[Jacob-list] sheep in storms

[gordon johnston]

We had a monster electrical storm here a few weeks ago.  All our sheep, of various minority breeds, would run madly into the shelters as soon as the rain and hail was let loose but they then came shooting back out again - I think it was because of the noise of all those chunks of ice hammering on the roof.  They seemed to prefer the bombardment outside to the noise inside.  The thunder cracks were immediately above us with lightening touching the ground only yards from the animals - they all reacted by going into their 'defensive formation' of a group all facing outwards, mostly in the direction of the last thunderclap.  Sheep prefer to be on high ground, not sensible during that particular storm, but no animals were killed, fortunately.  The storm took about 5 hours to move away ; I haven't seen such a storm here for many years - it was seriously impressive (but probably not unusual for the States).   I spent most of the time working inside my vegetable polytunnel, which I hoped was acting as a Faraday cage.

I imagine that sheep feel threatened by the sounds of a major storm and feel safer outside where they can see around them, whereas when it's just rain they shelter under cover - if the cover is  trees, as in Gary's case, perhaps the same thing applies?

Juliet, in Scotland
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