It's a TOUGH JOB... ....but SOMEONE'S got to do it!

Meet Kelly Voge, our Minnesota Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program State Vet technician. Kelly comes out, once a year, to perform our yearly flock scrapie inspection (make sure my babies are all free of scrapie). Of course, being a shepherdess is hard work and my husband works 6 hours from home so is rarely home to help. SOOOooooooooo, when Kelly comes to inspect my flock, she "volunteers" (she really does!) to help with ear tagging the lambs, CDT shots & boosters, hoof trimming and whatever other miscellaneous tasks I may need an extra hand with. Although, she DOES draw the line at housework!











Here Kelly has strategically positioned herself, in the ewe barn, and is checking her paper work to verify the scrapie numbers on each of the adult ewes' ear tags.

Although it may LOOK like she's snuggling with Zanex, in this picture, Kelly is actually checking Zanex's ear tag to verify it's number. In the meantime, Zanex IS munching on cookies in Kelly's other hand! ;-)


In this photo, Zodiak is VERY relaxed as Kelly rubs her tummy and I do the back-breakingly difficult hard part ~ trim her hooves (Zodiak's NOT Kelly's)! Don't you feel sorry for how hard Kelly's working???

Since she admitted to me that she is a regular reader of this blog, I couldn't resist teasing Kelly a little bit...Here she is holding Dream (while I , of course, am trimming her hooves and giving her a CDT booster)

While I slaved away, Kelly snuggled with my girls and fed them cookies. Just a fraction of a second before I snapped this picture, Dream was nibbling on Kelly's nose!!

When all the girls had finished with their pedicures and were up to date on the shots and Rosie & Dream had their lovely new jewelry on (scrapie eartags), Kelly and I went outside to do the boys...
In this picture, Wonder Woman Kelly, is about to put in an ear tag, on a ram lamb that she is holding. She also trimmed most of the boys hooves and gave several shots. What can I say???? I was getting TIRED!!!

We saved the big guys for last ~ by then I could barely move THEN Kelly let ME sit, and hold them while she did the hoof trimming. Have you ever tried to sit on your butt and hold a full-grown Shetland ram while he (against his will!) got his feet trimmed??? Not particularly "restful"! No pictures of the big guys, I'm lucky I could hold the sheep, let alone a camera.

Dream says..."...."Mom says I look so grown up with my new earring in! I think I like it! The boys are really going to be watching me now..."

...comment from Kelly: "That is ok, I can handle the teasing. I am really used to it. Besides, we got everything done. Only one correction is needed, I am actually a federal employee not a state one. My official title is Animal Health Technician for my current job, although I am a certified vet tech. It was very enjoyable day. See look, I learned how to comment for you. "