Bottle Lambs

Two of our current animal buddies are the bottle lambs, named Lambert and Lavender. The names are compliments of our daughter. Some other name ideas were Lightning, Rosie, Flower, Butterfly, Blocky, Chewy, Shorty and Zebra. I gently tried to point her naming genius in what I felt was a more favorable direction. After some discreet encouragement she recalled the story of Lambert the Sheepish Lion and immediately settled on Lambert for the ram. She was very set on Flower for the ewe but when I asked if she'd rather name her for a specific kind of flower she excitedly settled on Lavender.

Lambert getting some love!

The lambs come from my cousin's large flock of sheep. Lavender has been a bottle lamb since soon after birth. She was likely a twin or triplet and the mother just didn't have enough milk to feed all the lambs. When this happens the weakest of the lambs is typically separated from the mother and fed by hand. I remember seeing her among the bottle lambs when we visited the lambing barn to see all the new lambs. There were about eight bottle lambs but she stood out being the only one with black markings.

Lavender

Lambert

Lambert is a triplet. The mother ewe had been feeding all three babies for about a week but none of them were gaining weight as fast as they should have been, so the smallest one was removed from the ewe and given to me.

The day I got the lambs was my birthday. A friend had invited me over for coffee. She had just bought two bottle lambs for her children and my daughter was completely taken with them. I impulsively text my cousin to see if he had any bottle lambs he would part with. He said to come on over to choose one and he'd give me the smallest of the triplets too. I right away chose the lamb with the black markings on her face.

Aren't they cute?

On the way I home I started thinking I may need to explain to my husband why there were two lambs riding home on the front seat of the car. Rather than explain myself in a text I stopped by his school and asked if he could come out and say hi to the children. By that time I wouldn't have been surprised if his first clue to the new arrivals was the smell, but then again we do have young children so strong smells aren't uncommon. After he talked to the children for a few moments I told him to come around the car and look at what I had. When he saw them he right away grinned and said "Oh nice, we have a perfect place for them!" He hasn't always been excited about my animal hobby but he has certainly come around to the idea, as long as they don't inconvenience him too much.

When I got home with the lambs I made Lambert his first bottle. He thought bottle feeding was a very poor idea and didn't get much of the milk down. I went out four hours later with another bottle and he did better, drinking about half a cup of milk. Four hours later, at 2 a.m., he drank another half cup. I fed them every four hours the first two weeks and within the first week they were each drinking 1 1/2 cups.

Always nibbling!

Now they are about six weeks old and down to just one bottle a day. They have the cute yet annoying habit of sleeping on our front porch where they are prepared to intercept me the moment I step foot out the door. I've been trying to sneak a photo of them sleeping there, but haven't been successful. Whenever I bend down to get a photo on their level they think I'm offering a treat and come right over. My phone has been licked and smeared with lamb snot more times than I can count.

The lambs will probably be off to join a flock of their own one day soon, but for now we enjoy seeing them grazing on the fresh spring grass and hearing their distinct lamby baas.

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Photos taken by @justinmullet

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