Early spring means lambing season here in Ireland. Since we are already a few weeks into spring we missed our chance to see the lambs actually being born. However we did have the opportunity to visit a farm and feed some of their new babies. Adam's boss, Mary, was born and raised on a farm just outside of Cork in a town called Midleton. Mary's family mostly produces vegetables, but her sister Cathy has a small flock of sheep and invited us out for a visit. So on Saturday morning we met with Mary and her daughters, and headed out to the farm.
Two of the baby lambs in the flock needed to be bottle fed because ewes only have two teats (kind of like women!). So if one teat is infected, or if a ewe has more than two lambs one of those babies may find themselves with no way to feed. That's when the shepherd steps in to make sure the baby receives nourishment. Lucky me, I got to play shepherd!
Cathy also brought a bucket of feed out into the pasture. Now that it is spring and the grass is fresh and green the sheep won't really be fed these pellets and grain, but it was like a treat for them. When Cathy shook the bucket and called the sheep they all came running! I tried to capture it on video here.
Cathy seemed amused that we took such pleasure in a typical and routine part of her day. She mentioned that BBC2 had just recently produced a documentary called Lambing Live that we might enjoy. Low and behold when we returned home that evening and flipped on the telly Lambing Live was on! Here are a few clips each under a minute that are worth taking a look at. The first clip about selecting a ram made me giggle a little, and the second of the lamb being born just made me smile, even tear up a little!
Not sure Adam and I are ready to take up shepherding full time just yet, but you never know! Don't we look like we were made for it!?
BAAAA!
Lamb season, awesome, sounds like food to me!
ReplyDelete