A sheep in love and snow | Winter on a Swedish farm

Описание: Life as a rural host and sheep farmer in northern Sweden.

Today, the snow finally arrived here.Today, the snow finally arrived here.
Until now, we’ve only had about 10–15 cm, and only for about a week or so, which is quite unusual for this time of year. In other parts of Sweden – even far to the south – they’ve already had much more snow.

According to the weather forecast, we are expecting around 40 cm by tomorrow.

When I arrived at my old place, Per Albin-torpet, where the sheep ladies live, I noticed something rather funny.

Every winter, I pick one or more of the rams on Torpet, take them here to meet a few carefully chosen ladies (chosen by me 😊). The rams and their company are in one part of the barn. In the other part are the ladies who are “on vacation” this year. These ladies can move freely in and out of the barn as they like.

When the ladies are in season (estrus), some of them become very determined to get into the inner part of the barn, where the rams are. They walk around the building, trying to find a way in.
The season lasts for about two days and returns roughly every three weeks, strongest in December and January.

When I arrived today, with one of my dogs by my side, a young female born last spring seemed to be just that – in season. I think we may have disturbed her a bit. She doesn’t have much experience yet and looked slightly confused, wandering around in the deep snow.

The rams are to the left in the picture 🙂

Watching her move slowly - apparently thinking over her situation - through the deep snow made me smile. These moments are what animal life here is really about.