear with continues to heal.