First Bottle Lamb!

When we decided to have sheep, we hoped that all lambings would go well, of course. I think every shepherd hopes for that. Sometimes, there can be trouble with the delivery. Sometimes, there's just too much of a good thing! That's what happened yesterday on Whispering Acres. Our final pregnant ewe, Buttercup, gave birth to quadruplets! Woah! That's a whole lot of lambs! Sadly, one of them died, so we were left with triplets. When I got home after work yesterday, one of the three was not doing too well. She was laying in the field, very lethargic, panting in the heat despite having shelter, and just not doing very well. I think she kind of called to me.

Of course I called to you, you silly lady. My Mummy wasn't doing her job! What do you expect?! And you call yourself a shepherdess. Pffft....just let me sleep, would you please?

I brought her inside to give her a bottle of prepared colostrum, since the powdered colostrum substitute I have says to feed that for the first 24 hours before moving on to lamb milk replacer. Sure enough, she hungrily took to the bottle. She had a little rest and seemed much better after that, much to my relief. So, I decided to keep her in for the night. She slept by my bedside in a little basket.

My own bed! Thank you for the blankie! It's soooo comfy!

I think her mom was having trouble caring for 3 lambs since she's a first time mom. For the sake of all of them, I decided it was best to keep her as a bottle lamb. She is the smallest of the 3, and the other two were much more aggressive with their Mom's udder, so she was getting left out.

Well no kidding. I'm barely as big as your foot! I had trouble with my brother and sister. They were awfully pushy. You, on the other hand, are a pushover!

Marshmallow has a bottle every 2 to 3 hours now, although soon she will be able to manage 4 to 5 hours. She went to work with me today because Kelly was busy and unable to keep up with the feedings today. Really, we shouldn't have animals at work, but it was important to give her a good start. My colleagues were delighted to host her for the day, and she was very quiet and well behaved, despite a steady stream of visitors.

Marshmallow! What kind of a name is that? You're not going to eat me are you? I can't imagine...

I had to pick up some diapers on the way to work to ensure there were no "accidents" on the carpet! She is now sporting "Pampers Snuggables Sensitive" for up to 10 lb babies. I make a small adaptation to them so that her tail can stick out.

Yeah, this is pretty embarassing you know. If the other lambs see me.....wait a second....what is this stuff I'm smelling, it smells familiar....like me! Why is it these weird colours? What kind of sheep are these anyway? They are even more quiet than me!

This afternoon when I got home from work, I had a little snooze because last night I had to get up for bottle feedings, and the night before I had been awake for hours due to tremendous thunderstorms. She slept beside me curled up in a little ball. She has me hooked around her little hoof. Really, sometimes, I swear she's talking to me!

I am afraid to ask what this contraption is. But it kind of smells like me too, but different. This is very odd. I'm going to have to do some more investigation. I'm not sure if I trust you yet.

Hey lady! Where's my bottle?!Ummm...gotta go!