For Mom's Day a Lamb adopted me

So far, the animals coming into our home have been named for the type of animal they are. Chickens are just called chickens. Our cat was just Cat. Though it seems odd to me when I think of it now, it started mostly because we were trying to teach Ryan to talk, and what the animals were. (He calls all dogs Eddie because we know Eddie the dog the best). But I think a lamb needs a name other than lambey or sheepie. Any ideas?

We brought her home Saturday after a brief lesson on formula mixing and bottle feeding. Seeing it done once by the Shepherd who gave her to us seemed adequate- put milk here, she drinks it, you're good to go! But when we tried it, it was another story. We have had our share of run-ins with not understanding animals (mad cows...chicken dragging) and were afraid this was just another symptom of our lack of knowledge. We re-made the formula five times that day, tried different ways of holding her, left her alone, spent time with her. Nothing seemed to work. She is not much more than skin and bones still- even though she is two weeks old. Skipping a few meals makes a difference at this age!

We put her in the machine shed on a bed of hay with plenty of room to walk around behind her little fence. She figured how to get out of it once, and we ended up blocking both exits and doing a slide-tackle to keep her from hi-tailing it to "Anywhere but Here".

The next day at church we talked to Jerry- her breeder - and asked him what we were doing wrong. He pursed his lips a bit, and explained that because she was already two weeks old, she must have bonded with the other lambs and sheep, and being taken from that environment to one completely new to her was pretty scary and must have shaken her quite a bit. If she would have been a day or two old, it might have been different, because she would have bonded with us instead of her furry friends.

At least we weren't crazy. And, there was a good reason for her being so strange and not eating. So, when we got home, we were both eager to try and feed her again. I won, because it was Mother's day. I went in to her pen, sat down with her, and talked a bit. I pet her head and discussed how good this milk probably was, and that she must be pretty hungry. Within five minutes she was eating, and downed nearly the whole bottle! I haven't been so excited in quite awhile- it meant she would live rather than starve to death.

We turned to leave and as we were walking out, she was yelling at us to come back and spend time with her...or let her out...but from Saturday's slide tackling, we weren't about to let that happen! Outside the machine shed, the cries seemed oddly loud, and we turned to notice a little white puffball coming toward us.

I quickly headed to the big doors to play defense while Phil took the main door. But instead of running from us, she ran straight into his arms, calming down immediately as he picked her up. You could almost hear her saying "Please, don't leave me mister...it's awfully lonely in here."

After a minute or two of relief, we decided to see if she would run if we put her down (brave, aren't we?) Tentatively Phil set her down. She looked up at him, and stood still. Slowly, he took a few steps forward. She, too, took a few steps forward. Then we proceeded to walk together outside, around the machine shed, and over to the house, all with her closely in tow. If we ran, she would run. If we stopped, so would she. Like an obedient, quiet puppy.

It was a nice day, so Phil spent time working on the fence for her permanent home outside while she sat near him. When Ryan woke up and came outside, she ran up to greet him. It was like having two kids "Where's Ryan?" "Over by the wagon" "Where's lamb?" "Right behind the tree." Neither would stray too far, but constantly my mama mind was darting from one to the other.


The chickens have grown quite a bit, but they are still quite tame, although certainly not as social as lamb. We leave the door to their pen open so they can wander around and eat grass and bugs outside during the day. It was quite a sight Sunday as we were moving wood- lamb, chickens, Ryan, all running around together. It's becoming a regular petting zoo around here!