Baha Black Sheep

 

It’s hard to believe that our Little Orphan Lambie is almost 6 weeks old!

It’s really  hard to believe that we’ve kept her alive this long.  Sheep are known to just fall over and die. Luckily, that hasn’t happened to us.

In those six weeks, Lambie has undergone a name change, from Bailey to Baha.  She drinks 4 times as much milk as she did when she was born, and she’s at least 3 times her birth weight. 

People keep asking me what kind of sheep she is, and I keep telling them, “The kind with four legs.”  I think they’re looking for a more specific answer, but right now, I don’t know what that answer is!

Baha has had a couple of vaccinations, and had her tail docked. (Apparently, tail docking keeps sheep healthy.  Bart used an elastrator and she didn’t even cry when he did it.)  The tail fell off last week and it’s sitting on a hay bale near her pen.  Grosses me out every time I see it.

We are no longer feeding her in the middle of the night, thank goodness.  Going out to the shed in the cold, dark night was a little too much for me.  I mean, I like her and all, but not that much.  Most of the time, Bart did the midnight feedings, but whenever I did it, I made sure to make a big stink.

Now, she gets three bottles during the day.  The lamb milk replacer we use smells a lot like the vanilla protein powder I put in my smoothies.  I’m wondering if they’re interchangeable.

The plan is for Adam to “show” her at the county fair.  That means, he has to keep records, do an interview with judges, and then walk her around the ring.  Should be interesting, since he likes to purse his lips and look away when adults ask him questions, and she doesn’t exactly like her leash.  (I think it’s called a lead rope? or halter? Or something more technical like that.)

In order to participate in the fair, we have to attend four meetings to learn how to care for the animals.  We’ve been through three of the meetings.  The fourth is sort of a dress rehearsal.  We take Baha with us, and she gets checked out by the vet to make sure she doesn’t have any contagious illnesses, which will happen again at fair time.  Just another example of biosecurity.

We never really wrote down any goals for this adventure, but I think Bart would agree…the general idea is to teach Adam to care for something other than himself; to willingly be inconvenienced by another being’s needs.  It’s a good thing he’s only 5, because it might take a few more sheep before he really gets the hang of it.

Although, he’s pretty cute playing with her!