We had gleefully told the bees about Melody's lambs, as you must, and
Wilber the ram because he can't see them yet and is pacing his paddock wanting to know, and we must have also had an effect on Melody's cousin in Dorset-
ness, Louise. She's very similar to Melody and a bit of a pet too, (well really which sheep aren't?) because two years ago Louise was the tiniest lamb we'd ever seen. The massive fuss made of Melody over her twins must have galvanised her to get a piece of that action. In between washing horses on the warmest day of the season so far I did a quick check out of sequence for no apparent reason to find Louise announcing the birth of
her twins.
They were half dry and already looking for food when I found them, practically teenagers. So obviously the birth went alright. All I had to do was move them out of the reach of foxes and stray dogs, where they met yesterday's lambs. At just under two hours old they were already interested in their new playmates.
They weren't tiny, as expected. They are square, robust little things. Although they look like bags of skin and bone we were warned about this apparent frailty by Wilberforce's previous owner. Merino bred lambs just look breakable. They're mostly legs and heads and a lot of the skin folds characteristic of their father's breed. It's as if they've been given some parts in a larger size than they should have to start with. They usually grow into their ears. They're white rather than coloured but the little ewe-lamb is part of the breeding future with her coloured genes, so - in
deference to our lovely neighbour from whom we originally inherited sheep, we've named her Lynette:
They were half dry and already looking for food when I found them, practically teenagers. So obviously the birth went alright. All I had to do was move them out of the reach of foxes and stray dogs, where they met yesterday's lambs. At just under two hours old they were already interested in their new playmates.
They weren't tiny, as expected. They are square, robust little things. Although they look like bags of skin and bone we were warned about this apparent frailty by Wilberforce's previous owner. Merino bred lambs just look breakable. They're mostly legs and heads and a lot of the skin folds characteristic of their father's breed. It's as if they've been given some parts in a larger size than they should have to start with. They usually grow into their ears. They're white rather than coloured but the little ewe-lamb is part of the breeding future with her coloured genes, so - in deference to our lovely neighbour from whom we originally inherited sheep, we've named her Lynette:
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
