Our bottle fed lambs are special additions to the farm. They end up becoming our beloved pets and accompanying us on our parade route when we have farm tours. They stay by our side without a lead and enjoy mingling with their flock of people. Our special bottle fed babies of the year are Hazelnut, Tyler and Sandy.
Meet Our Bottle Fed Lamb Hazelnut
Hazelnut and her brother Hank have beautiful markings. Her mother, Spumoni, is taking care of Hank beautifully but rejected Hazelnut. This does occasionally occur in our flock Hazel is very sociable and loves to follow Lynn about during farm chores. The past couple of days of sheep shearing were full and exhausting. This sweet bottle fed lamb enjoyed napping with some of the shearing help. It is such a privilege to connect people with the land and living simply. So we found it amusing how this little girl connected the two worlds by cuddling the lamb and posting an image of the farm at the same time! Because there is more opportunity for bonding with the bottle fed lambs Hazelnut received her name from Lynn so she could share with her family the days when Hazelnut was struggling. It can be difficult to refer to our babies by numbers instead of names!
Meet Tyler
Dixie’s firstborn of her three triplets was the most difficult birth of the year. Not only was he backwards but the way his back legs were extended he was unable to progress through the birth canal on his own. As Lynn was assisting Dixie’s birth and realized the precarious situation she was in she gently guided him through the birth canal. The trickiest part of birthing a lamb backwards is that they will take a reflexive breath before their head has cleared the birth canal. This little boy is one of our miracle births and after a little while he was resuscitated. Dixie’s next two births went smoothly and she bonded with her little girl and boy but not her firstborn. Of all the bottle fed lambs he is the most likely to follow you to the ends of the world and back. This playful little boy is vivacious and loves to give kisses. You can learn more about his siblings at our blog post about Dixie and her triplets.
Meet Sandy
At 2am Lynn went out to do a routine check and paid special attention to Moon. Moon wasn’t in labor yet but had a readiness about her. By the 6am check Moon had birthed a beautiful black little boy and was bonding with him in the birthing corner of the barn. (The birthing corner is the spot that the sheep prefer to go to have their lambs). Everything seemed perfectly normal but Lynn had a strange feeling about the whole situation. After checking the barn thoroughly for another lamb she turned to leave and right by the gate was a small white little lamb. This little girl was completely silent and blended in with the straw. She was left with her mother for 3 days in hopes of creating a bond but one was never created. Instinctively sheep will hold their milk for their lambs and if they do not identify a lamb as their own they will block them off from feeding. After 3 days of ineffective nursing classes Moon’s little girl became one of our beloved bottle fed lambs.
Come along with us for an afternoon feeding of our bottle fed babies!
