Tasers and teasers.

The Western Mail and the BBC have reported on how the police have turned their heavy artillery on a runaway ram in North Wales. At first the headline led me to think that a rugby playing bank manager I used to know from Colwyn Bay had finally been caught - this time fleeing the bed of an armed policeman's wife. But No. It seems that North Wales Police have come up with an alternative past-time to paint-balling - shooting sheep with taser guns. Unlike David Davies MP and North Wales Chief Constable, Richard Brunstom, I have never been tasered, so I don't know how cruel it is. But I do recall sheep handlers being banned from using little electrified 'encouragement sticks' some years ago. So I suspect sheep-tasering won't catch on in a big way.

And that's good news for the lady sheep of North Wales. There would be terrible confusion on the hills if there were both 'taser rams' and 'teaser rams' running around. I should explain for the benefit of the non-shepherds that visit this blog what a 'teaser ram' is. Its a sort of vasectomised ram, which is introduced to the ladies in the run-up to what we sheep farmers know as the 'tupping season' - to 'get them in the mood'. On the appointed day (on my farm it was October 12th), when the ladies have reached the zenith of their preparedness, the real men take over. The non-countryman would be shocked by such promiscuity. A fully charged up (especially if tasered) healthy young Welsh ram can account for dozens of ladies in a single day. Its amazing. The purpose of this practice is to shorten the lambing season in 5 months time, saving the shepherd both time and money.