Introducing Emma

We have a new addition to the family - Emma.

The last weekend of the holiday was wet and cold. The neighbour was away and his sheep were lambing in the paddocks next to us. By Saturday afternoon, I'd counted at least 4 dead lambs!

Late Saturday afternoon, I noticed a young lamb on its own, sitting near our fence. It was near another lamb lying in the grass, presumably dead. Despite the bleating, no ewe was forthcoming. I decided that if the lamb hadn't been claimed by a ewe at sundown, I'd rescue it. It wasn't claimed, so I jumped the fence and gathered it up. The other lamb wasn't quite dead, but it was past the point of saving. Not sure what happened to the mother.



So now I'm a sheep thief, but I have no regrets. It was either let the lamb die overnight or take it. And the neighbour is known for not caring about his sheep, he prefers his cattle.



Caitlin decided to call the lamb Emma.



I feed her a colostrum mix overnight and took her back to the paddock the next day to see if any ewe would foster her. I even got one of the dead lambs and rubbed it on Emma to see if that would help. It didn't, that particular mother only wanted her dead lamb (she stuck around for two days sniffing it and waiting for it to get up - another farmer told me later that I should have sprayed some hairspray up her nose, that might have helped with fostering).



So Emma has stayed with us. She has become one of the family, the dogs love playing with her (not sure how she feels about that), she thinks Gomez is another lamb. It was a bit surreal to get up in the morning and hear the gallumping of hooves on the kitchen floor, as she jumped around waiting for her bottle. She sleeps outside now, but keeps an ear out for anybody opening the door. After her bottle, she tries to climb on my lap for a cuddle - she'll lie there and snooze, grinding her teeth and snoring.



The other sheep want nothing to do with her yet. And she's not interested in them either. She thinks she's one of the dogs.