Sheep Shenanigans Overwhelm Family In Lincoln Backyard

LINCOLN (CBS13) — Sheep shenanigans in a Lincoln backyard. It's video that has thousands of people online chuckling. Flocks of sheep are out cleaning up open spaces to help prevent wildfires.

Scott Russo just had to record the moment hundreds of sheep filed into his backyard Monday night.

"We opened the gate to give the girls a better look," said Erin Russo.

The sheep were grazing in open space beyond their back gate, but once it opened the once skittish sheep became bold.

"They quickly shuffled in and before we knew it, in the blink of an eye, there were hundreds in here and we just didn't know what to do," said Russo.

You can see the couple trying to corral the unusual visitors.

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"I was horrified because my kids were outside so it turned serious," she said.

Erin grabbed her girls' tambourine and climbed atop the kids' trampoline to scare them out.

"And why my husband asked me to jump  — I have no idea, but I guess he was just being silly. So embarrassing," she said.

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Within a few minutes their strategy worked and the sheep were back on the job. The City of Lincoln uses sheep to eliminate fire hazards. There are eight herds made up of more than 5,200 sheep and 600 goats.

"Sheep we use a lot on the grasslands. Goats are used for underbrush. They will eat poison oak, blackberries, anything," said Ray Leftwich.

"I feel a little irresponsible for leaving the gate open knowing there was livestock out back. But they were so skittish- I didn't even think it was possible that they would storm our yard like that," said Erin.