Shari's Gone Country

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Our first bummer... and guess who's "Mom"

Early last week... just a couple of days after the "sheep roundup", Dixie stopped by to share the joy of one of her older ewe's having quadruplets. Yeah... that's four little lambs and just two teats.

The little black one is a small ewe. The little guy in front with the white "top-knot" is destined for the freezer. I'm not sure which of the others are ewe and ram... but know the ewe will stay in the herd and the little guy will either go to the freezer or the market in a few months.

That's only the beginning of the story...

Sunday evening, after having worked all weekend on various projects, we got a call from Dixie. The little black guy with the white top-knot was up for adoption. His little black sister had died earlier, the result of both being the runt, and not strong enough to jostle for the two teats.

We hurriedly finished dinner, and told Mom we were going to Dixie's. We didn't tell her why.

Last year she got to be "Mom". I've seen the pictures and have been told she even let the little lamb sleep in her bed.

I'm "Mom"... and I've even learned to say "Maaaaa--a--a--aaaa"! I'm not nuts... this little guy has his own pen about 15 feet from my bed.

He wasn't real interested in his first bottle... took three attempts over the evening and into the next morning to get a mere 6 oz of Lamb Replacement down him.

He really looks pretty good. Dixie just wants to make sure he's raised to our advantage. We'll probably add some true "bummers" in a month or so as her yearling ewe's have their first offspring. Any that drop twins will have one removed to us.

Now, I've got plenty of help as three of the dogs participated last year with this "bummer business". They're very attentive and actually concerned about his every move. They wash his face and his butt, and herd him around the back yard. This is Coda getting the face-washing honors.

As you can see... he has imprinted nicely. I can now expect him to be my shadow for the next 5 or 6 months. He's living in a big dog crate in the kitchen right now. I've got a little stool where I sit and feed him.
Last night, Sarah "assumed" the overnight duty. She was up fretting every time he moved around. Of course, she'd whine... and then he'd cry. So, at 2:30 AM I was feeding him.

This morning... a minor miracle... He took all his bottle while standing on "all 4's" from just inside his crate. Shortly after that, he has settled down for a nice, long nap.

Last evening, we took him out front for a little exercises "sans dogs". As he was "maaa-ing", the rest of our little flock was paying very close attention. Was fascinating to see them all lined up at the fence peering our way to see who was crying.

Oh, and he really does have a name... Freezer.