I don’t see very well. I’m just gonna put that out there because I wear contact and most folks don’t realize. When I don’t have them in, I can’t even see all the way across our bedroom without my bottle-cap glasses. (Seriously, my lenses are so thick they’ve been known to fall out of the frames if the frame is too thin.) My eyes must have been made for reading books, cause that’s about how far I can see well without glasses. {smile}
So a few weeks ago I’m letting the dogs out and fumbling for the coffee pot and I hear Momma-sheep noises from the field. In June. Highly usual, since we lamb in February/March, with an occasional first-timer in April or May. Squinting until my eyes watered did really help. Honestly, neither did the binoculars. Then Mr. Fix-It wandered out and asked what I was doing. I said I thought I heard something out there. He glanced casually out the door and nodded, “Yeah, looks like a lamb.”
Show off.
Turns out Fuzzy had a baby this year after all. We thought maybe she’d skipped a year since she’s getting up there in age. (8th lambing season this year.) Nope, just a small, single ram lamb. Very small. But healthy.
He started off a little slow and we kept them penned up a for a week or so to keep an eye on things. She seemed to be mothering fine in the small field.
But when we turned them back out into general population, she suddenly turned off her momma-ears and was too busy eating to take care of him. So we did what all shepherds have to do from time to time, and brought him in the house.
We’ve been giving him a few supplemental feedings and keeping an eye on him with the rest of the flock. He’s hooked up with an older lamb-buddy and been bumming off all the other ewes when the opportunity presents itself. (“Bummer” lambs are lambs that sneak up behind a ewe that is not their momma and nurse when she’s not paying attention or doesn’t realize they aren’t hers.)
Between grazing the rich summer grass, his field-buddy, and some supplementing, he seems to be hanging in there pretty well.
It’s pretty clear he won’t be to market size by our normal sale dates in September/October, so I guess we’ll need to start looking for a different kind of home for him. Besides meat lambs, we’ve sold lambs as pets, petting zoo animals, breeding stock, herding dog training flocks, historic properties, and even “trick” animals. (We had a dog trainer buy a couple lambs that she wanted to clicker-train.)
There’s a slim chance we might even keep him. We’re looking for a replacement ram. But it’s too early to tell if he’ll be a good breeding ram. He’s purebred, but we’ll have to see how he grows out.
How are things going for you this summer? Any new and exciting happenings? Any soothing routines? (Sometimes I wish we could stick to our soothing routines around here a little more!)
See where I’m sharing this week…