Today’s Woolness & Me post was written by longterm Wovember supporter and contributor Sara Dunham of Punkin’s Patch, who has written about the incredible bedside manner of one of the lambs in her flock.
Liddy’s mom didn’t love her. She’d feed the lamb if forced but after a couple days we gave up. We tried to graft the tiny lamb onto two more ewes. She was too small to compete with the older bottle lambs in the nursery. As I left the lambing shed one afternoon, I scooped her up and headed home. I’d worried that at eight days old she’d no longer bond with me, but all Liddy wanted was a mom. She’s still my best girl.
A friend came to visit when Liddy was three months old. We were standing in the field with the main flock and something startled them and my friend was knocked to the ground and seriously injured her knee. I ran to the house to get some ice; Liddy raced to her side.
Lambs don’t leave their moms, especially in times of stress. Liddy had never left my side, period. I got back to the barn to find Lisa with one hand on her knee and the other on Liddy, tucked in next to her.
A neighbor came by last winter. She’d met Liddy the day I brought her home. She’d just gotten out of the hospital and I knew there was nothing more cheering than a baby lamb, so we’d stopped in.
As she wasn’t able to get out of the car, I said I’d bring Liddy to her. I walked into the barn to grab a lead and found Liddy already standing at the gate. I let her into the barn knowing she’d head straight to the feed room where she’d be easy to catch. Liddy walked straight past the feed room, out the front doors, across the parking lot and around to the far side of the car.
How did that “simple” sheep know to leave her flock, walk straight out of the barn, over to a car she’d never seen before and even know which side of the car she needed to go to? What would cause a lamb to let her “mom” leave her in a field with a stranger who needed comfort?
Who loves Liddy?! What a sweet sheep.
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