Feature Article July 4, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeLeft Alone, The Sheep Come Home...Bringing Their Tales Behind ThemSandy Scott is a hobby farmer living on the Tom Fox road near Mountain Grove. She has grown quite attached to her small herd of Icelandic sheep, but not as attached as the sheep are to her, as it turns out.
Last Sunday Scott delivered three two-month-old lambs to a buyer who lives about 10 km away on a lake. Scott is attempting to breed all the different colours of Icelandic sheep. Two of the three she sold are spotted (Scott already has some spotted sheep) and the third is a ram (Scott already has two rams).
At the new location the owner did not have a fenced-in area prepared, so the sheep were taken by boat to a small island about 50 metres from the shore until fences could be put up.
I didnt think swimming would be an issue. Scott said, but it turned out the little sheep could swim, and they swam to shore, not once, but twice! The second time they escaped, they didnt wait around to be returned; they headed for the bush.
Incredibly, a few hours later, in spite of the presence of fishers, brush wolves, and other predators, they arrived safely back at the Scott farm.
Stephania Dignum, a sheep farmer who lives southeast of the Scott farm on the Long Lake Road, is well known for having brought Icelandic sheep to Canada. It was from her that Sandy Scott acquired her sheep a couple of years ago.
She expressed surprise that the lambs had the homing capacity to find their way back through 10 kilometres of bush. Sandy did say the sheep were descended from a leader sheep, so that might explain some of their abilities.
The homing sheep seemed to have got their wish in the end. After all this, the sale of the lambs has been reversed, and since the sheep seem so attached to living here, I guess Ill have to keep them now, Scott said.
Stefania has claimed in the past that Icelandic sheep are more intelligent than other breeds of sheep, and this story does bring some credence that that claim.
