About a week and a half ago, the boys and I walked down the road to Kitty's to see if the lambs had started coming yet. There was only one. Yesterday after school, Charlie and Michael and I went back to find that a couple of dozen of them had since made their way into the world. A few with smallish babes remained penned off from the crowd, but many of them are together with their own moms and their mom's ewefriends. The ewes in the photo directly above this one are all still waiting to deliver. I'm hoping to get the boys over to see some actual birthing going on, and with so many left to come it looks like we have a fair shot of catching at least one.
This little lamb below captured our hearts most of all. She is so tiny she can't reach her mom's teat to nurse, so Kitty has been giving her a bottle. Her mom is right next to her though, and very fretful and anxious to have her baby with her. Kitty's partner James finally intervened and helped the mother ewe to nurse, which seemed to suit mother and baby just fine. Though she's small, the lamb seems healthy otherwise, and will hopefully grow quickly and soon be reunited with her mama.
Here they are together, having a little cuddle. I am right there with that ewe, remembering the overwhelming pride and love that came with holding my own newborns. I'm so happy for them.
More signs of spring all around us, coming soon.
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