Well, our first lamb was born yesterday afternoon, and we are pretty chuffed. We went visiting the in laws a few kms away, and came back to a tiny baby just getting up off the ground. Very cute.
In our chatting about neighbours losing lambs to foxes just recently, I went into a spin, worrying about our new baby surviving the night. I rang a retired sheep farmer friend who suggested we bring them into our house yard, which seemed a bit complicated, but we herded them slowly up to the driveway that stopped just outside our house, thinking they might be safe there.
That didn't suit, as the cold wind was picking up and mum camped the baby out on the exposed gravel rather than the straw baled shelter we built. I also spotted one of the other ewes head butt it to the ground, which was too much! So, I got an old play pen out of the shed and put it around my newly shooting roses, put the poodles out for the night in their kennels (shock, horror!), and encouraged mum and babe into the yard. Poor girl, she knew that was where the dogs lived, and she was very reluctant, so we finally had to pick up bubs and force her to follow.
I spent a sleepless night worrying about her stress levels, and the mounting icy wind, but got up this morning to find baby alive and well and having a feed with mum. So we opened the front gate and she slowly led her tiny babe down to the paddock and the morning sun.
All is well, but we have four more ewes to lamb yet, so the playpen can stay there until it's all over.
"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."
... Carl Sandburg
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