Don't Mess with Tess

Tess is the Queen at the farm. She rules all. It's simple. Don't get into her face,  steal her toy or nip her and you will be fine. Do any of the above and you will see "God". Rather quickly, I might add.

I was in the upper pasture and just put down a bale of alfafa. The gate was still open as I was going in and out. Tess was the point man on the gate so no sheep would escape. As I was putting down the hay, one ewe thought she was going to sneak out, so Tess started to cover her. She had to go by the geese.

The geese have eggs in the dog igloo. There is a goose on the eggs and a pair is guarding the nest on the outside. Now these geese think they own the pasture. Any sheep that gets near the nest, will have a goose latched on to it's side. Same goes for the dogs. I am the only living animal that is allowed near the nest but they protest when I do. They are very nice geese and we have had them for a while.

Tess reigns over them too. She loves to work the geese as well as the , turkeys, guineas and chickens. Her nightly chore is to put away the chickens and ducks. All I have to do is shut the gate. No flanks are needed and she only requires that you keep your mouth shut as she knows how to pen. The Guineas are quite wild and do not flock and it's like penning wild hair sheep - they scatter and do not want to go in. They prefer to nest in the trees but when they do the While Owl gets them so the Guineas get put away each night.

So Tess was on point patrol and headed out to stop an ewe that was trying to sneak away. She had to go past the geese. She ignored them as was trotting by  them when one latched on to her. 

That was a very bad idea on the goose's part. Whatever you do, "Don't Mess with Tess."

Bamm, she gave it a quick nip to remind the goose that she was the "Queen of Sheba". The goose got the idea. The ewe ran back into the middle of the flock.

The geese having decided that Tess was indeed the "Queen of Sheba" looked for  new victims. They decided that the sheep needed to move off the hay and they chased them off. So two geese moved over 60 sheep - not bad!

Tess sat next to me and watched with humor in her eyes at the scenario!