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jaybee2003
Member
| Joined: | 31 Dec 1969 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 272 |
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Posted: 6 Oct 2007 04:48 am |
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August 2003 out on the farm one day, I spied a ewe with newly born quads. She had decided that three lambs was enough thank you very much, and was nudging this sweet little lamb away as it desperately tried to find a place to suckle, but, no, mum wasn't having any of it.
Being a sucker for the underdog, loving having pet lambs - I took note, thinking, yes, I'll return in 24 hours. If she hasn't accepted it by then - it's MINE.
Serious farmers will indulgently (usually) tolerate wives/girlfriends/children having pet lambs, but hate them. Pet lambs are a nuisance. Not only the cost of the milk powder, but they learn not to be afraid of humans, or dogs, they don't respect fences, and do whatever they want. often leading an entire mob astray if they are mixed in with a main mob on the farm.
I love my pet lambs. I love going to hang the washing out and see them coming running to say hello, wanting a pat, a (food) treat, company. They're a delight.
So, back to August 2003, 24 hours later, this ewe was still butting and kicking this poor wee mite away, so, Jo to the rescue. Zipping it inside my vest, I took it home, where it thrived, bottle fed, growing fat and happy, living a perfect life in the pet paddock.
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jaybee2003
Member
| Joined: | 31 Dec 1969 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 272 |
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Posted: 6 Oct 2007 05:12 am |
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2006, the youngest son had taken over the farm and decided that these blessed pets might as well earn him something seeing they were eating his pasture - so he put my pets to the ram.
This particular pet, wasn't having a bar of any ram, and took off, jumping fences, finding her way back, returning home to her pet paddock. Which of course, as you can imagine, earned much muttering under someone's breath about stupid pet lambs, waste of space etc etc etc. Comments I ignored of course, and, comments not really meant in earnest, and he knew, a nuisance he had to learn to live with while I am on the scene.
2007, a Dorper ram arrived here. A gift from a family member. Not a breed of sheep we have bred here in the past, but, well, a free ram, good blood lines...
http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/dorper.html
So, this ram was put in the house paddock for a week or two until it was moved out on the farm proper. Where it promptly died. Ahh well. Nothing lost.
Some time later, I commented - I think one of my pets is in lamb. No, she can't be, I was told, she's just fat. She's got the best grass on the farm.
Much to my delight, she was in lamb, and has now produced twins. Clever girl!
The irony is that these twin lambs have a distinct Dorper look about them - they certainly don't look like Romney lambs. It seems that dorper ram did his duty. Once. Add to that the fact they are black - not a desirable trait unless one is a coloured sheep farmer.
They're about three weeks old now, and mum is ever so proud of her babies, and very happy for me to touch them. Now though, I have to decide what their future is going to be.
For years I have wanted a black sheep, dreaming of a sheepskin rug. Each lambing, I've been hoping there would be a throw back and a black lamb born, but, until this year, it hasn't happened. Now it has......
Can I bring myself to turn my pet's babies into sheekskin rugs?
I know so little about dorper sheep, but from what I read, I am thinking they won't make good rugs anyway.
But, aren't they sweet?
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