Last Sabbath afternoon was sunny and beautiful, so I decided to let all but the three Ram-ada Inn sheep out on pasture. It was a bit of a three-ring circus getting the lambs out; Bette is super-protective of Boop, and Broadway and Bette clung tightly to me. Once the gate was shut, I shot a little video which makes it clear who the 'baby mamas' are!
Yep, Bernadette ran off to eat grass without a backward look at Broadway; the cow.
There was nothing to do but lead my little lambs to a fairly dry spot, and sit down to love on them while they gazed at the big, big world:
Three days later, something happened which caused me to catch my breath:
Do you see what's happening??? For the very first time, Bernadette let Broadway nurse on her own! I wasn't sure if it was a one-off, but the next feeding time confirmed it; Bernadette was finally mothering her lamb after 13 days! Wonders never cease.
It took a couple feedings for Broadway to realize that she could access the milk bar without me being there; she had already figured out that the milk source stood quietly (with me holding her halter) if she stayed on the non-surgical side and accessed both teats from there.
Broadway being able to nurse at will freed me up to stretch out older Bling's feedings a bit, giving me the luxury of sleeping through the (albeit short) night for the first time since her birth. That has improved my outlook on life immensely, as did what happened on Wednesday. I let the sheep out on pasture again, and Broadway took off with Bernadette, who talked to her and kept her close (although without the aggressive protectiveness of Bette, who saw the younger lambs as threats to her Amazon of a lamb and tried to smash them). I was hoping Bling would follow, and she seemed briefly tempted to, but then stuck to me like a (unbelievably cute) burr. I had to walk through the pasture very carefully as I attempted to get photos:
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| "Should I go or should I stay?" |
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| "Nope; definitely staying with 'Mom'"! |
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| I snapped this just before rescuing Bling from Bette's charge! |
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| Miss Broadway Fancy-Pants with her dam and "Uncle Bing" |
That's the good news from . . .
9 comments:
Your little lambies sure do add a lot of life to the place!
The lambs are so adorable and I am glad all is going well.
Yes, Mama Pea, nice distractions from more stressful things that are going on!
Thanks, Marlane, and me, too!
Yay :-D
Nothing cuter than baby animals. I just spent 3 days with another baby animal - my daughter’s English Bulldog puppy who is only 3 months old. cute, cute, cute.
Those are some beautiful, precious new babies to love on...
I love your story about the lambs and their first time out in the pasture! They were so sweet, running along with you. It looked like they nearly tripped you a couple of times!
How wonderful that Bernadette is now letting her babe, Broadway, nurse! And she's really seeming to care for her, too!
Bling and Broadway are both just darling!
It's interesting that Bette is so protective of Boop!
Hang in there dear girl! It's so good that things are going better on the farm!
Bling has my heart for sure. :-)
The photo of Bernadette with her baby is so precious; what a heartwarmer!
The lambs are soooo cute. I'm expecting kids in the next two weeks and really looking forward to it.
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