Little Orphan Lambies

I have fond memories of raising an orphan lamb as a kid. The sheep farmer not wanting to bother with bottle babies would call a friend of mine when he had an orphan lamb or two. One day she called me and said the farmer called and had a black lamb that needed bottle feeding and she couldn't do it, would I like it. Of course, I said yes.
So when it came to my attention that there were two brown bottle lambs, whose mother had died suddenly, and needed to be bottle fed I jumped at the chance. The sheep farmer went out the day after the lambs were born and their mother was dead. So off Hubby and I went Saturday morning to pick up the babies. They look like two little deer. They are purebred Katahdin sheep. A hair breed of sheep that are raised for meat and shed their wool so there is no need to shear them. Sure I like to knit but I can not ever imagine myself shearing, combing, washing, spinning and then knitting my yarn so no shearing works for me. And to be sure, they won't be eaten here either.
So this is what I picked up on Saturday.



But she also had this.



This could not be denied.



I went for this.



But Hubby said, "Well, as long as we are here, you might as well take all of them."
I figured that maybe someone else might want a little orphan lambie or she could stay here. Either way it seemed a shame to leave her all alone.

So we took her too.


On the way home we stopped and got milk replacer. I was taken aback at the cost of milk replacer. It has gone up in 35 years. I had also forgotten how cold it is in the beginning of March so the babies are in a large dog crate in the spare bathroom.




I feel bad for them because the farmer had banded their tails before I picked them up. I would have left their tails long. I know it is done for cleanliness but they will not grow as much wool on them as wool breeds do and a lot of Kathadin breeders leave them. Besides the brown ones have the cutest white tips on their tails that will fall off when their tails do.


Now the little brown ones are tiny and darling but the white one has personality plus. She is friendly and inquisitive. She will make a good pet lamb....for someone.