A happy ending to a sheep saga

The saga of two sheep that became media sensations as they trekked north through much of Ozaukee County over the course of months came to an end Saturday when the remaining sheep was captured in the Town of Port Washington.

The sheep — the white one of the black-and-white pair first spotted in Mequon perhaps as long ago as late July — was caught on Jan. 3 by Meredith Biehl, a Cedarburg resident who raises sheep at Sunnyview Farm in Germantown, and her 12-year-old daughter Moira, a member of the Town and Country 4-H Club who knows a thing or two about sheep herself.

The mother-daughter team used one of their sheep — an ewe named Ash — and some treats to distract the wayward sheep, then erected a temporary pen around it. Mrs. Biehl grabbed it by the horns and, without a lot of fuss, walked it to her vehicle. The large animal was lifted into the back of a Buick Enclave and off it went to Sunnyview.

The sheep, named Burdock by the owners of the lakefront property where it lived for the last month, had a coat matted with burs, and one of the first orders of business on the farm was shearing the animal.

“It couldn’t have been comfortable having all those burs pulling on her coat,” Biehl said, estimating the sheep was wearing a year’s worth of wool. “It was so matted that even electric shears couldn’t get through all of it so we had to use hand shears around her neck.

“She has to feel better now.”

Yes, the shearing revealed that Burdock is a female.

Throughout Burdock’s possible five-month journey through the county, her constant companion and leader of the duo was a black sheep that arrived with her mate in the Town of Port Washington shortly after Thanksgiving but hadn’t been seen since Dec. 5.

The two seemed so close that they could only be separated by death, and that, in fact, turned out to be the case. Days before Biehl rescued Burdock, she found the black sheep dead in a wooded area not far from the yard where her friend was living. There were no obvious signs of injury and the cause of death is unknown.

What is known based on tracks in the snow and a pile of droppings is that Burdock visited her dead mate frequently.

“Sheep don’t do well alone,” Biehl said, noting they are herd animals. “Based on the poop pile around the body, she visited the black one often. It’s really sad.”

On the farm after being sheared, Burdock got a good look-over. Biehl said her hooves and formidable horns are in good shape, she has no sores on her body and her eyes are clear.

“I’m not a veterinarian and I don’t play one on TV, but she looks to be in good shape,” she said. “Honestly, often sheep that are out on their own are healthier than ones kept in barns.”

It’s clear Burdock wasn’t starving.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call her obese, but she was obviously finding plenty to eat,” Biehl said. “She’s definitely not skin and bones.”

Biehl believes Burdock is a mixed Icelandic breed and estimates, based on her teeth, that she’s at least 5 years old.

Burdock is being quarantined in a barn before she joins the rest of the herd, and to keep her company Biehl put Ash in the stall with her.

The two weren’t exactly immediate friends. Burdock wasn’t used to the company and Ash missed being outside with her flock.

But when Biehl removed Ash from the stall, Burdock became nervous.

“Ash definitely wasn’t happy inside and the other one was like, ‘I actually don’t like you but I don’t want to be alone.’ I told her, ‘Look lady, you can’t have it both ways.’”

Biehl found a compromise that seemed to work by adding a third sheep to the stall to keep Ash company and expose Burdock to other sheep again. After a day together in the stall, the sheep seemed content to munch on hay together.

The rescue wasn’t Biehl’s first rodeo.

“This is probably my third or fourth sheep capture,” she said.

But in those cases, it was known almost immediately the sheep were missing and rounding them up, often with the help of herding dogs, took only days.

“They weren’t loose for months like this one,” Biehl said.

In late July or early August, Biehl received a call from a friend and Mequon police officer who wanted to know if she knew anything about two horned sheep seen in the city.

It’s unclear whether those were the sheep that trekked north through the county, but by late summer or early fall reports of the pair that would become famous started rolling in. They were seen along the Milwaukee River and on the Concordia University Wisconsin campus in Mequon, then spotted in the Town of Grafton. By late fall, they took up residence in the City of Port Washington for about two weeks before heading north to their lakefront retreat in the town, eluding capture along the way.

The owners of the property where the sheep settled became increasingly concerned about their welfare, especially that of Burdock after its mate disappeared. After making numerous calls to find someone who would rescue the animal, they were put in touch with Biehl.

But while Burdock now has a new home, the mystery of where she and her mate came from remains.

The black sheep had an ear tag, and Biehl has passed the number on it along to  the U.S. Department of Agriculture to see if she can learn anything about the animal.

When asked if she was surprised no one had reported the sheep missing, Biehl said, “Yes and no. Maybe the owner was so embarrassed by how this took off on social media that they didn’t want to say anything or maybe it’s some old farmer who isn’t on social media and just didn’t know.”

It’s unlikely the sheep were intentionally abandoned, she said.

“Most people won’t just dump sheep,” Biehl said. “If you wanted to get rid of them, why would you dump them when you can get $50 to $100 for each of them at a livestock auction?”

Sheep have been known to slip away unnoticed from large flocks, but that’s unlikely in this case, she said.

“There just aren’t any huge flocks, like 300 to 500 sheep, in our area that I’m aware of,” Biehl said.

Regardless of where she came from, Burdock is now at home at Sunnyview, a 100-acre farm that dates to 1844 and is home to sheep, chickens and ducks. Biehl, with help from her daughter, cares for the animals and sells lamb meat, wool garden pellets and small batches of yarn made from her sheep and hosts fiber art classes.

Once Burdock clears quarantine and grows enough of a coat to protect her from the cold, she will join the rest of the Sunnyview flock, bringing it to 25 sheep.

Along with a new home, Burdock has a new name — Hilda Houdini ­— courtesy of Moira.

“Hilda because it’s a strong Norse warrior name, and this sheep went through some stuff out there on her own,” Biehl said.

And for a sheep that proved to be an escape artist and full of surprises, Houdini speaks for itself.

In fact, Biehl wonders if Hilda Houdini might have one more surprise up her sleeve.

“If the black sheep was an intact ram, Hilda Houdini could be pregnant,” she said.